Devious Design

I love the band Tool – I just need to throw that out there. They’re angry, witty, heavy, artistic and legitimately good musicians. And they have awesome album artwork. For example, their last two albums, 10,000 Days and Lateralus, featured Alex Grey‘s work, and before that, Aenima featured the work of Cam de Leon. But the coolest part about all of their more recent albums is the packaging, because, honestly, cool packaging is the only reason I’ll buy a CD. If  it has boring packaging I’ll find another means to satisfy my music fix. So kudos to Adam Jones for being the coolest guitarist/art director/special effects guy ever.

The packaging for 10,000 Days is very cool, with stereoscopic lenses so you can see all the artwork in 3D. Aenima has a lenticular cover, so the images change as you move the case around. Plus this album is great anyway. Good for driving during rush hour.

Here are a few more of my favorite album artwork:

1. Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
I’m actually not a huge fan of the cover – it strikes me as boring and forgettable (in fact, I had Google it to remember what the cover even looked like – it’s the disk itself that’s the cool part. You open the CD and it’s black, but after it warms up a bit while it’s playing, you pop it out and suddenly it’s white. It’s an interesting idea, I just wish the rest of the packaging matched it in coolness.

2. The Beatles – Revolver
I love this album. And the artwork. Klaus Voormann. I love line drawings. That and the additional collage bits work very well together, and it’s a style that’s been repeated quite a bit since 1966 when Revolver was released, both with parodies and legitimate tributes, a few of which can be found here: http://www.amiright.com/album-covers/beatles-revolver-parodies/.

3. Radiohead – In Rainbows
This is another album with fun packaging. It was originally released with a “name your own price” digital download, and then the hard copy was released in January 2008. Stanley Donwood designed the artwork, and I love the unconventional typography and use of color. Plus it came with a bunch of stickers so you can design it yourself – at least a bit.

That’s all I have for now, and I still haven’t figured out how to get my images to show up. (Help!)

Later I’ll chat about these, my honorable mentions for best album art:

Thom Yorke – The Eraser
Explosions In The Sky – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Norah Jones – Not Too Late
Deftones – White Pony
Radiohead – Hail To The Thief
Bright Eyes – Casadaga

And tune in next time for: Spiffy logo designs