CR Blog
Record Sleeves of the week
Posted by Gavin Lucas, 25 October 2006, 10:25 Permalink Comments (1)
This week, we've mostly been admiring the following record sleeves:



Shown above is the front and back of the hand-drawn sleeve for Print Is Dead, a new album of musical collaborations instigated by band YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO on V2 Records. Each song on the album was written and recorded in a day in the band's studio space and they called on the likes of Bloc Party, Futureheads, Tom Vek and more to join them and contribute to the project. The idea is that the sleeve continues the home-made feel. Also shown is a spread from the booklet to which some of the musicians contributed artwork. Design is by ex-tDR designer David Bailey's studio, Kiosk.


If one was to imagine what an Elizabethan wizard's notebook might look like, then one might conceivably conjure up something akin to this: White Magic's Dat Rosa Mel Apibus album sleeve. Ornately decorated with a gold foilblock on the cover and inside, the booklet is adorned with ancient, mystical looking symbols and maps - along with song lyrics, all handwritten in a style that makes them look like remedies or spells... Cover painting by Mira Billotte. Hand lettering by Douglas Shaw.

Steve Alexander has drummed for the likes of Duran Duran and Jeff Beck. Flashman is the name of his project with UK vocalist Renn (Alexander plays all the instruments, Renn provides all the vocals) and the image on the front of the CD pack is a fictional urban landscape devised by Andrew Day of studio Kukusi.



This is the sleeve of DJ Mehdi's new album, Lucky Boy, coming out in November on Ed Banger records. The sleeve has been created by the label's in-house designer, SO_ME, who has illustrated an imposing, skyscraper sized DJ Mehdi for the front cover and hand-drawn all the text on the back. The CD insert folds out into a double sided poster.
Farrow Design (as ever) has collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys to create the art work for PSB's live album Concrete - which is released this week (beginning October 23). The album was recorded in May at the Mermaid Theatre, London, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and produced by Trevor Horn. The album's artwork includes architectural photography by John Ross and a photograph of the BBC Concert Orchestra in action by Elliott Franks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, so this next item isn't a record sleeve, but it's related. The images below are of the tour programme for Duran Duran's current Astronaut tour. This goes beyond the traditional to incorporate various elements, including a pop-up stage set on which you can place cardboard cut outs of the band members, a manga comic story illustrated by Fumio Obata (which features a manga version of the band), and a cover designed by John Warwicker of Tomato and shot by Kristian Schuller. Pop-up book art direction, design and illustration: Andrew Day @ Kukusi
1 Comment
the album for dj medhi il really promising!
2006-10-26 22:46:17
| Michael Owen, the brand (29) |
| Build's Get Involved poster, returned (7) |
| D&AD Student Award winners (1) |
| Brighton Graphics and Illustration degree show (15) |
| MTV's brand new look (36) |
| The Bible According To Google Earth |
| New Deal typeface |
| Rubik's Cube Type Stamp |
| The YouTube Dilemma |
| Low-Fi Sci-Fi |
| Advertising | (522) | |
| Art | (136) | |
| Books | (111) | |
| Digital | (131) | |
| Graphic Design | (386) | |
| Illustration | (172) | |
| Magazine / Newspaper | (64) | |
| Moving Image | (421) | |
| Photography | (142) | |
| Type / Typography | (108) |








