Five a Day: Week Seven

Day One - Pop Princess'

This is Icona Pop - Icona Pop. Boring electro pop album. The first five tracks share pretty much the same drum pattern and structure and the last five share more of the same elements. I have danced to one of these songs in a club and it worked then because it was a big dumb pop song but don't stretch the success of that single across and album. 

Paris - Paris Hilton. This is why models shouldn't make albums. They hire expensive but dull producers who smash out generic pop songs. All these songs are faceless uninspired generic electro pop with hip hop track , a track with a washed out guitar (in an attempt at pop rock) and a track with an off beat guitar ( I won't dignify it by calling it reggae) with words that make me ill. 

Cinderella's eyes - Nicola Roberts. Judged this album by the front cover because it features a great photo and not just because she is an attractive lady. Shame it is a bland electro pop album with dull song writing. There is one interesting effect on the first track and one track sounds faintly like the Pet Shop Boys. 

 Sheezus - Lily Allen. I loved Lily Allen's album prior to this, It's not me, It's you. It had smart song writing and a more organic pop sound. This is just a synthetic pop mess. Don't get me wrong the song writing is mostly great with some smart witty lines a long side one of my fave songs of the past five years, Hard Out Here. Before I forget I am sure Nigel Blackwell wrote one of these songs, URL Badman, seems like something he'd write. Unfortunately the layers of synths, dubstep wobbles and vocoder is detracting. Sorry Lily, Love ya. 



Anywhere I lay my head - Scarlett Johansson. What is essentially a Tom Waits covers album by a leading actress, I had no idea what to think. It's folky, Country, but then half way through a drum machine starts some of the tracks and feels awkward against the folk instrumentation. It's not bad and may take more than one listen to enjoy it a bit more. My hearings not particularly good at the minute so will save this for listen number two.

 Day Two - Lullaby versions

Lullaby versions of The White Stripes, Green Day, David Bowie, Blur and The Clash. 

All of these albums have the same problems. The faster songs slowed down make it hard to comprehend what song they actually are. The slower songs work really well but blink and you you won't be able to tell what's happening.

Day Three - Krautrock

Viva - La Dusseldorf. Sounds like a Yes album but I enjoyed it a whole lot more.

Hijack - Amon Duul II. Bland Hippy Space Rock

Opal - Embryo. Jazzy intense rock music - very much like Can.

Musik Von Harmonia - Harmonia. Sounds like one half Steve Reich and one half Brian Eno.

Zuckerziet - Cluster. Proto-dance music: with a big beat over it it could be a Chemical Bros album.

Day Four - Difficult Second Albums

A French Kiss in the Chaos - Reverend and The Makers. Politically charged lyrically without resolve backed by enjoyable Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era influenced rock. 

Ten New messages - The Rakes. Post punk revivalism without twist or much interest.

The Optimist  - New Young pony Club. Kinda reminds me of the second Gossip album in all the right ways.

Don't say we didn't warn you - Does it Offend you, Yeah? Exaggerated noiser sections and more tuneful quieter parts than the debut.

Do it again - Twisted Wheel. Mod rock from the one time punks.

Day Five - Newish releases

Lemon Memory - Menace Beach. Noisey psychedelic garage rock and roll with a scartch and sniff front cover.

Nehurvia - Bishop Nerhu. Well produced Hip Hop with lyrically simple, love and egotistical songs.

Dumb Blood - Vant. Lyrically Blunt Garage rock

Prisoner - Ryan Adams. Pleasant heartfelt country album.

Life will see you Now - Jens Lekman. There Goes Rhymin' Simon era Paul Simon takes song writing lessons from Courtney Barnett. 

Album of the year contender

Disco Disco Disco

My dad has been fighting album but it now looks like it will see the light of day. We are really fond of the work that James Murphy and Co produce so we gone made this album. & I had to do the
design. Of course, I would do the design. that's always a given with these things.

"This ain't no party, This ain't no disco, This ain't no fooling around, This ain't no mudclub, or CBGB's, I ain't got time for that now" is a line that you all should no and if you don't shame on you. That's what the title of the album is from. LCD Soundsystem know all about disco. The bass lines, the grooves & the funk.

Featuring contributions from James Reay, Phillip Reay & Michael Reay with a contribution from Christine Reay. All of the family is on this album. Covers, reinterpretations and musical explorations.

Download maybe available soon

All My Colours

 

Tumblr is a great source of images of the things that you love and when I stumbled across two images of one of my heroes, that were really very good; too good in fact not to do something with. The photos were of Ian McCulloch, the lead singer of one of my favourite bands, Echo and the Bunnymen. I chose to screen over some of the lyrics from one of the gloomiest songs due to the atmosphere in the pictures.

Elvis is King

The other Elvis. Not Presley. Costello. The man who wrote one of the best Debut albums of all time with lyrics that will ring true with every generation of love, lust and "Dancing". In this image I have tried to capture the the essence of said album. The colours are the same as the album, the checkerboard design is one that is from the border of said album and the image is of a similar stance to the album.

Everything is a Conspiracy

 I am skeptical bout everything, I source every like on Social media to see if it is from a REAL person or just a spam account used to generate more likes or comments. I have become more skeptical in recent years about who is ruling the people of this earth. In an age of wiki leaks and Secret services it's hard to take things as they come. So when  had the chance to design for an album about this very interested. It's a home grown project but that makes it no less credible.

The iconography of war first came to mind when this was brought to my attention. hence some parts of the design depicting war. I feel very passionately about the mistakes that the UK made to go into Iraq. The monoo chrome style came very much out of the punk politics and fanzine culture around that time. Saying stand up and have a voice, Print your message using the cheap photocopiers and a pen. The display typeface is Helvetica but the other one is called Karton and it looks like the font Crass (the Band) used to use.

Look Dad, I Design

 

Designing for the funniest, Non Commercial but absolutely brilliant band had to be a hard task. They've been hard at work since the post punk years and have made a number of classics without the recognition they deserve. I give you Half Man Half Biscuit. My Papa put together this compilation of all of their "No Tunes"and it is great listen. So I was enlisted to design the cover and insert. Typography was the best option as the approach they have to design is one that is intentionally quite terrible. The Colours are from the Football Club Dulka Prague because one of the song they have is called "All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit"which is a classic. The Font is Helvetica in case you hadn't noticed. The Title itself is a play on the album titles that they have themselves, who's names range from Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral, Some Call It Godcore and Achtung Bono.

It's a simple design for the most complex of bands. 

Give'em a listen if you haven't already.