Reptile Brain Music

 

BoomArtwork produces an album cover for Swedish rock band Imperial State Electric.
Nicke Andersson; former front man of The Hellacopters approached BoomArtwork to create the art for the vinyl album of his new band. He asked for something bold and vintage to illustrate the record title 'Reptile Brain Music', so BoomArtwork set to work using his fabulous design and illustrative skills and made this punchy retro visual, he says "... First I drew the hand of Zeus with my brush and ink, and then the crocodiles eating each other's tail. In Photoshop I placed everything together and then started with the typography. Instead of using an existing typeface I thought it would make the album more special to create custom lettering. After finishing I added some filters to make it look like it was released in the 70's. It was so much fun to illustrate an LP album cover, as it is such a cool, tactile canvas to work on."

Dirty North

These punchy drawings for Manchester's 'Dirty North' are by pen and ink master Ben Tallon. Working with the band, Ben has produced  gritty artworks for the single and album inlay. Ben says "'The Blues' is the new single from Dirty North, a three piece from Wythenshawe, Manchester fusing reggae with rap and guitar music...... I met the boys in Wythenshawe, Europe's biggest council estate. We toured the local hangouts where the boys grew up, providing much fuel for the lyrics and musical identity. I photographed everything from graffiti on the underpass to melted wheelie bins, attracting attention from a few bystanders. The results delighted the band and The Blues is out now on Corporate Records." Dirty North are also rumoured to be supporting The Stone Roses at Heaton Park.

Romantically Yours

Having worked on the latest release from Cliff Richard this summer, Ruth Rowland was pleased to be asked to work for another British icon - Twiggy. Released by EMI, Twiggy's brand new album Romantically Yours marks a return to her music career with a collection of her hand-picked favourites. Ruth was asked to work on the artist's name for the CD cover and started by taking her signature as the original reference. Using a dip ink pen that was sympathetic to the line quality and flow of the signature, Ruth says "I fine tuned the letter forms and opened up the letter spacing to maximise legibility while trying to keep the spontaneity and character of the original."

Lux Harmonium 7'' Single

This fine drawing created by Hannah Megee is for Lux Harmonium's recent 7" single. The Bones You Break / Camel Bones came out a couple of weeks ago on the Static Caravan label. Hannah says " I decided to use the image of the donkey for two reasons; firstly, it was play on words as both songs have the word 'bones' in the title, so a little reference to the saying 'the straw that broke the donkey's back'. The second reason is that Luke Jones, the talent behind Lux Harmonium, often reminds me of a sad donkey." The image was produced in pencil and then lightly coloured in Photoshop.

Soulicious

Ruth Rowland has produced the album title for 'Soulicious', the latest from Cliff Richard. Released by EMI, it's a collection of duets featuring some of the most respected names in soul music, including Roberta Flack, Dennis Edwards and Freda Payne. Ruth says "I was delighted to be asked to produce the album title, using sophisticated thick and thin curves to add a lyrical flow to the letters. The hand drawn lettering was commissioned to give a personal touch to the elegant cover design. More lettering and calligraphic swashes continue the style across the CD packaging."

Synctracks Album Covers

Chris Ede has completed a challenging project creating 40, yes 40 album covers for production music library Synctracks. Commissioned by Liz Williams, this was a huge project for Chris and has shown his amazing versatility in having to create a different style for each album.

Tuff City

EMI’s KPM department has been working with Chris Ede on two album covers.

This Hip Hop compilation entitled “Tuff City” is a striking piece, very in tune with the genre of music. Chris created the double CD design and artwork.