Last week I was given a vinyl copy of “Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas.”
It’s an impressive album filled with crunchy guitars, heavy bass, and some really, really good drum breaks. But almost more than the music I’ve been spending a lot of time with the record cover, complete with 3-D glasses. Vinyl is, of course, making a come-back in certain circles but is still a relative rarity, which obviously makes cover art that you can touch and interact with scarce too. Thankfully the concert poster (or show flier) is still ubiquitous on city streets across the world. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the art of the poster lately because our senior designer, Adam Holt, also happens to be a talented screen printer who with his friend, Tim Gass, run Sparga Design. Together they’ve done posters for Tapes and Tapes…
And even the Iowa Democratic Party (one of my favorites)…
And while I spend a fair amount of time spacing out near Adam’s desk checking out his work, I was most recently reminded of his moonlighting gig because of a book that landed on my desk, “The Small Stakes: Music Posters,” published by Chronicle Books, due out in April.
![9780811872300_large[1]](http://readymadeblogs.mydevstaging.com/blogs/readymade/files/2010/02/9780811872300_large1.jpg)
Jason Munn has been creating iconic posters for iconic bands for years now out of his Oakland, California studio, The Small Stakes.
The book is a seriously beautiful ode to the heavy influence music has always asserted on art and vice-versa. It also really makes me wish I hadn’t thrown away all those posters I collected during my teens. Guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through “The Small Stakes: Music Posters” and my co-workers walls.
p.s. Be sure to keep an eye out for our April/May issue (due out in two weeks or so) where we take you on a tour of the home of Shay Ometz and Jeff Barfoot, co-owners of bee things print studio. Not only is their home amazing but they give a handy little tutorial on screen printing so maybe all is not lost for me…
My friends Chris and Ed make amazing concert posters under the name Silent Giants
http://thesilentgiants.com/blog/
Nice! Thanks for the tip…always stoked to hear about others doing similar things…
Good post. I think Jason Munn is one of the absolute best in the business. Not only is the art impeccable, the ideas are clever but not cute.
I seem to remember discussing (arguing?) with you recently over what will become of the album cover. You’re right that vinyl still has it going on, but you’re also right that it’s not reaching many people. A static image in iTunes, or a pathetic “digital booklet” (ie, PDF) just ain’t cutting it. Until someone figures out exactly what the visual counterpart is to music, posters will carry much of that burden.
But they’re not necessarily “sanctioned” by the band or mean to capture the spirit of those 12 songs, of course. But what’s nice is that you get many interpretations of “an album” (or rather an artist at a given point in their career) through the work of all those different artists.
I dunno I’m rambling. Point is: good post!
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Hey there Shawn…yes, I think we were arguing over what will come of the album cover. Hopefully vinyl will make a real resurgence. However, I could see something happening where you bought your digital music and were mailed a ‘zine by the band or something…I love all the posters but yeah, you’ve got a good point about them not being “sanctioned” by the band necessarily and there is something to the idea of them (the band) being intimately involved in the process. Anyhow, Jason’s work is amazing and so is the book. Check it if you can!
Hey Andrew and Shawn! . . . Interesting post. I recently purchased the new Massive Attack album on iTunes and it is one of those new “iTunes LPs”. I don’t think it could ever replace the feeling of holding that vinyl artwork or flipping through the CD sleeve, but i thought it was a good way to digitally preserve all of the artwork and credits that go into an album release. You should check it out. I think it’s a good attempt to put breath back into the cover art/lyrics/credits.
Hope you are well!
Craig,interesting…I’ll have to check it out…agree that it won’t be the same, obviously, but could be then next best thing…looking forward to seeing the ol’ “itunes lp…”