ZOZOBRA art pt 1

one of 5 drawings for the zozobra "bird of prey" album. perhaps one of the more over the top metal illustrations i've done, which is not all together inappropriate for this project, and in fact rather fitting. the color scheme i have in mind will alter the tone of this piece significantly as well, but more on that later. back to the drawing table....

todays hymns: zozobra "bird of prey", velvet cacoon "genevieve", portishead "3".

ISIS artifacts

hello. back from tour and getting settled in. i wanted to post some pictures from the tour, but haven't gotten to that quite yet, so here are some random isis artifacts in the mean time.

from top to bottom:

1 & 2: the newly completed ISIS toy courtesy of UNKL toys. this is a different figure from the one that was part of the Ipecac toy series which was also generated by UNKL. it was designed by the folks at UNKL with graphics and minimal input which i provided - have to say i'm pretty excited about the results. we sold a few of these on the european tour and they'll also be available through the isis webstore in the near future. they were made in an edition of 1000 and will not be made again after they're gone. we may continue to make toys in the future, but if we do they will be completely different designs. this particular edition was based off the art for the last isis album "in the absence of truth".

3. an old flyer i dug up when doing some house cleaning. from one of our earliest shows, march 1998. we were really excited about this show, about playing with buzzov*en, about doing an out of state show. we thought we were going to be good, we thought we'd really show the crowd what we were made of, ha ha ... and our hubris brought us down. we were far less than good, played poorly, were received poorly, and broke a kick drum pedal in the process. thanks to whoever lent us the replacement. at least we got to see buzzov*en....

4. another item dug up during a house cleaning rampage - my "transcription" of the godflesh track "streetcleaner". isis originally covered this track for a split 7" with pig destroyer that subsequently came out on relapse in 98 or 99. the cover was later released on the japanese 2xCD version of "mosquito control/red sea" (ritual records) and the "sawblade" limited 12" (tortuga records), and most recently on the repressed version of the "sawblade" 12", which was included in the "shades of the swarm" vinyl box set. it was recorded at in the same session as the material for the "red sea" ep and to our surprise came out fairly well. we were hesitant to record our take of such a monumental track, but our fears were somewhat allayed when we found out that justin broadrick, the creator of the original track, approved of our efforts, or so he said anyway. ha.

i'm working on drawings for the zozobra (formerly heatseeker) "bird of prey" album and will post a preview of those when i've made some headway, and will also post some of the isis tour photos when i have the opportunity. currently/recently enjoying and/or absorbing the following supplements/events: the continued health of precious creatures, most notably the one named orange, top pot hand forged donuts (particularly the cherry blossom variety), immortal technique "vol 2", homemade breakfast burritos, cursed "III", new xasthur, guilty simpson "ode to the ghetto", blanket beds on the floor, wu-tang "8 diagrams", fuck buttons "street horrrsing" (terrible band name, tremendous record), thomas e. ricks "fiasco: the american military adventure in iraq", spiderman: brand new day, tiny vipers through the wall, pulling off surprises, cool weather in los angeles.....

CLOUDS art cont/ISIS tour etc

greetings from austria. currently on another european jaunt with isis and all is well. we started the tour in moscow, which for us was an absolute highlight, but everything that's followed subsequently has also be quite enjoyable. fellow tour mates kill the thrill, jakob, and the austerity program have all performed splendidly and have been great traveling companions, so thanks to them for making our experience more complete. i've been taking quite a few photos along the way, so i hope i'll find the time to post some of those before tours end. in addition, justin from the austerity program has been writing a tour diary which will eventually be published in decible magazine, and later on the austerity program website. justin is a very capable and humorous writer, so you can expect a lot of scathing comments hurled at isis, and possibly some of our deeper eccentricities revealed.

above are some finished pieces from the clouds "we are above you" album layout - i was able to complete most of this before departing, but required aid from couple of hydra helpers in order to get it into production on time. the watercolored backgrounds and all the lettering was hand drawn/painted by myself and faith coloccia, so thanks to her and james o'mara for their invaluable assistance. i'm not sure when this record is actually due for release, but i would suggest checking the hydra head website for further info/updates. i listened to the album more than a dozen times during the creation of the artwork and i must say it currently stands as one of my favorites of the year, hydra head or otherwise. thanks clouds.

now that that's out of the way i've started work on some drawings for the upcoming MGR vs Destructo Swarmbots album (featuring isis guitarist extraordinaire mike gallagher). i believe the artwork will also feature photos by mike gallagher topped off by a layout courtesy of hydra head's james o'mara. the album will be released on neurot, and again i have no idea when the official release date is or if one exists at this point. shortly after completion of these MGR drawings i'll be onto the artwork for the upcoming heatseeker debut, a new band consisting of aaron harris (isis) and caleb scofield (zozobra, cave in, old man gloom). there are a bunch of upcoming musical endeavors as well, but i'll save those for another post.

fuel for the road: alice sebold "the almost moon", darwyn cooke "batman ego, and other tales", elysian blaze, clouds, "allan moore and kevin o'neil "the league of extraordinary gentlemen: black dossier", mamiffer, funeral mist, sonic youth, helms alee, justin foley, der blutharsch, dälek, etc....

CLOUDS art pt 1 AND thanks AND no thanks

hello again,

above is a preliminary drawing for the forthcoming clouds album "we are above you". this drawing had yet to be approved for use by the band and therefor may be scrapped, but hopefully this will not turn out to be the case. this drawing is intended for the cover of the album and will be colored and situated in some sort environment before it's complete, but this is a beginning at the very least, presuming the band approves. i'll continue to post bits and pieces of this layout as it comes together as it's my priority project at the moment.

and:

the "decimal" album by ringfinger is out now, available digitally, as well as on vinyl from magic bullet records. the band is the brain child of a long time friend and champion of music by the name of tracy wilson. i contributed vocals and guitar noises to one track on the album, which also features contributions from members of engine down, dälek, steve brodsky, and a slew of others. i recommend, and not based on the fact that i was a contributor, but because it's a sincere and well executed piece of work.


in the off hours: leviathan "conspiracy against all life", clouds "we are above you", helms alee "night terrors", caleb carr "the alienist", "no country for old men", "twin peaks" DVD box set, il cappricio pizza, pilot hi-tec-c pens, ellis and nord "ultimate human", guilty simpson "ode to the ghetto", etc.

thank you and goodnight.

AT

negative approach

found a couple amusing/irritating comments people had posted in response to a couple of recent posts on this blog. somehow felt compelled to respond....

here's the first comment in reference to the sxsw poster:

"As an artworks its nice, but as a poster its horrible. Text is hard to read hence the poster does not serve its purpose to inform about the event. Nicely chosen typography would do better in this case."

well, the poster isn't really intended to "inform" folks about the show - these posters are made to commemorate the event and will be made available the day of the show with that intent in mind. on a broader scale, i also generally reject the idea that posters and album sleeves and t shirts have to be marketing tools with overly obvious type/graphics, as opposed to more artistically oriented pieces that invoke the true spirit of the music they are intended to represent. if the bands being represented aren't writing 3 minute pop songs with inane choruses that beat the listener into submission, why should the representative graphics serve that purpose? i like to think the audience that follows these bands isn't the type of audience that requirers overly simplified/commercial imagery and type in order to draw their attention to the "product". it is precisely the type of corporate design mentality as exemplified by the statement above that i have striven to avoid with what i do in the realm of music related graphics. we're not trying to sell our music to wal-mart shoppers, so if you expect our graphic personality to fall in line with what you were taught in design school about corporate branding and "truly effective" type and illustration techniques you shall be continually disappointed. clean type has its time and place, but this poster which is meant to showcase the personality of our label and by extension the show itself isn't it. music related design can be art simply beyond the idea of selling something.... so, as far as this poster being "horrible", you are certainly entitled to your option, but please understand that it was my intent that the text be personable and artistically rendered, rather than a typeface created by someone else which has little or nothing to do with the music to which the poster is connected - but thanks for the advice.


...and that brings me to the next one - "anonymous" posted this in response to my brief explanation about the cancellation of the old man gloom tour (see last post if you are interested in the comment i made that prompted this response):

"Sounds so typical and moralistic - sorry."

listen, i wasn't trying to promote a family values agenda with my explanation, or come off as some moralistic enforcer. my explanation was vague because i was respecting the privacy of the member of OMG to which this situation pertains. if i felt i could explain the specifics and the gravity of the situation which caused us to cancel the tour i would have, but i thought what i wrote should've been sufficient for anyone with half a heart and/or loved ones of their own, family or otherwise. perhaps "anonymous" hasn't experienced anything sufficiently traumatic with someone dear to them in order to enable them empathize with the situation, and if that's the case they should consider themselves lucky. in the face of the threat that faced one of our members, the tour seemed vastly unimportant. if "anonymous" can't wrap their head around that, and instead feels the need to spout off rather than offer up some sort supportive comment they need to find some some fucking empathy in themselves, if not for humanity at the very least for those that matter most to them...

i don't generally feel the need to respond to negative feedback, but i just couldn't let these 2 go - guess i'm feeling sort of petty at the moment though i'm not sure what to attribute that to....

AT - 03/10/08

HYDRA HEAD SXSW poster

above: poster for the imminently approaching hydra head showcase show, at this year's south by southwest "festival". the poster is a collaborative effort between tom neely and myself, tom having done the central figure/tree, and i the lettering and colors.
apologies to tom for ruining his spacious drawing with my clutter.

...and, to answer a question raised in the last post:

-the guitar pictured in the last post was made for me by the electrical guitar company: click here

good stuff from the last week: deadwood season 2, "the sea" by john banville, cavity "laid insignificant", mamiffer "hirror ennifer", the ultimates vol. 1 and 2, shining "through years of oppression", cat power "moon pix", new comics from this week and last - daredevil, captain america, and the programme....