Design

2025

As is the custom on this blog, Dec 31st heralds my personal favourites of the year in various categories, leaving it until the last moment to make sure as much gets caught in the net before we flip to 2026. Despite the horrors we experience through the media daily, 2025 was a bit of a vintage year for me personally with new work and family milestones reached despite the hardships all around us. This year has been hugely productive and I’ve released a few things, designed a lot and contributed to several big projects that I’m super proud of. The Autumn was dominated by the Telepathic Fish compilation, something that out-performed our expectations by some way and rumbled into the winter months, making several end of year lists to our delight.
This is not the last word on the Fish…

Best of 2025 Music2
Music:
Snapped Ankles – Hard Times Furious Dancing LP (the Leaf Label)
clipping. – Dead Channel Sky LP (Sub Pop)
Paten Locke – Dance On My Grave LP (Full Plate)
Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People LP (Smalltown Supersound)
Hieroglyphic Being – RE-SELECTED PSYBIENT JAZZ SOUNDSCAPES VOL. 1+2 (Mathematics)
Move 78 – Game Four LP (self-released)
Marshall Jefferson – Yellow Meditation For The Dance Generation (Joakim’s Horizontal Remix Instrumental) (Utter)
Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film LP (Warp/Duophonic)
Telefax Productions – Break This House Down 12″ (Classic Music Company)
Coastal County – II LP (Lomas Productions)
Kif Productions – Still Out LP (Sound Records)
Move 78 – In The Age of Data (self-released)
Group Modular – The Tunnel / Lonely Pylon 7″ (Delights)
Jo Johnson – Alterations vol.1 LP (Silver Threads)

Best of 2025 Podcasts
Podcasts:
What Went Wrong?
Some Assembly Required
Tales From A Disappearing City
The Bureau of Lost Culture
What Did You Do Yesterday?
Oh God What Now?
Rule of Three
The Adam Buxton Podcast
We Buy Records
The Fanzine Podcast

2025 gigs exhibitions
Gigs / Events / Exhibitions:
Eno and Anne B @ the British Library, London
Mick Jones’ RRPL @ The Farsight Gallery, London
Visiting Neil Rice’s home with friends for a personal light show display
Linder Sterling @ The Hayward, London
Leigh Bowery @ The Tate Modern, London
Strangely Familiar – Photographer’s Gallery, London
The Dream House, East Dulwich, London
Future Language of the Ikonoklast book launch @ Greyhound Pub, Peckham
My 2hr gig turning into 3 hours @ Cabron Bar, Folkestone
The Epic Story of Graffiti, Birmingham
Telepathic Fish launch party @ Arch555, London
The Jonny Halifax Invocation play Ravi Shankar, Mildmay Club, London
Beautify Junkyards @ Waiting Rooms, London
The closing of the Penge street art gallery, London
Barry Kamen @ Graces Mews, London
Obey/Hirst/Invader – Newport Street Gallery, London
Welcome To The Pleasuredome LP Atmos playback @ L-Acoustic studios, London then pub visit with the Universal team + Holly and Ped!
Furrowed residency @ Rose Hill Tavern, Brighton
Factory Floor and Sculpture @ Simple Things festival, Bristol
The Audiovisual Assembly, @ Bath House, Hackney Wick, London

2025 Design
Packaging / Design:
Got to say, I’ve been a bit underwhelmed by a lot of the design I’ve seen this year, not a lot stood out. The fashion seems to be either surrealist photography in an attempt to ape Hypngosis or terrible painting. Typography on front covers is the exception rather than the rule. I thought maybe I’d just not been paying attention but googling a bunch of ‘best covers of 2025’ lists only reinforced my opinion. It’s all subjective though isn’t it? I didn’t see much if any AI in the lists which is good.
Various Artists – Rave Wars: The Acid Awakens 7″ + Star Wars figure (Rave Wars)
Field Lines Cartographer – Apeiron Anxiety LP (Castles In Space)
Drumetrics – DRB 001 4×5″ records in etched box
Kid Koala – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome reissue LP + flexi disc (Ninja Tune)
Krash Slaughta – B-Boy Mastamind 7″ (Krash Slaughta Records)
Sully – Model Collapse etched 12″ (Fabric Live)
Drumetrics – Drumetronome tablet
ES – Planet Beyond – Selected Cuts Vol.1 LP (Ruiger)

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Artists:
Kurt Jackson (above)
Ray Tijssen aka 0010×0010
Odeith
Chris Bigg
Oritoor
Toor Pentel

2025 Books comics
Books / Magazines / Comics:
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist – Adrian Tomine (Faber)
UltraMega – James Harren (Image)
Bowling With Corpses – Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
Robot Tod – Farel Dal (Floating World Comics)
Absolute Martian Manhunter – Camp/Rodriguez (DC)
OK Okapi – Martin Andersen & Chris Bigg
Future Language of the Ikonoklast (Velocity Press)
The Editor’s Cut – David McDonald (Hibernia Books)
Absolute Batman – Snyder/Dragotta/Martin (DC)
Heatwave – John L. Williams (Monoray)
The Absence – Rian Hughes (Unpublished)
A Humument – Tom Phillips (Thames & Hudson) (A late but important discovery)
Granny Takes A Trip – Paul Gorman (White Rabbit)
Bedetruite – Samplerman (LDC)
The Absence – Budgie (White Rabbit)
Face The Music – Paul Stanley
Stephen Stapleton – The Formless Irregular (Timeless)
The Vaughan Oliver Archive (Unit Editions)
Instant Public Art – Ulrich Blanché (Arthistoricum.net) Read here:
Plunderphonics – Matthew Blackwell (Bloomsbury Academic)

Film / TV:
I just have to admit it, I really don’t watch much film or TV and what I see doesn’t do much for me evidently. I did see the Beautiful Losers documentary from 2008 and like it though.

2025 What have I done
Another year over and what have I done?
Designed the Cobalt 60 LP release for Ollie Teeba & Jonny Cuba
Played at the closing of When Spaceships Appear record shop
Co-compiled and designed the Telepathic Fish compilation, booklet, Float III mixtape and Mindfood 5 fanzine for Fundamental Frequencies
Released the 20th anniversary cassette Raiding the 20th Century Expanded version on Delic Records
Continued my Electrik Collage radio show until April then paused to rethink
Designed the Dan Curtin ‘The 4 Lights’ album for De:tuned
Released the Locked Loop Group 8″ lathe cut zoetrope with Acid Lathe
Designed The Herbaliser Band’s ‘Rehearsal Session’ album
Contributed heavily to the 40th anniversary boxset for Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’.
Collaborated with Al White on the Terrace ‘Branches’ LP design for De:tuned
Logo design and branding for OTA Recordings
Provided guest mixes for Oonops Drops on Brooklyn Radio and the 45 Live show on Dublab
Appeared on the Cheap Digs podcast with Moz, the Tales From A Disappearing City podcast with Controlled Weirdness, the Skinny E Media show with Mark, the Do!!You!!! Breakfast show with Charlie Bones and The Bureau of Lost Culture podcast.
Supported the Orb on a few dates of their UK tour
Held an exhibition of Openmind artwork at the Cabron Bar in Folkestone, then also Upside Down Records, Deptford
Contributed a track on the Rave Wars: The Acid Awakens 7″
Held a release party for the Telepathic Fish album at Arch555 in Brixton with Mixmaster Morris, Matt Black and KiF Productions
Taken charge of both the Orion and Pluto lighting archives Larry Wooden (RIP) and Micky Thompson (RIP) from respectively
Revived & updated my O Is For Orange video mix and provided a new version to Bleep for their September guest mix
Created two hour-long Float IV and V mixes for the guest spots on Dublab and Ransom Note respectively.
Finally finished and printed my collage comic, the All Colour, High Fidelity, Radio Cartoon, after 5 years
Designed two zoetropes for Disclosure’s ‘Caracal’ 10th anniversary reissue
Attended the Bound Art Book Fair in Manchester as a seller and speaker then DJed at YES in the evening
Played the Simple Things festival with Graham Dunning and Puttyrubber at the IMAX in Bristol at the behest of Steve Davis
Appeared at the first AudioVisual Assembly gig, performing O Is For Orange alongside The Light Surgeons, Bitvert, Pat Grimm and David Leister
Designed The Real Tuesday Weld’s Crow at Christmas 3″CD Xmas card
Designed Nate Krafft’s Crimson Arsenal/Man Machine reissue for Musique Pour La Danse
The Telepathic Fish LP earns Juno Daily’s and Rough Trade Compilation of the Year (with an exclusive blue vinyl edition for the latter) as well as mentions in the end of year polls by Bleep (with an exclusive T-shirt), Phonica, Resident, Brooklyn Vegan, HHV, Moonbuilding and the New York Times.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome receives Reissue of the Year in Classic Pop magazine as well as compliments from the band.
Recorded an album’s worth of extended turntablism material with Furrowed for a future release
Designed the first cassette for my Infinite Illectrik label, Extended Turntablism vol.1 by Graham Dunning and myself. More to come in 2026…

RIP:
David Lynch, Micky Thompson (Pluto Electronics), Bill Ham (light show pioneer), Marianne Faithfull, Mike Ratledge, Rutherford Chang, Rick Buckler, Roberta Flack, Gwen McCrea, Gene Hackman, David Johansen, Mark Pawson (UK counterculture legend), Roy Ayers, Doug Lear, free speech in America and the UK, John Peck aka The Mad Peck, WH Smiths, Robert McGinnis, Alan Yentob, Sylvester ‘Sly Stone’ Stewart, Brian Wilson, Lalo Schifrin, Luis Jardim, Peter Shapiro, Ozzy Osbourne, Terence Stamp, JD Twitch (Optimo), Larry Wooden (Orion Lighting), Drew Struzan, Ace Frehley, Diane Keaton, Bunny Bread aka State of Art (Non Stop Artists), Dave Ball, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, Pam Hogg, Frank Gehry, Martin Parr, Rob Reiner, Ken Downie (The Black Dog), Brigitte Bardot, Martin Jones (UK Hip Hop historian and early champion).

Currently there are several projects lining up for 2026, I could do with some more DJ gigs and I want to find time to revive the Electrik Collage radio show and make it better than the version that was on ROVR radio. There will be more cassettes from Infinite Illectrik too including a long-projected compilation and an album from Duplokit. Thanks to everyone who read this old-fashioned blog over the year, it may finally get an upgrade in 2026, I hope you all had a great Xmas if you celebrated and wish you all a prosperous New Year. See you on the other side.

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Looking forward to:
Foetus’ final LP, ‘Halt’
An Openmind exhibition in Krakow?
More Infinite Illectrik cassettes
Sophia Satchell-Baeza’s The Sensual Laboratories book, finally?
Cineolascape…?
Andrew Humphreys’ ‘I’d Love To Turn You On’ book
The Rogue Trooper film

Posted in Art, Books, Comics, Design, DJ Food, Event, Exhibition, Film, Gigs, Music, Openmind designs, Packaging, Records. | No Comments | Tags:

Miscellaneous Magazine covers

RCA Spring 69
Various covers from the end run of promotional RCA (Radio Corporation of America) magazine that existed from 1941 to 1971. You can view a selection of them here.

RCA Winter 68
RCA Autumn 68
RCA Autumn 69
RCA Autumn 71
Hawkfrendz covers from the Hawkwind fanzine plus one for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown by Trevor Hughes.

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To round out the post here’s some Op-Art that’s been collecting in a folder – first up, an Olivetti ad by Juan Carlos Distéfano, Ruben Fontana and Juan Andralis for Insituto di Tella.

Juan Carlos Distéfano, Ruben Fontana and Juan Andralis for Insituto di Tella,
Next, the front and back cover of a French library music remix compilation, ‘Tele Music Reinterpretations’ from 2017.
Telemusic front
Tele music back
Lastly, a page from a fashion book that highlights the resurgence of sixties fashions in London in 1979.

psychrevival 1979

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Psychedelic posters and counter cultural clippings

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Seeing as this is an online scrapbook, here are some bits and pieces that have been clogging up the desktop for some time. Yardbirds poster directed to me by Neil Rice who spotted the Holy See Lights credited.

The Rolling Stones 1972, music concert programme.
Can’t remember where I saw the above and below but I love them. Above is actually a Rolling Stones 1972, music concert programme.

Silver foil lady poster

A Peter Max poster from 1967 and detail, maybe for a show at The Contemporaries gallery in New York?

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Guildford Arts Lab-topaz-text-shapes-4x
Membership card for the Guildford Arts Lab, date unknown and two sides of an invite to appear in the audience for Jukebox Jury at the BBC.

JBJ ticket
JBJ ticket back
and finally a very groovy ad for an Irish cassette, tape and 8-track shop, Pat Egan‘s.

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Omega Auctions countercultural lots

Hendrix poster
The regular Omega Auctions in Manchester continue to expose all manner of amazing counter cultural artefacts and the up and coming ones are no exception. Their Music Memorabilia and Vinyl Showcase on Dec 2nd contains all the lots in this post and many more. Above is a lovely Hendrix poster on silver foil I’d never seen before, circa 1968 and designed by Photosida.

IT poster
This poster for issue 5.5 of I.T. (International Times) by Michael English is super rare. Entitled ‘The Invisible Generation & The Invisible Generator’ and using text by William Burroughs, it was printed in an edition of 200 in silver ink before Xmas, 1966, then in a larger run in gold sometime later after Burroughs complained that he couldn’t read the silver. Most of them went to subscribers before they went on sale to the public, hence the scarcity.

Linder Buzzcocks flyer
An original flyer featuring a collage by Linder Sterling for a Buzzcocks gig in 1977.

Sci-Fi festival Leeds poster
Another one I’d never seen before, a poster for Futurama, billing itself as ‘The World’s First Science-Fiction Music Festival’ in Leeds, 1979. Look at that line up! There’s also a badge to go with it.

Sci-Fi fest badge

TL cover + artwork
One of the most amazing lots (actually several different lots) is the original artwork, paste ups, proofs and other materials for the infamous Tudor Lodge album cover on Vertigo. This lavish, die-cut, fold out sleeved folk rock album goes for £500 in poor condition and up over £1000 for a decent copy, I wonder what the art will go for? The lots are originally from the collection of artist and designer Philip Duffy of PD Graphics.

TL cover artwork
TL front cover overlay
TL orig art 1
TL orig art 2
TL orig art 3
Tudor Lodge covers
Tudor Lodge parts

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Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredome 40th anniversary

FGTH boxset
This has been a long time coming, I’ve been working on this as part of a great team for over a year now and it’s finally up for pre-order. The 40th anniversay set of Frankie Goes To Hollywood‘s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ across 8 discs, inc. 33 unreleased tracks, with full co-operation of the band, a new 5.1 Atmos mix by Steven Wilson over multiple formats.

FGTH SW LP
Eight discs: 1: Demos + Sessions 2: Relax + B-sides 3: Two Tribes + B-sides 4: Rarities and outtakes 5: The Power of Love + B-sides 6: Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (the single) + B-sides 7: Welcome To The Pleasuredome (the original album) 8: Welcome To The Pleasuredome (the new Steven Wilson 5.1 mix + more). All housed in a 10″ 38 pg book with intro by SDE’s Paul Sinclair and full historial band timeline by myself plus plenty of photos wrapped up in a Philip Marshall design.

FGTH BluRay
Formats: 8 discs + book / 2xLP (Steven Wilson album mix) / 2xCD (original album + box set highlights) / Blu Ray (original album mix + Steven Wilson 5.1 + Atmos + Stereo mixes) + Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (Supernova) exclusive. The 30 minute ‘Supernova’ version of ‘Welcome To The Pleasure Dome’ (the title track) by Steven Wilson on the SDE Blu-Ray is, in my opinion, the best Frankie remix done since the 80s.

Myriad versions available here

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Telepathic pics

The Telepathic Fish party last Sunday was a proper fishing trip down memory lane. Not only for the tunes we played and the old decor we dug up but the people who came from far and wide, some of who we’d not seen in decades. The CDJs and Matt Black‘s AV set up may have been state of the art but the projectors were classic old school with liquid wheels, rotating prisms and op-art FX. The floor was covered with matting, rugs and cushions and our original inflatable ‘amoeba’ was revived, pulsating away in a high corner all night. There were reflective fish hanging from the tunnel walls, David‘s badge-making corner under UV lights that illuminated the flourescent paint of some of our original banners and a jar of free fish sweets to take.

Mario played his first public gig in years, Doug Shipton ably followed with a blend of deep digs into the German end of his collection and I spun multiple decks with a retro set drawing mainly from the early 90s. KiF Productions arrived as doors opened and performed a live soundtrack to their ‘Still Out’ ambient road trip film homage to the KLF and Mixmaster Morris closed with two hours of his usual eclectic brilliance. Below are just some of the highlights – thanks to photographers Mike Sumpter, Nancy Brown, Mario and Larissa Aguera, Chiara Acanfora and Simon Wright for pooling their photos. My short sweep of the room above gives you an example of the every-moving nature of the space.

Telepathic Fish Panorama - ph. Simon Wright
Doug Shipton - Telepathic Fish - ph. Chiara Acanfora
Doug Shipton 2 - Telepathic Fish - ph. Nancy Brown
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Telepathic Fish - ph.Kevin Foakes
David Vallade - Telepathic Fish - ph. Nancy Brown

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The amoeba - Telepathic Fish - ph. Nancy Brown
Dedicated Telepathic Fish - Mike Sumpter

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Telepathic Fish LPs arrive

Bundle front 2
LP inside
Bundle back
LP+booklet
The LPs are here at last, over a year in the making, gatefold double album with silk smooth finish, spot varnish details and 20 page full colour booklet. Also Mindfood #5 fanzine, 1 hour mystery mix ‘Float III’ cassette and enamel pin badge.

Badge
Float front
Float A
Float B
Float back
Float inside
These all form the deluxe bundle that sold out very quickly on the FF Bandcamp pre-order page. The LP is very much still available but if you missed out on the bundle then we will have a limited number for sale at the launch party next Sunday, August 31st in Brixton at Arch555 – ticket link here.

MF5 cover
MF5 inside 1
MF5 inside 2
MF5 inside 3
MF5 inside 4

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Exhibition at Upside Down Records, Deptford

Openmind at Upside DownIf you visit Upside Down Records over the summer you’ll be able to see a selection of my design work for Ninja Tune, De:tuned, Castles In Space and more as you browse the racks. The selection comes from some of the work I recently exhibited in Folkestone but concentrates mainly on record-related designs so there’s none of the collage work that I previewed there, I’ll save that for when that project is ready.

The shop deals exclusively in used vinyl with a few racks of CDs and a small selection of vintage cassettes, they also deal in vintage hi-fi so if you’re in the market for a turntable, speakers or an amp, then they might have something for you. If you’ve not visited the shop before then they’re one stop from London Bridge on the overground or a 15 min walk from the heart of Greenwich. They’re open Wednesday-Sunday, check times online. Thanks to shop owner and good friend, Philippe for hosting my work and for the speedy install today.

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Openmind exhibition on now in Folkestone

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It’s been a bit hectic recently, hence not many posts as I’ve been busy framing and preparing artwork for my latest exhibition. After 2 days of transporting, hanging, re-hanging and cleaning up artwork, my Openmind show of work is finally up at Cabron Groove Bar in Folkestone.

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The bar will be open 6-10pm for viewings week days and 2-11pm weekends until the 14th June when I will be returning to play a set with support from Brassica and Bobby Dazzler (see posters at the end for full details)

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There are nearly 50 pieces in the show from 1995 to the present day and I’m now working on a digital catalogue of pieces for sale (I totally ran out of time to do that for the show opening).

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DJ Food gig Folkestone

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The Great Zoetrope

zoe 1
I recently ran across this great piece of packaging on eBay on a lot for The Great Zoetrope made by the Adult Toys Inc company in 1966. They’ve really made the most of the box graphics here and I’m wondering if things like this being around helped influence the graphics of Sgt. Pepper a year later? They don’t make them like this anymore.

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These last two were from a different auction but show more of the contents and some scale.

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zoe 21

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More Psychedelic posters from the web

1971 Images for Learning (Science Research Associates Inc.)
More images saved from various trawls around the web, above: Images for Learning (Science Research Associates Inc.) 1971, found on eBay.

Zen Benefit poster 1967-topaz-text-shapes-4x
From Andrew Sclanders’ Beat Books list: A large postcard with designs by Gompers Saijo publicising the benefit held for the Zen Mountain Center at the Fillmore, San Francisco, March 15, 1967. 
22.5×14.7cm.

The Fool Apple Boutique-topaz-text-shapes-4x
Apple Boutique ‘Upon Our Way’ poster by The Fool, 39.5cm x 57cm, 1967/68.

Pink Floyd 1967 repro
Upscaled repro Pink Floyd poster, 1967.

Hoppy IT graphic
International Times graphic, 1968. Thanks to Neil Rice for pointing this out. From Hoppyx.com

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RIP Mark Pawson

Mark Pawson Groovy Record Fayre 2021
Very sad to hear of the passing of Mark Pawson today. A unique figure on the counter cultural art and publishing scene who I would regularly see at zine fairs and the like. His was always the most interesting stall with the most bizarre underground books and comics from all over the world. I’d end up buying some beautifully screen printed French comics from him, the likes of which you’d never see anywhere else and would never see again if you didn’t buy them there and then.

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I first got to know Mark in the early 90s when he was around on the scene when I worked at Ambient Soho, he was the badge man who would make all sorts of badges for the shop, and our Telepathic Fish parties. I still have a load of badges he made using my Openmind logo and was going to get him to make more this summer for the release of a record. He’d sell artbooks and badges he made of his own work using photocopiers and also made badges featuring Negativland and Bob Dobbs.

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His classic ‘Mark’s Little Book of Kinder Eggs’ and book of plug wirings were always in print and I think the ‘Assume This Phone Is Tapped’ sticker was also one of his. There are phrases I’ll always associate with his work like ‘Aggressive School of Cultural Workers’, ‘Demolish Serious Culture’, ‘Book Shops Not Bombs’ and ‘N©’. He belonged to the anti-establishment DIY scene who used whatever they could to make art, was involved in The Exploding Cinema early on as well as the international mail art scene. It’s shocking to know he’s gone, a truly one of a kind figure. I’m sad I won’t bump into him at the fairs any more. RIP Mark

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Posted in Art, Books, Design, Oddities. | 8 Comments | Tags:

Psychedelic poster auction highlights

FD Presents R Griffin
Selections from the Jasper 52 auction of psychedelic posters which closes on March 9th. Above: rare Family Dog poster by Rick Griffin.

Mouse & Kelley FD-109
Above: Mouse & Kelley Family Dog poster, 1968, below: Randy Tuten Family Dog poster, 1968

Randy Tuten 1968 FD poster
Moscoso Jungle Juice comic
Above: Victor Moscoso Jungle Juice comic, below: Eye Ball poster and Ripped Van Winkle poster, 1988

Moscoso Eye Ball
Ripped Van Winkle

Jerry Garcia poster Mouse'Kelley
Above: Bob Fried Memorial Boogie by various artists, below: Wes Wilson, The New Mobilization March anti-war march in San Francisco, 1969.

Wes Wilson
East Totem West
Above: East Totem West head shop poster, below: Neon Park Family Dog poster, 1968.

Neon Park 1968 FD-108

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The Real Tuesday Weld – Blood (CD edition)

Blood CD expanded front

Posting this today because I found it in my ‘drafts’ in WordPress and it’s now two years old. This was originally written Dec 2022, intended to be published back then but I must have missed it somehow. This was the CD version of the first part of an intended trilogy for The Real Tuesday Weld – Swan Songs – encapsulating ‘Blood’, ‘Dream’ and ‘Bone’ LPs plus additional cassette extras. Three years on and the first two are out but ‘Bone’ has been languishing unfinished for a while as the ever-manic Stephen Coates attends to his many distractions from the Bureau of Lost Culture podcast to the London Month of the Dead and Century Club programming. In between he’s also created two Clerkenwell Kid albums (‘Songs for Crow’ – Dec 2024 and the forthcoming ‘Junkshop Melodies’ as well as the ‘Winter Warmers’ 3″ CD of Xmas 2023. He assures me this will be the year we wrap things up for a project that started in 2019 and half the artwork for ‘Bone’ is done but we’ll see…

Another black and red sleeve, I swore I’d use less black in my designs in 2022 but it’s not working is it? To be fair though, both this and the Cinematic Orchestra covers are from 2021 and 2002 respectively. Today sees the release of the CD edition of The Real Tuesday Weld‘s ‘Blood‘ album on CD. The vinyl sold out quickly and people asked for a CD (not everyone wants vinyl) and Antique Beat listened.

Blood CD expanded back
We’ve shrunk the artwork and presented a CD version of the vinyl design, complete with reversible inner sleeve with die cut centre and vinyl groove effect on the black CD disc. Order here.
Blood CD back + inner reversed
Blood CD back + inner
Blood CD back
Blood CD disc
Blood CD expanded again
Blood CD expanded vert

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Psychedelic Crunchie Bomb poster offer, 1969

Crunchie 3
A rare set of four “Crunchie Bomb” posters commissioned in 1969 by Frys Chocolate, measuring 20×15 inches. Two designed by graphic artist and Professor of Illustration at the RCA, Dan Fern, two by renowned designer Chris McEwan. They were available in exchange for 3 Crunchie wrappers – see the last photo of the original advert.

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Crunchie offer-topaz-text-shapes-4x
Seems like Crunchie were really trying to tap into the youth market in the late sixties, check out this reworking of the Beach Boys‘ ‘Good Vibrations’ TV ad, complete with zany visual effects.

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2024

Abear web
It’s that time again, time to wrap things up and turn over a new leaf – or just carry on as normal. As is tradition on this blog, here’s some of what’s been floating my boat in 2024, in no particular order. It’s been a good one, very busy but not too busy on the DJ front, that needs some rectifying in 2025, but extremely satisfying on the work and home front. There are still projects that have been in the pipeline that haven’t seen the light of day including a couple of releases I designed in 2023 that are still not out in the wild, at least two audio treats in production and a few things I can’t announce officially yet. I really would like to get some longform music out there in some form in 2025 as I currently have roughly three albums-worth of material sitting on hard drives waiting for some form to be made of them.

Best Music 2024
Music:
Patrick Carpenter – Electric Envelope (Bandcamp)
Brian Eno – The Lighthouse (Sonos Radio)
Reso – Nut Damage EP (Bandcamp)
Sean Ono Lennon – Asterisms LP (Chimera Music)
Prefuse 73 – New Strategies for Modern Crime (Lex)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredone (Steven Wilson megamix) (Universal)
The New Library Sound – Library Music Series 02 – Oceanography LP (2 Headed Deer)
Beautify Junkyards – Nova LP (Ghost Box)
Jem Stone – The Legend of Kaptain Karnival (Finger Lickin’/Velocity Press)
Paul Cousins – Oxide Manifesto LP (Castles In Space)
Dave Lombardo – Rites of Percussion LP (Ipecac)
DJ Primecuts feat. MC Conrad – Together / Our Time Is Now 12″ (Self Release)
Magictouch – Kyousoku 2/3 7″ (Delic Records)
LF58 – Radials LP (Astral Industries)

Best podcasts 2024
Podcasts:
DjHistory (Bill Brewster)
Oh God, What Now? (Podmasters)
We Buy Records (Tim Scullion / Paul Field)
What Goes Around? (Eamon Murtagh / Deb Grant)
Paper Cuts (Podmasters)
Sound Collage (Achillefs Sourlas)
Not a Diving Podcast with Scuba
Bureau of Lost Culture (Stephen Coates)
Quiet Riot (Alex Andreou / Naomi Smith)
Tales from a Disappearing City (Controlled Weirdness)
The Fanzine Podcast (Tony Fletcher)

Records shops I went to for the first time in 2024 and would recommend:
Tenpin Records, Purley
Rook Records, Hackney
Perfect Lives, Deptford
KillaCutz, Amsterdam
Platypus Records, Amsterdam
Zap Records, Amsterdam
Friendly Records, Bristol
Kingsland Records, Dalston
Crazy Beat Records, Upminster
Bananarama, Antwerp
Grey Records, Antwerp
Decktronix, Rochester
Klang Tone (at their new address), Stroud
Pressing Matters, Hastings
Bear Tree Records, Sheffield
Rob’s Records, Nottingham
FAC1968, Nottingham
B.B.E. Store, Hackney
Off The Record, Haringey
Recycle Vinyl, Dalston

Events Gigs 2024
Gigs / Events / Exhibitions:
DEYA Brewery, Cheltenham with Tom Ravenscroft
Light Surgeons’ Takeover @iklectik, London
Baba Yaga’s Hut Takover @iklectik, London
Screenprint24, @Centrespace Gallery, Bristol
Repainting Subway Art @New Walk Gallery, Leicester
Upside Down Records launch, Deptford, London
The New Obsolescents in-store @Wow & Flutter, Hastings
Anne Desmet @guildhall, London
Deliaphonic @Coventry University, Coventry
The Straat Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Seeing the Tulip gardens in the Netherlands
Yoko Ono @ Tate Modern, London
Enzo Mari @ The Design Museum, London
Rise of the Vandals show, York
Grace Jones, Crystal Palace Park, London
Peter Kennard @The Whitechapel Gallery, London
Dele Sosimi Wah Wah 45s 25th anniversary @Village Underground, London
The The @Brixton Academy, London
Taking one of my sons to his first record fairs
Seeing my other son start art college
Levitation’24 – Bedford Esquires, Bedford
The Groovy Record Fayre, @ The Mildmay Club, London
Dust & Grooves Book 2 launch @BBE Store, London
Paul Cousins – Atomized Listening @Stone Nest, London
Prime Cuts, Rival Self and Aroe @Rook Records, London
Electric Dreams @Tate Modern, London

Packaging Design 2024
Packaging / Design:
Pye Corner Audio – LP (Ghost Box)
Woo – Robot X LP (Independent Project Records)
Various Artists – Cheeba Issue.1 7″ and Dan Lish comic (Cheeba Cheeba Records)
Drumetrics 10″ record box
Listening Center – Sight and Scene LP (Castles In Space)
Lone Bison – Talk About It / Origin Story 12″ (Castles In Space)
Sculpture – Max Ax 2×10″(LtR Records/Psyche Tropes)
Jo Johnson – Let Go Your Fear LP (Castles In Space)
Beautify Junkyards – Nova LP (Ghost Box)
His Name Is Alive – How Ghosts Affect Relationships 6xLP box set (4AD)
Organic Pulse Ensemble – A Thousand Hands LP (2 Headed Deer)
Jamie XX – In Waves 3xLP (Young)
John Lennon – Mind Games Meditation mixes 3xLP (Universal)
John Lennon – Mind Games Super deluxe box set (Universal)
SD_OA – alla prima cassette (Detroit Underground)
Eilon Paz – Dust & Grooves v1&2 Deluxe Slipcase set

Artists 2024
Artists:
Cordula Kagemann
0010×0010
iloobia
Ruben Sutherland
Alex Klim
Lovepusher
MZ Optics
Soda
Ian Bertram
Alex Eckman-Lawn
James Harren

Comics books 2024
Books / Magazines / Comics:
Judge Dredd: A Better World – Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt, Henry Flint (2000AD/Rebellion)
Petrol Head book 1 – Rob Williams / Pye Parr (Image)
Bioripple – Nir Levie
Moonray books 1+2 – Brandon Graham / Xurxo G. Penalta
A Decade of Handmade Music Packaging – Time Released Sound
Write Lines – Steve Emery (Velocity Books)
Strange Things Are Happening – Richard Norris (White Rabbit)
Blotter – Erik Davis
Dawn Runner – Ram V / Evan Cagle (Dark Horse)
Precious Metal – Darcy Van Poelgeest / Ian Bertram (Image)
Grommets – Rick Remender / Brett Parson (Image)
Lore Remastered #1 – T.P. Louise / Ashley Wood (Image)
The Sacrificers – Rick Remender / Max Fiumara (Image/Giant Generator)
Ultra Mega – James Harren (Image)
Zerox Machine – Matthew Worley (Reaktion Books)
Dust & Grooves vol.2 – Eilon Paz

Film:
Scala!!!
Dune
Tramps
Furiosa: A Mad Max saga
Eno (version 3.10 + the V&A showing)
Sculpture – ‘Cross Processor’

What Have I Done 2024
Another year over and what have I done?
Published a huge piece with Ian Peel about the 40th anniversary ZTT releases
Had my Bonobo zoetrope featured in the Turn On exhibition in Luxembourg
Had a remix of Slim Vic locked grooves featured on the Because We Love Music 24 compilation from Lamour Records
Released a 20th anniversary cassette & T-shirt of my Raiding The 20th Century mix with Delic Records
Contributed to the 45 Live 200 episode with a 7 minute mix plus my annual 1 hr mix
Played the 2nd Candlemas event at the Royal Foundation of St Katherine
Made a CD version of the Future Sound of London’s ‘Pulse Five’ EP for FSOLdigital
Designed the A’bear LP for Castles In Space – out in 2025 hopefully
Designed the Morphology ‘Fractures’ LP, David Morley ‘Fashion’ 12″, Robert Leiner’s ‘Analog Days’ LP, AsOne’s ‘Requiem’ LP and Dan Curtin’s forthcoming LP for De:tuned
Wrote pieces on Andy Votel, Kid Koala, Alex Paterson, Zoe Baxter, DJ Format and Peel Acres for the Dust & Grooves 2 book and website, played at the book launch in London and curated the December You Dig? newsletter
Gave a talk on creative practice at the Confetti industry week in Nottingham
Started a new 2 hr monthly radio show: Electrik Collage on ROVR Radio
Had an in-store performance and LP cover display with The New Obsolescents at Wow & Flutter in Hastings
Played at the Deliaphonic event in Coventry with PuttyRubber and The New Obsolescents
Played in-store with Hannah Brown @ Upside Down, Deptford
Designed the Inside Outside EP and band logo for Dave Barbarossa’s new band, Third House
Contributed to the 40th anniversary release of something that will be announced in 2025…
Played at Levitation’24 alongside Graham Dunning for the Castles In Space all-dayer
Made a 30 min mix for Forsaj’s show on Subtle Radio
Co-compiled an album of early 90s electronica under the Telepathic Fish banner for Fundamental Frequencies, due in 2025
Designed two zoetrope discs for US band, Nile’s ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’ album – out in 2025
Put together The Clerkenwell Kid’s ‘Songs For Crow’ double 3″ CD
Designed an 8″ zoetrope for Acid Lathe featuring two Quadraphon tracks that will be out in 2025

RIP:
John M. Burns, Les McCann, David Soul, Annie Nightingale, Silent Servant, Marlena Shaw, Brian Griffin, Damo Suzuki, Wayne Kramer, Steve Wright, Dan Hillier, Joan Hills, Marian Zazeela, Ed Piskor, Keith LeBlanc, Patti Astor, Trina Robbins, Peter Ceresole, Roger Johnson, MC Duke, MC Conrad, Paul DJ Regal Eve, Duane Eddy, Steve Albini, Roger Corman, Chuck Roberts, James Chance, Donald Sutherland, Bill Viola, Herbie Flowers, James Earl Jones, Larry Todd, Lillian Schwartz, Dave Watts, Quincy Jones, J Saul Kane, Lennie D. Ice, DJ Alfredo, Jimmy Carter.

Granny tat Nigel Waymouth reworking of 1966 orig

Looking forward to:
Raiding the 20th Century Expanded version 20th anniversary cassette release 18/01/25
Reactivating my Infinite Iklectik label for some releases
Leigh Bowery exhibition at the Tate Modern
Paul Gorman’s ‘Granny Takes A Trip’ book
The opening of the V&A East Museum
Sophia Satchell-Baeza’s ‘Sensual Laboratories’ book
Concluding the Swan Songs trilogy ?

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Rock Circus’

Amsterdam Rock Circus 1972-topaz-cgi-4x
A rare poster for a festival in Amsterdam at the Olympic stadium in 1972. Note Sgt. Pepper’s Band – was there a Beatles tribute band that early on?

Rock Circus advert
Even though there was no actual circus involved in the above concert there’s a link between that festival and Chipperfield’s Circus that took place in the UK around Christmas that year. Joe’s Lights – a legendary light show crew that evolved out of the Joshua Light Show – performed at both the Dutch gig and an actual circus at the Rainbow Theatre in London. Thanks to the ever-diligent Neil Rice for the poster image on this one.

Chipperfields Circus poster web
Circus imagery was popular in the sixties, most obivously from the inspiration John Lennon took from Pablo Fanque’s Circus Royal poster for the lyrics to ‘Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite’.

Benefit of Mr Kite poster
razz revue cover Rare 1972 RAZZ REVUE Magazine (Phoenix AZ Underground Press) V.1 #1
The Rolling Stones also got on the bandwagon with their ill-fated Rock n Roll Circus which was recorded for a TV special but remained unofficially released until the mid 90s. Above and below; the front and back cover of Razz Revue magazine featuring Jagger in ringmaster garb from 1972. The Revue originated from Phoenix, Arizona, ran for 16 issues and took a satirical look at pop and rock culture, via interviews and comics. The cover image is probably by Bob Boze Bell, the mag’s resident cartoonist, and the redneck character attacking Jagger is the Roper-Doper, his regular strip in the mag.
Razz Revue back
Rolling Stones 3D 1967
While we’re talking about the Stones here’s two adverts I found on my travels round the web too. The first advertising their ‘3D’ (actually lenticular) Their Satanic Majesties Request album and the second plugging a 1990 Steel Wheels concert broadcast in actual 3D.

Rolling Stones 3D 1990

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