(v) (v_i) (version_industries)

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MB landscape / portrait_record sleeve

_what

record sleeves for the new york-based band, matte black.

_how

old friends matte black have a new record coming out. in fact they have a double-album and its called, landscape / portrait. the first part, landscape, herald's a brand new sound for the band. the second part, portrait, weaves that new sound back into their original style of songwriting.

we won't get into the details about the artwork just yet as the records are not out, but you can listen to two songs from them here and preorder digital copies of them here:

landscape preorder

portrait preorder

_link

matteblack.bandcamp.com

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65dos wild light anniversary_tour poster

_what

poster for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic

_how

it's been 10 years since 65daysofstatic's remarkable LP wild light was released. to mark this anniversary the band have announced a 2023 tour dedicated to the record. in turn we were asked if we might make the poster.

caspar made the wild light artwork digitally in 2012/13 using adobe's illustrator (shapes) and photoshop (textures and type). going back into the files and hauling something poster-worthy from the wreckage was rewarding. not least because there were some intricate pieces in there that were never used in the record's original packaging and promotional materials. the strange life-form you see here being one of them.

_link

live.65daysofstatic.com

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telex from MIDI city_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the berlin-based band, polinski.

_how

here's the album cover for the aforementioned new polinski LP, telex from MIDI city. the record will be released on february 24th on data airlines.

more details soon.

_link

polin.ski

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distant friend, i love you!_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the berlin-based band, polinski.

_how

paul wolinski has returned as polinski, his 65daysofstatic side-project. distant friend, i love you! is the first single from his forthcoming sophomore LP, telex from MIDI city. the record will be released through dataairlines, home of makeup and vanity set amongst others.

we made the LP cover artwork for the new record first, and then made this single cover second. the latter photographed in the rainy streets of berlin not so many days ago.

you can watch the fantastic music video paul made for distant friend, i love you! here.

_link

polin.ski

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protomen the fight_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, the protomen.

_how

the protomen sent us their new song, "the fight," and we got to work. the band are always clear on the imagery they want to accompany their music, and john delucca and caspar do their best to realize that vision.

this time around the band needed a new logo as well as a revised visual aesthetic. john drew the cityscape you see here, and caspar drew the logo typeface and the rest of the layout. the aesthetic references are we're sure very obvious to some, but above all we hope you find it all a fitting visual accompaniment to the song.

you can listen to "the fight " here.

_link

makeupandvanityset.bandcamp.com/album/time-data099

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MAVS time_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

when makeup and vanity set released endless destiny we started talking to them about music videos for the record. matt pusti told us he was looking for a video for the song "time," which was also one of our favourites on the record. we'd previously worked with film director drew lint on his feature film M/M, and he immediately came to mind for this project.

we reached out to drew and he was into it. soon we were going back and forth with him exchanging ideas for the piece. fast forward to a few months later and we're all sitting here in awe of the video he'd made for us. matt pusti then said he was going to make an EP in support of it, with "time" as the title track. the great folks over at data airlines agreed to put the EP out on vinyl, and asked that we might make a record sleeve that used images from the video. we hope you dig the results.

_link

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jasmin kaset_record sleeve

i will never let you go from me 7-inch mockup

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based singer, jasmin kaset.

_how

old friend and long-standing collaborator michael eades reached out to us with an interest in us doing some more work for his record label, YK records. this time around he was releasing two singles for jasmin kaset. jasmin we'd worked with before. we created the record cover for band, you drive. this time around we were to make cover artwork for a double a-side 7-inch single she was putting out. the covers you see here are the result of this new collaboration. jasmin was taken by the covers of a late 80s yugoslavian computer magazine called, racunari, and asked that we adapt a photoshoot she'd had done into the style of that magazine.

all photography by bill reynolds.

_link

jasminkaset.bandcamp.com/album/have-you-met-me-yet

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you drive_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, you drive.

_how

you drive were asked to write a song for the third season of the girlfriend experience. the song they wrote was used in a virtual reality orgy scene, and makes for quite the beautiful crescendo. excited to develop another aesthetic for you drive, we began by visualizing three lyrical phrases from the song: "go on and hit them with the haymaker lover," "put your mouth where you money" and "i am a new machine." in doing so we explored the idea of creating and packaging a synthetic being using just a flatbed scanner, some coins and an obliging friend. the song is called "such a perfect thing" and you can listen to it via the link below.

_link

youdrive.bandcamp.com/track/such-a-perfect-thing

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65dos available data_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic.

_how

this is one of a series of covers 65daysofstatic designed themselves as a part of their ongoing wreckage systems project. this particular EP cover they asked if we could apply our own treatment to. we printed out the artwork they'd made and got to work on it with a sponge, some water and a metal surface.

_link

65daysofstatic.bandcamp.com/album/available-data

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AC scuro chiaro_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the portugal-based musician, alessandro cortini.

_how

scuro chiaro is the 2nd album by alessandro cortini to be released on mute records. just as with his previous record, volume massimo, the photography you see here is by emilie elizabeth.

it was up to us to find a way to talk about the concept of "chiaro scuro" with emilie's photos and any other elements we saw fit. the result is a piece that talks not just about light and shadow, but also the nature, shape and form of sound.

_link

mutebank.co.uk/collections/alessandro-cortini

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65dos asymmetry_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic.

_how

65daysofstatic wrote and released this song in support of palestine and its recent conflicts with israel. the song was released on bandcamp on a "pay what you want" basis with all proceeds going to medical aid for palestine. for the first 24 hours of the song's release the band matched all sales with money from their own pockets. the band raised 4000 GBP in the end.

the song's artwork was created using a photograph caspar took in berlin during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.

_link

65daysofstatic.bandcamp.com/track/asymmetry

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MAVS heart of batman_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

matthew pusti of makeup and vanity set is scoring more and more films these days. this time around he was asked to score a documentary made about the making of the original batman: the animated series. to celebrate the release of the soundtrack on record store day, we teamed up once again with sound machine records to create something pretty special. the result is a visual expression of the aim of the documentary and a fresher take on the typical batman symbolism.

_link

makeupandvanityset.com/heart-of-batman

_awards

runner-up in the best record store day vinyl category for the making vinyl packaging awards.

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65DOS a year of wreckage_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic.

_how

through 2020, the first year of the global pandemic, 65daysofstatic began work on an ongoing subscription project. fans made regular payments in order to receive a constant supply of music and other material throughout the year, published the moment it was produced. by the end of the year the band realized that in amongst the bits and pieces they'd worked on there were two records worth of material that were worth casting in stone. thus we began work on the two vinyl releases you see here.

the packaging is an attempt to turn the digital graphics 65 created on their computer screens during the year into an original lasting physical experience one could see and touch. in and of itself a reminder perhaps of one of the strangest years of our shared lives thus far.

_link

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bbd 4_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the los angeles-based band, big black delta.

_how

the record cover for big black delta's fourth LP was made in collaboration with the photographer and filmmaker matt sundin.

in the fall of 2019 matt, jonathan bates (singer and songwriter of big black delta) and caspar went to death valley together to take some time off. later when jon had finished his latest album he expressed an interest in using the images from that trip for the album's accompanying artwork. thus every image you see through the album's packaging and the digital singles that went with it, were images taken from this trip. in particular the cover image was taken by caspar, whilst every other image was taken by matt.

_link

bigblackdelta.bandcamp.com/album/4

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MAVS breaking news_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

'breaking news' is the 4th record in a series of imaginary soundtrack albums by matthew pusti, AKA makeup and vanity set. it is the first record in a start of a new trilogy, but a part of a larger series under the name 'charles park'. the narrative of this record is based more around a criticism of the american news media. based on a short plot synopsis from matt, long-standing collaborator john delucca and i set to work on creating a cover that we felt set the tone of the movie inside matt's head. the result of that work you can see here.

_link

store.mute.com/browse/mute/products/alessandro-cortini-volume-massimo

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AC volume massimo_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the berlin-based musician, alessandro cortini.

_how

old friend and long-standing collaborator, alessandro cortini, asked us to take care of the logo and design the layouts for his new album, volume massimo. photographer emilie elizabeth had already shot the beautiful cover photographs you see here when we joined the project. it was then our task to frame these images with a rich yet minimal design aesthetic that further harmonized with the album's overall tone. in the end we went with three different covers for the album - one for the vinyl, one for the CD and one for the digital / streaming edition.

_link

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jasper byrne_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the cambridge-based musician, jasper byrne.

_how

jasper byrne and caspar go way back. they used to make computer games together as teenagers. night is jasper's latest record and is a beautiful, atmospheric and cinematic collection of synth-based songs. the album cover you see here makes prominant use of a photograph by the brilliant liam wong. as ever we hope the work gives you an idea of the music you're about to hear.

_link

spacerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/night

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MAVS up and vanished season 2_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

continuing our long-standing devotion to offering makeup and vanity set the best packaging we can, we were very happy that he canned our initial attempts at making a cover for up and vanished's second season. it was in throwing out all of our original ideas that we stumbled across this idea for cover you see here now. the burnt photograph and the flower both represent elements of the podcast's true crime narrative and they collage together to further expand upon that same narrative.

_link

upandvanished.com

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protomen 2018 tour poster_tour poster

_what

tour poster for the nashville-based band, the protomen

_how

the protomen recently headed out west to road test some new material from their forthcoming LP. after some discussion john delucca set to work drawing and painting the image you see here. the image speaks for itself of course and, as ever, hints at elements of the band's ongoing conceptual narrative and as much as their reality.

_link

protomen

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MAVS shadow circuit_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

"the future past. lights on a horizon. blood in your veins. old visions. low frequencies fading across night. the roar of the masses. the reflection of bulbs overhead, on printed plastic and steel. a fight to survive, all or nothing. shadow circuit."

this was the story matt pusti (AKA makeup and vanity set) had written and was thus scoring the soundtrack for when he created this album. what you see here is the logo design and record sleeve artwork we created to reflect this narrative.

_link

makeupandvanityset.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-circuit

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sonoio fine_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the berlin-based band, sonoio.

_how

for this the third and final sonoio release, alessandro cortini asked us to produce artwork that offered a more cinematic visual than last time. after much discussion we landed on the idea of building a film set, lighting it and photographing it. we then reached out to long-time collaborator, the photographer matt sundin, and got to work sourcing all the necessary materials. the final cover offers both a commentary on the dual translations (italian and english) of the album's title, 'fine,' and a visual suggestion of the sonic and lyrical nature of the music.

the record is available through dais records on vinyl, cd and all streaming services. if you have the means, we cannot recommend a physical copy of the record enough. it offers a rich accompaniment to what is already a really beautiful listening experience.

_link

sonoio.org

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you drive_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, you drive.

_how

here's the artwork we created for the first single from you drive's debut album. the song is called new. art direction and design by us, photography by jeff brown.

_link

you-drive.co

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you drive_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, you drive.

_how

you drive is a new band formed by long-term collaborators of ours, makeup and vanity set, and the singer / song-writer jasmin kaset. a few months ago they approached us to create their debut album artwork. the plan for the record was to release it on vinyl. after listening to the record for some time we took a feeling for the overall tone and some lyrical fragments from the songs, and decided to make a series of still life photographs that we'd then insert into the jacket design in one form or another. working in collaboration with the photographer, jeff brown, we sourced various objects, built a series of sets in our studio and got to work arranging and lighting things. we then created abstract interpretations of the same photographs and used those as counterpoint pieces throughout the layouts. the resulting package we feel speaks to the music in both direct and indirect ways.

_link

you-drive.co

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mellowdrone_show posters

_what

reunion show posters for the band, mellowdrone.

_how

old friends and collaborators mellowdrone reunited this year for a couple of shows in los angeles. singer jonathan bates asked us to create a poster that talked about "growing up / becoming adult". the paintings we used as a basis for the posters are "don quixote", by honore daumier and "the triumph of surrealism" by max ernst.

the posters were made using a printer and a scanner. the manual elongation of the images, to us, spoke to the themes jon wanted us to explore.

_link

melllowdrone.com

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the alphabet zero_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, the alphabet zero.

_how

andy walker found our work through his affiliations with makeup and vanity set. working in a similar sonic realm he was keen to create a heavily narrative driven image to accompany his new record. to this end he described to us a very particular set of moments he'd envisioned whilst composing the tracks, and we set about creating a single image that we felt best captured that.

_link

soundcloud.com/thealphabetzero

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65DOS no man's sky_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic.

_how

our friends and long-standing collaborators 65daysofstatic were hired to write the score to the forthcoming game, no man's sky. 65 in turn asked us to put together the artwork for the soundtrack itself. after listening to the music for months we had a long chat with the band and came up with a loose aesthetic trajectory. two or three different approaches were fully explored before we settled upon what you see here.

the landscape paintings you see embedded into the various covers are by another of our long-term collaborators, john delucca.

the record is available here in various physical and digital formats.

_link

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MAVS brigador vol. I_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

makeup and vanity set was asked to score the forthcoming video game brigador. the game developers, telefuture and yk records to release two volumes of the soundtrack on vinyl and other formats. what you see here is the sleeve artwork we made in collaboration with jack monahan, the game's own 3D graphics artist.

_link

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BBD tragame tierra_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the los angeles-based band, big black delta.

_how

the cover for big black delta's 2nd LP, tragame tierra, was the 'last man standing' after trying a series of ideas that attempted to capture the subtler qualities of the new tracks. in the end we settled on a minimal aesthetic, colours that jon felt were closer to his sensibilities these days and a photograph jon liked of himself taken by jeff brown, and we developed things from there.

_link

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MB dust of this planet_record sleeve

_what

artwork for matte black's second album, dust of this planet.

_how

matte black are old friends and with the release of their sophomore LP they asked that we handle artwork duties. the record's closing track 'time's arrow' immediately conjured an image in our heads of a mass of people running from something toward a great darkness. caspar asked his father, thomas newbolt, to draw such an image in pencil and watercolour. caspar then worked on it digitally until it reached the form it is in now.

_link

matteblackband.com

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BBD RCVR_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the los angeles-based band, big black delta.

_how

_link

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MAVS wilderness_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

2 years in the making, wilderness is the new album from our good friends and longstanding collaborators, makeup and vanity set. the artwork stems from the narrative matthew pusti wrote for the record has he composed it. a combination of bespoke photography and extensive digital collage-work, it's perhaps our most involved record sleeve to date.

the record features the talents of many friends including big black delta, the protomen, witchoria and joey ciccoline. the short film accompanying the record's release and is featured in part in the album's video trailer above.

_link

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in cold blood_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the los angeles-based band, white sea.

_how

here is the unused cover we did for white sea's in cold blood LP. in the end morgan decided she wanted to take a different aesthetic direction for the album, but we're still proud of how this turned out. furthermore you can now see the development from the single cover we did, through to the final LP.

_link

whiteseamusic.com

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protomen the cover up_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, the protomen.

_how

_link

_tags

thanks for calling_music video

_what

music video for the los angeles-based band, sonoio

_how

sonoio is one of the many side projects of alessandro cortini. the moment he sent us a demo of 'thanks for calling' we set to work devising a treatment that we felt did the song justice, psychologically and tonally. alessandro was keen not to be in the video this time, so matt sundin and caspar took the opportunity to devise a story that spoke to some of their own personal experiences. the result is a hitchcockian / felliniesque flight of fantasy.

you can read more about the making of the film on our blog here.

_link

sonoio.org

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MAVS charles park trilogy_record sleeve, poster + trailer

_what

record sleeve, poster + trailer for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

telefuture records approached makeup and vanity set with the idea of re-releasing their popular charles park records as a trilogy box set. the moment the project got a green light john delucca, joey ciccoline and ourselves were put to work in tying the overall package together visually.

john was sent a few paragraphs detailing the narrative behind each album. he then started to create a poster that we could divide into three halves, to represent the three parts of the story.

we were asked to create the logo, cover and overall packaging for the record. the logo we made is pretty self-explanatory, but the packaging was a subtler affair. utilizing the bokeh affect often seen in films when the camera is focussing on objects in the foreground, we realized we could represent each part of the trilogy with a different coloured circle. in this way the cover image could say a lot with very little, and each record within the packaging could be differentiated by its own red, blue or brown graphic.

joey was then sent the logo and proceeded to shoot the necessary footage to create the teaser trailer for the trilogy, this clip was the first promotional piece released to the general public. once released the limited edition box set sold out in 2 days, but you can still purchase the album digitally here.

_link

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MAVS manifold_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, makeup and vanity set.

_how

the threat of anthony scott burns and makeup and vanity set collaborating on a project together had been growing at an exciting rate. finally with the forthcoming release of burns' sci-fi short 'manifold,' we get a preview of things to come in the form of the score he asked makeup and vanity set to write for it. including two new, unreleased tracks, the score is now an EP soon to be released on telefuture records.

what you see here is the sleeve artwork we created to support the release. the record is available now for preorder here.

_link

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white sea_record cover

_what

artwork for white sea's single, they don't know.

_how

we've been chatting with morgan kibby of white sea and m83 about collaborating for some years now. opportunities have come and gone like black dogs running at night. that was until a few months ago when she told us her new record was done and it was called 'in cold blood'. listening to it confirmed that our hearts had started racing for good reason - this was as close as she could have possibly come to our sensibilities, and we had to seize the moment. what you see here is the artwork for the first single, 'they don't know,' which in many ways foreshadows the more elaborate work we've done on the album cover. patrick nagel meets david lynch meets american psycho, if you will.

_link

whiteseamusic.com

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activator_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the new york-based band, activator.

_how

activator approached us to handle the sleeve artwork for their eponymous debut album. a dark, brutal, relationship-based thrash metal record, it played into our sensibilities nicely. sketching out basic layout on a scrap of paper, we photographed it and sent it to the incredible john delucca. 3 days later he sent back a final drawing and we began to colour it. the resulting image is a visual allegory commenting on whether it's really the relationship that's killing you, or whether it's actually something else.

_link

activatornyc.com

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65DOS wild light_record sleeve

_what

record sleeve for the sheffield-based band, 65daysofstatic.

_how

wild light is 65daysofstatic's sixth LP. presented with manifestos, poems, drawings, prints and transcripts of studio discussions about the concept of 'wild light', we set about producing a piece of work that we felt best encapsulated these ideas whilst also touching on how it felt to listen to the music itself. the result is something we're very proud of, and we hope is something that will change in meaning when you hear the music itself.

_link

_tags

surachai_record sleeve

_what

artwork for surachai's LP, embraced.

_how

we were introduced to surachai by alessandro cortini of SONOIO. a fierce individual, surachai makes a form of black metal that he calls plagued metal. whatever you want to call it, his dark, aggressive and intricate songs take you to a very particular place.

for his latest LP he asked that we tackle the artwork. ordinarily, given the pre-established hallmarks of the black metal scene, this is something we might not have jumped at immediately. however given surachai's taste for esoteric artwork (formerly employing the likes of bridget driessen and sarah sitkin to handle the task), we knew he would be open to an entirely fresh interpretation of his music.

you can read more about the making of the artwork here.

_link

surachai.org

_tags

BBD side of the road_record sleeve

_what

artwork for big black delta's single, side of the road.

_how

inspired by a salvador dali painting and discussions about how to evolve the BBD aesthetic as we approach the foot of the mountain that will eventually be the second LP, this cover is in some ways perhaps the band's most figurative yet. the human eye instinctively sees faces in abstract patterns, and of course it's no incident that that is what you might see here. however what you take from it as you listen to the song is of course your decision. either way we hope you enjoy the experience.

_link

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protomen drove all night_record sleeve

_what

artwork for the protomen's cassette single, i drove all night.

_how

the first single from the protomen's forthcoming covers record was the roy orbison song, i drove all night. the song was of course chosen because of how directly it tied in with and expanded upon the band's long-running, conceptual narrative. in the same fashion the artwork had a very clear path to follow. once again employing the talents of john delucca, we set about creating a design that both expanded on the protomen's story, but also paid homage again to many of their key influences. releasing it on cassette only was of course the final gesture that completed the project.

if you're interested you can read more about the development of the artwork on our blog. otherwise by all means grab a copy of the single here, whilst stocks last.

_tags

BBD ifuckingloveyou / betamax_record sleeve

_what

artwork for the singles off of big black delta's debut LP, BBDLP1

_how

after signing to nerve management, big black delta have been set to release a series of singles both on vinyl and digitally. challenged with a way of making these releases unusual in some way, given some of the songs have been out for a while, we suggested that perhaps each release's artwork tesselate with the next. this way all the singles can form a larger image once they've all been collected. at the time of writing two releases have been put out, IFUCKINGLOVEYOU and betamax, which you can see here.

_link

_tags

MAVS 88:88 VHS_packaging + poster

_what

VHS tape and poster for makeup and vanity set's film soundtrack, 88:88.

_how

this was a project that started out with MAVS sending us demos and whispering things about it possibly being a film soundtrack. we were then contacted by the film's director, joey ciccoline. joey showed us the film and sent some ideas he'd had for possible directions for the artwork. included in his package was a poster for the 1985 kid's science fiction film, the explorers. this poster single handedly informed the initial designs we created for the film soundtrack. these designs were then scrapped when joey then expressed interest more in a design that told you less about the narrative, and gave you simply a sense of mystery.

fortunately MAVS then had the idea to do a parallel release in the form of a limited edition VHS cassette and poster. this would then come out later than the official film artwork, and give the original pieces we created a place to live. a tangent universe if you will.

you can see photos of the VHS tape here.

_link

8888film.com

_tags

protomen a night of queen_record sleeve + tour poster

_what

record sleeve for the nashville-based band, the protomen

_how

here's another one of the many fruits of our on-going collaborations with the protomen. the band played a tribute night in nashville, TN, back in late 2010 and the recordings came out so well they decided to release it. performing as 'queen' for the night, we decided to recreate the iconic 'queen II' record cover in a studio in brooklyn. the photography is by long-time (v) collaborator matt sundin, and the logo work is by M L hope. we handled the art direction, post-production + layout duties.

_link

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BBD self titled_record sleeve + poster

_what

artwork for big black delta's debut LP, BBDLP1

_how

continuing the very fluid back and forth between us and jonathan bates, this the cover for the forthcoming BBDLP1 is our attempt at capturing the immensity that is this new record. whether you are listening to the lush love song that is 'capsize' or the vastness, heaving space trip that is 'BBD3', we wanted the cover to echo both the inner workings of jon's mind as well as the beautiful, dark recesses of the universe. no longer the man with his head exploding on the cover of mellowdrone's 'angry bear', we now step deeper inside that thinking and in doing so reach much further out into space as we get involved with his obsession with UFO folk-lore and his desire to be taken away from his planet by whatever means possible.

_link

_tags

labyrinths_record sleeve, poster + music video

_what

artwork and music video for polinski's debut album, labyrinths

_how

paul wolinski is one quarter of the experimental musical machine that is 65daysofstatic. polinski is his more purely electronic side-project.

the discussions for how to handle the artwork for the album started years before the record was even a twinkle in his eye. we'd talked at length for years about films, musics, books, games and designs that appeal to us for whatever reason. whether it be the books of jeff noon or the cassette loading games of sinclair ZX spectrum, there was an innate understanding of what this solo project would demand in terms of artwork the moment the demos started to come together.

the final artwork started with us coming up with a story that would capture paul's feelings about various things and how he wanted to translated those into a science fiction tale of some kind. the next step was padding that story out with various touchstone visual elements and then translating those into a series of panels that we could use for the album and any singles. the first image we put together turned out to be the album cover as it is now, and this went onto influence paul's approach to making the music. he then sent us more demos that inspired the creation of more panels, and so the back and forth went until we had enough to illustrate the story / world we had created.

the music video for the album's first single, stitches, was an attempt to bring back the feeling of using the sinclair ZX spectrum computer, whilst detailing some of the album's narrative elements. paul and caspar wrote the video's story, which expanded upon the lyrics jonathan bates from big black delta was singing on the song. john delucca then beautifully redrew and further illustrated the graphics caspar had made for the vinyl record's packaging in pixel art format, and josiah newbolt then animated those graphics.

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polinskimusic.net

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MAVS never let go_record sleeve

_what

artwork for makeup and vanity set's EP, never let go.

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working with makeup and vanity set continues to be a very exciting, fluid and rewarding process. this time around, in terms of a brief, we were given the recordings themselves, informed that the release would be out on cassette only and asked that we try to echo a visual from the VHS era of home entertainment. old enough to have lived through a great portion of the VHS and cassette eras, we understood how this record would sound when fans heard it and very much where it was coming from in terms of cinematic narrative. the decision to in some way make it photographic and involve some sort of backlit misty scene came very quickly, and was undeniably influenced by our shared love for shows from that era like twin peaks and the x-files. so it was then a matter of building that out with a combination of photographic elements and a series of photoshop brushes and textures. finally, the typography came about as a result of wanting something elegant and not too cliche, but that would also feel a little like film credits.

you can read more about the making of the artwork here.

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enough_music video, record sleeve + print

_what

music video + print design for LA-based band, sonoio

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we'd been aware for a while that sonoio (alessandro cortini) intended to follow up his unique and well received experimental synth debut, with a 'sequel' record of some kind. furthermore alessandro was toying with the idea of a music video this time and asked that we might pitch a few ideas to him for a couple of different songs on the record. we came up with 3-4 ideas he chose the most 'live performance' based concept that we had and soon things were under way. the video was for the song enough, which to us was one of the songs that immediately jumped out on the record when hearing it for the first time. once more we recruited the talents of matt sundin (who helped us shoot the 65daysofstatic and war widow album covers) and soon after alessandro was flying to new york to shoot the video with us in brooklyn.

you can read more about making the artwork + video here.

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sonoio.org

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war widow_record sleeve

_what

LP artwork for the LA-based band, war widow

_how

after accidentally hearing a clip from this band's new record, we sent some designs through that caused them to cancel the print job they already had running. sourcing photographers from as far as eastern europe, the resulting 12 inch vinyl artwork proved to be a very fast, very exciting collaboration between people in los angeles, new york and the ukraine. you can read more about the creation of the artwork here.

a huge thanks to photographers alex alekseenko and matt sundin, without whom this project would have never come about.

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warwidowmusic.com

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daft punk_website

_what

website for the tron legacy soundtrack by daft punk

_how

understanding that we were enormous fans of the original TRON film, and its forthcoming sequel, topspin asked us to create a site to gather emails for the new film's soundtrack release.

given the soundtrack was created by daft punk it was safe to assume anything we made would be very popular with music geeks and film buffs alike. as such, we took full advantage of some of the latest web technologies (with help from mr. doob) and produced a site that works on iphones, ipads as well as regular machines. the end result is a streamlined data collection / e-commerce site with a series of film-related easter-eggs for fans to discover.

_features

html5 / javascript UI
keyboard input based triggers
ascii art source code
topspin E4M integration

_link

versionindustries.com/archive/tron

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IFUCKINGLOVEYOU_music video, record sleeve + poster

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EP artwork + music video for the LA-based band, big black delta

_how

jonathan bates, better known for his part in the fantastic band mellowdrone, recently got back in touch with us regarding a 'new thing' he was working on. as luck would have it, it was some seriously rich and rewarding new music. the kind which fills the mind with images pretty fast. well, the next thing you know we're watching the thundercats intro in total awe, debating wallpapering our apartment walls with TRON screenshots, and obsessing over UFOs. how one thing lead to another is neither here nor there, but it turns out we were all down with this new thing ... and it was taking us places.

what then ensued was the constant, rapid exchange of music for artwork, much the way a choir does their psalms and responses. there's no question in our minds now that big black delta was the only name you could use to sum up the music, what inspired it and everything we'd ultimately made together from that point forward. cut then to just a few days ago. cut right to the moment when we slung the cover you see above onto the proverbial coffee table. cut to us all looking at each other like we knew it was time. yep, ufologists were about to get some melody in their google.

additionally we shot and edited a short film to accompany the release of the song IFUCKINGLOVEYOU. it was shot over a couple of days around independence day in los angeles. the idea was simply to capture everything we got up to in the short time we had, be that searching the night sky for flashing lights, watching dan akroyd talking about UFOs on youtube or jonathan bates making strange noises on his studio floor. we hope the end result, if nothing else, makes you feel like all these things are related. not forcibly, but maybe with a little serendipity.

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65DOS we were exploding anyway_record sleeve

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artwork for 65daysofstatic's fourth album, we were exploding anyway.

_how

another worthy collaboration with our good friends, 65daysofstatic. please read the full story on the making of the artwork here. all photography by matt sundin, except the heavy sky EP.

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protomen act II_record sleeve + poster

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artwork for the protomen's second album, act 2 - the father of death

_how

everything about this record cover + poster had to be bigger and better. the moment we heard act 2 we knew the protomen had taken things far beyond anyone's imagining, and that we were under a huge amount of pressure now to produce artwork that echoed that through & through. we were aware of john delucca's work after collaborating with him on a previous poster for the band, and hired him once again to produce the fantastic 'streets of fire' inspired drawing you see above. we then took care of the sleeve + poster layouts and also put together the 24 page booklet that would detail the story behind the music on the album.

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