I’m honored to have my work featured alongside some incredible talent in this handsome volume, Fingerprint 2, that serves up 200 pages of “the evolution of design with handmade elements.” Felt & Wire posted an interview with the curators and designers, Chen Design Associates. If handmade is your bag, I also recommend Hand Job by Michael Perry.

I’m honored to have my work featured alongside some incredible talent in this handsome volume, Fingerprint 2, that serves up 200 pages of “the evolution of design with handmade elements.” Felt & Wire posted an interview with the curators and designers, Chen Design Associates.

If handmade is your bag, I also recommend Hand Job by Michael Perry.

Steal: 20% off of 2011 records when you buy 3 or more in the Merge store. See site for more promotions, all activated with coupon code MERGEHOLIDAYS. 

Steal: 20% off of 2011 records when you buy 3 or more in the Merge store. See site for more promotions, all activated with coupon code MERGEHOLIDAYS. 

From the archives: Destroyer’s Rubies (CD folder, interior) 2011’s Kaputt is, of course, showing up on year-end lists all over the place. The cover features one of band member Ted Bois’s fantastic photographs of Dan Bejar. When we were putting Destroyer’s Rubies together in 2005, Ted sent snapshots of all the players. They were of varying quality, varying size, varying color (including a surveillance video screenshot of Fisher Rose) and needed to be unified in some way.  I printed them out in black and white, made a little book of the print-outs and rephotographed them for the inside of the booklet. Dan and Ted both liked this treatment and it ended up informing the simplified typography on the cover, saving it from an embarrassing previous iteration that Dan called “raindrops-and-lollipops.” The email chains I have with Dan and Ted from various projects are filled with remarkably patient and useful feedback. They are both articulate in describing their vision, naming what they like and don’t like about something, and trusting that this back and forth is the necessary—and ultimately fruitful—work of design. (Clickez l’image to embiggen.)

From the archives: Destroyer’s Rubies (CD folder, interior)

2011’s Kaputt is, of course, showing up on year-end lists all over the place. The cover features one of band member Ted Bois’s fantastic photographs of Dan Bejar. When we were putting Destroyer’s Rubies together in 2005, Ted sent snapshots of all the players. They were of varying quality, varying size, varying color (including a surveillance video screenshot of Fisher Rose) and needed to be unified in some way. 

I printed them out in black and white, made a little book of the print-outs and rephotographed them for the inside of the booklet. Dan and Ted both liked this treatment and it ended up informing the simplified typography on the cover, saving it from an embarrassing previous iteration that Dan called “raindrops-and-lollipops.”

The email chains I have with Dan and Ted from various projects are filled with remarkably patient and useful feedback. They are both articulate in describing their vision, naming what they like and don’t like about something, and trusting that this back and forth is the necessary—and ultimately fruitful—work of design.

(Clickez l’image to embiggen.)

Merge Records Winter Sampler. Free music, y’all. (P.S. If you want to see someone get thrillingly supernatural with cut-out letters and beyond, spend some time with Martin Venezky, American Design Superhero and one of the finest and most generous teachers I have known.)

Merge Records Winter Sampler. Free music, y’all.

(P.S. If you want to see someone get thrillingly supernatural with cut-out letters and beyond, spend some time with Martin Venezky, American Design Superhero and one of the finest and most generous teachers I have known.)

Mac’s tube guy—who first landed on the cover of Superchunk’s Majesty Shredding in June, 2010—is still touring the globe. And still funny. Here, his monochrome cousin is landing in the Sahara, as seen from the top of the the Great Pyramid of Giza a very long time ago. This is for the UK “Learned to Surf” 7-inch b/w “Sunny Brixton” and “Bad Influence” (Neon Christ cover.) Pre-order here. (Catch Superchunk in Madrid later this month at Primavera or in London, early December, then ATP.)

Mac’s tube guy—who first landed on the cover of Superchunk’s Majesty Shredding in June, 2010—is still touring the globe. And still funny. Here, his monochrome cousin is landing in the Sahara, as seen from the top of the the Great Pyramid of Giza a very long time ago. This is for the UK “Learned to Surf” 7-inch b/w “Sunny Brixton” and “Bad Influence” (Neon Christ cover.) Pre-order here. (Catch Superchunk in Madrid later this month at Primavera or in London, early December, then ATP.)

Imperial Teen has* a new record!! This is the cover of Feel the Sound, featuring one of James Jowers’ amazing photos of New York. This is a project that had animated x’s and o’s fizzing off of it from my first conversation with the band. The four members of Imperial Teen might be the nicest people in music, while defying any “nice guys finish last” theories. This record is packed with dance-in-your-socks jams, straight-up head-nodding mood elevators of the sort that will have you taking the long route to wherever you’re going so you can listen to the record one more time before putting your headphones away. (Exercisers of the world take note: incidentally some of the same qualities that make a great workout soundtrack.) That description, however, doesn’t fairly recognize that it really is a record to share with people you love / kiss in the street to. I’ll post some more images of the package and process soon. In the meantime, you can listen to the first track here. If you need something to tide you over until January 31, when Feel the Sound comes out, check out their last record, which is also fantastic. *(have/has? please advise.)

Imperial Teen has* a new record!! This is the cover of Feel the Sound, featuring one of James Jowers’ amazing photos of New York.

This is a project that had animated x’s and o’s fizzing off of it from my first conversation with the band. The four members of Imperial Teen might be the nicest people in music, while defying any “nice guys finish last” theories. This record is packed with dance-in-your-socks jams, straight-up head-nodding mood elevators of the sort that will have you taking the long route to wherever you’re going so you can listen to the record one more time before putting your headphones away. (Exercisers of the world take note: incidentally some of the same qualities that make a great workout soundtrack.) That description, however, doesn’t fairly recognize that it really is a record to share with people you love / kiss in the street to.

I’ll post some more images of the package and process soon. In the meantime, you can listen to the first track here. If you need something to tide you over until January 31, when Feel the Sound comes out, check out their last record, which is also fantastic.

*(have/has? please advise.)

[Wye Oak 7-inch continued] … and all Danzig-y on this side. It’s pretty fun to channel the dark side … but not as fun as it is to watch Jenn and Andy do it in the A.V. Undercover round room.

[Wye Oak 7-inch continued] … and all Danzig-y on this side. It’s pretty fun to channel the dark side … but not as fun as it is to watch Jenn and Andy do it in the A.V. Undercover round room.

I have some hometown pride surrounding The Onion, as it grew up in Madison as I was growing up. Nevertheless, I do not think I am unfounded in appointing A.V. Undercover as Best Internet Content Ever. And lucky you, we are putting out Wye Oak’s killer covers as a limited-edition 7-inch. It’s all Kinks-y on this side …

I have some hometown pride surrounding The Onion, as it grew up in Madison as I was growing up. Nevertheless, I do not think I am unfounded in appointing A.V. Undercover as Best Internet Content Ever. And lucky you, we are putting out Wye Oak’s killer covers as a limited-edition 7-inch. It’s all Kinks-y on this side …

Hospitality! The record looks like this. The record sounds like this and this. And did you know you can clickity-click on the image to embiggen it? You can.

Hospitality! The record looks like this. The record sounds like this and this. And did you know you can clickity-click on the image to embiggen it? You can.

Quick tour poster for already-beloved Merge freshmen, Hospitality. Listen to “Friends of Friends” here and see them if you can this month - in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Carrboro, or D.C.

Quick tour poster for already-beloved Merge freshmen, Hospitality. Listen to “Friends of Friends” here and see them if you can this month - in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Carrboro, or D.C.

Celebrating Robert Pollard’s unsinkable still-at-it-ness (new GBV record w/ original line-up coming January 2012) with this poster from the archives (2005). The foundation is the flopped-open gatefold from the LP, From a Compound Eye. I have a bizarre memory for the origins of collage elements in my inventory. The faded red background came from a handmade practice book of basic art and design techniques (basketwoven construction paper patterns, rubbings of maple leaves, goache color studies) that I bought in a thrift store in Sanford, NC shortly before I began this poster. The paper texture was scanned from 1930s sheet music I picked up at an estate sale in Seattle in the late nineties. The lyrics themselves were tapped out on my father’s old manual Olympia, the typewriter he brought to college with him in 1956. The stenciled letters are Gil Sans, designed in 1926. The Merge logo was likely designed in 1989 (shame on me for not knowing), the year of Merge’s inception. So basically, it took about 80 years (and at least 5 or 6 designers) to design this poster.  If you order the record and ask Jay for a poster, he might give you one.

Celebrating Robert Pollard’s unsinkable still-at-it-ness (new GBV record w/ original line-up coming January 2012) with this poster from the archives (2005).

The foundation is the flopped-open gatefold from the LP, From a Compound Eye. I have a bizarre memory for the origins of collage elements in my inventory. The faded red background came from a handmade practice book of basic art and design techniques (basketwoven construction paper patterns, rubbings of maple leaves, goache color studies) that I bought in a thrift store in Sanford, NC shortly before I began this poster. The paper texture was scanned from 1930s sheet music I picked up at an estate sale in Seattle in the late nineties. The lyrics themselves were tapped out on my father’s old manual Olympia, the typewriter he brought to college with him in 1956.

The stenciled letters are Gil Sans, designed in 1926. The Merge logo was likely designed in 1989 (shame on me for not knowing), the year of Merge’s inception. So basically, it took about 80 years (and at least 5 or 6 designers) to design this poster. 

If you order the record and ask Jay for a poster, he might give you one.

Archers of Loaf Icky Mettle reissue. The cover is the same (though the original artwork was tracked down (hanging on a wall in California) and rephotographed), with a little bling added to the band name. Limited-edition blue vinyl.

Archers of Loaf Icky Mettle reissue. The cover is the same (though the original artwork was tracked down (hanging on a wall in California) and rephotographed), with a little bling added to the band name. Limited-edition blue vinyl.

“Records change over time like anything else,” begins Robert Christgau’s essay for the reissue of Archers of Loaf’s Icky Mettle. So does album design, of course, as the different photocollages on either side of this LP sleeve embody.

“Records change over time like anything else,” begins Robert Christgau’s essay for the reissue of Archers of Loaf’s Icky Mettle. So does album design, of course, as the different photocollages on either side of this LP sleeve embody.

Disappearing art form? The cut photo collage. When was the last time you made one? (Detail from Icky Mettle reissue. This was in black and white in the original package.)

Disappearing art form? The cut photo collage. When was the last time you made one? (Detail from Icky Mettle reissue. This was in black and white in the original package.)

Just on the heels of finishing up the first Archers of Loaf reissue (Icky Mettle), I had the pleasure of working with Eric Bachmann on another project: Crooked Fingers’ Merge homecoming: Breaks in the Armor. And a pleasure it was—the record is fantastic and Eric is organized, fun, and savvy to the design process. He had seen some drawings that illustrator Greg Betza made during a performance and couldn’t get them out of his head. I asked Greg to add color and voilà. I like the analogy between drawing and audio recording. The drawing on the cover and the record within are, in fact, both recordings of a Crooked Fingers performance. The record is out October 11. There’s a video trailer on the Merge site.

Just on the heels of finishing up the first Archers of Loaf reissue (Icky Mettle), I had the pleasure of working with Eric Bachmann on another project: Crooked Fingers’ Merge homecoming: Breaks in the Armor. And a pleasure it was—the record is fantastic and Eric is organized, fun, and savvy to the design process. He had seen some drawings that illustrator Greg Betza made during a performance and couldn’t get them out of his head. I asked Greg to add color and voilà.

I like the analogy between drawing and audio recording. The drawing on the cover and the record within are, in fact, both recordings of a Crooked Fingers performance.

The record is out October 11. There’s a video trailer on the Merge site.