Chris Bathgate 'Salt Year' design

Did the type for the packaging and liner notes for Chris Bathgate's new record Salt Year. It is out April 26th from Quite Scientific Records. Paintings by Sarah Jones. Here's a peek inside:

 

"We Got All Things That Are Good" now available online

Just a heads up that you can buy Sole Stickers' We Got All Things That Are Good online from the band's store.

Kelly Jean Caldwell "Outside Heart" sleeve

Did the illustrations and design for this spooky debut single by Kelly Jean Caldwell. You can buy it at the Top Magic Records website or pick one up from UHF Records in Royal Oak.

Sole Stickers "We Got All Things That Are Good"

Illustration and design for Tasmanian band Sole Stickers' album We Got All Things That Are Good.

 

Von Bondies / 800beloved poster

I got a chance to do a poster for The Von Bondies' show at the Magic Stick last week. Things got pretty crazy close to the deadline but Bilal at Modati was a huge help letting me use use his equipment and dealing with my crazy insistence on using five screens– thanks! Watching people wait in line at the merch table to buy it and later have it autographed by the band was enormously rewarding. Plus it sold out!

Digital file


Screen print

Victory of Samothrace: Take One

Another poster. I needed to come up with something fast and I've had this idea of a Victory of Samothrace with a ghost head and arms that I thought would fit the goth-tinged bill. I got the idea from a line from Filippo Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto, where he declares the superiority of "a racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of an explosive breath– a roaring car that seems to ride on grape shot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace."

In his manifesto Marinetti was contrasting the statue with the automobile, which he thought ought to be the epitome of modern art. The statue, or what's left of it, contains all the dynamism and athletic qualities of the goddess of victory, but all Marinetti could see was a pathetic, wounded has-been.

I'll inevitably come back to this... the idea fit the assignment but I can explore it so much further.

MCR poster

Just did this poster for Motor City Rocks. I wanted to give a little nod to Hatch Show Print while still doing my own thing– I hope it comes across. I'd link to Hatch's website but Google says it's infected! So instead here's a link to Noman, whose folk-punk I've been digging lately.

More Von Bondies

Jason "Von Bondie" Stollsteimer dug the illustration I did of his band a while ago, so when it came time to gather materials to put in their press kit for their new album, he gave me a chance to do some more illustrations to throw in:

Also, the original Von Bondies illustration I did was selected to be in CMYK Magazine #43, out in March.

Appreciation: Queens of the Stone Age "Era Vulgaris"

It’s been a year since Queens of the Stone Age’s Era Vulgaris came out, but I just got around to really listening to it this summer. It’s not fair how underrated it is.



To start, just look at the cover. The title is Latin for “The Common Era” and the art features a smoking cartoon lightbulb and a pirate cartoon lightbulb. Genius. The rest of the album’s art campaign- spanning 7’’ sleeves and posters- has more crazy cartoon characters and artwork along that retro-sleazy Grindhouse vein (check out the artists, Morning Breath). The “You Have Mono” phony-monophonic label makes it for me, though.




But what’s important is what’s inside- the music. I will admit that the first time I heard the songs nothing stood out, but repeated listens reveal by far the sexiest Queens of the Stone Age album in recent years. It is a much closer match to the band’s manifesto of making rock “heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls”, unlike the macho Songs for the Deaf and the snoozy Lullabies to Paralyze. A lot of the vocals are softer and falsetto, and every single song on Era Vulgaris is danceable as far as heavy rock goes and sounds perfect at 70 mph. And within those parameters, there’s a surprising diversity of sounds: it’s got southern-flavored psychedelic (“Turnin’ On The Screw”), heavy irony (“I’m Designer”), rhythm n’ blues (“Make It Wit Chu”), really spastic ("Sick Sick Sick") somber introspection (“Suture Up Your Future”), and what can only be described as car-chase ("3's and 7's"). I’m going to say that this is my favorite album so far, but I admit I haven't listened to the first two in a while. Any of the ones I mentioned are highly recommended, but everything is good. And while you're at it, check out the fantastically titled b-side "The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died".

Von Bondies

The Von Bondies were supposed to be the next big thing out of Detroit, but they haven't released anything in four years, which is an eternity for a band their size. They do have a new record coming out soon, Love, Hate, and Then There's You, so they're poised to get back on the map.

They have a new lineup, but it's still two guys and two girls, which is what inspired the colors on this illustration. I've been reading Batman and Superman comics lately and got the idea that I wanted to try and do something with the old screentone look.

...and the band liked it enough to post it on their MySpace page! Thanks, guys and girls!

She has never seen the sunshine yet she's getting along just fine

I interviewed four of my classmates who have films in the Ann Arbor Film Festival for TheDetroiter.com.

Story is here.

...and the new Gnarls Barkley record totally made me cry.