Album Art

Album:

In a classic Saturday Night Live Sketch in 2000, the show satirised the game show Celebrity Jeopardy – skewering both Robin Williams and Catherine Zeta Jones. But the breakout star of the sketch was comedian Darrel Hammond’s Sean Connery, who introduced the term “anal bum cover” in this memorable exchange:

Album: Fever Ray
Artist: Fever Ray
Cover Artist: Martin Ander

A paranormally gifted woman stands in front of a barren, twisted and wintry landscape, her face expressionless and intentions unclear. The mysterious cover of Fever Ray’s self-titled debut album invokes a pitch-black, pagan sensibility.

Album:

Is that a boy or a girl? In order of release date, we present to you Sleevage’s Top Ten Gender Bending Covers of All Time.

Album: Backspacer
Artist: Pearl Jam
Cover Artist: Tom Tomorrow, Dan Perkins
Design Studio: Ames Bros.

The title of Pearl Jam’s new album Backspacer refers to a typewriter key that went out of use in the 1950’s. Vedder, who still uses typewriters, explains why he picked the title: “”Backspacer [means] actually you kind of have to go back and look at your mistake.”

I spent all of my teenage years listening and obsessing over metal. Then with the arrival of ‘Grunge’, I shamefully denounced the hair spray genre, swapping my denim jacket & cowboy boots for flannel shorts and Doc Martins. Then a few years later retired my flannel shirts for the indie/alternative music scene.

Album: The Blueprint 3
Artist: Jay-Z
Cover Artist: Dan Tobin Smith, Greg Burke, Nicola Yeoman

Now updated.
This striking cover from hip-hop maestro Jay-Z immediately caught our eye and we featured it yesterday. However our readers were quick to point out that we’d only scratched the surface in our review. So thanks to our learned, intrepid and (let’s face it) sexy readers, here’s an updated feature.

Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Artist: Animal Collective

Yes, it’s a jpeg successfully masquerading as a gif.

Album: Infidel
Artist: At War
Cover Artist: Claudio Bergamin

For die-hard fans of thrash, the release of Infidels is a major event. At War were an important part of the underground thrash scenes in the 80’s and were well known for the pro-military themes that run through their work.

Album: Phrazes for the Young
Artist: Julian Casablancas

The lead singer of The Strokes will release his debut album sometime shortly, however the cover art has already emerged. It pays tribute to the iconic dog and gramophone image, best known today as the logo for various music companies, including Casablancas’ label RCA.

Album: This Is Hardcore
Artist: Pulp
Cover Artist: Peter Saville, John Currin, Horst Diekgerdes, Howard Wakefield, Paul Hetherington

In 1997 designer Peter Saville received a call from Jarvis Cocker. “They needed to reposition Pulp” he recalls, “They wanted to present Pulp more as a rock band. The music was a lot deeper, darker and moodier and they called it This Is Hardcore.”
The result was one of the most controversial album covers of the [...]