Topic: Album Artwork. (Read 114113 times)

Invammocon · « **on:** 01 May 2009, 08:51 »

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 · « **Reply #1 on:** 01 May 2009, 09:16 »

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 · « **Reply #2 on:** 01 May 2009, 10:00 »

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 · « **Reply #3 on:** 01 May 2009, 10:02 »

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 · « **Reply #4 on:** 01 May 2009, 10:46 »

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 · « **Reply #5 on:** 01 May 2009, 11:17 »

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 · « **Reply #6 on:** 01 May 2009, 11:35 »

Quote from: Scandanavian War Machine on 01 May 2009, 11:17

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 · « **Reply #7 on:** 01 May 2009, 11:36 »

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

nufan · « **Reply #8 on:** 01 May 2009, 11:58 »

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 · « **Reply #9 on:** 01 May 2009, 13:16 »

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 · « **Reply #10 on:** 01 May 2009, 13:23 »

Quote from: pulpfiction21 on 01 May 2009, 13:16

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 · « **Reply #11 on:** 01 May 2009, 15:33 »

Quote from: Will on 01 May 2009, 11:36

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 · « **Reply #12 on:** 01 May 2009, 16:10 »

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 · « **Reply #13 on:** 01 May 2009, 17:00 »

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 · « **Reply #14 on:** 01 May 2009, 17:09 »

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

De_El · « **Reply #15 on:** 01 May 2009, 17:28 »

Dude, Peter Saville:

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

spoon_of_grimbo · « **Reply #16 on:** 01 May 2009, 17:28 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 01 May 2009, 17:09

"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 · « **Reply #17 on:** 01 May 2009, 18:27 »

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 · « **Reply #18 on:** 01 May 2009, 18:39 »

Quote from: DarkAvenger on 01 May 2009, 16:10

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!

JD · « **Reply #19 on:** 01 May 2009, 19:07 »

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.

Thrillho · « **Reply #20 on:** 01 May 2009, 19:23 »

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 · « **Reply #21 on:** 01 May 2009, 19:29 »

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/2ntle6b.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">[/url]

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 · « **Reply #22 on:** 01 May 2009, 19:42 »

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

Both those covers made me double-take SO HARD.

spoon_of_grimbo · « **Reply #23 on:** 01 May 2009, 19:52 »

Quote from: Zombiedude on 01 May 2009, 19:07

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 · « **Reply #24 on:** 01 May 2009, 22:15 »

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

Zingoleb · « **Reply #25 on:** 01 May 2009, 23:05 »

Quote from: DynamiteKid on 01 May 2009, 19:23

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 · « **Reply #26 on:** 01 May 2009, 23:48 »

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

Inlander · « **Reply #27 on:** 02 May 2009, 00:19 »

Quote from: scarred on 01 May 2009, 22:15

Two of my favorite album covers of all time.

What's the first one?

scarred · « **Reply #28 on:** 02 May 2009, 00:41 »

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 · « **Reply #29 on:** 02 May 2009, 02:37 »

^ 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 · « **Reply #30 on:** 02 May 2009, 14:26 »

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 · « **Reply #31 on:** 02 May 2009, 16:28 »

Quote from: fish across face on 02 May 2009, 02:37

I'm loving this atm.

Wasteroo · « **Reply #32 on:** 02 May 2009, 18:43 »

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

Wasteroo · « **Reply #33 on:** 02 May 2009, 18:52 »

Quote from: Ptommydski on 02 May 2009, 18:47

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.

Thrillho · « **Reply #34 on:** 03 May 2009, 06:51 »

Quote from: spoon_of_grimbo on 01 May 2009, 17:28

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.

valley_parade · « **Reply #35 on:** 03 May 2009, 07:24 »

Quote from: Zombiedude on 01 May 2009, 19:07

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 · « **Reply #36 on:** 03 May 2009, 08:04 »

Quote from: Jeans on 03 May 2009, 07:17

Quote from: Wasteroo on 02 May 2009, 18:52
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.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #37 on:** 04 May 2009, 00:17 »

Quote from: spoon_of_grimbo on 01 May 2009, 17:28

Quote from: pwhodges on 01 May 2009, 17:09
"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

JD · « **Reply #38 on:** 04 May 2009, 13:20 »

The eyes on the funkadelic album creep me out.

Christophe · « **Reply #39 on:** 04 May 2009, 13:57 »

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

Patrick · « **Reply #40 on:** 04 May 2009, 14:15 »

Quote from: valley_parade on 01 May 2009, 09:16

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 · « **Reply #41 on:** 13 May 2009, 14:19 »

Ballard · « **Reply #42 on:** 13 May 2009, 16:06 »

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

Quote from: scarred on 01 May 2009, 22:15

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.

Quote from: spoon_of_grimbo on 01 May 2009, 17:00

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 · « **Reply #43 on:** 13 May 2009, 18:08 »

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.

spoon_of_grimbo · « **Reply #44 on:** 13 May 2009, 19:39 »

Quote from: Ballard on 13 May 2009, 16:06

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

Quote from: scarred on 01 May 2009, 22:15
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.

Quote from: spoon_of_grimbo on 01 May 2009, 17:00
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.

meh, i actually like that Mika cover. maybe it's the kid in me - i was hyperactive with certain colours as a child.

weirdly, another one i really like is this:

i dunno what it is about it, but it's such a grim looking cover, and yet reflects the mood of the album so well. it's also one of the best melodic rock albums of the 90s, and definitely worth checking out if you haven't heard it.

JD · « **Reply #45 on:** 13 May 2009, 19:48 »

Ballard · « **Reply #46 on:** 13 May 2009, 19:49 »

michaelicious · « **Reply #47 on:** 13 May 2009, 20:09 »

Baby Dulli over here is dealin' with some shit you wouldn't believe, man.

It's strange to see a little kid with a look like that on his face, though. They probably just told him that his dad got rid of all his dinky cars or something, but he just looks like he is buried underneath a pile of regrets.

Ballard · « **Reply #48 on:** 13 May 2009, 20:43 »

I was always partial to Get Behind Me Satan.

Yayniall · « **Reply #49 on:** 14 May 2009, 01:56 »

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Album Artwork. (Read 114113 times)

Zingoleb

Zingoleb

AnonymousNoob

AnonymousNoob