Release date: Dec 3rd (Japan) / Jan 16th (Rest of the world)
Openmind designs
Items created by by design alter-ego, Openmind
I think this might be one of my favourite designs for my own music, this is the track list for the album believe it or not. I’ve really been into circular designs for the last few years and I had this idea ages ago and had to save it for my own stuff. Such a shame artwork for music is getting smaller and smaller and I keep doing hyper-detailed stuff like this. Would love to see this on a 12″ picture disc one day, colours might change though…
Another one, too light and grainy
This one didn’t make it, too messy, but still nice
[singlepic id=3154 w=620 h=440 float=left]
Here we have what I hope to be the first in a series of limited edition signed prints of the work by Henry Flint that’s adorned my record sleeves over the last 2 years. The first one is ‘Life Cycle of a Machine’ that featured on my ‘The Shape of Things That Hum’ EP in late 2009 and was originally a B&W line drawing that Henry did which I have digitally coloured.
The giclee print is 64 x 47cm on 300gsm Somerset Photo paper which is 100% cotton and I can attest that the print is very high quality indeed. All will be signed by Henry and myself and will be available from Scraffer.com, sent rolled in a study cardboard tube. If these sell well there are plans for a further three prints featuring artwork from the album and EPs in the same format.
My third EP will be called ‘Magpies, Maps and Moons’, featuring 5 tracks with a vocal collaboration from JG Thirlwell and a musical one from 2econd Class Citizen. It will be out Oct/Nov, on 12″ and DL, not entirely sure the exact date yet, with the album to follow shortly afterwards.
More Henry Flint art for the album release, not sure how far this is finished yet.
Art by Henry Flint, colours by Strictly Kev, coming this Autumn…
Preview of an artwork book I was involved in a few years ago – copies still available here
[vimeo width=”640″ height=”360″]http://vimeo.com/25976745[/vimeo]
I am periodically asked by Ninja to find designs and artwork for old releases as they’ve been lost over time and they need to repress them. In order to do this I have to go through an ever lengthening process as time and technology marches on.
First of all I have to find the files amongst folders of CDr‘s
Then boot up an old G4 Powerbook that has the classic environment installed, the file formats are too old to be read by current Mac’s.
Transfer the files onto the laptop so that I can use the Extractor program to decompress them, hoping they haven’t corrupted in the ensuing years.
Bounce the files back to the Mac Pro and open them in Freehand 10, making a note of any fonts or files that haven’t been archived with the set.
Find said files and fonts, reload them and open the files.
Cut and paste the whole lot into InDesign to tweak and make print-ready for today’s environment. There is usually a bit of work to do as old files never convert exactly, certain details have changed over time (address, distribution etc) or things need tidying up as my design skills were lacking back in the day.
Convert to a Postscript PDF for the printer
Sorry for possibly the most dull post ever but I’m sure some designers will sympathise.
I just did a little interview with the blog Architects and Heroes this week, this is still warm it’s so up to date.
Amon Tobin‘s 2005 Splinter Cell game soundtrack has been remixed to coincide with the release of a new 3D version of the game. Various Ninja Tune artists such as Daedelus, Kid Koala, King Cannibal, The Qemists, Eskmo and Lorn have worked their magic on the tracks alongside a couple of new pieces by Amon himself.
For the artwork I was required to update the original and decided to experiment a little with the 3D analyph technique you can achieve in print. If you have a pair of red and blue 3D glasses to hand, have a look at this from the inner sleeve of the vinyl. The physical LP and CD versions are released in April but you can buy the download version right now from the Ninjashop.
I designed this last week for a club night in the US called See You Next Thursday (SYNTH), here you can see a rough progression through to the final forms.
An XX box set just went for nearly £300 on eBay someone should have told the bidders that Ninja had a few tucked away for their new site launch and the winner could have saved themselves £200. In other news, the box set was featured in an end of year round up in the New York Times of all places (there we are over on the right) alongside, Elvis, Dylan, the Stones, Springsteen, Lennon and more…
Lots of gigs coming up in December (see full listing over on the right) The Ninja Tune XX celebrations travel to Brighton, London and Prague, Belgrade and Beinne this month.
First off is the big Bonobo gig after party in Brighton at the Concorde 2, the day after is King Cannibal’s ‘Way of the Ninja’ mix CD launch at the Rhythm Factory with free entry all night and goody bags for the first 100 in.
The next week sees me in Prague at the Palac Akropolois with Grasscut for a Ninja 20th AV set and then Belgrade the next day at the Tube.
Saturday 18th I have not one but two gigs in London, a Videocrash Solid Steel XXmas party with Hexstatic, DK, Cheeba and more down at the refurbished Electrowerkz. Before that though I’ll be spinning a guest slot down at Classic Material at C.A.M.P. in Old Street, with a vinyl only set of classic Hip Hop from the year 1989. in case you’ve not heard about this night, this is the third installment and each month sees a year celebrated from Hip Hop’s golden periods. DJ Format and Andy Smith have both stepped up and it’s my turn this time. Only records from ’89 will be played, special box sets will be available on the night of CD mixes and T shirts and Chris Read and co. (who run the night) will be in support.
New Years Eve sees DK and I see the year out in fine fashion in Bienne, Switzerland with a special 4 deck AV set.
I have to feature this because I love the fact that it’s a full page in Creative Review and the tag line Think Tank came up with for it. Thanks to all at Think Tank Media for the superb job they did on this project and believing in and liking it enough to take out such an ad.