“Birdman” by Antonio Sanchez, Various Artists

Categories: Alternates/Rejected Covers · Custom Covers · Digital Booklets · Original Covers · Vinyl CoversTags: · · 1 Comment

Congrats to Alejandro González Iñárritu for winning big time at last nights Oscars. He’s definitely among my favourite directors and I salute to his skill and creativity. I love his body of work ever since 21 Grams and it’s about time he gets his well-deserved recognition. The highly unusual drum score for Birdman has been “composed” (or rather improvised) by Jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez and is definitely worth a listen. It’s really fascinating how Sanchez is able to create moods and tensions only with the sounds of a drumset. My first custom (#1) is based on the fantastic one-sheet poster, designed by Mark W. Carroll and photographed…

“Inherent Vice” by Jonny Greenwood, Various Artists

Categories: Custom Covers · Mockups · Original Covers · Vinyl CoversTags: · · 1 Comment

A quick throw-in for Jonny Greenwood’s latest effort. The whole ad campaign for Inherent Vice takes us back to Boogie Nights times and I’m sure every P.T. Anderson fan goes nuts for this film. Overall this 80’s inspired neon style is currently coming back big time. To use this widescreen banner for the custom digipack was self-evidently, I’m only wondering why no-one else did it before me (at least in the custom cover circles I’m hanging around). Not much work was necessary for this cover. I just had to get hold of the proper font types (“Drescher Grotesk” and “HLT RollingPen“) and extended the artwork a little bit…

Lost Covers, Vol. 1

Categories: Alternates/Rejected Covers · Custom Covers · Singles/EPs · Vinyl CoversTags: · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 9 Comments

I don’t know why, but a few days ago, late at night, I was thinking about all my “failed” attempts at creating well-crafted cover art. I was visiting the Final Fantasy Shrine Forums, browsing through all that awesome cover art posted there and I wondered how much time the people over there invest in this creative, time-consuming hobby. Are they as nitpicky as me? Everyone loves his own creations, otherwise we wouldn’t publish it, but for my part it sometimes degenerates a bit. I often spend hours on one single image. I’ve created one cover with thirty-three different font types,…

“True Detective” by T Bone Burnett/Various Artists

Categories: Custom Covers · Digital Booklets · Original Covers · Singles/EPs · Vinyl CoversTags: · · Leave a comment

True Detective may be my TV surprise of the year so far. This HBO series is superb in every way! Be it the original characters (Nic Pizzolatto) and their portrayal (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson), or the brilliant direction (Cary Fukunaga) and stunning cinematography (Adam Arkapaw). Everyone involved with this series performs at the top of the game and I cannot recommend it highly enough. But the game-changer for me has been T Bone Burnett’s meticulous selection of songs, that are featured so prominently within each episode. He assembled a collection of songs that is utterly fantastic. Unfortunately there hasn’t been an official soundtrack album yet, neither…

“Dawn of the Dead” by Tyler Bates, Various Artists

Categories: Alternates/Rejected Covers · Custom Covers · Digital Booklets · Original Covers · Remakes · Tribute Covers · Vinyl CoversTags: · · Leave a comment

Dawn of the Dead by Tyler Bates was on my searchlist for a very long time. While the score on album isn’t quite the listening experience I wanted it to be, there were a few key sequences in the film, that captivated me on first sight – and still manage to do so. Part of that is due to Bates’ tightly focused tunes which added a melancholic undertone to an otherwise simplistic, not to say mindless story. The first publication of the score, more or less, was in form of a promotional release by Universal Music Group and Strike Entertainment in…