Recently in On the Web Category

A video of the photo shoot for Eminem's latest album Recovery (right) is on its way to going viral today. The video has been featured on the MTV website and several blogs since being posted on YouTube yesterday.

It is a nice little documentary of the creation of the album cover. Eminem explains the concept and the art director and photographer are shown during the creative process.

I wish more recording artists would do this kind of thing. It is a great way to give credit to the creative professionals who work behind the scenes.

Coco Sumner is an English musician who records under the name I Blame Coco. Her first album, The Constant, is scheduled to be released in the U.K. on October 4, 2010. The first single Caesar (right), which features pop singer Robyn, was released in February.

Sumner is the daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler. So, her debut album is certain to be closely watched by the media.

Several days ago, a video of the photo shoot for the album was posted on YouTube. It is a short clip that lasts for one minute. It shows Sumner supposedly posing for photos, while a soundtrack plays.

The reason why I'm writing about this is that several of the comments on YouTube are reactions to Sumner's cigarette smoking. I have to admit that I was more turned off by her grubby-looking fingers and greasy hair.

I guess the days when recording artists could look cool by puffing on a cigarette are over. Looking at the album cover, I can't help thinking about Sumner's dirty hands fumbling with an old pocket watch and a smoke. She is a beautiful young woman. I don't know why she would want to look like a homeless person.

Roadrunner Records is doing a countdown of the Ten Greatest Album Covers in Roadrunner History. The label has been producing records in the metal genre since 1980, so I am sure the Roadrunner staff has a lot of album covers from which to choose.

Here is a video of Roadrunner senior VP Monte Conner talking about #10 in the countdown, King Diamond's Abigail.

I just found this video on YouTube in which Graham Nash tells a great story about the cover of the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album. I won't give it away. You have to listen to it yourself (I promise it is priceless).

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.

I stumbled on an interesting website today that promotes a “Belle & Sebastian Night” at a Chicago club with an online application that allows users to create their own version of the band’s album covers. The website uses a webcam photo as the background for the image. Users can choose various album titles and background colors.

I chose the 1996 album If You’re Feeling Sinister to create my graphic (right). It is actually a decent approximation of the real cover. I suppose I could have posed in bed with a book on my pillow to get a better result. It is certainly a unique way to promote an event.

I stumbled on this video of the photo shoot for Adam Lambert’s album cover today. It shows Lambert camping it up for the camera and trying out different looks. It is an interesting behind-the-scenes of how an album cover is photographed.

The cover of For Your Entertainment caused quite a stir when it was revealed in October. Tha album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and is currently at #29.

Like many others, I was disappointed with the album cover. It really can’t be taken seriously. Yet, it isn’t over-the-top enough to be considered camp.

In recognition of the 60th anniversary of jazz label Prestige Records, Concord Music Group has added a slideshow of classic Prestige Records album covers to their official Facebook page. The slideshow features 100 album covers from the Prestige catalog.

Paste magazine has published a list of the 25 Best Albums of the Decade (even though the decade has an entire month to go) and Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone was chosen as number one. I think this is a surprising choice, considering how many amazing album covers have been created over the last ten years. Middle Cyclone is a 2009 release. Perhaps the fact that it is so recent made it seem more impactful than time will prove.

The cover features Case crouched on the hood of a 1968 Mercury Cougar and weilding a sword. It is definitely a dynamic and memorable image. I just don’t think it deserves to be named the best of the decade.

The runner up is Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion, which features an optical illusion image by  Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a professor at the Department of Psychology of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. I have to agree with this choice completely. It is an amazing work of art and science.

In third place place is the repulsive cover for I Get Wet by Andrew W.K. I have disliked this particular cover since the moment it first grossed me out. This cover has actually appeared on several “worst ever” lists. I am somewhat surprised that it appears on the list.

Posted by: Music Hog

Posted by: locovic21legan

Check out the entire list. There are several other surprises, such as Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III that was chosen for being “simultaneously hilarious and also mildly disturbing” rather than good design.

On November 3, Art Vinyl, a British manufacturer of a unique flip frame display for 12” record sleeves, launched an online competition for the best sleeve art of 2009. Art Vinyl and a panel of experts, has selected 50 sleeve designs that are currently being shown in exhibitions in London and around the U.K.

The best album art will be chosen through a public poll on the Art Vinyl website (see link below) and the winners will be announced on January 5, 2010.

The Best Art Vinyl poll is in its fifth year. Previous winners of the award include Hard-Fi’s Stars of CCTV in 2005, Thom Yorke’s The Erase’ in 2006, The Cribs Man’s Needs, Woman’s Needs, Whatever in 2007 and last year the winner was Fleet Foxes’ self titled debut album, which won with more than 3,000 public votes.

The nominating panel for this year’s competition were: Mark Sinclair of Creative Review, Spencer Hicks of Rough Trade, John Doran, Editor of The Quietus and Andrew Heeps, Director of Art Vinyl 2.

http://www.artvinyl.com/en/nominate/nominations.html

Alternative rock band Weezer is known for using geeky humor in their music videos. However, their recent infomercial that promotes the their new album Raditude by including it with a special Weezer branded Snuggie is not a joke.

Those who order the infamous blanket with sleeves with the band’s name printed on the front will also get the Raditude CD. The Snuggie and Raditude combination comes in both a standard and deluxe version.

The album cover for Raditude caused an Internet sensation several weeks ago when it was revealed along with a Photoshop template that allows fans to add their own backgrounds to the image. The album was released today and is also available without the Snuggie on Amazon.com.

Imagine wearing a tribute to a classic album cover on your feet. That is the idea with Converse’s new Chuck Taylor high top sneakers that bear the words from The Clash’s London Calling. Fashion website Highsnobiety has the details and photos.

For Spring 2010 Converse continues their music collaboration series and presents a capsule footwear collection with The Clash. They present a series of Chuck Taylor Hi’s in the collection, including white leather versions, as well as black and khaki canvas versions. All sneakers come with interesting details on the sole and the upper, in the form of special tags, prints and more.

Continue reading…

In case you are not familiar with London Calling, it is recognized as one of the top rock albums of all time by many experts, including Rolling Stone magazine.

Online art, fashion, photography and entertainment media magazine Dazed Digital is conducting an album cover competition. The winner’s album art will be used as the cover for a compilation CD from U.K. record label Full Time Hobby called Hobbyism.

We’re looking for original work from aspiring photographers, illustrators, typographers and artists - it’s up to you what you create and how you go about it, but it will need to be able to fit on a standard CD and don’t forget this is for Full Time Hobby’s Hobbyism compilation!!

All artwork must be designed in high-resolution, 300dpi and final artwork may need to be modified due to any necessary production constraints.

http://www.dazeddigital.com/Projects/firetrap/

Rock band Phish is promoting their Halloween Festival 8 performance with a special website that displays album art for the various albums that they are considering covering live that evening. Albums that have literally been given the axe (or stabbed, shot with arrows, etc.) are the ones that have been removed from consideration.

http://www.phish.com/festival8/halloween/