 |
|
click image for actual site
Artist: The Manchester Orchestra
Designer: Ginger Group Designs
I like this…the disorganized look hasn’t been too big in site design the past few years, and for some good usability reasons. I’m on the fence in this case. This can get a little too busy/distracting for some people, but maybe some of us have been so desensitized after a good decade’s worth of internet usage that it doesn’t really matter anymore.
click image for actual site
Artist: Taking Over
Designer: Shorthanded Studio
Strong and blocky layout with nicely defined border which makes for easy content reading. I did find it odd that the right sidebar is the same width as the content area, but it almost doesn’t function as a sidebar. The meta-info area is relegated to the bottom, as wide as both columns - a design trick that I’ve seen elsewhere but also isn’t the blogworld’s modus operandi. It works well either way.
[hat tip: Indie Vision Music]
click image for actual site
Artist: Damiera
Designer: ???
Latest Release: M(US)IC
Nice, simple design that is more blog than actual site, which seems to be the way of all things official website these days. The left column could use some de-cluttering organization, but with more content, this will be a golden site.
[hat tip: Buzzgrinder]
click image for actual site
Artist: Demon Hunter
Designer: Online Revolution Design
Latest Release: Storm the Gates of Hell
Looks similar to their last design, which was also good. The photo animation can get a little taxing for some people. ORD use those navigation rollovers elsewhere, and it always makes me spend a little more mouse time. Get to it!
[hat tip: Indie Vision Music]
click image for a larger version
Artist: Gnarls Barkley
Release: The Odd Couple
Label: ???
Designer: Siggi Eggertson
Release Date: April 2008
Haven’t actually seen the design credit but am 100% positive that this is Siggi Eggertson’s work. I’ve been a fan of Siggi’s for some time now and it’s always exciting to see others find him and his work. Given the amount of artwork floating around for Gnarls’ first album I have no idea if the is the actual cover design… one could hope. I have to thank Alex at Pink Ring for bringing this to my attention.
click image for actual site.. and yes I did a search for “fart”
If you’re like me, you use iTunes. And sometimes with iTunes, an album’s artwork won’t download or you’ll get an image version too small for even the cover flow view. Enter albumart.org, where you can find the most obscure of covers. At the very least it saves some time from flipping through Google image search results.
click image for actual site
This is a redesign of my portfolio site. I’ve done more complicated and content-y ones before, so I thought something much simpler would be a nice switch. Refreshingly free of boxy tables or other unnecessary HTML markups, and using the fabulous Lightbox scripting for displaying images.
Yes, I am trying to resurrect the courier font from the late nineties.
click image for actual site
Artist: P.O.D.
Designer: Working Class Industry
Upcoming Release: When Angels & Serpents Dance
Clean and simple site based on their upcoming album art. It seems like this is a preliminary site, so there’s not enough interactivity to really get into the meat of what the programmers had in mind. My only complaint is the music player on the top right as it doesn’t display a track title. Doh!
click image for actual site
Artist: Paramore
Designer: ???
Latest Release: Riot!
This site is a lot more lo-fi than their previous versions. I was a little turned off at the bigness of everything. The post titles seemed way too huge, even on my screen which is at a higher res than most.
The bigness, though, is offset nicely by some whitespace, and the fact that this is more Web 2.0 than a lot of band sites that just stick up some basic info and a link to a zillion overpopulated social networking sites. Users are able to post comments on news items and personal band blogs, and there’s even an RSS and a mobile phone photo feed from the band in the header. Good on them; anything to get away from the template-that-you-don’t-really-own called Myspace and their god-awful Flash mp3 player.
click image for a larger version
Artist: The Depreciation Guild
Release: In Her Gentle Jaws
Label: self-released
Designer: Lucha Design
Release Date: December 1, 2007
Lucha Design continues to do great clean work, although I’m sure my impression of this design is completely biased based on my love for this album (sorry Jay). This minimal design seems to serve it’s purpose well, not only does it reference some of the electronic components of the music it also serves it’s digital only purpose well as being recognizable at any size. Download the album for free!
