Hardformat

If you want to see the standard package shots, please visit the relevant page on the Warp website. We thought we’d focus on a few details instead. Of course it’s those details which really make the design – the embossed text on the vinyl sleeves, the enlarged curve that makes it easier to remove the CD from its mount, the voters’ messages. It’s a superb package, a gift to all the stalwart Warp fans out there. I hope by now I’ve made up for taping the label’s initial releases while a penniless art student (Kenny Larkin, Autechre, the Artificial Intelligences) by the number of albums and singles I’ve bought since…

It’s difficult to choose a single favourite aspect of the design of Warp20, but it’s either the large sheet of comments and the listener’s vote disc or it’s the choice of 10″ format (I love the size, it’s such a human dimension somehow) or it could be the luxurious binders for the CDs. No, wait, it must be the catalogue covering every release or… Well, you get the picture. The Mobius strip is a lovely implementation, very true to the foundation of the label in the mind-bending innovations of Aphex and Autechre. And it reminds me just a little bit of the mysterious shape on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Presence. Can’t help just a little sadness at the absence of Warp’s definitive Designers Republic, but YES have delivered a stunning piece of design and a real labour of love. Which reminds me, we really must feature some more Warp releases on Hard Format. In the meantime, you can see:

Autechre: Quaristice
Beans: Now Soon Someday
Boards of Canada: Geogaddi
Autechre: EP7

This box was released in a limited edition of 1000 copies to celebrate Rune Grammofon’s 50th release. The Norwegian label is happy to celebrate its anniversaries – see also Money Will Ruin Everything and, er, Money Will Ruin Everything 2. Any excuse for the production of gorgeous objects like this provoke no complaint from this quarter!