Recently in On the Blogs Category

Animated Albums is a fun blog where you will find dozens of animated album covers, created from the cover art from many popular albums. One of my favorites is the Rolling Stones Tattoo You with an animated tattoo needle.

Animated Albums

A blogger who goes by the handle Jrod published an article today about how his photograph was selected by Interscope Records to be the cover of the forthcoming album Last Train to Paris by Diddy - Dirty Money. I don't know whether or not this account is true. However, I have had several photographs that I've posted to my Flickr account used for things like greeting cards and travel books by companies who found them through a Internet search. So, it is certainly believable.

When I accidentally designed Diddy's album cover

I've had to keep a secret for a little while now, but finally I can reveal all.

Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy, or Sean Combs, whatever you prefer to call him, has released a new album.

Last Train To Paris as part of the group Diddy Dirty Money.

So far everything is going along normal.

Diddy is a big recording star, he makes albums, all is good with the world.

But then something got fucked up, I got involved.

Interscope emailed me repeatedly, and then called me, they wanted one of my photos for the album cover.

Who was I to argue?

Especially as they were going to pay me.

So I gave them my picture, and then I had to wait for the Album to get made.

For some reason I never asked where on the cover the photo would go. I assumed the back cover with some writing over the top, I like my photo and all, but I never really saw it as front of an album cover material.

Apparently I was wrong.

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Jrod writes that on at least one website the commeters were calling the album cover "whack" and another asked visitors to rate it against the cover for Enrique Iglesias' Euphoria. He will have to come to AlbumArtExchange Blog when Last Train to Paris is released on June 22, 2010 to see how his cover fares in the Best Album Cover of the Week poll.

Personally, I like this album cover. I would have never guessed it was taken by an amateur photographer.

Recently, Jeff Crouch at Famous Album Covers invited me to become a regular contributor to the best fake album cover blog on the Internet. Creating parodies of album covers has always been a kick for me, so I gladly accepted the opportunity.

My latest contributions are parodies of the album covers of New York indie rock band Vampire Weekend (right). The photos are old snapshots from my family album. They were taken in 1960 of cousins who I haven't seen for decades.

The trend of using scans of old snapshots for album art is one that has gotten a little cliche. It seems as every indie band has been busy searching through shoeboxes of faded old photos.

Martian Holiday: S/T

Martian Holiday is a Chicago-based American indie rock band, formed in 2008 and signed to SuperSized Recordings. The band members include: Walter Cartwright, lead vocals and guitar; Omar Kahlil, keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals; Tom Christianson, drums and percussion; and Chachi Charles, bass guitar and backing vocals.

The band's name is derived from the film Christmas on Mars by psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips. The band first gained attention via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum. The members claim to be influenced by both 1960s psychedelic rock and Middle Eastern classical music, describing their genre of music as Bucktown Freak.

The members of the band met as students in the Department of Music at Chicago University where they studied ethnomusicology and composition; after graduation they self-produced their first album while concurrently working full-time jobs. The self-titled album met with immediate critical acclaim.

In 2009, Martian Holiday's song Terrible Terrorist was ranked 42th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of the year. In November 2009, they toured the United Kingdom with Kylie Minogue. They were declared "The Year's Best New Band" by Spin magazine in the March 2010 issue.

The band is also known for their unusually minimalist album cover art. The cover for Martian Holiday featured a Polaroid snapshot that lead singer Cartwright found in a family photo album. Cartwright revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that the people in the snapshot are his mother and her twin brother. The band's sophomore album Green Again is scheduled to be released in June 2010. The band's website was recently replaced with a single image that is believed to be the official album cover.

I recently uploaded a bunch of 1980s Beggars Banquet album covers and was inspired to greate a couple of new submissions for my favorite fake album cover blog, Famous Album Covers.

Many of the album covers from the era exhibit a similar design style. They often feature textured backgrounds and a morbid photograph of some sort. The photograph used in the first example is one that I took at the Santa Barbara Mission. The one used in the second is a vintage 19th century photograph.

I created the textures by scanning a couple of old journals that I had around the house. I think that I was able to recreate the look of the era. I am especially pleased with the second cover.

Micheli and the Macchiaioli: Macchie Macchie

Micheli and the Macchiaioli were a British alternative rock band active from 1978 to 1996. They are known for complex instrumentation and atmospheric and often unintelligible vocals.

Though formed in the post-punk and New Wave era, Micheli and the Macchiaioli continues to defy precise categorization. Their music is recognized as being a key influence on ethereal goth.

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Micheli and the Macchiaioli: Tomboj de niaj patroj

The sophomore album by British alternative rock band Micheli and the Macchiaioli, Tomboj de niaj patroj, cemented their place in the history of goth music. Not only were the compositions darker than that of the band's debut album Macchie Macchie, the heroin addiction of lead singer Connie Cooper resulted in a bizarre slurring of the already incomprehensible Esperanto lyrics.

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Famous Album Covers accepts submissions. If you want to submit a fictional cover and a story to go along with it, just visit the blog and use the email address listed.

One of my favorite blogs is Famous Album Covers. It is a collaborative blog that posts album covers for fictional bands, often with fictional stories. I have contributed my own creations several times.

The recent cover for Delphic's Acolyte (right) reminded me of several photographs I took of jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium a couple of years ago. The viscous trails behind the human figures floating in water look quite a bit like the beautiful tendrils of the jellies.

That inspired me to create a fictional album cover for Famous Album Covers using one of my photographs. I also chose to parody the recent trend in rock music of bands covering entire albums by other artists.

I really like the way my "famous" album cover turned out. I think that this image would make an excellent album cover for the right project.

Famous Album Covers is a unique collaborative blog that features short stories about fictional album covers by fictional bands. Here is my latest contibution to the collection. The photograph used on the album cover was taken last year by my friend Cliff Stewart at the annual Candy Cane Lane display in Pacific Grove, California.

Merry Elvmas: A Holiday Tribute to Elvis

Merry Elvmas is a classic Elvis Christmas album with classic Christmas songs done as only Elvis could do them redone by Famous Album Cover artists (mostly). Yes, you will thrill to hear Christmas tunes done by Elvis redone by Famous Album Cover artists. Just consider it the musical equivalent of Jim Carrey portraying Andy Kaufman. It’s all about sytle.

Santa Claus Is Back In Town - Edvard Just Knows
White Christmas - The XRays
Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) - String Theory
I’ll Be Home For Christmas - Before We Get Too Waco
Blue Christmas - The Blue Eels
Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) - Crik
O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Oliver and the Otters
Medley - Benita Becquer and the Fashionettes
(There’ll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me) - Bigfoot Meets Industrial Orange
I Believe - Runaway Train Engineers
Take My Hand, Precious Lord - Tin Drum
It Is No Secret (What God Can Do) - Vapor Mints

The story for the album was written by Famous Album Cover’s Jeff Crouch. For those of you who may be interested, the blog accepts submissions. The contact email address can be found at the Famous Album Covers blog.

A few days ago, I ran across a story on a blog about a professional wrestling promoter named Paul Heyman who believes that the cover for Rihanna’s single Russian Roulette may have been inspired by a cover for album he produced back in 1998. I was surprised when I saw that the story grew legs and was repeated by dozens of other blogs and online magazines.

Today, a blog called People Magazine Daily (not affiliated with People magazine) went so far as to accuse Rihanna’s record label of unauthorized use:

Rihanna’s photograph was an unauthorized use.

So when do you think she and her company will have to pay the Pied Piper?

So, I think it is time for the AlbumArtExchange’s most vocal album art expert to weigh in on the issue. This “scandal” needs a voice of reason.

Those of you who follow the AlbumArtExchange blog know that there are probably thousands of examples of these kinds of coincidences involving album covers. At first glance, it appears that these two covers have a great deal in common. The pose is similar and both figures are wrapped in barbed wire. If you’ve never seen a photograph of a person wrapped in barbed wire, you may come to the hasty conclusion that the later cover must have been inspired by the first. In truth, the artistic theme of a person wrapped in barbed wire has a long and kinky history.

Posted by: zeefritz

Posted by: zeefritz

Those of us who have studied art and photography recognize being wrapped in barbed wire as a fairly common theme that stems from the world of S&M and bondage. There are paintings and photographs showing women (and sometimes men) wrapped in barbed wire going back decades. Often these images are focused on a woman’s breasts, as with the Rihanna cover. I have found several examples online (below) that are very similar in concept to the Rihanna cover.

The fact that Rihanna is wearing a mask and a corset indicates that her cover was inspired by the S&M fetish, rather than professional wrestling. Where Paul Heyman got his inspiration is another question. I don’t think fans of professional wrestling realize just how much kinky stuff is displayed in this field of entertainment — sweaty, muscular men wrapped in barbed wire, hmm.

The larger issue that should be discussed is whether or not either cover is really appropriate for items that are displayed in public to a general audience that includes children. Being wrapped in barbed wire is a form of torture. Yet, both images unrealistically depict the person wrapped in barbed wire as being free of any obvious pain. Some may argue that such an image is more degrading to women.

Graphic designers and art directors typically have college degrees in the field of Art. They study paintings and photographs that often explore controversial subject matter. The problem with using those types of themes on an album cover is that the proper context is often warped or absent. What does it mean to a 12-year-old child to see his or her pop idol or a wrestling star wrapped in barbed wire? What is really being sold by both of these covers? Sex and violence appears to be the answer.

Let me begin by making it clear that I am NOT one of those people who don’t like to say “I told you so.” Back in August, I wrote about the new digital sales formats that both Apple and major record labels are introducing in order to boost album sales.

In Apple’s Project Cocktail vs. CMX: Either way indie artists lose, I wrote:

One thing that most of the news articles about these new formats seem to overlook is how they will impact recording artists. The digital music format was not developed by the record industry. The MP3 was something that was forced upon them. In addition, the technology that is used to produce an MP3 is not proprietary to the recording industry.

This means that independent recording artists and small record labels can easily produce their own product and distribute it for sale through online stores. This will not be the case with Apple’s Cocktail and CMX. These formats will be owned by the record industry and artists who wish to use them to promote their albums will undoubtedly have to make deals with the major labels.

If these formats end up being something that consumers like (and that’s probably not likely), it will be a step back for independent recording artists and small labels. They will almost certainly be locked out of the game by the big boys.

Yesterday, John Herman wrote an article for tech and gadget blog Gizmodo that reveals Apple is in fact shutting indie artists out of the iTunes LP sales format:

Apple to Indie Labels: iTunes LP Is Out of Your League

With a higher price than regular albums, no lossless audio and virtually no device support, iTunes LP seems like a hard sell. Turns out, it might be lame for musicians too—at least, the ones without platinum records.

I spoke with Brian McKinney, who runs Chocolate Lab Records, a smallish label out of Chicago. As someone who actually makes records, he saw potential in iTunes LP, and after seeing how incredibly simple the actual LP files are, started looking into making some himself. It didn’t go so well:

I contacted the digital distribution manager at my label’s distributor. He had a conference call with an iTunes rep and asked how we go about putting an LP together. He was told that LPs aren’t being offered to indies and that there are only about 12 LPs being offered right now. They also said that iTunes charges a $10,000 production fee for them as well. So that pretty much edges out the indie market completely.

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So, there you have it. I am still surprised that this wasn’t reported on much earlier. I know that my earlier blog post got quit a lot of traffic when it was published back in August. I was certain that someone who works with independent artists would raise this issue.

I didn’t take a genius to figure this one out. Oh, and global warming is real, too.

I’ve submitted another cover to Famous Albums Covers, the best fake album cover blog on the Internet. This time, I decided to create a creepy, Halloween type album cover. Check out all of the other fun “famous” album covers they have to offer.

behind the red door: come play with us

Behind the Red Door is an Athens, Georgia alternative rock band formed in 2004 by twin brothers Jacob and Jared Marx. The band took their name from the 2003 movie starring Kiefer Sutherland and Kyra Sedgwick about a man dying of AIDS.

“Our music is very dark and we deal with issues of death, violence and injustice quite a bit,” said Jared Marx in a recent interview. “Our drummer Stacy (Roper) was diagnosed with HIV shortly after he joined the band and that was why we wanted to name the band after that particular movie. There’s some meaning there that is too painful to go into.”

Come Play with Us is the band’s third studio album and it has met with some positive reviews, especially in the Athens music scene. The video for the first single “Death Panels for Sarah Palin” went viral on YouTube last month.

“That is Jared and me on the album cover,” said Jacob during the same interview. “We were about six years old. The hallway and red door have been added in. But that’s how we looked back then. Don’t ask us to tell you which one is which. Even we can’t tell.”

Creative Review published a blog article today about a French artist who uses Rubik’s Cubes to recreate classic album covers.

We’ve already seen people doing something similar with a Swedish bead art called pärlplattor. Basically, these designs reduce the original image to pixels and can deliver some impressive results. Our brains fill in the missing information and we can easily see the face of Jim Morrison or Michael Jackson.

Obviously, it would be much easier and far less expensive to use the pärlplattor beads than to take hundreds of Rubik’s Cubes apart. The end result is very much the same. Perhaps someone should let this French artist know about pärlplattor.

Space Invaders, Rubik’s Cubes and album art

Many of our readers will be aware of the work of French artist Invader, who has made a name for himself in recent years by creating mini mosaics of space invaders out of coloured tiles and installing them in street locations in cities around the world.

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Over the past few days, I’ve noticed that a significant number of visitors to the AAX blog came here via a Google search for singer-songwriter Kate Earl. I’m not sure what has sparked the sudden interest in this talented performer, but I’m happy to give my readers what they’re looking for.

Earl recently announced on her blog that her single Melody is going to be the free download of the week on iTunes beginning August 18.

Tell Your Friends!

My single “Melody” will be available as a free download, it is Itunes single of the week starting August 18th. The entire album will release that day! Woo hoo!

I already own her EP Introducing Kate Earl. It came out a couple of months ago. The covers for both the EP and the album have been uploaded to the AAX gallery. I have also posted a video that features Earl performing Melody live.

Since this is a blog about album cover art, I have to put in my two cents about the covers for the EP and the album. Kate Earl is uncommonly beautiful. If I were designing covers for this artist, I would only use the best headshots money can buy. Forget about multi-colored special effects and staged bedroom locations. This artist’s face could easily sell a million albums (see my recent article about Madonna). Her label needs to recognize that.

Posted by: zeefritz

Posted by: zeefritz

According to mjsbigblog, a celebrity makeup artist who did Adam Lambert’s makeup for an album cover photo shoot tweeted about the experience on Thursday. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Adam Lambert Album Cover Photo Shoot

Jasen Kaplan “celebrity makeup artist” twittered all day Thursday from the location of Adam Lambert’s album cover shoot. You’ve got the location, possibly the outfits, the accessories and some eye wear and of course, the jacket.

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Blogs are buzzing about a “new” Thriller 25th anniversary album. The cover being shown on the blogs writing about this rumor is that of the deluxe casebook edition that was released in February 2008.

Sorry, folks. This is not a new album. It is simply a deluxe edition of the Thriller 25 album that came out last year — several months after the 25th anniversary of Thriller. The cover was added to the AAX gallery in December 2008.

It is a great version of the album with extra tracks and Amazon.com has it in stock. It is on sale for $20.99. Just click the “buy now” button and you’ll be taken to Amazon.com.

It is likely that the unusual cover featuring Jackson surrounded by zombies from the Thriller video is what started the rumor. Not very many people are familiar with this particular cover. Sorry to disappoint those who thought this was a new release.

I’ve contributed another cover to Famous Album Covers. This one was inspired by the recent conspiracy theories surrounding Obama’s healthcare proposal.

Washington D.C. alternative rock band Kill Granny has just released their latest album Medicate Me. Having recently been fired by their label, U.S.A. Productions, the album was self-produced on a very limited budget and recorded in a small studio in the D.C. area.

Sadly, Kill Granny’s limited resources are quite evident on this album. The tracks are cliche and transparent. The music is uninspired and seems to have been borrowed from previous recordings.

It seems that Kill Granny’s stock in trade of attempting to shock their audience has become far too predictable. This is an album that nobody is buying.

There are lots of new covers to see a Famous Album Covers. Check them out!

Lucas Silviera, the singer for alternative rock band The Cliks, answered questions about transistioning from female to male and the meaning behind the group’s latest album cover in an interview on The New Gay blog today.

LS: I hate to dwell too much on your album art, but I thought the cover image was very brave. Was exposing your chest scars your decision?

TNG: Completely my decision. The publicist was very adamant about it; they were very wary of the situation. Even my band members were wary and thought that it was not the best idea, but when people tell me not to do something that’s when I want to do it even more. It’s not that the label wasn’t supportive. They were worried. I’d have to fight a lot, I think that a lot of people didn’t understand what I was trying to express in doing that. People read into stuff about me trying to be a big trans poster boy. To me it was about exposing myself as a human being, and I thought that that was the best format to do it. In my opinion, an album cover shouldn’t just be a band standing there with fucking guitars looking stupid. The purpose of creating music is to connect to people and create art. If you can’t evoke emotion with the cover, no one will go into it. It’s like a book. It’s such a valuable medium to have this visual attached to something that is sonic. The death of the album cover is sad. I remember looking through the cover of [Pink Floyd’s] The Wall, and being so connected to the imagery through the music. I’m glad i fought for it. Now it’s not just an album cover, it’s a beautiful piece of art.

Read the entire interview…

Here is music video for The Cliks title track, Dirty King: