Hardformat

Artist: Various
Album: Various
Label: Chain Reaction
Year: 1996, 1997
Designer: Unidentified
Type of music: Minimal techno
Notes: As somebody once described it: “packaging heaven”. This, despite several reports that expansion of the metal in hot weather has resulted in broken CDs. I’d definitely agree that it’s utilitarian design heaven, rivaled only by The Designer’s Republic’s sleeve for Autechre’s LP5 (upcoming). These metal cases perfectly reflect the concrete minimalism of Berlin’s Hard Wax store. Maurizio is technically not on the Chain Reaction label, I know. The card digipaks of the later Chain Reaction albums are okay, but they just don’t compare to the metal cases.

Note my copy of the marvellous Decay Product by Various Artists (aka Thorsten Profrock aka T++) – fifth image down – is bent out of shape and the … compiled – sixth image down – is showing a spot of rust. Excellent.