Tag: records

hard format = reaching for the sublime in music design!

hard format is the brainchild of Justin Amphlett & Colin Buttimer. in short, it’s a site that celebrates outstanding music-related design, mainly in the form of record and CD covers. however, they emphasize that the site is not intended to be a “greatest album covers of all time”. it’s solely a place where old and new works that stand out are treated alike. having recently turned 3 years old, the site showcases the works of prominent designers, such as reid miles (blue note records), barbara wojirsch & dieter rehm (ecm), tina frank (mego), among others. there are also some very interesting collections added by collaborators of the site, like “designs on jazz: vintage designs from the birkajazz archive“.

hard format doesn’t stop at showing cover arts only, they go a step further and share detailed photographs of the overall packaging design; with each weekly post, the selected artwork is specially photographed and post-processed to reveal the real beauty of the design – complete with wear and tear and key details. take for instance their fantastic review of the warp records 20 year anniversary release: warp20

additionally, we’ve gotten in touch with Colin to ask him which are his most favorite covers ever. see the answers below:

keep your eyes peeled for future collaborations between colectivo futuro and hard format coming soon…

No Comments by colectivo on April 25, 2010

filed in arte, design

tagged albums, artwork, cover art, hard format, music, records, vinyl

mulatu astatke & the heliocentrics = ethiopian jazz-funk-whatever!

mulatu

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somebody should have warned us about ethiopian jazz making a comeback! now it’s too late and mr. mulatu has paired up with UK based collective “the heliocentrics” to deliver a funked up collaboration in the form of 14 track album titled “inspiration information” on strut records.

to accompany the album’s release, mulatu & the band will be touring the EU during the coming months. for a full list of gigs check the official site for the release here.

you can purchase the album here.

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mulatualbum

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also, check out this video from a live gig @ cargo, london in 2008…

No Comments by fandinoh on April 10, 2009

filed in sounds

tagged funk, heliocentrics, jazz, mulatu, music, records

ecm rarum series = mas raro que rarum!

ecm stands for edition of contemporary music, and it’s a label based out of munich, germany. their back catalogue spans as far back as 1969 with the release of free at last by pianist mal waldron, and even though it’s mostly known for releasing jazz recordings, it has also released music from the likes of steve reich (music for 18 musicians, 1978) or philip glass. on this post we will focus on their rather interesting series called: rarum.

the series is focused on allowing the featured artist to create a selection of their own recordings, either as a frontman or sideman. this is done solely to emphasize the input of the artist rather than that of label excecs, and in turn create a more introspective selection of tunes. as an additive, the label has remastered all the tracks to 24 bit. if that wasn’t enough, the inserts include rare photography, as well as extended biographies and artist notes.

up to date there are 20 editions of the series, all of which are offered through the ecm shop

here’s a list of what’s out there so far:

:rarum I Keith Jarrett
:rarum II Jan Garbarek
:rarum III Chick Corea
:rarum IV Gary Burton
:rarum V Bill Frisell
:rarum VI Art Ensemble of Chicago
:rarum VII Terje Rypdal
:rarum VIII Bobo Stenson
:rarum IX Pat Metheny
:rarum X Dave Holland
:rarum XI Egberto Gismonti
:rarum XII Jack DeJohnette
:rarum XIII John Surman
:rarum XIV John Abercrombie
:rarum XV Carla Bley
:rarum XVI Paul Motian
:rarum XVIITomasz Stanko
:rarum XVIII Eberhard Weber
:rarum XIX Arild Andersen
:rarum XX Jon Christensen