rage events_printwork
blofeld_printwork
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protomen_posters
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65daysofstatic_film poster
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protomen_record sleeve
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mellowdrone_record sleeve + poster
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protomen_record sleeve + poster
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65daysofstatic_record sleeve + poster
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the band approached us in the summer, asking that we might put together a poster and a record cover of some description for the release. it was similarly an incredible opportunity that was by no means lost on us. the poster was in many ways a direct reference to the film, as discussed here. the final record sleeve you see to the left was something quite different, and you can read more about that here.
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nx energy drink_poster
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big black delta_short film, record sleeve + poster
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jonathan bates, better known for his part in the fantastic band mellowdrone, recently got back in touch with us regarding a 'new thing' he was working on. as luck would have it, it was some seriously rich and rewarding new music. the kind which fills the mind with images pretty fast. well, the next thing you know we're watching the thundercats intro in total awe, debating wallpapering our apartment walls with TRON screenshots, and obsessing over UFOs. how one thing lead to another is neither here nor there, but it turns out we were all down with this new thing ... and it was taking us places.
what then ensued was the constant, rapid exchange of music for artwork, much the way a choir does their psalms and responses. there's no question in our minds now that big black delta was the only name you could use to sum up the music, what inspired it and everything we'd ultimately made together from that point forward. cut then to just a few days ago. cut right to the moment when we slung the cover you see above onto the proverbial coffee table. cut to us all looking at each other like we knew it was time. yep, ufologists were about to get some melody in their google.
additionally we shot and edited a short film to accompany the release of the song IFUCKINGLOVEYOU. it was shot over a couple of days around independence day in los angeles. the idea was simply to capture everything we got up to in the short time we had, be that searching the night sky for flashing lights, watching dan akroyd talking about UFOs on youtube or jonathan bates making strange noises on his studio floor. we hope the end result, if nothing else, makes you feel like all these things are related. not forcibly, but maybe with a little serendipity.
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newbolt_posters
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sonoio blue_record sleeve + print
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now we say 'artwork' as opposed to 'design work' because he was particularly interested in the looser, more painterly / emotional elements of our work over some kind of cleaner, tighter design effort. modwheelmood (his previous band) had been heavy on the minimal design / die-cutting and this time, the record being much more personal to him, alessandro wanted a more cathartic, hand-made quality.
we talked for a while and decided that we should try to create something that had a european quality to it - something that harked back to alessandro's roots. combining this with a visual device that we felt was most honest to the lyrical content on the record, we came up with the two matisse-esque characters you see on the cover, who are trying to cover up the holes in their chests. the colour choices were then informed in part by the colour of the buchla synth itself. the pencil marks are that of my father thomas newbolt, who's drawings we cut up and relocated elements of for the sake of adding more movement / life to the collage.
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sonoio red_music video, record sleeve + print
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furthermore alessandro was toying with the idea of a music video this time and asked that we might pitch a few ideas to him for a couple of different songs on the record. we came up with 3-4 ideas he chose the most 'live performance' based concept that we had and soon things were under way. the video was for the song enough, which to us was one of the songs that immediately jumped out on the record when hearing it for the first time. once more we recruited the talents of matt sundin (who helped us shoot the 65daysofstatic and war widow album covers) and soon after alessandro was flying to new york to shoot the video with us in brooklyn.
you can read more about making the artwork + video here.
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polinski_record sleeve + music video
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the discussions for how to handle the artwork for the album started years before the record was even a twinkle in his eye. we'd talked at length for years about films, musics, books, games and designs that appeal to us for whatever reason. whether it be the books of jeff noon or the cassette loading games of sinclair zx spectrum, there was an innate understanding of what this solo project would demand in terms of artwork the moment the demos started to come together.
the final artwork started with us coming up with a story that would capture paul's feelings about various things and how he wanted to translated those into a science fiction tale of some kind. the next step was padding that story out with various touchstone visual elements and then translating those into a series of panels that we could use for the album and any singles. the first image we put together turned out to be the album cover as it is now, and this went onto influence paul's approach to making the music. he then sent us more demos that inspired the creation of more panels, and so the back and forth went until we had enough to illustrate the story / world we had created.
the music video for the album's first single, stitches, was an attempt to bring back the feeling of using the zx spectrum computer, whilst detailing some of the album's narrative elements. more details on the making of the video to follow soon.
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brooklyn brothers_poster
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our talk at the IFP labs in tribeca, new york yielded some unexpected but very welcome results - several film makers approached us to assist them with ways to promote their films. one of the first was writer / director and actor ryan o'nan. he was about to send his new film the brooklyn brothers beat the best to the toronto film festival. the above poster is one of a few elements we worked work him and his production team to put together for the festival.
the film is ryan's ode to john hughes' trains, planes and automobiles (and stars some classic 80s movie alumni) and we created a poster to try to reflect that whilst offering its own more beat-up, make-shift aesthetic. it's the story of a lovelorn musician trying to get a band together and perhaps rekindle a little self-respect along the way. due to these musical themes within the film we also helped design a series of other elements which will be revealed by the film's production team along the way.
this is our first proper feature film poster and we're very excited and thankful to have been ushered into this new world by such great and talented people.
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