Alternative

Album: Person Pitch
Artist: Panda Bear
Cover Artist: Agnes Montgomery, Rob Carmicheal
Design Studio: Seen Studio

Agnes Montgomery is a Philadelphia-based artist that works in collage. Her work has been been getting heaps of attention since she was tapped by Animal Collective member Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox) to create the cover art for his highly-acclaimed solo release Person Pitch (2007).

Album: Artist: Bob Hund
Cover Artist: Martin Kann

Bob Hund (“Bob Dog” in Swedish) are a Scandinavian indie band that were formed in 1991. Along the way, they’ve gathered a loyal following, picked up some Swedish Grammys and spawned an English-language side project called Bergman Rock. They’ve also commissioned some pretty cool cover art, which is notable for the fact that it comes [...]

Album: Years of Refusal
Artist: Morrissey
Cover Artist: Jake Walters
Design Studio: No Allegiances

There’s so much mystery about this cover that perhaps it’s better to start with what we do know. The image was taken by London-based Jake Walters, a commercial photographer with an impressive portfolio across fashion, celebrity and editorial portraiture.

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: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Artist: Animal Collective

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

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 [...]

Album: Daydream Nation
Artist: Sonic Youth
Cover Artist: Gerhard Richter

“One has to believe in what one is doing, one has to commit oneself inwardly, in order to do painting. Once obsessed, one ultimately carries it to the point of believing that one might change human beings through painting.”
Gerhard Richter 1973

Album: Murmur
Artist: R.E.M.

From the hard to make out lyrics (“They called the clip a two-headed cow / Your hate clipped and distant, your luck, pilgrimage,”) through to the murky, unattractive cover art – nothing is made too easy on R.E.M.’s debut album.

Album: 7 Songs
Artist: Fabulous Diamonds
Cover Artist: Karl Scullin

The moment I saw this cover, my first question was whether that hair was real. When close inspection indicated that it was real, my next question was: where did they find this guy? The answer is that these are not models –  they’re the group.

Album: Illinois
Artist: Sufjan Stevens

Illinois was not only the most acclaimed album of 2005, it’s also the second installment in what may be one of the crazily ambitious musical projects ever hatched. Grandly title The Fifty States Project, it refers to Stevens intent to record an album about each of the US States. So far, he’s managed Illinois and [...]