Mike Wohlberg

So, from igneous giant that is Anish Kapoor to the rocky boulder that is Mike Wohlberg (I really don't mean to sound condescending, honestly). Wohlberg is actually a very new to me by name, I discovered his being through this exciting announcement by metal news website Metal Sucks about their South by South West showcase for this year, and it appears Wohlberg did the poster for them. And boy it looks swell, swell enough for me to check him out and indeed good enough to write this blithering post about him.

I like his dirty graffiti design style and after some digging around it seems he's been designing merch and posters for some hefty hitters in the metal scene for a while, I spy Today Is The Day, Burnt By The Sun and Pelican among others.

I enjoy speculating about the imagery that is ingrained within music scenes, and it's importance in our new digital instantaneous living. Is the art accompanying the music as important as it once was? There are many arguments to say record art is losing its place, especially considering growing digital downloads and the tiny image file attached of the artwork. However, that is to exclude the other avenues within the music industry for artwork, the artwork that actually receives notice like the posters and merchandise, merchandise actually being the biggest emergent as integral for a musicians revenue.

And so the merchandise has to look good with good artwork otherwise it won't sell, and this is where artists like Mike Wohlberg come in. #tangentover

Anyway, every time I've typed Mike Wohlberg I've battled with myself to not type Mark Wahlberg.

Really all over the place today.

But really, Mike Wohlberg is super great and you should check out his website: HERE

Anders Petersen

Rain Dogs cover image

Holy shit, did I just learn how to make images big? And it's taken me how fucking long? Jesus Willy Christ. What a break through. And what a better time to start, at the top is the very famous Tom Waits cover everyone recognises from his classic record Rain Dogs, but before it existed with that honour, it is a part of a series done by Anders Petersen in the now-famous bar in Hamburg's red light district Cafe Lehmitz.

What I like about Petersen is the studied grittiness in his documentary photography, everything is heaped in dirt, that under-the-nail grime that belongs to the under-classes. It's enthralling to be able stare in to a subjects eyes who is burnt out on the inside and have lost all notions of inhibition. But they're not actually miserable, indeed it's joyful imagery, like making the most of a dour situation.... by hanging out with prostitutes and drinking lots. Cool. That's what I would do.

Anyway, hit up Anders Petersen's website, it's got a great archive and it's where I began: HERE

Stacey Rozich and Earth pt. II

Yep, I've already spoken about Stacey Rozich before and her fascinating line drawings of her mythical creatures with oriental flair, and I love it, obviously. Yet, I'm here again just to post about the new artwork she's done for Earth's second Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light records, and I think it's pretty cool.

As you could before, check out her work HERE

And here's some new Earth, enjoy...

                                                 

Josh Graham

Josh Graham is the visual artist for the band Neurosis which is how I found out about him, but he also does artwork for records and whatnot for bands like A Storm of light and Red Sparrows all of whom are very cool.

The landscapes Graham digitally produces are phenomenal, huge expanses of rich detail and awesome colour, colour that you can dive into on the physical format. His work explores ecological themes and man-made product's interaction with nature when they're disposed of, and animals inhabiting places of the most strange nature.

His work is eery, unrestrained and textured. I haven't seen Neurosis live but I imagine it's a whole encompassing audio and visual experience that drowns you in senses.

Check out more of Josh Graham HERE

And I would recommend to check out Neurosis too if you haven't HERE

Alice Duke

Alice Duke has been one of those where I knew her work before I knew her. Her illustration work is fascinating, it deals in folklore and nature and human curiosity using engrossing detail and warm earthy colour. I enjoy her work, I love the mythical creatures and the transformation of the known to the unknown, especially with Exploding Shed at the bottom there, yet overall I can't help but find her work terrifying.

It truly is scary. How many heads does that scaly, hairy, feathered, winged, tangle of serpents need? And how much is the print because I want one!

You can go and check out her coooool website HERE

And you can hit the jump to check out her work with the great unsigned band Cormorant.

Roger Dean

I couldn't believe it going through our, admittedly rather brief, archive and finding that I have yet to mention the, frankly, brilliant Roger Dean. He's mostly known for his intergalactic and astoundingly beautiful and surreal landscapes, floating islands, dense jungles, monolithic rock formations, hive-like constructions and the odd pyramid or two.

However, above I've put two images of my favourite works by Mr Dean and they mainly focus on his creatures, that dragon up top is incredible in it's majesty and colour, and breathes a whole new way of thinking of what a dragon could be. And the octopus is there because I think the octopus is the boss. Obsessed with octopi(?) at the moment. Way cool.

His works are well-known for being used as record covers for bands like Yes and Rush and other prog rock royalty, and on his influencing many in the younger generations, the one that comes to mind the most is Arik Roper who is also a genius.

Check out his well made website HERE

Horseback, Denis Forkas Kostromitin and My Bandcamp Experiment

Not gonna lie, this is just an experiment to see whether I can embed Bandcamp players. And it turns out it does work. Good times. And so I thought what better an opportunity than now to introduce you to the fantastic Drone band Horseback.

Horseback's type of drone is not the churning hatred spewed forth by Sunn o))) but it's misty and shimmers and dances. In some cases it's pretty. But a lot of the time it's huge and grinding like huge ice bergs breaking off the shelf.

Colossal. Check 'em out.

Actually, that's some pretty sweet record artwork with a rather interesting back story.

Record Review: Mastodon - 'The Hunter'

‘The Hunter’
Mastodon
[Roadrunner Records]

This record needs to be listened to under the night sky; my eyes are drawn to finding the Hunter that has stood poised for a millennia or two. A sword raised and a bow drawn. An image drawn with stars captures rather elegantly the scope of Mastodon’s latest release The Hunter. Mastodon had explored flight and wide expanses of the sky with Crack The Skye, now on The Hunter they’ve strapped themselves on to a rocket and are falling through space with style.

Record Review: Giant Squid - 'Cenotes' EP

‘Cenotes’ - EP
Giant Squid
[Translation Loss]


Giant Squid’s music is as strange and rare and phenomenal as their namesake. Their works are subtle and nuanced, a delicate orchestration of oceanic sounds dancing lithely with the guitar’s heavy-handed jig. The band’s ecological philosophy deserts their urban surroundings of hometown Sacramento, California, you’ll be more likely to find them roaming a nature reserve or peering into rock pools by the sea.

It is that natural curiosity that shines through their body of work, most noticeably on 2009’s full length The Ichthyologist, where multiple guests leant their instrumentation to Giant Squid’s complex orchestration. Flutes, banjos, violins, cellos, trumpets, oboes, all additions that were explored to their limits and bent to main songwriter Aaron Gregory’s will. The Ichthyologist got them signed; it was that good.

Now Giant Squid return with the EP Cenotes (suh-noh-tees), a comparatively simpler record, the grandiose composition stripped away and no guests are involved. This is Giant Squid spouting their own black and inky concoctions.

Record Review: Saturnalia Temple - 'Aion of Drakon'

First Posted at: No Clean Singing

‘Aion of Drakon’
Saturnalia Temple
[AJNA Offensive]


Have you ever had that dream where it’s really urgent and really important to get somewhere but things are holding you back? Cobwebs, mud, vines, family members, waves crashing down on you; you spend your strength fighting off and fighting through to get to do this really important thing. Desperation sets in and you feel hopelessly lost, the ground elevates around you and then you fall. Then there’s that stomach plunge feeling when you wake up and you literally jerk awake in the smallest moment of absolute terror.

Saturnalia Temple is the deluge of mud that surrounds your knees and forces you into a crawl. They tap that desperation and play on your astral paranoia, they channel the occult and raise their altars and pillars and summon the beasts in the forests. They tether you down, they plunge their knife, then you wake in terror.

Sunn o)))

This music is the blackness that is depicted in it's record art. The thick, sludge-like blackness which sticks to you and burns you. This music is dearth and fire, emaciation and immolation.

Around here are the borderlands; bleak, barren and bitter.

This is Sunn o))) and the time is 23:49, I am at home, in my room, at my desk. Safe.

Fursy Teyssier

'Écailles de Lune'

'Septembre et ses dernières Pensées'

(click either image to enlarge)

I really enjoy French artist Fursy Teyssier's distinct ability of composition. the positioning and placement of colour and figures really lend well to the overall image.

The top image is the record art for Alcest's 2010 record 'Écailles de Lune'. I love the extensive use of blue, the skeletal fish swimming with the moon, the natural flow of the mermaid's hair is wonderful. Whereas the bottom image, Les Discrets 2010 record art for 'Septembre et ses dernières Pensées', shows an odd juxtaposition compared to the top image. Even though this painting is dominated by a towering shadowy giant with a long pointed beak, there is a silhouetted couple holding hands, with one holding an arm up in seeming awe. Looking closer, the hooded giant looks like it's bending down to see what the couple have to say.

I find each image to be really quite sweet, the Alcest one portraying care and intimacy, whilst Les Discrets conveys a closeness of the couple and a trust of the giant.

You can check out more of Fursy Teyssier's interesting artwork: here.

Fursy Teyssier is also the man behind Les Discrets' music, you can check their brand of Shoegaze Black Metal: here.

Ulver

Ulver's 'Shadow of the Sun' is one of the most stunning records I've ever listened to. It is so achingly melancholic, gorgeously warm and just beguilingly simple! Nothing here is conventional yet nothing here is out of place. As a vocal performance, Kristoffer 'Garm' Rygg is probably the hands down best at making grown metalheads weep with joy.

So it is perfect for midnight listenings! The above track is a cover of Black Sabbath's Solitude, but not in the way we're used to it. It is painfully beautiful, so try it out.

You can hit up the rest of the record on Youtube, or if you know how to fiddle with .rar files, well you know where to find them: here.

A note on the record art: It is simple but has powerful elements at work, showing two works of nature coincidentally forming a frame and an image.

Stephen Kasner

'Khlyst'

(click either image to enlarge)

Immediately Stephen Kasner's art is a haunting sight to behold. The dark and brooding images project a moving stillness, there are moving parts but they are dead and are laid in their natural positions. It is extremely bleak art.

The 'Khylst' image is an especially frightening viewing, something so beautiful like a swan, yet it feels cold and lifeless.

Unfortunately, Stephen is actually seriously ill and that he needs to sell his artwork fin order to pay hospital bills, which is an very sad situation to hear about for such talent. You can read more about his problems here. You can read a very insightful interview with Stephen about his art here.

There isn't an official website, so see what Google has to offer: here.

Stacey Rozich

(Click on each image to enlarge)

Record art, I find, is often a handy gateway to find decent more obscure artists, and Earth's 2011 record 'Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light' artwork is no exception. Stacey Rozich's fantastic folk art is so damn eye-catching, the stripes, the waves, the blocks of vibrant colour. It's alluring art to say the least.

In the past few years I've grown to be a fan of Japanese art, to say it hasn't had a huge influence on modern art, especially western, is an understatement, check out Japonism. Stacey Rozich shows great appreciation of the characteristics that made up Japanese art: "the lack of perspective and shadow, the flat areas of strong color, the compositional freedom in placing the subject off-centre".

I do urge you to check out Stacey Rozich's portfolio it's more of the same, and it's excellent: here.

If your interest is piqued, Earth sound like a Spaghetti Western, check them: here.

André Ethier

I am aware that Cherub The Great isn't a huge fan of some contemporary art, however I hope she can appreciate Ethier's use of vibrant, almost edible colour which is inherent in all of his oil paintings.

I initially found Ethier through this image above, it was used for the record art of Quest For Fire's 2010 record Lights From Paradise, which provides an exquisite journey, a review can be read here, and it was Ethier's painting that indeed captured my attention.

Childlike, noxious, grotesque, vibrant, rough-around-the-edges, excellent.

You can view a whole load of his paintings: here.

To hear a track off of 'Lights From Paradise' hit the jump.