Joy Electric: My Grandfather, The Cubist
I think this would be the first “Christian” band we have featured here on Sleevage. But this isn’t the usual WWJD type band. If you’re a christian this is probably the funkiest Sunday church music you can find :)
(Note: My knowledge of Christian music is very limited. So if there is a funkier Christian band then please comment and I’ll investigate.
I was lucky enough to have Ryan send me not just the final art but the rejected covers too. He also made this feature easy by proving much of the text. From the horses mouth is better than my gramatical hindered text.
From Ryan Clark of Invisible Creature:
“My relationship as visual coordinator for the extraordinarily prolific Ronnie Martin (Joy Electric) began in 2003 with his 7th full-length studio album “The Tick Tock Treasury.” Ronnie and I saw very eye-to-eye regarding the visual interpretation of his music, and we’ve had a great working relationship ever since.
“My Grandfather, The Cubist” is the 6th Joy Electric album that I’ve designed, and my favorite to date. The work I’ve done for Ronnie has always been very graphic, very geometric illustrative design. With this record I wanted to explore a more organic approach, using pre-printed materials to build my image. Each block of color is a small clipping from a magazine, scanned in, scaled up (to expose the CMYK build), and cut into little shapes that I arranged into some sort of mathematical, celestial environment.”
“The type is meant to look like somewhat of a registration mishap, and it kind of plays tricks with your eyes as well, which I liked.”
“These were my very first ideas for the cover, which were pretty uninspired. Ronnie declined them, and I’m glad. Despite the fact that I was fairly pleased with the type, they look like generic techno covers.”
It’s interesting to see how different the final cover is to these initial ones. Not only in style but also in the amount of work that would have been involved to produce it.
“Here’s a photo from a shoot that Ronnie did for the album after we had completed the cover. Photographer Zach Hodges did a pretty great job of nailing the overall look of the artwork with some hand-made props.”
Here’s a recap of the previous covers done by Invisible Creature for Joy Electric. All of which don’t fit your typical “electronic” music album cover sterotype.
The type really does attract the eye as you seek to find focus. I like the texture of the piece as it really makes it look like a piece of art rather than a digital file.
You can sample the album on Joy Electric’s Myspace page.
You might also want to check out this article which gives some insight in the brothers at Invisible Creature. They walk the walk and rock the walk it seems. It’s good to see designers who don’t sport the black turtle necks and thick rimmed glasses style.
Jorsch:
Christian music limited?
How about you check the U.S. label Tooth and Nail, or it's sub-label SolidState.
Acts such as The Chariot, Norma Jean, Showbread, mewithoutYou, Demon Hunter, and the list goes on.
I'm not trying to defend Christians or anything, I'm just saying… there are a lot of “funky” Christian Bands.
# 07 Sep 08 at 9:14 am
Jesse:
Check out the artwork for the bands Project 86 (“Rival Factions”) and Starflyer 59 (“My Island” or “Dial M”)! There's also. as Jorsch mentioned, Norma Jean…in particular, their “O' God The Aftermath” special edition album. :)
# 07 Sep 08 at 12:00 pm
JT:
Not all Christian music (no quotes needed) is “Sunday church music”, actually.
# 07 Sep 08 at 7:09 pm
mrtruffle:
I know I was being facetious :) and yes I had to spellcheck the word hehe
# 08 Sep 08 at 3:36 am
mrtruffle:
Cheers. I'll check these out as it can't hurt to expand my musical horizons.
# 08 Sep 08 at 3:38 am
Robin:
Reminds me a little of the cover for Black Mountain's CD “In The Future”.
# 09 Sep 08 at 5:47 am
Dan:
Check out more here: http://invisiblecreature.com/clients/cubist/
# 09 Sep 08 at 5:29 pm
simon:
woah, this was unexpected.
joy electric are a great band.
# 09 Sep 08 at 11:01 pm
mrtruffle:
I have to thank the Invisible Creative Bros for sending me the artwork.
# 10 Sep 08 at 4:51 am
kabonfootprint:
nice ..
good job…
nice blog
# 11 Sep 08 at 6:50 am
Scott Lenger:
I'll 2nd Norma Jean, but I think Redeemer is their best cover art.
# 12 Sep 08 at 1:32 pm
Mike:
FYI: Starflyer 59 is headed up by Ronnie (Joy Electric) Martin's brother.
# 13 Sep 08 at 9:22 am
Mike:
Not every band on Tooth and Nail are “Christian” bands, but a lot of them have Christian members. I would also recommend “The Echoing Green” for more electronic stuff, Group 1 Crew or Grits for Hip Hop, Relient K or Hawk Nelson for punk/emo, and Disciple for metal.
# 13 Sep 08 at 9:24 am
Ryan:
Great site. This is my first time visiting becuase I”m on Ronnie's list. There are a bunch of great Christian bands, some you probably wouldn't even know they were believer's. T&N and solidstate are great. I would suggest bands like Page France, Wild Sweet Orange, Thrice, Rosie Thomas, Sufjan Stevens, Pigeon John.
# 13 Sep 08 at 10:52 am
DarakuTenshi:
Since somone brought up Starflyer how about Brothers Martin ;)
# 13 Sep 08 at 3:20 pm
John:
It's great
# 13 Sep 08 at 5:49 pm
P:
Love the Kraftwerk homage in the Jack Hodges photo
# 14 Sep 08 at 6:45 pm
Kurt Emmert:
It is hard to believe that Ronnie has been doing this for almost 20 years
# 19 Sep 08 at 10:48 am
Alex:
if you check out radiou.com you can get an entire list of Christian rock metal hiphop/ rap and dance. its the best christian station. they have the best list of rock and metal that i know.
# 22 Sep 08 at 3:20 pm
bow:
OH yes there are much more funkier bands!!
and all the good christian music does NOT sound like sunday morning music.
# 22 Sep 08 at 3:40 pm
Beaglescout:
If Ya want Funky, or perhaps Krunky would be more apt, then check out Family Force Five
http://www.familyforce5.com/
# 24 Sep 08 at 5:15 am
Alex:
Dance or Die, the new album from Christian group Family Force 5 has one of the sweetest cover illustrations I've seen in a long time. The music is great too, but that has nothing to do with my mentioning it. Check out the cover and you'll see.
# 03 Oct 08 at 12:02 pm
Matt:
if you want “funky” squared then you need Danielson, ie Brother Danielson aka Danelson Famile.
# 03 Nov 08 at 8:31 am
Robert Lindsey:
For Christian bands I like the Choir and Adam Again. Neither is a new band, but The Choir is still recording new stuff.
# 18 Dec 08 at 12:42 pm
Robert Lindsey:
For Christian bands I like the Choir and Adam Again. Neither is a new band, but The Choir is still recording new stuff.
# 18 Dec 08 at 8:42 pm