Hasta La Ideas

In the last week or so we’ve seen some really nice, lavish even, music packages so we thought we’d share some with you. First up is the packaging for a new series of 7″ records released on Fred (Airside / Lemon Jelly) Deakin’s Impotent Fury label…

The first single (packaging shown above) contains two new Impotent Fury remixes of tracks by Paul Haig – Trip Out The Rider and Signals. The record sleeve has been carefully crafted by the good folk at Think Tank so that the inner sleeve fits super-snugly in the outersleeve in order for the concentric circles of the design to sit perfectly together. A combination of die-cut holes and printed varnishes gives the impression that there are several layers of card in the pack, with the dinked centre hole of the record itself providing one of the layers.Here’s what the sleeve looks like as you remove the inner…

And here’s what the back of the sleeve looks like – with a white screenprinted pattern:

The idea is that this packaging design will apply to a series of 7″ releases, although the colour of stocks used will be different each time, as will the screenprinted pattern on the back. Here’s a sneaky preview of the second single release’s packaging:

These releases can be bought for £10 each direct from play.airside.co.uk

Regular readers might recognise the look of this package – as we featured the similarly silvery special edition CD package of UNKLE’s Where Did The Night Fall album back in May. Shown above, however is the special edition vinyl package which has become available more recently. Here are some photos to give you an idea of how the package is put together…

Open the 12″ box to reveal a tracklist on the inside cover – and also a matt silver envelope with a clear plastic window revealing a picture disc showcasing one of the images created for the album by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones…

There are actually three picture discs, each housed in an envelope with a clear window on the front and the disc’s tracklisting printed on the reverse in the typeface created specially for the album by Ben Drury.

Remove all the items from the box and there are three picture discs, a 12″ booklet with lyrics and illustrations and a 12″ hardboard book of Du Preez and Thornton Jones’ stunning album artwork printed on silver stock.

Above: the lyric booklet (spread shown, below)

The special edition vinyl box set, produced by Modo, is priced at £100 and is available from unkle.com

This is the sleeve of Shobaleader One’s album, d’Demonstrator – a project by Squarepusher, released on Warp. “The project is unusual in that Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher) is performing with a band, each member wearing a mask of LED lights which displays a representation of what they’re playing as they’re playing it,” explains designer Sam Blunden who art directed the sleeve. “I worked closely with Tom whose brief of ‘hi-tech pagan’ set the direction, photographer Donald Milne, James Burton at Warp, as well as Valley Wands, purveyors of cloaks – making for a very enjoyable collaborative effort.”

Above are the back cover and a shot of one of the inner sleeves showing a cut through to one of the vinyl labels. Below is a press shot of the band, fully cloaked:

Another special edition music package we’ve recently clapped our eyes on is the Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set of Underworld‘s latest album, Barking. The package is a 10″ box, as shown above. Remove the lid at the top and…

…inside there’s a colourful gatefold package. Pull it out and open it up to find three discs housed on the right hand side, and a tipped on booklet on the left hand side.

There is a standard CD album on one of the CDs, bonus tracks plus remixes on another, and the third disc is a DVD containing films created to accompany the tracks by a host of directors and image makers including Dylan Kendle, Michael Horsham, Graham Wood & John Hollis, Simon Taylor, and TImothy Bricknell.

The 32 page booklet on the left of the gatefold contains illustrations, photography and also track by track commentary by Rick Smith and Karl Hyde. Here are some spreads:

What I really like about this deluxe edition of the album (produced by  Modo) is that it’s a practical package that can be shelved amongst collectors’ other prized vinyl packages – and, crucially, it’s not priced beyond the means of your average fan. £35 from underworldlive.com

The above CD pack is for a compilation of tracks released thus far on the International Feel label. The black plastic CD case has been printed directly onto with silver ink. Very nice. Simplicity abounds inside too – with a black folded insert housed where a booklet usually goes. Fold it out and it has the same globe illustration as on the cover of the case. Text containing all the track listing, copyright and legal bumpf is reversed out of a black screenprint on the CD itself. Design by Phantom.