Wax Fang - La La Land (2008)

Posted by: zeefritz

The cover for Usher's forthcoming album Raymond v. Raymond was revealed on the artist's website this weekend. The final cover is significantly different from the artwork that was previously being used to promote the album (right). However, the photograph that was used for the final cover appears to be from the same photo shoot.

The final cover features a split image of the artist. It appears to be an atrempt to mimic the reverse image seen in the typography. However, the split image of Usher is not a mirror image. Instead, it is the right and left sides of the photograph. I think that this probably works better than using the left or right side twice. A complete mirror image would likely be too much.

Raymond v. Raymond is scheduled to be released on March 30, 2010. It will be the artist's sixth studio album.

Pop singer Lucy Schwartz released her Help Me! Help Me! CD on her own label last month. As if that isn't ambitious enough, Schwartz made all the props, puppets, costumes, and choreography for the music video for title track herself. It was directed by her brother, Ian Schwartz, and shot in the family home.

Schwartz proves that all that is needed is talent and creativity to come up with a good music video. And you have to love the cover art for the EP. It makes me think of Amy Winehouse waking up after passing out in a dollar store.

Yesterday, I ran across this Columbia Records publicity photo of Susan Boyle with a framed Platinum record plaque for her album I Dreamed A Dream. The album is quadruple platinum in the United States. I hope she has the wall space for it.

I like the image that they used for the award. I almost think it would have made a better album cover than the black and white portrait that was used.

I'm not sayin' that singer and songwriter Robin Thicke looks like a monkey. However, I did have a monkey-related déjà vu moment when I saw the cover for his album Sex Therapy. The cover has an unfortunate similarity to that of 'A' vs Monkey Kong by British alernative band A.

A - 'A' vs. Monkey Kong (1999)

Posted by: nineone

Robin Thick - Sex Therapy (2009)

Posted by: Gulickson

Juicebox - Popcorn 69 (2006)

Posted by: Music Hog

I found this video about making wooden frames for album art on YouTube today. I'm sure that those of you who are handy with tools will find it useful.

Total Eclipse of the Toilet, originally uploaded by Driely Schwartz.

Here is a very funny and somewhat disturbing sleeveface photo that could have been inspired by the infamous Millie Jackson album Back to the S**t.

Merle Haggard and The Strangers - Branded Man (1967)

Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am (2010)

Pet Shop Boys are set to release a live performance CD/DVD combo album on February 16. Pandemonium: Live at the O2 Arena comes sporting yet another great album cover design by Farrow. The agency has created several great package designs for the British electronic pop duo, including the recent Christmas EP.

I don't have a music video from the Pandemonium tour. However, I did find a great fan-made video for Pandemonium.

Electronic dance music diva Billy Ray Martin is releasing covers of tracks from Cabaret Voltaire's 1983 album The Crackdown (right). The Crackdown Project is being released in two volumes. The first is scheduled to be released on February 15 and second on March 15.

A couple of promotional videos have been posted to YouTube. One is a clip of Chinese dancers performing in some unusual costumes with Martin's cover of Just Fascination replacing the audio.

What got my attention was the album art for both volumes of The Crackdown Project. Both features black and white photographs of marionettes. I think that the image used on Volume 1 has quite a bit more impact. It kind of reminds me of something Cabaret Voltaire or even Depeche Mode would have used on the cover of an album back in the '80s.

According to the press release for this project, the first EP will have 17 tracks and the second will have 12. Both are being released digitally.

On January 25, the United States Postal Service released a special edition of Ella Fitzgerald's classic album, Love Letters From Ella. The album is being released to promote the use of mail during the Valentine's Day season as well as Black History Month and will be available exclusively at a select group of 3,200 Post Offices across the United States and online.

First issued in 2007, Love Letters From Ella is a collection of love songs recorded with some of her favorite collaborators, including Count Basie and his orchestra, Joe Pass and André Previn. The special edition CD includes a full reproduction of Fitzgerald's commemorative USPS postage stamp, available for the first time since its original issue.

The USPS has released other CDs, including a 2009 holiday compilation. CDs are an easy-to-display point of purchase item. I will be interesting to see what kinds of projects they will take on in the future. I can imagine that future CDs will be released at the same time as commemorative postage stamps for recording artists.

Last year, Animal Collective released Merriweather Post Pavilion with an album cover featuring an amazing image was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a professor at the Department of Psychology of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. Kitaoka is known for creating visual illusions that appear to move. When staring at the cover for Merriweather Post Pavilion, the images appears to move in waves.

Until the release of the Animal Collective album, the most notable image created by Kitaoka was Rotating Snakes (right). It features a series of circular designs that appear to rotate.

Last month, a band called Driver Side Impact used Kitaoka's Rotating Snakes on the cover of their Double Vision EP. While the image certainly doesn't resemble the one on the Animal Collective cover in style, it was a déjà vu moment to see another Kitaoka image used as album art.

Driver Side Impact - Double Vision EP (2010)

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Posted by: Music Hog

Peter Thomas Sound Orchester - The Perfect Marriage / Every Night Of The Week (1969)

Posted by: zeefritz

Identical twin X Factor contestants Jedward have just released their debut single Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby). The music video was posted on YouTube yesterday. The song is a cover of Vanilla Ice's hit song from 1990. I know that it has been almost 20 years, but I don't think the world is ready for a new version of this song. Vanilla Ice is featured on the Jedward single.

I am an identical twin (right) and I am shuddering at the thought of all the cutsie album covers that are going to feature Jedward in the near future. It has been a long time since there has been a pair of blond haired twin boys on the pop music scene. The only ones of any consequence that I can recall were Nelson.

I doubt that Jedward's new single will make too much of an impact here in the United States. The cover features a portrait of the twins with hairstyles that only Vanilla Ice could appreciate. They are cute boys, but the retro look just doesn't work for me. Even in stereo, the over-gelled hairdos are definitely more of a hair don't.