Sarah Bethe Nelson's second record outdoes the first with a darker energy that drags you on to the dance floor only to switch off the lights. I wanted to reflect the music as soon as i heard it and Justin Frahm's cover photo perfectly cued me to capturing the feel. Buy the record cause its undeniably great, read the lyrics while playing it cause they're nicely laid out...
Music
My Jerusalem /
MY JERUSALEM - A LITTLE DEATH (2016)
Jeff Klein called me in a panic one gray afternoon when they were a week from press deadlines for his new record. I was due to write and record a bunch of new material for Mirrors that week but there was an urgency with this project that couldn't be denied. So here we go; Vinyl, CD and all digital packaging inside one week from concept to completion. Thankfully Jeff had snapped a shot of his be-stamped hand at a gig a few nights before and he was pretty set on it being the star of the show; to hell with print-resolution, its punk ;) I also had the pick of dozens of awesome Steve Gullick shots to fill out the piece - an honour to work with such a revered photographer from the homeland. I'm proud to be part of this record (i contributed a little guitar too) as its possibly the bands finest work and i think we captured the right mood with the visual. And my own songs will finally get recorded soon - then i'm going to have Jeff do my cover...
Quasi Bonsai: Three records in three months... /
Steve Wyreman and Nate Mercereau don't mess around when it comes to releasing incredible new music. Their LA/SF project, Quasi Bonsai, just dropped its ethereal album "Opiate Ambient" today - the third in as many months. So often music gets sanitized as you refine, mix, re-arrange, mix again, wait for the label and on and on... What makes Quasi so great is that, unencumbered by labels or release dates, they capture the spark and distill it immediately. The cover designs follow suite - i listen to the music (always a pleasure), have a quick chat with Steve and then the cover art reveals itself. More fun than most.
Most importantly - listen here.
Josh Lippi & The Overtimers /
Just finished a new sleeve for Josh Lippi (K.Flay, The Park, A Million Billion Dying Suns and a zillion other projects). Josh is one of our favourite players in the city and this packaging came out pretty tasty too. Listen in here...