For 2009 - Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Richard Hogg, Zuleika Penniman(Mika's sister) Da Wack(his other sister, Yasmine) Claire Bushe and
Sophie Blackall did some the illustrations again for Mika's 2nd album. But the main one responsible for the look of it is of course Mika himself. While I do like the style, it does not distinguish it from the previous one at all; in fact, when I first saw it, I thought I was seeing the old one. So no originality there, but instead, I like that he is so creative he does his covers as well. Here is what he has to say about the packaging of his album:Speaking of packaging, I write to you from my paper laden desk that I have not allowed anyone to clean for over 7 weeks. Its covered in bits of art, drawings, cut outs, samples... all prep work for the new album art. Its being done much the same way as last time, by my sister DaWack, Richard Hogg and I. As many of you know, over the past few months I have been purging visual references from children's picture books, from the 40s to the 70s. There's something dark and magic about a good picture book. The way those characters never leave you and attach themselves to a particular time of your life. The only thing I can compare it to is smells. I was once nearly kicked in the balls on the street for asking a complete stranger what perfume she was wearing. When she asked me why I cared, I told her it reminded me of this bitch at school's mum who told on me after I was caught stealing her
daughter's stationary when I was 7.
The new artwork, is well, odd, rather amazing but gloriously weird. Suffice to say I'm rather excited about it. We will be adding new babies to our family. Hairy babies. Ha!
For the 00's - Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Another artist who does her own covers! Art direction and concept for the album is by Natasha, as well as the booklet artwork. The cover was photographed by
David Benjamin Sherry and the sets were designed by
Tony Hornecker (he does amazing sets and has done Kylie's X album photo shoot sets among others). Graphic design is by
Andrew Murabito (he has done almost EVERYONE) and the photographic production was done by Dan Sanders. The digipack version (above) is the best. The whole affair conjures an otherworldly atmosphere, perfectly expressing the concept of Natasha's music.
