Thursday, March 27, 2008

Stereomantic - Stereomantic



Kini hadir artis baru meramaikan scene musik Indonesia: stereomantic! Album perdananya, 'stereomantic' dirilis oleh Aksara Records bulan Desember ini dengan single pertama 'Takut'.

Dipengaruhi oleh The Smith, Morrissey, St. Ettienne, The Cardigans, Carpenters, Pet Shop Boys, The Beatles, dll, stereomantic menampilkan 11 lagu di self-titled album yang akan beredar dalam format CD dan kaset

Track Title

01 Intro
02 Let's Disco
03 Takut
04 Hingga Ku Tiada
05 I Can't Marry You
06 Tak Pernah Ada
07 Lagu Merindu
08 Biarkan Kami Bersama
09 (Just Wanna Be) The Next Rising Star
10 Dunia Maya
11 You

http://www.aksararecords.com

Mesin Waktu: Teman Teman Menyanyikan Lagu Naif



Sudah sebelas tahun Naif berkiprah. Tidak hanya meramaikan dunia musik Indonesia, Naif juga membawa pengaruh musik yang signifikan. Atas dasar inilah, sekumpulan musisi muda bergabung bersama untuk menunjukkan rasa salut mereka di dalam album Mesin Waktu: Teman-teman Menyanyikan Lagu Naif.


Sejak awal kemunculannya lagu-lagu Naif begitu amat melekat di hati pencinta musik di tanah air, bahkan melintasi batas usia, mereka disukai oleh masyarakat umum dari anak balita hingga para lansia. Mungkin itu semua karena formula musik yang mereka tawarkan sejak awal, musik pop dengan format tradisional yang begitu amat representatif dengan zaman, di mana kita dapat menikmati kenikmatan musik manis dari era 50-an hingga abad 21 dalam satu paket yang amat kasual. Seperti mengarungi jagad musik dengan menggunakan Mesin Waktu. Karena itu lah lagu-lagu Naif menjadi sebagian dari sedikit lagu Indonesia masa kini yang mudah diingat, lekat di hati, dan mudah dinyanyikan (singalong).

Kemunculan Naif di pertengahan dekade 90-an, saat di mana dunia musik populer Indonesia mulai memiliki alternatif seperti yang ditawarkan oleh scene indie yang mulai menjamur, membuat mereka menjadi idola dari 2 kubu yang sejatinya saling bertolak belakang. Musik pop dengan pendekatan yang berbeda itulah yang membuat mereka dapat menjadi jembatan antara pendengar mainstream dengan pendengar alternatif yang mulai mendapatkan tempatnya saat itu. Naif yang pada awalnya tumbuh bersama dengan band-band dari scene indie Jakarta tentu memiliki kedekatan dengan scene yang kini makin besar itu, selain lagu-lagu mereka yang memang amat singalong.

Banyak dari teman-teman Naif dari scene tersebut, yang masih tergabung dalam grup musik tertentu, ingin membuat semacam selebrasi terhadap karya-karya Naif. Mereka adalah beberapa dari sekian banyak orang yang sering menyanyikan lagu-lagu Naif di waktu senggang bersama dengan teman-teman. Mereka menyanyikan lagu-lagu yang amat dekat di hati tersebut, lagu-lagu yang dapat menyatukan banyak orang dari generasi yang sama, generasi yang tumbuh sejak pertengahan 90-an. Lagu-lagu Naif mungkin sudah dapat kita anggap sebagai anthem generasi sekarang. Mungkin sebentar lagi bisa seperti lagu-lagu Koes Plus atau Iwan Fals.

Fakta yang terkesan sepele namun amat tulus itu lah yang menjadi landasan proyek ini. Teman-teman yang besar bersama Naif ingin berbagi dengan sesama pencinta Naif lain yang ada di muka bumi ini. Karena itulah proyek ini diberi nama Mesin Waktu: Teman-teman Menyanyikan Lagu Naif. Bukan seperti format ‘album tribute’ pada umumnya, proyek ini menawarkan kehangatan, seakan tak berjarak, karena dilakukan oleh teman-teman dengan rasa cinta akan karya-karya Naif. Dari band-band yang muncul lebih dulu atau bersamaan dengan Naif seperti Fable dan Cherry Bombshell, atau band-band baru yang amat terinspirasikan Naif seperti Karon N Roll, hingga aksi power pop asal Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yang amat mengidolai Naif, Couple turut serta menyumbangkan interpretasinya.

Teman-teman yang menyanyikan lagu Naif:

1. White Shoes & The Couples Company “Si Mesin Waktu”
2. Karon N Roll “Puspa Indah”
3. Icarie “Imaginary Son”
4. The Brandals “Mobil Balap”
5. Couple “Takkan Pernah Melupakanmu”
6. TIKA feat. Wrong Is The New Right “Dia Adalah Pusaka Sejuta Umat Manusia Yang
Ada Di Seluruh Dunia”
7. Goodnight Electric “Just B”
8. Fable “Rumah Yang Yahud”
9. Cherry Bombshell “Jauh”
10. Media Distorsi “Selalu”
11. Superglad “Benci Untuk Mencinta”
12. The Monophones “Nanar”
13. The Adams “Jikalau”
14. SORE “Hidup Itu Indah”

Tersedia dalam bentuk CD dan kaset



promosi@aksararecords.com


www.aksararecords.com www.naifband.com

Mika: Life in Cartoon Motion



Mika’s music is catchy, fun and colourful and its good to see his cover artwork is much of the same. I didn’t even know who Mika was but then after checking out his website I realized I’d heard that “Love Today” song many times but never knew the singers name. His music reminds me of Queen meets Scissor Sisters.


Here’s the back of the album.



The characters were designed and drawn by Mika and his sister, Yasmine, who goes under the pen name DaWack. They created little narratives and scenes and then took all this to the ever talented Airside, one of who’s directors is Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly fame. These ideas were then developed and expanded with Richard Hogg, and later repainted by DaWack. Together they created the magical world that you see on the different releases and posters.

I actually saw Richard talk in Sydney and he was responsible for getting me into Lemon Jelly (and Airside) through their film clips.

Airside sent us me some sketches and cover design notes. It’s interesting to see how it progressed and if you can read the comments some are quite funny.





The single “Relax take it easy” has a die-cut cover that reveals the illustration beneath the title. It’s a nice and simple execution but the texture contrasts nicely with the colourful painting on the actual cover.







The inside cover depicts all the pressures of modern living.



While the back shows the daily life of Billy Brown.



For the collector there’s also the “Grace Kelly” remixes LP and other singles out there all keeping the consistent visual style of the main album.



Mika’s website also carries the artwork and is animated nicely too. This isn’t just a background image job like some musician’s websites.

You can view a full case study on the Mika artwork on the Airside site.

Posted by Ash on 17 September, 2007
Album: Life in Cartoon Motion
Artist: Mika
Cover Artist: Richard Hogg, DaWack, MIKA
Record Label: Island Records
Design Studio: Airside

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

DESAIN COVER EVENT A MILD LIVE WANTED 2008

DESAIN COVER EVENT PESTAPHORIA

DESAIN COVER PERNIKAHAN

DESAIN COVER PERNIKAHAN

Friday, March 21, 2008

Coldplay: X&Y


The album’s cryptic cover art was designed by Tappin Gofton (aka Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton), who created the cover for The Chemical Brothers’, Push the Button. The blocks are the Baudot code-encoding (ITA2, a 5-bit alphanumeric encoding used by telegraphs) of the title of the album, X&Y. (Quoted from the Wiki page)

The CD booklet contains the ITA2-encoded alphabet. But to save time you can use this X&Y code/artwork generator to make your own messages and artwork.


Here’s Sleevage presented in X&Y form.

The final page of the booklet (seen below) contains the slogan “Make Trade Fair”, using the same encoded alphabet. Holding this at an APEC protest will really hit hard to all the Coldplay fans at the summit.

What makes this cover work so well, besides the fact it’s abstract design created a lot of buzz, is that it could easily be adapted for the single releases. There’s no mistaking these are all part of the one album.



Note: Speed of Sound was beaten to the top spot in the UK Singles chart by Crazy Frog.


And like the London 2012 Olympics logo will be remembered long after it’s release.

Now as good as this cover is if you live in Holland or South East Asia you would have seen these two alternate covers.


Asia I can understand culturally, as Chris Martin is a good looking white guy and from my experience in Indonesia all their marketing is “face” based, however the Dutch Special Edition just confuses me.

Posted by Ash on 1 August, 2007
Album: X&Y
Artist: Coldplay
Cover Artist: Mark Tappin, Simon Gofton
Record Label: Capitol
Design Studio: Tappin Gofton
Album Art, Alternative, Rock, 00s, Concept

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Michael Jackson: Dangerous


Regardless of what Michael has done to himself over the years there’s no doubt the dude can sing and dance. This cover for Dangerous is one of my favs and was also submitted by Elias of A+.

Designed and painted by Mark Ryden, again of Juxtapoz fame. It’s one that would have looked glorious as a 12 inch sleeve. You can look at this for hours and not see everything reviled only by Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club as one of the most intricate covers.

They released a special edition (before the word collectors had become popular) that folded out to become a diorama.


The closed cover was a masked version of the cover (see below)


This was well before Michael’s obsession with masks.

Album: Dangerous
Artist: Michael Jackson
Cover Artist: Mark Ryden
Record Label: Epic Records
Album Art, 90s, Art-based, Pop

http://sleevage.com

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Top 25 Album Covers of 2007 - Rolling Stone Readers

As chosen by the readers of Rolling Stone, here are the top 25 album covers of 2007. Click image for a larger view.

Some info sourced from http://www.cddesign.com

Cover Styles of the Young and Naked - A Warning!


Naked children and album covers do not mix! Don't let it happen to your son or daughter.
The real story of the naked kid on Nirvana Nevermind - [VH1.com]
Whatever happened to the naked kids on Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy - [dailymail.co.uk]
The real story behind the naked girl holding a spaceship on Blind Faith's self titled album - [bobseidemann.com, photographer].

Photographer Bob Seidemann was hired for the cover design of Eric Clapton's new band in 1969. He titled his striking image of innocence meets human achievement Blind Faith. The name stuck for the group. The album art was changed (to a band picture) for the US release, but album art censorship is nothing new.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Coverdesign : The Wedding

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