New Superchunk “This Summer” 7-inch on white-hot vinyl. B-side is a cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer.” Photograph by our pal, Harrison Haynes.
Pre-order your hand-numbered copy of this limited edition objet du désir here.
This is happening. Redd Kross on Merge Records. The cover is a collaboration with Jon Krop.
This is a picture of a viking on a surfboard.
If you live in or near New York, Philadelphia, DC, Chapel Hill, or Boston, get on that wave. (All dates early June.)
These turned out nicely. Pocket notebooks for M. Ward’s new record. Metallic ink on uncoated paper has a pleasing physicality. Photo by Vanessa DeJongh. Detritus by Durham.
Postcard for Merge SXSW Showcase @ Frank.
With a view toward Austin’s gorgeous capitol (just 13 years old here), this photograph shows Congress Avenue c. 1901
Lettered with help from my Play-Doh fun factory.
Click to see big.
Archers of Loaf Vee Vee reissue
When Merge decided to reissue all of the Archers’ records, we faced the challenge that the original artwork (with the exception of some Icky Mettle elements) was lost. Lemons to lemonade: together with the band and manager / friend-of-Merge, Shawn Nolan, we decided to commission some of our favorite artists to interpret the original covers.
Jay Ryan, a king of contemporary rock posters, allowed nature to creep in on the scene featured on the original cover, delivering a fittingly iconic makeover for this classic record. (If you are a poster lover, show the love through the mutually beneficial act of buying one of his posters.)
Stay tuned for White Trash Heroes and All the Nation’s Airports later this year.
(Fans: The Merge youtube channel has a bunch of fantastic old Archers vids up.)
The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl catalog
The Record will be on view at the Miami Art Museum from March 18 – June 10. This might be your last opportunity to see this phenomenal show, curated by Trevor Schoonmaker of the Nasher Museum of Art. Molly Renda and I designed the catalog, pictured above. If you are a lover of art and vinyl, you must have it! See next post for the list of contributors and artists.
The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl (back cover)
List of artists and contributors. (Click to see big.)
Superchunk’s Majesty Shredding franchise continues with ”Blinders” (slow version).
I’m honored to have my work featured alongside some incredible talent in this handsome volume, Fingerprint 2, that offers 200 pages of “the evolution of design with handmade elements.” Felt & Wire posted an interview with the curators and designers of the book, Chen Design Associates.
If handmade is your bag, I also recommend Hand Job by Michael Perry.
All gussied up for the holidays …
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.)
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.)