Tagged: packagingreviews

Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a modern masterpiece. It's very rare that we get to witness the release of something great, but here we are. With all the grandiosity and scope of the album, it should come to no surprise the packaging matches the music. Kanye has always been obsessed with high class art and fashion. And it really shows on this. The gold font pops out against the red, the font itself is stunning. The coolest aspect of this release is the picture frame on the front of the digipack that allows fans [...]

Since the press trail for Deerhunter's fourth album Halcyon Digest began we've seen a constant theme of black and white images with a very DIY aesthetic which attempts to mimic the types of promotion local bands would engage in when the band were growing up. On the final package the black and white remains but the images and packaging as a whole have a much more professional finish to them. The vinyl itself is top quality, 180g and white. Earlier this year we saw 4AD pull out all the stops for the violet coloured records [...]

Let's face it, if you are a die-hard LOST fan, you are going to love the album art for Hurley because of the reference to the lovable character - Hurley. Whether the album was named originally after him or not is besides the point, the fact they used a reference to a show you care so deeply to about - well, it's pretty awesome. But make no mistake, the packaging for Hurley is a major misstep. While I personally loved the photo of actor Jorge Garcia (I agree with Rivers, I think it's a very [...]

Arcade Fire's third album The Suburbs is based on a concept of re-capturing a certain time/memory and coming to terms with where you are at now. Easily one of the best albums of 2010, the packaging is also up to par. Grainy photos of various suburban locations, vivid colors. It plays out like someone looking through an old photograph album. The textures and colors really add a maudlin feel, and it really evokes reflectiveness, and sometimes a sense of hopelessness. From a physical stand point, they went all out with this package. It comes in a mini LP/digipack [...]

Janelle Monáe has created this magnificent world of fantasy and imagination with her latest album The ArchAndroid (Suites II and II) So this was the perfect opportunity to really have creative packaging to go along with the concept of the album. And I will say, what is there, is magnificent. Every picture goes well with the albums themes. Most notably, the colors are as vibrant and theatrical as Monáe herself. However, the lyric book folds out and in the inside is all the lyrics on a black backdrop. I really felt like this was a wasted opportunity to [...]

Swedish Art Rock/Hardcore Band <a href=" Refused released their masterpiece album The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts in October of 1998. Just months later, the group was no more, or as members of the band, including lead singer and now front man of the (International) Noise Conspiracy Dennis Lyxzé, would have said "Refused are Fucking Dead". The album title, which is a spinoff of Ornette Coleman's 1959 avant-garde jazz release The Shape of Jazz to Come (Coleman himself borrowed the title from a book by [...]

Swedish Art Rock/Hardcore Band <a href=" Refused released their masterpiece album The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts in October of 1998. Just months later, the group was no more, or as members of the band, including lead singer and now front man of the (International) Noise Conspiracy Dennis Lyxzé, would have said "Refused are Fucking Dead". The album title, which is a spinoff of Ornette Coleman's 1959 avant-garde jazz release The Shape of Jazz to Come (Coleman himself borrowed the title from a book by [...]

Recovery delivers both musically and physically. They did a great job really making this an album worth purchasing. The lyric book is thick, includes all the lyrics, and also has some great shots of Eminem. Thematically it is in sync with the serious themes of the album. The pictures show Eminem looking very reflective and somber. It also includes two album covers as the lyric book can be flipped upside down. Which is very appreciated, considering they could have just made two versions of the album, and made fans go out and purchase it multiple times. Instead you [...]

For The National's fifth studio album, High Violet , 4AD have stepped up the quality quite significantly from the packaging of their previous album Boxer , seemingly wanting to reward all the vinyl-buying fans out there. The gatefold sleeve is finely produced in vibrant colour on the cover and reverse. The title text is exquisitely embossed into the packaging. Upon opening the gatefold you discover a nicely printed grayscale photo of the Dessner twins covering the entire inside. The rest of the band are found pictured on the covers of the vinyl, also in grayscale, with [...]

Epic Records has decided to reissue Modest Mouse's classic 2000 opus The Moon & Antarctica on double 180g vinyl to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its original release. This is great news for Modest Mouse fans everywhere because this album was impossible to find on vinyl prior to this. Unfortunately Epic has not pulled out many bells and whistles for this reissue, not even affording a gatefold sleeve, meaning the two 180g discs are slid into the same sleeve. The vinyl covers themselves are sturdier than paper and come with nicely printed graphics that accompany the [...]

Just like the recent Dr. Dog packaging, MGMT opted out for a fold out poster that has the lyrics on one side, and the picture on the other. Unlike Dr. Dog, the fold out poster doesn't have nice art. Instead it's a poorly photoshopped picture of the entire band doing various things, all on blue paper. The picture itself isn't very appealing, and neither is the color. Their decision for the art inside the packaging is a bit bizarre, as none of it reflects the ridiculous cartoon art of the front art. Thematically, the packaging is all over [...]

Posted by Rob Hakimian and Brent Koepp on 12 April 2010 Shame, Shame has really great artwork, but it depends on whether you like posters or not. Instead of a lyric book they opted for a fold out poster which has a great design but for some people it might be preferable to have the traditional book format which generally allows for more pictures. The poster has odd dimensions which unless you are a hardcore Dr. Dog fan, you probably are not going to be framing this. And if [...]

Jónsi releases his debut solo album and it's wonderful. The packaging is colorful and full of life (going well with the music). Only problem is, there is no lyric book or pictures. The packaging itself is pressed on stock cardboard (which is nice) but it really feels flimsy. For an album so full of imagination and beauty, I wish the packaging was on the same level. Verdict: For the Jónsi and Sigur Rós enthusiasts, this is a no brainer. The album is relatively cheap price-wise, and you are supporting an incredible act. However, for everyone else, [...]

Four years is an awfully long time to wait for a vinyl release. The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me 's vinyl release was held off until this year primarily because of the band's failure to secure the rights of Nicholas Prior's photograph entitled "Untitled #443 from his "Age of Man" collection. But the wait is over. The album has been released on double vinyl with different color variations: white (the standard edition, as seen below, limited to 3,000 copies), black and white marble (limited to 500 copies), red (limited to 500 copies), and gold (limited [...]

Because Gorillaz is a cartoon band, one can always expect top notch artwork for a project like this - as the art is as integral to the band as the music is. Plastic Beach is no different. Prior to the release they really went all out to make the world of Plastic Beach seem real (building a 3D interactive model, an online game) and the album itself ties this all together. Unfortunately, in what I think was a baffling decision, they decided to release various versions. There is the "standard" and the "Deluxe". The "Deluxe" is [...]

The album art for Contra is odd, but in some ways stunning. The packaging however doesn't do enough to live up to it. For one, there are no pictures what so over besides one band picture. The lyric book is completely dull, just white graph paper with the lyrics. They even used the same graph design on the disc art. While this may have it's charm to some, I think it's baffling how an album with such an interesting art & sound has such a dull presentation. Verdict: [...]

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Stream "Ambling Alp" The "Ambling Alp" 123 single is due out November 3rd Odd Blood is due out February 9th, 2010 both on Secretly Canadian

Raditude is out on Tuesday October 27th via DGC and Interscope