Noteworthy album covers of 2011

ew

pokemon took a dump on our record sorry y'all

I wonder if they spent a long time coming up with that.

i could swallow a pack of bubble yum and "come up" with that in about five minutes

also this is totally dumb because i know it's 2011 and cds/records don't really matter anymore but it bugs me that the image doesn't appear to be square (ie it's taller than it is wide)

thought the david lynch co-op w/ duran duran thing was kinda strange... now they've allowed him to fuck with their album artwork?

it bugs me that the image doesn't appear to be square

This always bugs me too. It happens a lot in cases where a physical cd will be released in non-jewel case packaging, making the art not squared, and then having to dig around in the depths of the internet to find a scan of the vinyl sleeve (if it was fortunate enough to be released on vinyl) just so I can have a square image to put in my iPod or upload to last.fm or whathaveyou.

I dig the battles one actually

http://www.utechrecords.com/Misc/GAOP.jpg

http://www.utechrecords.com/Misc/SOTE.jpg

that first one gives me a headache
I like the second one tho

yeah i'm torn about that first one. feel like its been done a lot and those colors aren't my thing but there is something trippy about it that i like.

locrian album on utech was my fave cover of 2010 and they are coming out with a vinyl version and i think i have to get it JUST for the cover. i mean i have the music already...

http://www.utechrecords.com/Misc/TCW_F.jpg

http://www.utechrecords.com/Misc/TCW_LP.jpg

Fact have got a feature up on the worst of the year so far:

http://www.factmag.com/2011/03/21/the-worst-sleeves-of-2011-so-far/

http://www.factmag.com/wp-content/gallery/worst-sleeves-of-2011-so-far/worst003-peter_.jpg

^ I laughed heartily at this

that acid house kings cover isn't that bad. if i were a big fan of the band i would love it.

Yeah, there are only a few that are out-and-out terrible.

The Moritz von Oswald one is p. bad, but I guess it follows on from their previous album.

^ can't avoid reading that album cover in anything but spartan-speak

man, the computer thing...ugh. DIY covers used to look charmingly shitty in the olden days. something about CDs or something. don't know what it is. i see hundreds of local self-released CDs every year and they are pretty much ALL terrible. and a lot of actual label releases have that same problem. they look like random flickr account pictures and terrible software lettering/fonts.

what is it about the lettering? it kills half the current album covers i see. there are some good type choices here, but in general...

really the only trend i can pick up is that the less attention drawn towards lettering, the more i end up liking the actual cover. if lettering is ever to take prominence, it should be sequestered away like here:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UMoebAEAL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
or here
http://www.ninebullets.net/wp-images/2009/PrettyHateMachine.jpg

i just generally dislike juxtaposition of any photograph with overlaying text. i'm really having a hard time thinking of exceptions.

i quite like the acid house kings cover

You're breaking this typography nerd's heart, kel. xp

http://www.factmag.com/wp-content/gallery/worst-sleeves-of-2011-so-far/worst005paul.jpg

I think this one is pretty cool.

I'm with Kelpolaris on the lettering thing; usually I feel that the less text there is on the cover, the better it looks. And the text should never be just on top of the pic, as it tends to mess up the picture. It looks much better when text is in its own box. The exception to this rule are the covers where the text is aesthetically integrated to the picture (like in the Super Paolo pic above), which can look nice. And of course there are some cool covers where the text is the picture, like with Daft Punk albums.

unless Photoshop 3 filter presets are now cool as kitsch, that cover is just really offensive

I'm pretty sure 99% of the people who buy records don't know about Photoshop 3 filter presets, nor do they judge a cover based on whether or not they are used in it.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about the "99%" - especially in Super Paolo's case. Anyway, the Photoshop filter presets as graphic design kitsch was me being generous toward the designer of that cover. If it's not intentional it's just very poorly done.

I don't know from Photoshop, but that cover kinda sucks. Looks like a homemade cassingle from 1989

AND NOT IN A COOL WAY

kinda interesting to note that battles, or at least their marketing team, really thinks that album artwork really ... um, memorable or something
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4142291-battles-album-art-and-billboard-campaign-revealed-stream-ice-cream

personally if i had never seen that i would've thought it was pseudo-viral marketing for big league chew
http://mysocalledhealthlife.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/chew.jpg

It's silly-string, right? what's this "pink-bubblegum type stuff" crap? did these journalists have no childhoods?

Anyway, really sad about what has happened to Thrice, overall, and that album cover is no exception.

I like the Gravesand Orchestra Pits one, even though it only has two search results in google?

really sad about what has happened to Thrice, overall

i.e., they exist...?

staind dude goes country iirc

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51apak8vLKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

would like it better if it didn't look stained

would like it better if it didn't look like a stock photo

so is it a city or a town. make your fucking mind up retard.

lol

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Tao_of_the_dead.jpg

Reminds me of:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6b/Labyrinth_ver2.jpg/220px-Labyrinth_ver2.jpg

The Japanese-only New Album by Boris -- what does it remind you of?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/New_Album_%28Boris%29.jpg

actually reminds me of ps2-era final fantasy games with that^, but i'm getting the sense that that you already have an answer in mind

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/littledragon_1.jpg

Awkward Family Photos

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41wiB96aMwL._SS500_.jpg

little dragon is awwwwwful

if your album cover is gonna be 'lol meme' you gotta do something no one's ever done like when the klaxons put the cat in an astronaut suit

http://www.umstrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Altrice.jpg

Altrice - Stem (Caribou's "Swim" remixed)

http://www.theroundtableonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PatrickWolf.jpg

...yet you wonder why ppl hate patrick wolf? ;)

altrice cover is nice

man i adore that altrice one... sudden realization that not a lot of covers are hand-drawn, or at least in that style