In addition to laying down guitar riffs and vocals, Turner is an accomplished visual artist, responsible for cover art, layout, and package design for numerous bands. This unique knack for the aural and visual aspects of music inspired us to ask Turner about his favorite fellow double threats.

My Favorite Musicians/Artists/Designers
by Aaron Turner

Album art is and always has been an extremely crucial component of the experience of an album for me. Though there certainly have been records I've loved that have had terrible cover art, most of those that have left an indelible footprint in my mind have been those with a visual presentation of power equal to that of the music.

When I think back on the records that have shaped my ideas about what it means to make music, I usually have a tangible feeling that comes with that recollection, a sense of the atmosphere that the record created for me and how that atmosphere was accentuated or more clearly defined by the accompanying sleeve art. As that has been true in the past for me, so it is now; when checking out new records, I'm consistently drawn to those with compelling covers that draw me in and make me what to know what's going on inside.

In the last 10 years or so, I've become particularly interested in musicians who are also active participants in designing or creating artwork for the albums that they make. It seems logical to me that those people would have the best understanding of what the music is about and the clearest idea of how to communicate that visually. Some of my favorite album covers now are those that have been made wholly or in part by the musicians who also have created the music itself.

Below is a list of people who reside in that category of musician/designer/artist and who have excelled at both aspects of making memorable albums.

1. Fangs Anal Satan (Boris)

Boris has made some tremendous albums over the years, and the music has always been matched by the equally excellent illustration and design. Like the band, which has mutated through a series of different incarnations (in sound rather than personnel), so too have the visuals, without ever dropping in consistency of quality.

From album to album, numerous tactics have been employed: rigid restraint bordering on minimalism, unorthodox packaging materials (colored foam, die-cut cardboard, hand-painted boxes containing dried flowers, etc.), psychedelic fantasy scenes paying homage to '70s album artist Roger Dean, parodies of classic metal logos (Venom), extensive and beautifully arranged LP-sized photo books.  Each release is a special artifact in its own right and as such warrants even further focus towards the music and the packaging from the listener/viewer.

2. Faith Coloccia

Though many attempt to create interesting record sleeves by making handmade packaging, most simply content themselves with the fact that the packaging is handmade rather than actually thinking about the meaning of the materials being used, their relation to the music, or the end result of how the release will actually look.

Coloccia's work is quite the opposite: each element used is carefully selected specifically because of its direct connection to the music as well as how it looks visually — black ashes retrieved from a fire made on tour, fragments of materials used in live performances, yellowed paper inherited from dead relatives or discovered at sites used by the band members for varying purposes.

The emotionally driven and deeply personal sounds are reflected in the packaging, which clearly has been crafted by the same hands that made the music. Even in the instances where a more mass-produced printing method has been employed, the humanity of the creators still is clearly evident in the form of the expressive brush stroke, the age of the paper upon which it was laid, or the intimacy of handwriting used to draw out the text. In an age where computers have corroded the spirit of both album sleeves and the music that they encompass, this is a truly vital approach that is clearly more about artistry than marketing.

3. Stephen O'Malley

As a founding member of Sunn O))), Khanate, Burning Witch, and KTL, as well as the defining visual voice of Southern Lord Recordings, O'Malley has been a major driving force in forward-thinking metal-oriented music and visuals. One of the few operatives comfortable straddling the lines of fine art, doom metal, and experimental music of various forms, Stephen uses type as an image to largely define the sleeves for his own bands as well as those for others.

From the caustic appropriation of heavy metal's favored blackletter fonts to the vector-based sculptural abstractions of classic Helvetica, he creates visual worlds in which letters and images are mangled and twisted beyond recognition as are the musical formations they are intended to represent. Not content to make music that is quickly absorbed and quickly forgotten, O'Malley also favors packaging of a complex and elaborate nature, which, like the above-mentioned people, requires more effort to decipher and digest than most of the albums passed off as "heavy" and/or "experimental."

4. Andrew Chalk

One of the more elusive characters in this group, Chalk has made his mark as a solo artist as well as a member of drone-oriented projects such as Mirror, Ora, and as a contributor to David Jackman's Organum. Aside from having made sleeve art for the majority of his albums on other labels, he now has his own Faraway Press imprint for which he also does the most of the visual work.

Like the music he makes, his imagery is often abstract in nature, though not in an evasively vague way but in a clearly focused and deliberate manner. His art and his music seem to be based on the intersection of improvisation/chance and controlled manipulation, though I can only assume that this is the case due to the lack of information available on him. The results of his efforts are something that allows for multiple interpretations by the viewer/listener and provide for an ever-changing interaction with the works over time and subsequent inspection.

By favoring small editions of his releases, Chalk is able to expend extra and individual attention on his album covers, utilizing various processes of printmaking, drawing, and painting, thereby creating editions wherein no two copies of a given release are alike, allowing for an even more intimate connection between artist and audience.

I'm Not A Gun: Mirror (Palette)(US)
This is the fourth album from techno producer John Tejada and classical guitarist Takeshi Nishimoto. I hadn't heard the previous three albums on German imprint City Centre Offices so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Mirror is the first album on the LA-based Palette label run by Tejada but definitely shares similarities with the typical releases on the duo's previous label with its use of live instrumentation, fragile shoegazer melodies, and techno- influenced percussion.

What I'm Not A Gun truly sounds like is a techno-fueled Tortoise with the duo's penchant to jam out but it's done in very martial, controlled increments.

The tension and release cycles that occur subsequently and throughout the album are typical of a techno mix, what aren't typical include Nishimoto's lush guitar tones and the elements of live percussion that lend to a much looser and organic feel.

An interesting album from an interesting project.

John Digweed: Bedrock 10-Past Present Future (Bedrock)(UK)
I just can't seem to escape the Diggers or his Bedrock imprint, which in terms of dance music has had an enormous amount of success.

Whether Bedrock's output is worthy of such reward is highly debatable but I do still believe the label's biggest hits contributed to the industry's precipitous decline at the beginning of the decade.

Instantly recognizable cuts like "Heaven Scent", "Persuasion", and "Pushin' Too Hard" remain virtual ear poison to me and surely to many other trance haters too. The important thing to point out here is that earlier this decade the music began to change and regroup itself and surprisingly this label is following the trend whereas so many have not (BTW-can I get a big raspberry for Paul Van Dyk?!).

The emphasis on Bedrock 10 is decidedly "future" with a grip of brand new remixes of Bedrock's seminal works. Some hit the mark and others don't (please no more Bruce Aisher-EVER!) while newer signings like Misstress Barbara, Tom Mangan, and especially Guy J journalists at mainstream pubs to blankly gush over or a reference point allowing no-nothing insiders at the dance rags to spew saccharine treacle about are a strong attempt to kill the progressive virus at Bedrock HQ once and for all.

My complaint here is that this is a one disk sampler pared down from three into something easily digestible for lack wit mainstream journalists and insidre toadies. To me this business has always been about the music and to deny taste makers access to your music basically says your music isn't good enough for critical review.

So Mr. Digweed consider yourself served, no more good reviews until you meet me halfway on the quality of the promos you are sending out.

Marcin Czubala: Chronicles Of Never (Mobilee)(Germany)
Polish producer Marcin Czubala has been making techno records for quite some time, but Chronicles of Never is his first album for German techno pillar Mobilee.

The artist album is rich in imaginative sounds and even a nice tribal house stomp on tracks like "Los Companeros". But like so many other albums in this nebulous tech house genre, Chronicles just drags like a drab mofo and I am asleep long before I ever hit the dance floor.
Kaskade:The OM Remixes (OM)(US)
I was surprised at how much I liked this cash-in collection from OM and how far Kaskade has drifted from his core sound since signing with Ultra.

Despite how you may feel about the guy, in my case his music is way too pretty and fluffy for serious consideration, there is no denying that his sense of melody and production chops are perhaps some of the keenest in the dance music world.

On The OM Remixes he transforms the dreadful into a thing of beauty (Colette), reworks Mark Farina's "Cali Spaces" into a fight song for the West Coast scene and cuts loose on many of these tracks with reckless ingenuity creating formal intros like old school disco cuts.

I honestly wish he'd introduce more of those creative elements into his own productions and remixes. Kaskade always feels so restrained and this collection is no exception.

Bradelectro: Pinstripe Late Nite (Tarantic)(US)
Pinstripe Late Nite starts out with such promise blaring pseudo-dancehall affectations on the opener "Missin Ur Lovin" and includes some half decent electro house cuts that are at least less irritating than many others of the same ilk.

Where this album goes wrong is padding an EP of mediocre tracks with four lackluster remixes. Hell the track "Rubberbands", which isn't all that, makes three friggen appearances on this album which only has 12 tracks total.

To quote Gang Starr-"That ain't keeping it real, that's keeping it wrong". Big thumbs down here.

-Sean-Michael Yoder

Sean-Michael Yoder is a Chico, California-based music writer and tastemaker. Check out more at vinyljunkierecords.blogspot.com