A Really Really Really Good Design Firm
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Posts tagged ‘Music’
Continuing the look for our series of ESG releases for Fire Records, we took a playful take on the energy inherent in their single “Dance.” The song is funky fun, while still sounding like only ESG can. You might have heard it as part of the recent xbox campaign. The sleeve made such an impact on record store shelves that it sold out in a matter of days. Everybody wants to dance, and everybody wants to dance now!
I sometimes labor over solutions, agonizing my way through every minor detail and burying myself in research until I find an idea that suits me – and then I usually need to come up with at least two more! This isn’t one of those moments. In capturing the essence of this program, pairing emerging writers with the area’s most creative musicians, I knew what to do immediately. Sometimes the obvious (to me at least) solution is the best. The key is in how you execute it. Finding the perfect book, I still managed to agonize over photographing it at just the right angle – haha.
West Main Development is a pretty special record label in Baltimore that treads in the cast off and unloved world of the live track and b-side. Ensuring that such gems do not go unheard, they work tirelessly to find a sweet little spot in your playlist for some of the most adventurous music being produced today. Putting some of these acts under one roof – actually smack dab in the middle of a beautiful old church in downtown b’more for a one night only showcase – we wanted to make something memorable and quirky to properly “represent” as the kids say. (My kid doesn’t say that, but I am pretty sure I read about such vocabulary in a reliable source.) The first person to e-mail me the name of the figure on the top wins a prize pack of mystery posters. Seriously. No hints though.
Spending countless hours (days and months at this count more likely!) digging through crates of vinyl, I have become addicted to the intoxicating mix of visual discovery and tactile sensation that accompanies the scent of the hunt. Absolutely nothing brings me peace like two hours in a record store can. Unfortunately, those stores have slowly disappeared over the years, but that has made events such as this all the more enjoyable. Used as a promotional device, as well as a commemorative piece of merchandise, I could only hope to capture but a sliver of the happiness this day brings me.
Too many photos? Not possible when you are dealing with Tom Jones! This is the DVD packaging for his legendary variety show (everyone smoking while they sing! All the top performers of the day! Ginormous backdrops of Tom’s face!!!!!!) Classic in every way. One of my favorite experiences in my design career ultimately was nixed from this package. A hilarious photoshoot of a collection of panties originally slated for the inner tray where the client and I put on our serious hats and gently moved around leopard prints and lacey reds to find the right balance.
Fire Records put out some of my favorite music of the 80′s and 90′s (you already know this had you seen my peppering the Close Lobsters with kisses on my BYT “Lost Records” column.) They have re-emerged from an extended slumber, primarily on the power of Virgin Passages and their pastoral goth chanting mixed with experimental instrumentation grounded in acoustic instruments. (Thats a long way to convey that they are equally pretty AND spooky.) Working on the new EP gave me a chance to paint some floating eyeballs and scrawl out some type. Two things I never tire of.
Rob Christiansen is a musical mad scientist. No doubt about it. You may know his work with Eggs, Grenadine, Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers or as a producer or engineer of hundreds of insanely aaaaamazing records. For his instrumental project, under the East Ghost West Ghost moniker, I kept going back to the literal image of two ghosts pulling knives and guns on one another. The name is just that good. Luckily I finally had the good sense to realize that the name was in fact so good that it certainly didn’t need that sort of help. Instead, I began to focus on opposing sides ultimately coming together in something unique. The music kept drawing out racing images for me, darting all about.
One disassembled bike later, I had the photos I needed to work a little magic. Sticking to two colors, you can see the press sheet above with the clean cover and spines and layered funky back – just like the work inside it.
Back to back nights at the legendary Black Cat required totally different directions for the intense inner turmoil of The Mountain Goats and the mystical rhythm of Le Loup. Drawing from the same color palette but completely different imagery, I was thrilled with the response (including John Darnielle’s analysis of Japanese sumi art in comparison to my brush work) from both groups.
I often carry around little fragments of lost visuals and old ephemera, just knowing the the right project will come along. More often than not, I am wrong and these things sit in a drawer wondering why they are in this purgatory and couldn’t have just joined the rest of their magazine in the recycling. However, this old pharmaceutical receipt carrying an advertisement for a laxative was just what the doctor ordered for this poster. Re-creating all of the packaging design and information to carry the band names and show times, I then slipped in old wallpaper, banjo ads and gun listings before calling it a day. Zach Rogue loved them so much that he gave them out as x-mas presents.
After over a decade of making products that are produced in the millions it is nice to step back and produce a small little edition. Numbering only 100 each of three EPs, Sad Crocodile’s mopetastic songwriting is preserved for the select few.