| Artist | cyclo |
| Title | id |
| Label | Raster Noton |
| Year | 2011 |
| Design | Raster Noton |
| Music | electronic |
| Desktop | Download image |
| Notes | Cyclo is a collaboration between Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai.
The cyclo.id white 12″ is truly a foil to Raster Noton’s transparent Noto/Sakamoto Revep 12″. Perfectly judged minimalism, and very beautiful indeed. |
| Listen | Samples on Boomkat |
| Also | - Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Revep EP - Raster Noton |
| Artist | 1-4: Gracie Fields; 5-6, 8: Quentin Reynolds; 7: Jack Hylton and his Orchestra |
| Title | 1-4: Land of Hope and Glory, The Holy Duty; 5-6, 8: Dear Doctor; 7: When It’s Springtime in the Rockies |
| Label | 1-4: Regal Zonophone; 5-8: His Master’s Voice |
| Year | 1930s-41 |
| Design | Undeclared |
| Music | 1-4, 7: Popular; 5-6, 8: spoken word |
| Desktop | Download image |
| Notes |
Gracie Fields here sings perhaps Great Britain’s most patriotic ode, Quentin Reynolds recites his 1941 spoken word address to Doctor Goebbels and Bolton-born, son of a cotton yarn twister Jack Hylton promises to return to his love in the springtime.
Hard Format continues to keep its readers at the bleeding edge of contemporary music-related design. |
| Listen |
| Artist | 1-4: Christina Kubisch; 5-8: Stephan Mathieu |
| Title | 1-4: On Air; 5-8: Radioland |
| Label | Die Schachtel |
| Year | 1-4: 2008; 5-8: 2006 |
| Design | Bruno Stucchi, Dinamo Milano |
| Music | 1-4: installation soundtrack; 5-8: real-time processed shortwave signals |
| Desktop | Download image |
| Notes | Two designs from Die Schachtel utilising transparency to great effect. The Kubisch disc also contains an attractively designed multimedia environment that provides useful context for the music. |
| Listen | - Christina Kubisch samples on Boomkat - Stephan Mathieu samples on Boomkat |
| Also | - Musica Improvvisa - Die Schachtel Zeit – New Composers |
| Artist | Talking Heads |
| Title | Remain In Light |
| Label | Sire Records Company |
| Year | 1980 |
| Design | Concept: Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz; Tibor Kalman, M&Co.; Computer images: HCL, JPT, DDD, Walter GP, Paul, C/T |
| Music | Art house fourth world new wave dance dream pop |
| Desktop | Download image |
| Notes | This is one of those designs that make you just want to say – ‘look at it… LOOK AT IT!’ It’s just so graphic. And powerful and threatening and downright weird. After all, what’s happening here? Are the members of the band hiding their identities? Are they suffering from some form of digital malaise? The red masking makes them look like terrorists – Byrne looks even more unhinged than normal, Frantz is clearly your neighbourly serial killer, Harrison knows what’s going on, but does it anyway and Weymouth with her painted-in lips looks like the mask became her face long ago – which is pretty apposite given the subject of one of the album’s many great songs, Seen And Not Seen:
Then there are the planes on the back cover and inside sleeve, glowing video red with green stars on their wings and fuselages, flying in perfect formation over snow-covered mountains, but they don’t quite look right, is the image a collage? Are the planes on the attack? It’s hard to tell. Nothing is certain and nothing’s quite right. There’s no space dividing the two words of the group’s name and the ‘A’s are inverted but read correctly at a glance; they’re the Talking Heads, but they’re just staring at us knowingly from behind their makeshift masks. The planes are American, but look non-Western. There are four planes, one for each of the four members. Bold, graphic, stripped-down, memorable and strange: Remain In Light is a brilliant visual accompaniment to one of the greatest albums of the 1980s. |
| Listen | |
| Also | Lengthy Wikipedia entry about the album |
