Teaser posters for animated motion pictures usually try to be as obvious as possible, rather than clever and about clues. In order to reach out to a more broader audience. The upcoming “Tangled” is definitely an exception, especially for being a Disney production! Of course those familiar with the subjected classic tale immediately pick up the pictorial and titular references but for the rest it tickles the curiosity.

William Orbit made wonders for Madonna back in the 90’s, helping to upgrade her music through his electro-spiritual touch. He basically had her converting to electronica! Much of the progressive orientation in her music today is thanks to his influence in the production of “Ray of Light”. For the lovely Katie Melua however things do not work as they should! Even though her voice and neo-mystical lyrical themes do welcome Orbit’s touch there is something in the compositions of “The House” which objects to a happy marriage of the two. Her bohemian quirks which are cute and charming when delivered downscaled get amplified and sound pretentious and outlandish!

I saw Melua live in Sweden last month and didn’t recognise her on stage, she had gone from singer/songwriter to something of a …dancer?! Trying to pulling a Nelly Furtado, though without the assets needed for such crossover. And to top this pile of questionable creative judgements the album comes with an unbelievably horrible artwork and design! Despite being packaged in a digipak, which makes it an even bigger shame.

Everything, basically EVERYTHING about this cover is a mistake! Aesthetically and commercially. The artwork would be adequate maybe for the twenty something instalment of a cheap Celtic music compilation series, done in photoshop and sold on a gas station in the middle of nowhere, but not for a high-profile release involving William Orbit! All these give me such a headache, lucky for Katie that I’m still a sucker for those big brown eyes!

Admittedly I was never crazy about Sade’s voice back when her timeless HIT “Smooth Operator” (not of the song either, for that mater) came more than twenty years ago, but it was basically the female equivalent to Barry White and put the same conclusion to a date that Barry’s songs used to, namely fornication!lol Anyway, the British-Nigerian diva is now back after a decade of being away from the stage and her voice is even deeper and darker (I would go as far as saying masculine) than before.

I can’t really feel “Soldier of Love” musically but the album just couldn’t be more romantic and exotic in terms of artwork and design. The cover image is breathtakingly beautiful! It’s as if time has stood still and Sade is still the queen that she was back in the 80’s! When I think of it, not even back then had she a cover that represented her soulful music so majestically. See the disposition, the composition, the color-combination and the illumination. So elaborately elegant. Even the single enjoys a matching cover.

Rasmus is a Scandinavian boy name, but its also the name of a Finnish ROCK band which put a “the” in front of the name in order to avoid being mistaken for the Swedish singer by the same name. Hence “The Rasmus” and strangely none of the band members is named Rasmus! Anyway, these guys broke through internationally back in 2001 with the MEGA-HIT “In The Shadows”. The band has since then had minor hits here and there and has recently released their best of compilation, just in time for Christmas.

There are two different editions of the album and although the numbered book edition is great content-wise I personally prefer the ordinary digipak edition with a design that basically sums up The Rasmus. The silhouette of the singer with his feather-attired hair, which just like Jamiroquai’s Indian head-wears has become more or less the image of the band. The composition and the colour-combination is coherent with the design of the recent albums of the band, which all have been released as digipaks. I highly recommend this album as an introduction, since even though I don’t like all of the band’s songs most of their best ones is featured on it. Here is one of my favourite tracks from their latest studio-album, if you listen closely you hear inspiration from Kool and the Gang’s “Cherish the Love” in there! Sadly this is the best quality I could find:

Jared Leto is pushing forty, yet still looking like a teenage pretty-boy from “Gossip Girl” or one of those popular television series! However despite his boyish charm he is an acclaimed method actor who has done much for his roles, including gaining an extreme amount of weight for “Chapter 27″!

This Hollywood heartthrob has also proved himself to be one hell of a rocker. A pretty one but nonetheless a serious rocker! He actually started acting in waiting to break through as a musician! Now his band 30 Seconds to Mars has finally released its third album, after four years of legal dispute with the label.

In “This is War” the Leto brothers’ quartet-turned-trio might sound as if they were U2’s baby brothers, nevertheless the material is rock solid and the production is clinically clean. And they have made a smart move to let the fans actively contribute by both singing on the album and picking their album cover. The result is impeccable! My favourite song from the album is the epic “Hurricane”, here featuring Kanye West who puts his small touch to the song with a mood similar to his own latest album. A version which due to unclear circumstances didn’t make it to the actual album!

When I wrote about Rihanna’s “Reloaded” album two years ago I had no idea that it was going to be the golden cash cow milked for more editions than fingers on your both hands! Each reloaded (pun very much intended) with a couple of new remixes or video clips. Ridiculous really, even though I normally appreciate special editions. Her recent album was released after the whole Chris Brown scandal and gave impression to be a feisty and loaded album. Both lyrically and musically, especially considering that its been titled “Rated R” and dark in color and tone. But strangely there is no edge to the collection at all! No raging and roaring tigress! As a matter of fact it happens to be one of her more mellow and subtle albums ’til date!

The album looks decent and I even ordered the exclusive HMV edition with the unique black slipcase, but there stops anything that is remotely dark and tough about this album. She might wish to raise hell with this album, but the closest she comes to hell is to look like a cute and sweet-cheeked little devilette!

Just like I feared the cover image and design were revised and the disappointment became a fact! Not a huge one, nonetheless a disappointment like all her previous albums. The poor content of the booklet is even worse! The musical content of the album however is much better than its appearance, some decent productions there. Too bad I can’t stay mad at her for too long! hehe

This shot is NOT included, just to piss me off I’m sure!lol

The Brits might not be world-known for their beautiful women, in fact the opposite, however ironically they always manage to get their best specimens and put together the best looking all-girl bands! A skill they have truly perfected in recent decade. One of their latest manufactured all-girl bands is “The Saturdays”, who somehow remind me of the delicious candies I used to eat when I was kid. Namely the British QUALITY STREET!

I wonder if its the colors of their outfits that remind me of the colorful wraps or the colors of their skins that remind me of the assorted sweetness!

These gorgeous ladies derive name and fashion inspirations from the 60’s however presented with the typical British girl-band POP sound (which on the other had is not the best of its kind and has repeatedly failed proving itself internationally appealing). The art-directors of the band are so conscious and consistent when it comes to the image and artwork of the band’s pictures and products that it should be a lesson to anyone aspiring to present a popular product. The use of color is central in The Saturdays’ concept, even their selection of the girls is color-based. Aesthetically the ethnic blend of beauties provide assorted eye-candies as mentioned above and commercially the target group of young urban teenage girls from mixed ethnic backgrounds will have someone in the band to relate to. This color signature makes them recognizable as The Saturdays’ at the very first glance! Beneath is the cover image and artwork for their brand new album, you can clearly see how they have used an image in a thought-through composition and color combination. Colors are added and removed in order to achieve a trademark.

Pay attention to the original photo and see how they have replaced two of the girls images in post-production, added colors and digitally altered some of the details like the feathers just to nail the balance of the composition right. Compare the shorts of the girl to the right in both versions for instance! Check out the lettering and choice of font. This is the work of a perfectionist, no doubt about it!

As I’ve told you before I’m a vinyl nerd! I stopped buying 1991 when the CDs took over the market and picked it up again few years back when they started to once again releasing mainstream records on vinyl. During the 90’s mainly DJ material were released on vinyl. This clip of the Durans shopping for vinyl at the vinyl heaven Amoeba Music in San Francisco is really cool and John’s argument for starting buying vinyls again is pretty much my own! Watch.

One of my own Duran Duran original vinyls, the LIVE album “ARENA”. Considering the New Romantic that I was (am!), I recall skipping class just to get to the store in order pick up this record on sale one day! One of my first LPs. It’s perhaps my most worn out disc with lots of scratches! It was before I knew how to handle the fragile black beauties. What’s interesting is that the album is double folded, featuring a booklet with photos and all the lyrics. God how disappointed I was when the CDs came and made all the eye-candies (images and artwork) of the albums much smaller!

The entire Beatles back-catalogue has been remastered and is now available both in mono (like the originals) and stereo! This is something the fans have dreamt about for a long time. I’m not a Beatles fan, however this is an essential source of reference for any music collector out there. Since this band and their music have been and still are pivotal for much of the musical creations and productions. Getting this collection is like getting an encyclopedia, you never know when you’re gonna use it but you must have it just in case! The beautifully designed white box-set displayed above comes in mono and features 13 CDs (all miniature LP replicas with original cover art), while the big black beauty beneath comes in stereo and includes 16 CDs and even one DVD. Unlike what you might think its the set above that costs more and not the bigger one! It’s a shame that they didn’t go all the way and transfered the clips to Blu-ray for the maximum experience, even though arguably those old footages wouldn’t have been served better with a HD treatment.

Days ago I posted about Shakira’s upcoming album cover and praised it for its aesthetic and thematic strengths. Now it’s time to show an exactly opposite cover! This one belonging to Brooke Hogan’s newly released album is beyond the doubt one of the crappiest commercial album covers I have ever seen in my life!! What were you thinking girl?!!!!!!!!!!! I mean come ooooooooon!!! Don’t you have a creative consultant or at least someone with a taste and a bit sense to give you suggestions?!! I understand the idea …, I think! But this just looks wrong! The composition and the execution are by all books wrong! It doesnt look like a cool airbrushed pinup but rather like a drawing done by a kid in a Sunday school! One of those images people turn into gifs by adding digital glitter to and type “thanks for the add” on myspace! This just gives me headches! Baaaaaaad bad headaches!!lol

Shakira is one of the female singers who has an annoying habit of gracing her albums with horribly designed covers! Despite being a naturally endowed and attractive girl, she always uses the least flattering angles or crazily cropped images for the cover. And to me a lame cover with a wasted potential is even a bigger sin than a lame cover with no potential to begin with! The annoyance it causes can even put me off buying the product! Or I’d buy it and hide it away somewhere it can’t be seen again, ’til I’ve forgot the tragedy and can focus on the music! You might think I’m kidding but I’m not!lol So it is a pure pleasure to see that the cover of her upcoming “She Wolf” album is to be an exception!

This “exploitation” inspired cover and the video that comes with it, adhere to the rules of aesthetics and the chosen theme very well. For instance the ill-red rigid lettering cuts through the earth tone color-scheme, however it does so in accordance with the exploitation genre and to serve the purpose of the theme. Even the cover of the single is thought through! Well done girl! Well done!

I have previously mentioned that as someone who is interested in cover art and design I sometimes buy albums just for the sake of the artwork, without having a clue about the kind of music it contains! La Roux is my latest purchase of such kind. I just love the composition, the color combination and lettering. Very chic, 80’s style. The face and hair also remind me of my good friend Lena. Now remains to be heard what the music actually sounds like! If it is the Electro-POP that the cover conveys, or not!

After Iggy Pop’s voice over on the English version of “Persepolis“, Marjane Satrapi returns the favor by illustrating the recent album of the old PUNK icon. I had seen the cover before the release, but wasn’t aware of it being the work of Satrapi. You can’t really say that the cover reminds of her style or that its a clever image for a cover, it looks more like the cover of a random Jazz/Latin American album. Even though the music of this album is rather Jazzy its still Iggy Pop and this cover isn’t! I like the interior design and illustrations (like the portrait of him on the vinyl cover) however, which are closer to her personal signature style! The set above is the numbered limited edition, click here to order from French amazon.

note: thanks to Siamak

You have heard this trio’s songs in our music section and watched their videos as well. 7th Music Band started of as a 13 piece band 10 years ago and perhaps due to their initial number of bad luck (13) they have been constantly struck by bad luck ever since! Member after member has left the band and the band name “Seven” which was registered when the band had seven members seven years ago was given to the other boy-band instead! Seven became eventually a trio but kept their seven-based name for the luck linked to the number. So its safe to suggest that this is a rather superstitious band!lol Recently they released their debut album “Baa To Mimoonam” which has now been reissued in improved quality. The music is reportedly kept in same soft POP/ROCK style as the first released songs, since the public response to those was so positive says the band. I really like the album cover, its really refreshing especially with recent album covers such as Benyamin’s in mind. But what’s interesting is that the band specifically refer to their appearance on the album cover as completely natural, without striking a pose for the shot! I however am not too sure about that, if thats not a conscious pose then I don’t know what is! And keep in mind that this is a professional poser talking!lol

One of the things that annoys a DVD collector is a rating logo on the cover. Not discretely on the back, but rather on the front! Like the UK logos and even worse the Australian logos. Now the German government has apparently decided to break the record by introducing the biggest and ugliest logo that has ever been! And by that having their industry practically kissing their Limited Edition-export goodbye! Talk about ruining a collectible, which such items really are. Often even numbered. Imagine buying an original Reuben with a big ass ugly logo on it saying “Warning: Nudity!” I remember IRI censoring the images in children’s books back in Iran, when I was a child. Hand-painting veils on for instance the fairy godmother in the popular Japanese edition of Pinocchio! Might sound funny but it was really tragic. Never could I imagine a Western society turning so morally panicked that it loses perspective and respect towards art and culture! Its shameless really. Look at the new ATB album displayed below, the Limited Edition is graced with such a disgrace just because it happens to include a music-video DVD! Now that’s one Limited Edition I personally wont buy, thats for sure! They haven’t even considered hiring a creative team to at least making it blend in the design. A sign of pure ignorance and arrogance!

I have many times in my reviews urged artists and companies to use the talent and creativity of their fans in the design of their products. Instead of letting unengaged professionals throwing together unengaging artworks with neither meaning nor appeal, use some of the excellent fanart out there. Or arrange contests in which you provide high resolution images and an overall concept for artistic fans out there to develop and present. This way you interact with your fans on a whole different level, you let them help to produce the product which they are supposed to pay for! That will make them a part of the project and therefor also a protector of the art. They will feel responsible towards the creation and act accordingly. The owners of the Iran-based Hermes Records who are famous for their bohemian style and avantgarde approach to Iranian music have taken a step in such constructive direction. Hopefully more will follow their steps!

“Photo Contest for an upcoming release

1000 Acacias (Hooshyar Khayam) - Piano Solo
Hermes Records in conjunction with the photographic site AKSbazi.com are launching a photographic contest for the cover of the upcoming release 1000 Acacias (Piano Solo by Hooshyar Khayam).
To enter the competition you will need to register on AKSbazi.com’s homepage and look for 1000 Acacias under ‘upcoming projects’.
Submissions must conform to AKSbazi.com’s required size format which is set at max 1000 pixels width or height and not larger than 500KB. In addition a high resolution copy of the work must be available by the winning artist for printing purposes.
The contest will be open to submissions from Ordibehesht 16,1388 (06/05/09) and will close on Tir 31, 1388 (22/07/09). The winner will be announced on Mordad 3,1388 (25/07/09).
“Please note that the contest may not produce a winner”

In the event of a winner being selected, the product will be produced on minimum 2000 copies, distributed both nationally and internationally with full credits to the photographer.
A small token of appreciation will be delivered to the winner on behalf of Hermes and AKSbazi.com.

Tips:
- Should you wish to see previous album covers produced by Hermes records, click here.
- The photos do not necessarily need to contain Acacias! Participants are free to have even their abstract approach to the album name and its music.
- In order to listen to excerpts of the music from the album click on the samples below”

http://www.hermesrecords.com/

Keri Hilson’s debut “In a Perfect World …” and Ciara’s “Fantasy Ride” album, are two albums that I have been waiting for. Two albums that I have been anticipating, imagining great designs and artworks for. Yet both have seriously disappointed!

We have heard Keri Hilson’s beautiful voice and seen her lovely face and figure gracing Timbaland’s different projects, yet when she comes out with her own debut the album is filled with not a single outstanding song. Not to mention a decent artwork! When this cover image leaked together with the album and surfaced the Internet it looked just like a bootleg job. Rushed and inconsistent! If you are a downloader of underground Iranian music you recognize the whole fashion from the images that often promote the tracks. Sadly this tasteless montage showed itself to be the official artwork. What can I say, this album is no perfect album …!

I’ve mentioned Ciara’s upcoming album in this blog before, and the fact that its been postponed an entire year. But finally the album looks like getting to see the light of day tomorrow. With an awful cover! Not chica herself but rather the artwork. And the shocking part is that the postponing has been due to this very artwork taking a whole year to finish! Unbelievably true. The limited edition features a red variation of the same cover. It is supposed to be comic book inspired and some kind of mini graphic novel is to accompany the book. If the art featured on the cover reflects whats to be inside, then truly what a waste of time on no talent!

Shahab Tiam’s follow up to his successful debut “One” is finally out! I’m really pleased to see the cover, not just because I happen to have a similar jacket!lol The composition, the color coordination and the letterings are perfect for a portrait-cover! “Zarabaan” is now available in the Bia2 store. Click here to buy the album.

SlidePack packaging is the industry’s latest act of desperation to find a way to sell you hardcopies! Often re-packaging of albums that have already sold well, new runs get the budget treatment to be sold cheaper. Its basically the crappiest kind of packaging I’ve ever seen! Both in terms of creativity and quality. Even bootleggers do a better job! I would never, EVER spend a single penny on such legal piracy! NEVER!!! The day this packaging becomes the rule, God forbid, I will gladly become a digital music collector. Hail the digipaks, hell even the jewelcases are superior to this crap! The Iranian (domestic) industry’s recent standard packaging, the cardboard slitcase, has now an almost equally worthless rival!