It was back in Issue Forty-Two, February 2023, that we started getting excited by London duo, O. and discussed their brand of experimental music inspired by sound system culture, heavy rock and electronic music. The quickest route to the O. flavour of experimental was recognising that one half of O., Joe Henwood, had an 18 pedal set up for the baritone saxophone.

On June 21st, O. released their debut album ‘WeirdOs’ via London label Speedy Wunderground. The release of this album prepared the perfect opportunity to speak with Joe and Tash about the artwork and dig into some of their favourite ever album covers. This is Sleeves with London’s O.

Hello O., Thanks for getting involved in our Sleeves feature. Could you tell us about the artwork for your new album ‘WeirdOs’?

Back when the band started in 2021, we came up with the idea of contrasting our dark heavy sound with bright and playful designs. Tash hand drew our original OGO and O. designs which we felt looked like our own cool brand of Haribo or cereal. When we finished recording the album, we came up with the name WeirdOs – a bit of a play on Cheerios, but also a word that describes the collection of tunes, us as people, and the people who enjoy our music. 

For the front cover, Tash made the original design concept inspired by old school cereal brands but with a trippy freaky twist. We then enlisted an awesome crew of photographers/designers from Blackstar Agency to make the finished design. Big shout out to Dan Yates the designer who made the whole thing look amazing. We made the back cover by mixing milk, paint, and PVA with cereal letters for the tracklist. It looks photoshopped, but we promise it’s real!

Thank you for sharing. Now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced O. in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

Hotline TNT – Cartwheel

Tash: I caught a glimpse of this sleeve when we played our EP launch party at Third Man Records and it really intrigued me. It’s super minimal, but somehow also ties the album title and the grungy, spiky sound of the record together in one abstract graphic. It definitely got me thinking about how we could incorporate our album text into an image, and frame it with blank space.

Radiohead – Amnesiac

Tash: Absolutely just one of the best. It’s nostalgic for that time when everyone would doodle on their school books as a kid, but it also has this overwhelming harrowing feel to it. ‘Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box’ from this album is one of my favourite Radiohead tunes, and there’s something particularly soul crushing about the sound of this whole record that I’ve always loved.

JD Beck & DOMi – Not Tight

We’ve both been inspired by these two as individual musicians and together as a duo. Their music is obviously a big lesson in technique and outrageously skilled playing, but we both also love how they don’t take themselves too seriously and make room for humour in the music and surrounding imagery. The cover is a pretty trippy fantasy landscape with them both looking quite nonchalant about the whole thing. We love that.

De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising

Joe: This cover had a huge influence on our album artwork with the combination of bright colours, playful design, and shots of the group looking deadpan to contrast. This album’s artwork jumped out and grabbed my attention as a teenager and the music is as fresh and exciting today as it was when I first heard it!

Deftones – Diamond Eyes

Joe: This cover is one of the simplest and coolest I have ever seen. Owls are just amazing and this is an incredible picture of one. Coupled with the classic Deftones font it’s super simple and striking. The album is heavy as fuck too so go listen if you havent already.

Thanks for sharing these album covers with us, O. Speak soon!

So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here. Read the digital edition below.

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We first started making noise about Edinburgh duo, No Windows in 2022 whilst Verity and Morgan were still in school. Their academic development at that point was paired with the release of debut EP, ‘Fish Boy’, a collection of songs created off the back of an instagram advert looking for like minded heads at the age of fourteen. With Mac De Marco as a mutual starting point, the EP travelled dreamier soundscapes and marked the beginning of a dominant period for shoegaze leaning songwriting.

Now signed to Fat Possum, and recent winners of the Sound Of Young Scotland, No Windows have just released their second EP ‘Point Nemo’- a body of work which confirmed all those excited thoughts around the duos potential, delivering intimate, more melodic songwriting and growth towards a sound they can claim more for their own.

The release of ‘Point Nemo’ created the perfect moment to ask the band to take part in Sleeves, sharing the story behind their artwork and sharing some of their favourite album covers.

Hey No Windows, thanks for getting involved. Could you tell us about the artwork for your new EP ‘Point Nemo’?

The cover art for ‘Point Nemo’ was captured by our dear friend and incredible photographer Rosie Sco. We did the shoot on the morning of my 18th birthday. It took place at Cramond Island in Edinburgh, and we had to be there at around 8:00am so we didn’t get caught by the tide. Needless to say, I wasn’t at my best. I like that we were literally up against the time, no time to set up the perfect shot it was us vs the incoming tide. The picture was captured while we were running to the location of the next photo. We had no idea Rosie was taking the picture while it happened. I like that the cover is us completely unaware of the fact our picture was being taken, no time to fix our hair or pose for the camera. We look back on that moment and that day really fondly, I would recommend it as an 18th birthday activity! 

Thank you for sharing. Now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced No Windows in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

Nick Drake – Pink Moon

‘Pink Moon’ is one of my favourite records ever, I love the sleeve because it’s so surreal. It doesn’t feel like an obvious choice for such a stripped back folk record. You’d expect it to be something based in reality like a still picture or portrait. I couldn’t really say what it actually is but from looking at it as im writing this, there’s a moon with a slice of cheese with a basil leaf and rope coming out of it, with a clown ghost thing, a postcard with a rocket taking off, and a little walnut looking thing in the corner. Mental. It’s one of those sleeves that you can just stare at while listening to the record and find yourself entering its odd, surreal world.

Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding

I think this one has more of a personal connection to me. The cover itself is great, it’s quite literally a picture of some men building a ship. I think I’m always drawn to covers that are hand painted, it’s so cool knowing someone has dug their fingers into what you’re looking at it. I only became aware of the song / cover at a vinyl fair in the town Centre of Llandudno, Wales about 5 years ago. I was there visiting family and reluctantly I was dragged along to this record fair. I was the youngest person there by about 40 years and nothing really took my interest. However, my dad saw the record and is a massive fan of Robert Wyatt so he picked it up and it’s since became one of my favourite songs.  

Stereolab – ‘Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2)’

Or any album cover by Sterolab, they are all so creative. I think it’s so striking and fits the songs on the album so well. I love designs with a simple cartoony character on them, it definitely inspired the No Windows logo! It’s also definitely something I would get tattooed at some point. Here’s a picture of my dog posing with my copy of the album. 

Burial – Untrue

Again, a very simple album design but I think the colour scheme and the visual work with the music on the album so well. It’s one of those covers that is instantly recognisable, and somehow you can even tell the genre by the cover! Here is me posing with my CD. 

Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92

It’s just so iconic and it works so well. Again, one of those albums you see in a record shop and instantly recognise. I think the theme is that I love simple album covers. Aphex Twin was also my late uncle’s favourite artist so whenever I see this cover I am always reminded of him which I think is really sweet.

Thank you for sharing these sleeves with us, No Windows!

So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here. Read the digital edition below.

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Kentucky’s Wombo have just wrapped up their debut UK/EU tour, something they spoke of with excitement back when we interviewed the band in Issue Forty-Two of So Young. At that moment they’d recently released ‘Fairy Rust’ via Fire Talk Records and the scene was set for them to take their music to the big cities. Fast forward to now and Wombo have kept the momentum motoring forwards with ‘Slab’, a new EP which cements their presence as one of the most exciting and important alternative acts right now.

This latest release provided the perfect moment to dig into some of the creative inspiration for ‘Slab’s accompanying artwork, and the band in general. Our Sleeves feature asks bands to tell us the story behind their latest artwork and pick five of their favourite ever record covers.

This is Sleeves with Louisville’s Wombo.

Hey Wombo, thanks for getting involved. Could you tell us about the artwork for your new EP ‘Slab’?

‘Slab’s artwork is a painting I did (acrylic on wood) inside a puffy frame I made out of pillow stuffing, and fabric I found at an antique mall in Louisville called Tickled Pink. I took photos of things around my house that were special to me, like the figurine of the girl in the pink dress holding the clown doll which was something I inherited from my grandmother, the matryoshka doll which was given to me as a kid, and some other things. I liked the idea of having the cover be something organically made, not using much of anything digital. It felt true to myself as well as the overall feeling we went for on the EP, being a bit more stripped down. I had the songs in mind as I painted the cover, so they are very much married together. I liked the idea of seeing the real texture of the paint on the wood and the fabric. Originally I wanted it to be just the painting and frame as the cover, no wall or title or anything. But I realised that to size it correctly in the format of an album, we would have had to cut out a chunk of the painting. So we just had our friend take a photo of it hanging up on a wall, and I made a little text that said the title to put underneath. – Sydney

Thank you for sharing. Now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced Wombo in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

Crack Cloud – Crack Cloud

I like this one a lot. It is a collage of several photos and stills from their music videos. I think the dark colors and rectangular images work really well with the angular sounds of the record and whenever I see it I instantly associate it with the music. – Cameron

Nick Drake – Pink Moon

I’ve always loved this one. Very surreal and psychedelic. I like to think there was an intention to connect the deep green gradient on the cover with the lyrics in Place to Be “I was green, greener than the hill.” with the dark foreground and the water with the next line “Now I’m darker than the deepest sea”. The rich colors make it feel happy but the images give it a much darker bleak vibe. It’s the perfect visual accompaniment to a melancholy album. – Joel

Corridor – Supermercado

The artwork drew me to the band before I listened to them. It’s simple, elegant, and reminds me of being a kid. The colors remind me of Mardi Gras and Louisiana where my family is from. It’s giving good vibes and the music is great too. – Joel

Yanka – Anhedonia

I found this on spotify while I was in the process of painting the Slab cover. It looks like an actual painting which I liked. Kind of has a chaotic and violent and sad feeling to it. And then her melodies are just as heavy and haunting. I read about her after listening to it a few times and was sad to learn she passed away very young. – Sydney

Sibylle Baier – Colour Green

This might be one of my most listened to albums. I love that it’s just a photo of her with her eyes closed and her arms crossed. It feels isolated and contentedly lonely and beautiful to look at. – Sydney

Thank you.

We spoke with Wombo in Issue Forty-Two of So Young. Check out the preview below and pick up a copy here.

The new issue of So Young is out now. Grab a copy in print here or read the digital edition below.

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Treading somewhere between Eagulls and the ‘Skying’ era of The Horrors, Cardiff’s Chain of Flowers have delivered a melody driven post-punk record that we should all be taking note of. ‘Never Ending Space’ is out now via Alter and boasts bright riffs, neat production and lucidly poetic lyricism.

To dig a little deeper into the record and the current creative psyche of the band, we asked Chain of Flowers to share the story behind the album’s artwork as well as share five of their favourite sleeves.

Hey Chain of Flowers, can you tell us about the artwork for ‘Never Ending Space’?

Designing for Chain of Flowers records is always so daunting to me. I put extra pressure on myself because I guess it means more to me than other work I do. It’s often a sushi belt of ideas, influences, colour palettes, themes etc until something just feels right.

This time around it fell into place when the LP title was settled. To me it just had to be a physical representation of the Never Ending Space – thus the key was born. It was initially intended as a smaller detail of a much larger idea, but it just looked so cool that I wanted to put the focus on it solely.  I worked with my friend Leon Evans, a brilliant 3D designer, to help bring the idea to life and he did a great job of executing the key.

The colours of the sleeve (which follow onto the back) do have a loose meaning to them, representing passing of time and the band moving on from a previous existence to now but in some sort of dream-state liquidity.

I don’t have an art theory background so I’m not sure what the “correct” thinking is but I’ve always had a fondness for taking an ordinary, every day object and contextualising it in an iconic way. A key is something that everyone has in their pockets everyday, yet I’ve never seen it used like this before and I think that’s cool.

– Daniel

Great! Thank you for sharing. Now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced you in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

DJ SCREW – 3 ‘N THE MORNIN’ (Parts 1 & 2)

I’ve always found this sleeve so striking. There’s so much depth, it’s like it’s own little world. So many details. I would love to see how this was made. The Pen & Pixels Graphic company who made it were known for the very distinct diamond encrusted gangsta rap imagery but they did something very different here. Something so nightmarish.

The hyperrealism and overall composition was a big influence on our new record cover that I worked on and a keen eye may even spot the odd direct nod. The 20 year anniversary issue uses a different colour sky background which scratches the nostalgic itch of seeing bootleg band and wrestling merchandise using totally wrong brand colours.

From the South to South Wales.

– Daniel

Slint – Spiderland

I would have heard this for the first time as a teenager, when it had already safely reached certified cult status. I think the artwork and title added just as much to the mystique as the strange, sparse music on the record. Always liked the fact the cover didn’t have much info written on it, something we’ve tended to do ourselves for the most part.

There’s something intimate and vast to the visual and audio. I can imagine the picture on the sleeve being used on a news bulletin, a press-clipping, or on a “missing” poster – the last sighting and photo taken on a holiday before tragedy struck.

It’s not a record I listen to often nowadays. But sometimes when it’s late, when the party’s finished, and everyone has gone home, and a particular nostalgic mood sets in, I may put this on, turn out the lights, and lie down in bed. Waiting to ride out the rush of chemical indulgence, communing with its nightmarish Americana (and maybe my adolescence), conjuring up a psychic, Blakean landscape in which to lose myself as sleep sets in.

– Sami

Maybe not the most profound sleeve of its time or genre, and I guess pretty on the money concept wise, however this was the visual aid to what I would’ve described as the harshest tunes I’d ever heard at the time. This demo made me understand you can cut and paste, you can collage, you can pick an image that evokes something in you, an image can match a sound, you don’t always need polished artwork, and that really…..you can do whatever the fuck you want.

– Rich

I’ve always loved the coupling of the crucifix necklace and tattoo of the album’s title, inscribed on the tightly framed naked torso of Richey, though the title wasn’t tattooed on him IRL. The LP is full throttle, full of attitude but for me the artwork in particular highlights the tension between religious institution, societal norm and the vulnerability of angsty disillusioned youth, which like many, filled my earlier years, long before being aware of this LP’s greatness.

By the time I was old enough to understand it, I’d encountered ‘Generation Terrorists’ and it instantly hit the spot. I was listening backwards from their third LP, ‘The Holy Bible’, which I quite quickly became obsessed with and lyrically, hits me in a very similar way. Both connected with me like no hardcore record (which was predominantly what I was listening to at the time) had prior and that at the time blew my mind; given the bands twisting-glammed-up big song charge on this. Prior to that, I thought the band to be the purest Ruck adjacent muck for the Saturday afternoon, shit flicking sheux masses of South Wales. Never been so happy to be proven so wrong.

‘Stay Beautiful’ is one of my favourite songs. That song and this cover were a big influence on the song ‘Nail Me To Your Cross’ from our first LP, which (least I hope) honours both. Richey and Nicky Wires’ sloganised poeticism, use of iconography and the bands subversive attitude delivered in their own unique way have had a sizable impact on my approach to Chain of Flowers from early on.

“Clinging to your own sense of waste

All we love is lonely wreckage”

– Joshua

The The – Soul Mining

I’ve chosen The The’s ‘Soul Mining’; I love this record and the cover is just beautiful. It’s one of those records you hold and just stare at for ages, transfixed in its vibrant, contrasting colours. It was painted by Matt Johnson’s brother Andrew and for me really encapsulates the bright, unique and sometimes euphoric sounds on the album.

To me, the portrait is just really powerful. It makes you want to embody the subject of the artwork as you listen. The record and sleeve is a big dose of dopamine when you need it most. Whenever I hear the accordion at the start of ‘This is the Day’, I will always want to be sat in the sun, smoking a cigarette.

– Matt

Thank You

Chain of Flowers – Never Ending Space is out now via Alter. Listen/order your copy here.

The new issue of So Young is out now. You can purchase in print here or read the digital edition below.

The post Chain of Flowers Share Their Favourite Record Sleeves appeared first on So Young Magazine.

Hotel Lux have been delivering the good stuff from London-via-Portsmouth for a few years now. The six-piece are finally gearing up to release their debut album, ‘Hands Across the Creek’, a record which shakes off the haunting direction of previous singles ‘The Last Hangman’ and ‘Daddy’ to adopt a melodic progression of the post-punk sound.

With the album on its way, it felt the perfect time to invite Hotel Lux to tell us all about the artwork of their debut record and pick some of their all time favourites too. Read on.

Hey Hotel Lux, Can you tell us a little bit about the artwork for ‘Hands Across the Creek’?

The album sleeve, like the title itself, is based on a t-shirt design from many years ago. I’m from a town called Fareham, just outside Portsmouth. Supporters of Portsmouth Football Club from Fareham had a little saying to honour the link between Fareham and Portsmouth, ‘Hands Across the Creek’. So I’m told, a t-shirt was printed depicting adjoining hands in the centre, ‘Fareham – Portsmouth’ above and ‘Hands Across the Creek’ below. As though it was a football crest. We essentially stole that for the album cover, with the blue, white and red mirroring the Pompey colours.

Nice! Thank you for sharing. Now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced you in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope

A classic this, an important part of my teenage years . Used to dot about with a pin badge with this cover on and thought I was the dogs bollocks. Designed by Gene Greif and based on a postcard titled “End of the Trail” depicting a dead cowboy. Beautiful colours, iconic font and aptly evocative. Everything you’d want from a classic album cover. Reckon the artwork is a large factor in this particular Clash album being my favourite of theirs. Good stuff. – Lewis

Kraftwerk- The Man Machine

This album was my introduction to Kraftwerk’s music and it was entirely the artwork which intrigued me at first. Eye-catching colours, fonts and the weird looking figures on the front, this artwork is just one of many which represent Kraftwerk’s strange and robotic world. The image of the band on the sleeve depicts a eerie, mannequin like group who fit to their own, self-defined role of “sound scientists”. The artwork was inspired by Russian suprematism art which was seen as very futuristic for its time- something which is matched by Kraftwerk with their music on this record. – Craig

Tom Waits- Swordfishtrombones

The artwork for Tom Waits’ ‘Swordfishtrombones’ is for me the perfect representation of the wonderful and strange music contained within the record. What at first glance looks like a standard photograph actually has an uncanny painting like quality to it; it reflects the bizarre and performative nature of his music, in which the listener is never quite sure of what’s fact or fiction, real or fantasy. In equal parts Hollywood glamour, post-midnight cabaret and surreal dreamworld, it’s 100% Tom Waits. An album cover that’s just as intriguing and as cool as the music on the record itself. – Max

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Strung Out in Heaven 

This album’s artwork reminds me of how confused i was when i first heard the BJM. I couldn’t work out if they were a new band or something from the 60s and the artwork gave me no more clues. Newcombe’s DIY approach to artwork has seriously varied over the years but this one encapsulates the 60s revivalist vibe completely. Other psych bands i’d found around this time used the classic tropes which never resonated with me but this had guns and shit on it and looked like some spaghetti western spy movie poster. This discovery would completely change my view on psychedelic ‘60s’ music and lead me to getting the worst stick and poke on the planet. – Cam

Sparks – Propaganda

Everything I love about Sparks. Camp, sexy tongue in… Designed and photographed by fashion’s Monty Coles, the frantic impermanent feeling of this record is visualised perfectly through the use of colour (my favourite hue of blue) and movement on its cover. The credit for its success however cannot be diverted away from the Mael brothers themselves whose image is as big a part of the PACKAGE as the music itself, embodying its straightness, naughtiness, playfulness, theatre and raunch. Bound and gagged and bound and gagged and bound and gagged and bound and gagged and bound and gagged and bound and gagged… – Dillon

Hotel Lux – Hands Across the Creek is out Jan 27th via The State 51 Conspiracy. Pre Order here.

Issue Forty-One of So Young is out now and available to read in print here or as a digital magazine below.

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The Cool Greenhouse are one of the UK’s most respected observational post-punk voices and we were grateful to receive the news that a second record was on its way via the label, Melodic. With songs jam packed with A.I references, dry wit, and one-liners aplenty, we were excited to ask the band to get serious and give us the creative background of the band via our feature, Sleeves. There’s a strong chance they didn’t get serious but let’s see. Should be fun.

Hey The Cool Greenhouse, can you share a story from the artwork of your new record?

The Cool Greenhouse – Sod’s Toastie

At it’s inception, I envisaged ‘Sod’s Toastie’ as a kind of lyrical Turing Test, a collage of human lyrics interspersed with clippings from historic AI chat bots, with the challenge being to try and discern which were mine and which were the bots. This fascination grew from the realisation that late-stage, postmodern human literature and the first kinds of AI literature are strikingly similar – Facebook’s Bob & Alice (‘you i i i everything else’) or the twitter bot poet horse_ebooks (‘why does everything happen so much?’) often reading like Cummings, Burroughs’ cut-ups or excepts from Finnegan’s Wake. While most of it became human in the end, a lot of the lyrics were guided or inspired by AI writers (an inverted input-output of the usual algorithmic process) and snippets and shadows of lyrics influenced by AI poets and re-hashed still haunt the entire record. So it only felt fitting to give the cover art job to an AI painter. I asked for something kitsch and surrealist with oblique symbolic references to themes within the album (Toasties, UFOs, barren mental landscapes) and this was my favourite of the four million images she painted for me. She’s nowhere near as good as some of the robot painters that have emerged in the 6 months since (Dall-E etc.), but I like that her style already seems kind of outdated.

Thank you, now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced you in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

Country Teasers – The Empire Strikes Back

It’s a book cover! As a record cover!? “I can’t believe it. Whatever will they think of next!?” someone might say, flabbergasted and unnerved by such heresy, in a knitted v-neck in Welwyn Garden City (It could happen!). We did this sort of thing when we gave our ‘Crap Cardboard Pet’ vinyl a cassette cover, and more recently where we name the keyboard solo in ‘Get Unjaded’ a “Guitar solo!”. I like this kind of playful and resolute non-conformism, which the Country Teasers have in spades, and which I (Tom Greenhouse) probably partly learnt from them. The album cover (a real book about race relations and fascism in post-war Britain) perfectly ties together Ben Wallers’ infatuations with Star Wars and bigotry, which is itself a perfect example of their expert mixing of high and low culture, the silly and the serious. It’s their best album too, with ‘Spider-Man in The Flesh’ being the standout track.

Whipper – Shit Love

This is a great band from Melbourne that I (Tom O D) used to go and see play while I was living out there. I bought the 7” and the matching t-shirt home with me to London and it made me feel pretty cool. It’s also mastered by Mikey Young who does our mastering and pretty much every band from Australia too. Sadly I lost the t-shirt but the artwork brings back some nice memories. I remember seeing them and The UV Race at a pool party on New Year’s Day in 40 degree heat – it was top!

Magma – Kobaïa

‘Kobaïa’ is Magma’s debut album from the late ‘60s. Its concept involves alien civilizations, the end of the world, escapism, the duality of good vs evil, a desire for change, peace and harmony and it’s influences go as far and wide as Sun Ra, Coltrane, Stravinsky, Frank Herbert’s Dune and Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. The strong cover by Marie-Josephe Petit encapsulates the soul purpose of the work and always intrigued me (Kev), long before I started listening to Magma. The music is generally repetitive, not minimalist, usually finding a groove by Meister Christian Vander, and slowly altering itself to evolve in the lengthy hypnotic movements. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but remember: If you don’t like it, try again and again and again and again…

Kevin Ayers – whatevershebringswesing

‘No eggsplanation’ needed for this one, but here goes. Fell in love with the title track of this LP as a teenager. Back then no Spotify or Napster even but there was strange folk on the internet who’d list their entire record collections online and offer swaps for desired items from your collection. One time I (Chris) even got a load of 13th Floor Elevators bootlegs from Texas in exchange for a can of jellied eels. Anyway this occultist from the South West sent me a load of cassettes in this manner just before I went into hospital for a fateful jaw operation in Birmingham when I was 15, with an LP I wanted to hear by a band called Satan and his Deciples on the reverse. I listened to it over and over as I slurped my pureed mince and onions in hospital and dreamed of the little egg men on the cover thinking ‘one day, I’ll own that LP’. Actually I still don’t but my partner does and so nicked her copy for this piece. The imagery suits the music down to the ground, domestic and jarring, damp and somehow cosy, childish and in tune occasionally with some eternal wisdom.

Can – Tago Mago

One of those covers that becomes so intrinsically linked to the sound of the music. Mushroom head. Speak your brain. Would skive off and listen to this on headphones by request at Andy’s Records on Hereford day after day. Soon after was working in a factory next to the Royal Mail sorting office aged 16 and spending every penny I earned sellotaped to beermats and posted off to odd blokes on eBay. Never forget the day I popped to fetch the parcel from the post office and opened it up next to my mate who was another Can convert and there the majestic brain twitching man, behold. Hallelluwah!

Bad Velvet Underground, Bad Cluster

This pair occupy a special place in my (Chris) heart due to their exquisite music and perfectly atrocious covers. Both top class German school of design. The first is a really great compilation of Velvets and Nico stuff. Great mix of stuff including some Nico solo like ‘It was a Pleasure Then’ probably my favourite work from their whole musical constellation. I’m not sure what constellation inspired the sleeve design which just couldn’t possibly be more inappropriate if it tried, featuring a weird space lobster with sci fi ball bag, floating up above some kind of festering prog rock ocean planet. What on earth where they thinking. The second is an LP of perfection: Zuckerzeit by Cluster – unified sound, iconic cover design as Warmduscher will probably agree. And yet for some inexplicable reason they reissue it with an atrocious pun image candy dispenser sitting on a patch of concrete. And thanks to this, I was able to afford a copy on discogs. Dankeschön!

Thanks for sharing!

‘Sod’s Toastie’ is out 11.11.22 via Melodic. Pre order here.

The new issue of So Young is out now. Order your copy in print here or read the digital edition below.

The post The Cool Greenhouse Share Their Favourite Record Sleeves appeared first on So Young Magazine.

Ahead of the release of their favourite “misfit children”, and with the band now over 7 years in, we reached out to Iceage in search of their creative inspirations. As we revive our feature, ‘Sleeves’, Iceage give us the story behind their most recent album cover and choose five of their favourites. Eyes peeled for Crass, Snoop Dogg and more.

Hey Iceage, can you share a story from the artwork of your new record?

Iceage – Shake The Feeling Outtakes & Rarities 2015-2021

We went through a bunch of ideas, as is often the case! To begin with I wasn’t quite into doing something that looked too “archival” or like a document but realised that this is exactly the kind of record this is and that is what would suit it. We stumbled upon a huge folder of photos by Danish photographer, based in London, Kim Thue. He went along on one of our first UK tours and his way of being made us let our guards down and allow him to come close, which was quite rare with photographers at that point. Kim also shot what I consider one of our best looking music videos, “Against the Moon”. We picked but a handful of the photos from that tour and I think they have (a quality which I guess is inherent to photography) a sense of life frozen in time, quickly caught in a net and stuffed in a jar, squirming. Our graphics wizard at Escho, Nis Sigurdsson set it up and the single covers (so far) are by our bassist Jakob who does great collages. The portraits on the front are from a stay in our friend and then tour managers house in rural Tunbridge Wells and this is also where Elias found the mummified rodent that’s on the label. Kim has a beautiful book called Dead Traffic and a new one on the way that I’m excited to see!

Thank you, now could you tell us about five record sleeves that have influenced you in life, emotionally, or in creative direction?

Camaron De La Isla- Potro de Rabia y Miel

The last album by, arguably the king of flamenco, Camaron, released three months after his death is presented with a painting (by Spanish painter Miquel Barceló) depicting a dark horse or donkey fucking a light one. The album’s title roughly translates to “Foal of Rage and Honey” and this is the dualism I see in the cover, of good and bad, pleasure and pain, in flamenco as in life. Camaron, faced with his own death, choosing to put this on the cover, to me shows a deep wisdom and understanding of mortality and balance. Also the first record that got me deep into flamenco so it is very special to me, thank you Casper!

Crass – The Feeding of the 5000

Apart from being the quintessential and best anarcho punk band, Crass has the best artwork as well, in my opinion. The drawings and collages of Gee Vaucher have the same effect as Crass’ music- confronting the viewer/listener with their own conscience and the utter horrible state of the world when it comes to justice, dignity, rights and through the artwork highlights how ridiculous the dystopian horrors of war, capitalism and oppression look through a crooked plastic wrapped commercial, selling nothing but greed and death.

Les Rallizes Denudes- Electric Pure Land – Held by Dan Kjær Nielsen

This is a live recording (I think) of the Japanese group going absolutely out of their minds, wailing on and on, wrapped in a photo of a total eclipse of the sun, the inside with closeups of flames protruding from it. The LPs (3 sides) are clear with some really nice sight-test looking blot work on the labels. Listening to this while looking at the darkened sun makes you feel its warmth and can spiral one into a state where you flow completely, surrendering to psychedelic guitar solos and the sun and the circle as an ancient symbol, possible deity and groundwork for life.

Miles Davis – Bitches Brew

I’ve gazed at this sleeve long before I started listening to Miles Davis and it really pulls me in. Something I think is interesting (and extremely difficult) is the portrayal of a humanness or “universal” quality, something that speaks to and of all of humanity. The outstanding artist behind it, Mati Klarwein, who’s responsible for a lot of other amazing record sleeves, catches glimpses of this relation between human and nature, the world and beyond, in an astounding way. As a painter in his own right I think his style is incredible and merging this with this (and other) records which, to me, sound like they’re dealing with some of these themes or connections is perfect.

Snoop Dogg- Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told

Far from the best Snoop Dogg album this marks his move to No Limit Records, who had loads of really good sleeves designed by Pen & Pixel Graphics. This is to me the ultimate example of gangsta hiphop luxury, flaunting a huge mansion, golden cane, multiple dogs with diamond spiked collars. Everything has little sparks added to it, everything glowing, letters flying and the 3D style effects of this, and a lot of other 1990s hiphop covers, present a style that is so relentless and appealing, at times delusional, but beautiful immersive works of art in themselves, worlds existing within music and its presentation.

Thank you for sharing. ‘Shake The Feeling – Outtakes & Rarities 2015-2021’ is out now via Mexican Summer.

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