Album Artwork.

[Invammocon]

I've been shopping at this CD website, they have a 5 dollar per CD sale but there are so many for sale that I just choose which ones to give a chance (they provide samples like iTunes) based on the album artwork, not the band name or the album name, I've got pretty decent results. How important is the artwork as far as getting you interested in an album?

[valley_parade]

The only time album art has ever made me check out a band was when I stumbled upon a Bye Bye Blackbirds album in Ameoba Berkeley.

[rynne]

On one hand, I don’t particularly buy albums because of artwork.  I can remember one or two times doing it with not-very-good results.  More often I use album art as a way of quickly determining which albums don’t require a second look---for example, any album with people in generic r&b, country, etc., artwork usually gets glanced at at best.

On the other hand, I am a big fan of the way good albums use artwork to enhance and/or augment the themes of the music.  I consider artwork an integral, though not necessarily essential, part of an album.

In other words, the good artwork always enhances a good album, but good artwork is not strictly indicative of a good album.  And cliched artwork is almost always indicative of cliched album.

[pat101]

The artwork for the album Electronic Frank by Lee Jones directly led me to finding a copy to listen to. I was happy I did.





awsome.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

any band who really put effort into their releases will only use artwork that fits the mood and feel of the music, so yeah, if i see an album with really cool artwork, i'd be more likely to check it out.  but that said, the only album i've actually bought on that basis, without ever actually listening to it (normally, i'd download a couple of songs, or ask the guy in the shop if he'll put the cd on), was "The Answer is Never" by Howards Alias.  I'd heard a much older song of theirs and it was alright, but the artwork for this I found intriguing:



Turns out, the album is a kinda ska-punk meets emo meets prog-rock, but I'd been intrigued by the artwork as I'd previously thought them to be a straight-up ska band, and the cover art (as well as the beautiful chalk drawings on every page of the liner notes) seemed kinda dark and moody in comparison.  Needless to say the album is still one of my favourites, five years later!  I'm pretty sure I upped this in the mediaf!re thread a while back if you're interested btw.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Black Moth Super Rainbow has cool art.


it's all made by the chief singer/songwriter Tobacco who is a graphic designer or something when he's not making awesome music.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

Black Moth Super Rainbow has cool art.


it's all made by the chief singer/songwriter Tobacco who is a graphic designer or something when he's not making awesome music.

i like that "falling through a field" one - something kinda eerie about it.

[Will]

Didn't Aesop Rock do a track with Tobacco not too long ago?

[nufan]

I bought O'Death's Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skins based on the cover art:


I could see the music in my head as soon as I picked it up. Disturbing 4 part harmony, cracked melodies, sweet instrumentation with a hint of menace all the way through. Turns out, I was horribly, horribly wrong. It's actually god-awful 'old-timey' music played with some sort of vomit inducing fake accent and a supposed punk-etho's that makes me sick. Probably the last time I buy an album based on cover art alone.

[pulpfiction21]

I've never purchased a CD blindly based just off album artwork, but I have looked into a lot of bands just because their album art was interesting. I think it has a lot of influence on people, either knowingly or unknowingly.

[scarred]

I've never purchased a CD blindly based just off album artwork, but I have looked into a lot of bands just because their album art was interesting. I think it has a lot of influence on people, either knowingly or unknowingly.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Didn't Aesop Rock do a track with Tobacco not too long ago?

yes, he did! it's called "Dirt" and it comes about halfway through Tobacco's solo album "Fucked Up Friends" which can be found in the mediaf!re Thread, if your interested in such things.


edit: I actually like that O' Death album alot. then again, i like almost everything.

[DarkAvenger]

Album art rarely plays a part in my purchasing of albums. For example one of my favorite bands has very plain art:

[spoon_of_grimbo]

i've never understood why any musician, when given the opportunity to display artwork either by themselves or by another artist on their album sleeve, would opt for a plain and boring cover.  not only is it a waste of potential, but it's also gonna be much less eye-catching, so it'll hardly work in their favour.

[pwhodges]

"The Beatles" (White Album)?  Hard to repeat though.

[De_El]

Dude, Peter Saville:









Good album art is good. A good album with good art is better.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

"The Beatles" (White Album)?  Hard to repeat though.

i know most people say it's "iconic," but to me, it just smacks of laziness.  you can have a very simple design that still looks good, but just a blank cover with a couple of words is just pointless.  you might as well sell the album in a brown paper bag or a shoebox.

[michaelicious]

That would actually be great. I am pretty sure I have bought albums (well, CD-Rs from local bands) that came in brown paper bags.

[fish across face]

Album art rarely plays a part in my purchasing of albums. For example one of my favorite bands has very plain art:

I think that's great-looking art!  Yeah, plain, but really cool compared to moody drawings or whatever. 

I guess for me what was said about cliched art suggesting cliched contents totally applies to all that collage of photos, rough drawings "Help I'm a college student!" crap.  I just go "urg, looks like rock" and move on.  Well, unless I already know otherwise...

I think Taylor Deupree's art for his record label 12k is quite amazing.  Definitely done a double-take on that stuff when I've been flicking through a bunch of CDs.





I love labels that have a house style, but not super-rigidly imposed.  Yay Peter Saville too!

[Zombiedude]

I saw this in the mediaf!re thread, had to download it on the spot.

If I dig the art on the album, it is more likely I will get it.

[DynamiteKid]

Album art has virtually no influence on whether or not I buy a record. In fact a lot of my favourite artists (Dylan, I'm looking at you) have pretty appalling album art on a fairly regular basis.

[Wasteroo]

One of my favorites. I'm not sure if it counts, since I already had heard good things about it, but it sure stood out from the others when I finally tracked it down at my local record store.

[Cadeonehalf]

I always got into the really artsy, fantasy style album covers.



Both those covers made me double-take SO HARD.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

I saw this in the mediaf!re thread, had to download it on the spot.

If I dig the art on the album, it is more likely I will get it.

yeah, i uploaded that one - i remember when it came out, the adverts in magazines were pretty eye catching to say the least (the singles had a similar visual theme!).  to be fair, the artwork on all biffy clyro's albums and singles is pretty cool, and really fits the music.

[scarred]

Two of my favorite album covers of all time. Couldn't tell you why.

[Zingoleb]

Album art has virtually no influence on whether or not I buy a record. In fact a lot of my favourite artists (Dylan, I'm looking at you) have pretty appalling album art on a fairly regular basis.

I'm trying to think of a Dylan album where the album cover isn't his face and failing.

Edit: Oh Mercy is the only one I can think of.

[TheFuriousWombat]

God that M83 cover looks like any given day on the quad at my school.

[Inlander]

Two of my favorite album covers of all time.

What's the first one?

[scarred]

Helios - Eingya. The album itself is just as gorgeous as the cover, too. To attempt to describe it plainly, it's ambient/electronica, but that hardly does it justice. On his label's page, it's described as "an album of wordless songs, eleven carefully measured movements, each holding inside it an entire movie's worth of emotion."

It was posted in the mediaf!re thread a while back.

/end shameless promotion

[fish across face]

^ It's on a label called Type Records, which is another good one for an in-house style, I reckon.  Sort of alternate between that comic style art and nice photos. I love this Letters Letters one, which must be the same artist:



While I'm here, Keith Kenniff / Helios is one of those bods with a bunch of aliases... if you like Helios, check out the different bits and pieces - his own name, Goldmund, and his collab with his wife, Mint Julep, are the ones I remember.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Type is a wonderful label that has sadly ceased putting out records nearly as frequently as they used to. Tis sad. Goldmund is great but basically all solo piano so rather different from Helios.

[Tom]

I'm loving this atm.

[Ptommydski]

[Jeans]

[Wasteroo]

Apparently I am the only appreciator of minimalism in this thread.

[Jeans]

nah, I dig the Songs About Fucking one as well - it accompanies the music perfectly as well as Albini's idea of what rock music should be.

[Ptommydski]

Horses

The real wonder of that entire photo session is how Patti Smith managed to hide her breasts. She had some serious tits back then. She must have bound them or something.

Apparently I am the only appreciator of minimalism in this thread.

Not at all. I also love the record art by The New Year -



I have all three of these on vinyl and they look amazing. Just goes to show.

[Wasteroo]

serious tits

Wait, seriously? This is news to me. I always thought she had a pretty androgynous figure, but then I think my only exposure to what she looks like is from the Horses cover.

[DynamiteKid]

i know most people say it's "iconic," but to me, it just smacks of laziness.  you can have a very simple design that still looks good, but just a blank cover with a couple of words is just pointless.  you might as well sell the album in a brown paper bag or a shoebox.

I've got this massive hardback book called The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World, and in it it says that the original album name they wanted was A Doll's House, but someone else was doing it. The book also said that no way in hell could they have got away with the same artwork if the album was called that. I agree, I think it'd only work for a self-titled record.

In fact, I think bands should only make self-titled albums AFTER their first album, to indicate a change in line-up and/or style. I think making your first album self-titled is just lazy and boring.

[Jeans]

Wait, seriously? This is news to me. I always thought she had a pretty androgynous figure, but then I think my only exposure to what she looks like is from the Horses cover.

She did have a pretty androgynous figure, but often it was attributed to her clothing - she wore baggy t-shirts a lot. You can sort of tell in (semi-NSFW) this pic that they're certainly bigger than on the record.

[valley_parade]

I saw this in the mediaf!re thread, had to download it on the spot.

Come to think of it, that was why I downloaded the Digitalism album.

[michaelicious]

Wait, seriously? This is news to me. I always thought she had a pretty androgynous figure, but then I think my only exposure to what she looks like is from the Horses cover.

She did have a pretty androgynous figure, but often it was attributed to her clothing - she wore baggy t-shirts a lot. You can sort of tell in (semi-NSFW) this pic that they're certainly bigger than on the record.

Or this totally NSFW picture.

[Ben792x]

2 of my favorites:

[Zingoleb]

"The Beatles" (White Album)?  Hard to repeat though.

i know most people say it's "iconic," but to me, it just smacks of laziness.  you can have a very simple design that still looks good, but just a blank cover with a couple of words is just pointless.  you might as well sell the album in a brown paper bag or a shoebox.

Oh man

I want to release the shoebox album SO HARD

[Zombiedude]

The eyes on the funkadelic album creep me out.

[Christophe]

This is a really great article evaluating the artwork on Silkworm's "Firewater".

[Patrick]

The only time album art has ever made me check out a band was when I stumbled upon a Bye Bye Blackbirds album in Ameoba Berkeley.

I knew that if I didn't post this, you would eventually post this. I didn't realize you would be that quick though. Still, props.

That is a good fucking album, too. For those interested, it is called "Honeymoon".

[AnonymousNoob]

[Ballard]

^ Been listening to this all day. It's aces.

Saturdays=Youth

I've met the girl in the fur hat. She's friends with a bunch of my friends who hang out Anthony Gonzales.

i've never understood why any musician, when given the opportunity to display artwork either by themselves or by another artist on their album sleeve, would opt for a plain and boring cover.  not only is it a waste of potential, but it's also gonna be much less eye-catching, so it'll hardly work in their favour.

Actually I really like those Bedhead covers and think they're pretty eye-catching as opposed to some of the gaudy shit people do (see: Black Moth Super Rainbow artwork, the atrocity that is Mika's Life In Cartoon Motion)

How has no one mentioned Spiritualized yet? Though I guess that's not so much artwork as amazing and incredibly creative album packaging.

[AnonymousNoob]

Speaking of Black Moth Super Rainbow and completely awesome.

Edit: I see that this was posted before but it's unceremoniously hidden behind a link.