Visual Cover #02: Album Art in a Modern World

Endless winter. I am in the back of a taxi going home from JFK; it is a sea of white and greys. My driver skids along the BQE. The windows fogged with condensation, I can’t see a thing, and if I roll the window down, snow and arctic air will take over. My record bag and backpack are on the seat next to me. Asking the driver to turn down the Christian talk station, I slouch back to a soundtrack of fatigued windshield wipers and tires compressing snow. My phone battery is at 10 percent, so no Instagram or Twitter hijinks on this trek. I open my record bag and take out the 12-inch of Apiento & Co. (Golf Channel). It is a beautiful record cover, art directed by Nick Dart, with illustrations by Tall Paul.

Suddenly, the back of my grey cab has a salt-water aquarium: angel fish, sailfin tangs, damselfish, a whole psychedelic array, rendered with vivid color against a blank background—a slight nod to Audubon and the crazy fish charts I see in Chinatown. I’ve played the record a few times but never really looked at the cover before. Now it is my portal for this ice-encased ride. The lime, scarlet, vermilion and chartreuse sea creatures in fluid transit provide a great trip to take while stuck in a school of cars and trucks, barely moving in the storm.

To this month’s covers…

Nick Hoppner Folk (Ostgut Ton)

The Ostgut label manager and Panorama Bar resident releases his debut LP. The image shows a two-seater on a Euro Rail car, yet every surface has been cut and reassembled. A papier-mâché version of a very banal scene, it forces you to look at details you would simply ignore before.

Lyfe vs. Steven Kaang Self Titled EP (Disposable Commodities)

This lush illustration shows a sports car—a Lotus or Lamborghini—under a hazy street lamp, rendered side-of-the-van style. Forget Knight Rider; you are Don Johnson in some vague, existential fugue state, the wind blowing in your hair. Oh wait, there is a message for you—flip the cover, negative Atari screen-style: “You are an asshole.” Funny as hell, it’s a nice pop cover.

Joel Alter Heart (Uncanny Valley)

This looks to be an almost-found photo of an old painting of what appears to be Ben Lomond Mountain in Utah (the Paramount Pictures logo). It certainly has that vibe, but strikingly, the top and bottom have been painted over by two different tones of grey, cropping just the mountaintop. It feels like a mural that someone has randomly altered in a second-hand store. It’s a great, haunting image for this double LP of minimal tech house.

Consumer Electronics Repetition/Reinforcement (Diagonal)

At first it seems like a futuristic Navajo blanket or a contemporary, minimal, abstract painting; but upon closer look, we see transparencies of color over dark ground with a grid of text. It’s a strong image with real mystery, hinting at redacted code.

SEE ALSO: Visual Cover #01: Album Art in a Modern World

The White Stripes “Hardest Button to Button” (Third Man)

This is a remastered 7-inch, but with a cover that pays homage to the great Saul Bass and his film poster for Man With the Golden Arm (you know I had to include it). Saul Bass is arguably the greatest film poster designer of all time: North by Northwest, Anatomy of a Murder, the speeding titles for Goodfellas, and his masterpiece, the opening title sequence for Scorsese’s Casino. Spend some Google time checking out his work.

Alex Ebert A Most Violent Year Soundtrack (Community Music)

We’ll continue in the film mode for this one, a gritty NYC picture set in 1981. The filmmakers look like they really cared about Sidney Lumet and his hard, realist style. For the cover, the designers kept it simple but so on point. An unusual pink and pale violet contrasted with a black background. The hard-cut roman font echoes the simple paperback covers of lurid Harold Robbins novels. Whoever designed this nailed the vibe perfectly.

Not Waving Human Remixes (Emotional Response)

A staggered series of stills resembles a paused videotape (remember video?) turned upside-down. The distorted color, the fuzzy edges, here it looks like a pastel. A subtle distortion to the Futura font is slapped over the image. Eighties nostalgia is woven in here, as with several of this month’s posts.

Kiani & His Legion Far out Radio Systems Vol. 2 (Tanzbar)

In this grainy black-and-white photo, a storm is coming. A twister in the distance rests right above the Cross of Lorraine (of the Templars), its energy broadcasting far-out radio.

Jelodante Records Tribute to Helvete Underground (Jelodante)

Helvete Underground records between ‘84 and ‘88 in Genève, Switzerland, navigated the post-punk, industrial, and no-wave waters. This thoughtfully assembled comp features several of those bands, including Fist of Facts and the Indian Feast. Hand-printed on museum stock paper in an edition of only 300, the cover is adorned with an image from a Xerxes Von Munshrein LP. This is going to be a collector’s item in no time.

Nacho Marco Warm Trax Vol. 1 (Ovum)

Heat-seeking, cellular, underwater, space, microbiological—we end with this vibrant red, blue and violet cover. It’s some form of space, abstracted and yet somehow recognizable. The magnified spots suggest a slide under a microscope, but one from deep, deep space. A nice vibe on which to end.

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