The Greatest Record Cover Auteurs

Woebot

Well-known member
while i've been indulging in discogs listmania i've put these together selections of some of my fave record sleeve auteurs

of course these catalogues are searchable by Name>Artwork BUT because of the way Discogs is

1) you get lots of stuff that is more like design bread-and-butter work - the selection is wider but weaker and less distinctive
2) the thumbnails are tiny

so i have pulled together selektions of

Limonious

House

Trevor Jackson's 8-bit sleeves (very small sadly)

Dave Nodz

i am working on one for Barney Bubbles [which i will post in due course]

who else belongs in this hallowed company?

Pedro Bell probably but he has a perfectly tidy page someone has made for him

i always thought the Warners Art Director Ed Thrasher (https://www.discogs.com/artist/452823-Ed-Thrasher) had a style but something quite difficult to pin down
 

Woebot

Well-known member
Hipgnosis deserve a mention https://wimwords.com/the-hipgnosis-album-cover-gallery/ altho a lot of it looks a bit wack now. I still like a few of them though, including the pink floyd one where they had to remove one of the spectrum colours https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2007/05/cover_story_dar.html
yes they do. but i suppose as a company (not just storm) they aren't auteurs as such. but i don't think we should we disqualify them. welcome aboard hipgnosis HAZZAH i say.
 

catalog

Well-known member
Marcio Matos for Principe

Done loads of posts in the principle thread about him eg


But this screenshot from their bandcamp illustrates his style pretty well

Mj9EIJp.jpg
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Marcio Matos for Principe

Done loads of posts in the principle thread about him eg


But this screenshot from their bandcamp illustrates his style pretty well

Mj9EIJp.jpg
These remind me a bit of your drawings, actually.

@Matthew - it's always twisted my melon that Sleazy was one of the key creative partners at Hypnosis - designing record covers for all these mega-selling stadium rock acts like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Sabbath, while at the same time being in TG and Coil, known what I mean?
 

catalog

Well-known member
Yeah marcio Matos is incredible, when I first saw his pieces I was well into them and they've definitely influenced me.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
The glut of mid 80’s thrash and crossover lp’s had some ridiculous ones, eg Noise International and Earache. Phil Lawvere did a bunch on NI

6A60FCCF-F164-4A38-973E-F6E496E9BF35.jpeg

2897665A-C38A-42AC-8392-E9815CA32907.jpeg

Carcass, can’t seem to find the artist credit so it might be self-made collage

95510027-E626-4FA3-8A3E-7DA3D25420CA.jpeg

2054F9B7-B524-42D9-995F-5C7F64244A69.jpeg

layout attributed to Dig, but that could be an engineering credit

E3495DC5-A323-4DB4-8E74-E3A50C5F00F0.jpeg

8C27A838-0910-433F-AF45-2C5AFA443B7F.jpeg

Going at it hard. Mick Harris should be given the keys to Britain

DF8584C3-4EDB-474F-A79F-AFB3AE1808EC.jpeg
 

catalog

Well-known member
The glut of mid 80’s thrash and crossover lp’s had some ridiculous ones, eg Noise International and Earache. Phil Lawvere did a bunch on NI

View attachment 6596

View attachment 6595

Carcass, can’t seem to find the artist credit so it might be self-made collage

View attachment 6597

View attachment 6598

layout attributed to Dig, but that could be an engineering credit

View attachment 6599

View attachment 6600

Going at it hard. Mick Harris should be given the keys to Britain

View attachment 6601
Mick Harris did those napalm death covers? Didn't know that. He's doing a Scorn special at the white hotel in October. Don't think I've ever seen him live.

 

catalog

Well-known member
SAVWO /John Powell-Jones who does the designs for Reel Torque, which I suppose is Boomkats in house tape label, sort of.

He's an artist based in Islington Mill, I missed an exhibition he did last year. He's one of those who does loads of stuff.


Sort of reminds me of Cameron Jamie a bit.

Here's some of the good covers

R-4434443-1364772572-5092.jpeg.jpg


R-5203881-1570880159-2177.jpeg.jpg


This one above is the slackk golden era grime tape, excellent tape, which I've got somewhere

R-9730579-1486052018-7889.jpeg.jpg
 

Woebot

Well-known member
peter saville definitely. i worked with him once and he lives round the corner. very cool fellow.

lots of other nice ones here @catalog thank you very much.

someone had already done a very good bubbles page at discogs


and the same person has a good ed thrasher page

 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah marcio Matos is incredible, when I first saw his pieces I was well into them and they've definitely influenced me.
I like that they're sort of 'naif', but not in an affected or twee way, which that sort of art can easily be.

It's just occurred to me that 'naif' is only one letter away from 'naff'...
 

catalog

Well-known member
i mean there's p[ossibly an element of trying to be "naif" going on, but yeah, they straddle that line quite well i think... this side of "right" for me
 

catalog

Well-known member
Dean Blunt has gotta go in...

Taking that found object thing and pushing it to a limit...

R-4075923-1354419776-7232.jpeg.jpg


R-4121539-1456214317-3928.jpeg.jpg


His explanation of the "Proibito" one:

''The worst art to me seems so intentional, I just like to project the things I find interesting. I'll give you one example. On the Narcissist II, the front cover says: Proibito. Now, anybody from this city who grew up in a certain area knew that you went to Proibito, a fashion shop in Central London, on boxing day, to buy anything just so you could get a Proibito bag to put your schoolbooks in – just so you could look as if you bought something at Proibito as a form of aspiration and walking around. So certain people, when they saw that cover knew exactly what it meant and why it meant something. That wasn't intentionally coded but it definitely made the world a little bigger for me.''

R-4532071-1367568944-7335.jpeg.jpg


This one seems a lift from otis g johnson / durer?

atom-1539024682.jpg


MUS-FAPC1114_850.jpg


This one for babyfather got a lot of notice

R-8330306-1459502219-2147.jpeg.jpg


Another babyfather one

R-8064559-1454449747-2314.jpeg.jpg


Early hype williams one

R-3005797-1311369127.png.jpg


Blue Iverson

a2935494952_16.jpg


Zushi

a2026349557_16.jpg
 

catalog

Well-known member
do they not have them in devon? they were all the rage a few years ago, now we've got scooters. Segways?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
do they not have them in devon? they were all the rage a few years ago, now we've got scooters. Segways?
I vaguely remember people using them in London when I lived there years ago, now you mention it, but I assumed they'd died out due to being fucking stupid.
 
Top