Baizley Doesn’t Mind Making Mistakes

John Baizley of Baroness likes imperfections in his artwork. And so should you.

Yeah, and you also– if you look through enough of my work you can see that consistently there are technical errors. I tend to favor those errors over something that’s a little sleeker looking, so, you know, when a paper grain will show through or when a slight smudge or mistake will happen that’s just part of the piece for me. And I welcome– I embrace that sort of thing that can happen randomly. And I think it lends something different to my work than a lot of other people’s.

[hat tip: Crustcake via Buzzgrinder]

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Friday Flashback: Prince - Purple Rain

A weekly look down into the mortal coil of music industry design.

Friday Flashback: Prince - Purple Rain

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Artist: Prince (or whatever he is called now)
Release: Purple Rain
Label: Warner/WEA
Designer: ???
Release Date: July 27, 1984

Couldn’t find much info on this cover. It was based entirely on the namesake film’s promo poster, and we all know film poster designers are even lesser known than album designers. When I was younger (yes, another one of those stories) I always thought the flowers on the sides there to even out the proportions were actually vegetables. Prince eats healthy.

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Friday Flashback: Molly Hatchet - Molly Hatchet

A weekly look down into the mortal coil of music industry design.

Friday Flashback: Molly Hatchet - Molly Hatchet

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Artist: Molly Hatchet
Release: Molly Hatchet
Label: Sony
Designer: Frank Frazetta
Release Date: 1978

I remember one of my sisters had this release and other by Molly Hatchet, on vinyl. Whenever I listened to Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning” I would look at this cover and I believe Flirtin’ With Disaster; that is, I when I wasn’t jumping up and down on her bed in time with the rockin’ adult contempo beat. I never actually heard MH, but I thought they were metal because of these paintings. I was wrong.

This painting is actually called “Death Dealer”. Fitting.

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Friday Flashback: Journey - Escape

A weekly look down into the mortal coil of music industry design.

Friday Flashback: Journey - Escape

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Artist: Journey
Release: Escape
Label: Columbia
Designer: Stanley Mouse (illustration), Jim Welch (photography, design)
Release Date: July 31, 1981

Throughout all these years (yes, I remember seeing vinyl this when I was younger), I still haven’t figure out why in the world the scarab caught on as their mascot of sorts. None of the other albums, except for Time3 and maybe-sorta Arrival. It even ended up in their arcade game that was fun to play, for the time. Yes, I’m remember that too.

This, interestingly enough, maybe be the prototype for the was-popular-a-few-years-ago-now-a-bit-silly 133t-speak maneuver of using numbers for letters. But since Steve Perry is a great vocalist I will choose to overlook this fact.

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We Are Wolves Vs. Ghislain Poirier - Split / Remix

We Are Wolves Vs. Ghislain Poirier

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Artist: We Are Wolves Vs. Ghislain Poirier
Release: Split / Remix
Label: Dare to Care Records
Designer: ???
Release Date: October 16, 2007

Another example of triangles. I guess We Are wolves adopted this pattern as their own and maybe that part of the visual is meant to represent them?

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Design trend - 2007: year of the triangle

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As I began to look back on 2007 and album/music design one trend became apparent to me, 2007 was the year of the triangle! In an attempt to prove this theory I’ve quickly gathered albums from 2007 that feature the triangle in some way. Enjoy! Continue Reading »

Secret Mommy - Very Rec

Secret Mommy

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Secret Mommy

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Artist: Secret Mommy
Release: Very Rec
Label: Ache Records
Designer: Bad-Ass Magic (Andy Dixon & Landon Metz)
Release Date: November, 2005

Ran across this today (which wasn’t hard cause i have a framed copy of the LP on my wall) and wanted to share this piece and Andy Dixon with the world (haha). You will definitely hear me talk about Dixon on many more occasions. In my opinion he has to be one of the most underrated graphic designers/artists today. Check out a recent a Secret Mommy video.

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Instruments of Science & Technology - Music From the Films of R/Swift

Instruments of Science & Technology

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Instruments of Science & Technology

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Artist: Instruments of Science & Technology
Release: Music From the Films of R/Swift
Label: Secretly Canadian
Designer: onasis w/ ulysses
Release Date: January 22, 2008

ASCII art from Onasis with the help of Ulysses, which as far as I can tell that means Richard swift with the help of Richard Swift. Or maybe that’s Richard Swift the filmmaker (Onasis) with help from Richard Swift the visual artists (Ulysses). Anyway, this is a reissue of his first album under the IoSaT with all new artwork. Check out Onasis/Ulysses’s video work for War/Unwar

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Bomb the Music Industry/O Pioneers! - split CD & vinyl

bomb the music industry / o pioneers!

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Artists: Bomb the Music Industry / O Pioneers!
Release: split release
Label: Team Science/Asbestos
Designer: Stomach Designs (?)
Release Date: ???

Not sure if this is really from Stomach, but it’s fitting with their style. I’m wondering why there’s such a huge disconnect between the art and the untitled release, but I suppose that’s the point.

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Boom Bip - Sacchrilege

Boom Bip

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Artist: Boom Bip
Release: Sacchrilege
Label: Lex
Designer: ehquestionmark
Release Date: June 19, 2007

Lovely little cover art by ehquestionmark who is also responsible, among many other things, for the design of the UK version DANGERDOOM’s album. Another little note is that the grey line art is actually a spot varnish which gives the physical copy another nice touch to compliment this clean sugary sweet design.

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