unknown pleasures
May 11, 2009 3:40 AM Subscribe
Except the Pelican covers weren't parodying old book design. Would these have been as effective at doing that without the distressed look? A mint-condition 1960s paperback makes a very different impression from one that's been well-loved.
Nice find, the_very_hungry_caterpillar!
posted by rory at 4:41 AM on May 11, 2009
Nice find, the_very_hungry_caterpillar!
posted by rory at 4:41 AM on May 11, 2009
It's amazing how iconic that Joy Division cover became. I still see that on T-shirts almost weekly.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:08 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:08 AM on May 11, 2009
Who brought the FFT visualizer to the 1960s? (or whenever this is supposed to be)
posted by delmoi at 5:28 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by delmoi at 5:28 AM on May 11, 2009
are they books, are they records. i don't get it. can i read it? or is this some trick photography internet thing?
curious in orlando...
posted by billybobtoo at 5:42 AM on May 11, 2009
curious in orlando...
posted by billybobtoo at 5:42 AM on May 11, 2009
are they books, are they records. i don't get it. can i read it? or is this some trick photography internet thing? curious in orlando...
They're just the results of a designer taking a favorite design style and mashing it up with some favorite album covers. Nothing more. Just a freshman-level design exercise. And, one that is becoming boringly common. See also Wu-Note Covers, a mash-up of WuTang records with Blue Note art.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:50 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
They're just the results of a designer taking a favorite design style and mashing it up with some favorite album covers. Nothing more. Just a freshman-level design exercise. And, one that is becoming boringly common. See also Wu-Note Covers, a mash-up of WuTang records with Blue Note art.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:50 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
They're just the results of a designer taking a favorite design style and mashing it up with some favorite album covers. Nothing more. Just a freshman-level design exercise. And, one that is becoming boringly common.
thanks!
posted by billybobtoo at 5:54 AM on May 11, 2009
thanks!
posted by billybobtoo at 5:54 AM on May 11, 2009
I know I'll eventually get tired of the whole "X redesigned as a Y cover" thing, but not today!
posted by The Whelk at 5:55 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by The Whelk at 5:55 AM on May 11, 2009
The Pelican style is so much more than this- sad to see it reduced to such a generic algorithm.
posted by ryaninoakland at 5:55 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by ryaninoakland at 5:55 AM on May 11, 2009
After how wonderful the last pelican post was ( sci fi covers from 60's/70's ), this was a bit of a letdown.
Timing is everything. Should've waited longer.
posted by Hickeystudio at 6:04 AM on May 11, 2009
Timing is everything. Should've waited longer.
posted by Hickeystudio at 6:04 AM on May 11, 2009
Can't anyone wait for nostalgia to kick in these days?
posted by GeorgeBickham at 6:14 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by GeorgeBickham at 6:14 AM on May 11, 2009
And, one that is becoming boringly common.
Yes, it is.
posted by P.o.B. at 6:31 AM on May 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
Yes, it is.
posted by P.o.B. at 6:31 AM on May 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
The distressed paper effects of a hundred del.icio.us photoshop tutorials are the sort of overworking that will make contemporary graphics age poorly compared to the Pelican covers
The vertical crease used many times on the covers bothered me. I was thinking album covers don't exactly, well, crease like that. Paperback covers, yes. Album covers, not so much. Unless you were really careless with them while playing the record, I guess. My family did have a Simon & Garfunkel album jacket that someone once folded in half while making a Hot Wheels jump. Don't ask.
posted by Spatch at 6:36 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
The vertical crease used many times on the covers bothered me. I was thinking album covers don't exactly, well, crease like that. Paperback covers, yes. Album covers, not so much. Unless you were really careless with them while playing the record, I guess. My family did have a Simon & Garfunkel album jacket that someone once folded in half while making a Hot Wheels jump. Don't ask.
posted by Spatch at 6:36 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
A more realistic effect would be the wear ring a vinyl album makes on its cover when records are stacked or packed tightly, (go ahead, hate on my, vinyl purists -- I was hell on my LPs) and 45-degree frays at the corners.
I thought the name scrawled on the Joe Jackson record was a nice touch, though. You saw this a lot -- people would take albums to parties/sleepovers and this was how you kept track of whose was whose.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:42 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
I thought the name scrawled on the Joe Jackson record was a nice touch, though. You saw this a lot -- people would take albums to parties/sleepovers and this was how you kept track of whose was whose.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:42 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
"Beat-up old paperback" is officially the new steampunk. Who wants to start a pool on how long it will be before someone does a casemod to make their computer look like an oversized copy of Day of the Triffids?
posted by No-sword at 7:04 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by No-sword at 7:04 AM on May 11, 2009 [2 favorites]
Let's turn this on its head. How about actual Penguin book covers from the 60's and 70's re-imagined as contemporary video game covers? I'm picturing the cover of The Stranger with an grim-faced Maya-rendered protagonist on the front, cigarette in hand, in front of casket on a beach being stalked by stereotyped Arab brandishing a knife, while the sun blazes in the sky.
The cover could also feature relevant hardware vendor logos such as NVIDIA Sophos - the world's fastest hardware-accelerated philosophy engine.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:13 AM on May 11, 2009 [5 favorites]
The cover could also feature relevant hardware vendor logos such as NVIDIA Sophos - the world's fastest hardware-accelerated philosophy engine.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:13 AM on May 11, 2009 [5 favorites]
This kind of thing would really sell to the audiophile geeks, wouldn't it? Some kind of Criterion Collection for albums? A little thematically unified cover art, a few bonus tracks, liner notes by Robert Christgau or Nick Tosches, new heavy vinyl, etc. I can imagine the internet debates as each new round of albums to be included in the collection is announced.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:17 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by Rock Steady at 7:17 AM on May 11, 2009
The vertical crease used many times on the covers bothered me. I was thinking album covers don't exactly, well, crease like that. Paperback covers, yes.
A more realistic effect would be the wear ring a vinyl album makes on its cover when records are stacked or packed tightly
These are supposed to be books. "Classic records lost in time and format, re-emerged as Pelican books."
posted by rory at 7:19 AM on May 11, 2009
A more realistic effect would be the wear ring a vinyl album makes on its cover when records are stacked or packed tightly
These are supposed to be books. "Classic records lost in time and format, re-emerged as Pelican books."
posted by rory at 7:19 AM on May 11, 2009
the aloha- That word isn't pronounced like you think it's pronounced...
posted by self at 8:56 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by self at 8:56 AM on May 11, 2009
Well that just makes it even sillier.
That would be the "Just for fun" part.
posted by rory at 9:07 AM on May 11, 2009
That would be the "Just for fun" part.
posted by rory at 9:07 AM on May 11, 2009
Love for the Wonder Stuff!
Yes, I haven't heard that album in years, but I loved them when I was 15 or 16.
posted by ob at 9:16 AM on May 11, 2009
Yes, I haven't heard that album in years, but I loved them when I was 15 or 16.
posted by ob at 9:16 AM on May 11, 2009
I would read any novel Autechre decided to put out. Literature algorithmically-generated with Max/MSP could certainly put the Burroughs cut-up technique to shame.
posted by naju at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by naju at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2009
Well, I like it. (Although that vertical crease is noticeably reused far too many times, to the point that it threatens to ruin the whole project.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:46 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by Sys Rq at 9:46 AM on May 11, 2009
Very cool.
Sadly, for me, it has the unmistakable pre-smell of Formerly Neat Stuff That Cory Doctorow And Mark Frauenfelder Will Embrace As If It They Themselves Invented It.
I realize this is crazy.
posted by Ratio at 9:55 AM on May 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
Sadly, for me, it has the unmistakable pre-smell of Formerly Neat Stuff That Cory Doctorow And Mark Frauenfelder Will Embrace As If It They Themselves Invented It.
I realize this is crazy.
posted by Ratio at 9:55 AM on May 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
very "white college radio" that thar collection! rock is dead!
posted by celerystick at 10:02 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by celerystick at 10:02 AM on May 11, 2009
That word isn't pronounced like you think it's pronounced...
the wordplay isn't a pun like how you think it was told
posted by the aloha at 10:47 AM on May 11, 2009
the wordplay isn't a pun like how you think it was told
posted by the aloha at 10:47 AM on May 11, 2009
instead, meme too is a protologism to term derivatives which lack in either timeliness or creativity. this pelican, she flies a little late.
posted by the aloha at 11:00 AM on May 11, 2009
posted by the aloha at 11:00 AM on May 11, 2009
Sadly, for me, it has the unmistakable pre-smell of Formerly Neat Stuff That Cory Doctorow And Mark Frauenfelder Will Embrace As If It They Themselves Invented It.
Y'know...I had the same feeling but just couldn't find the right words with which to express it. Thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 11:29 AM on May 11, 2009
Y'know...I had the same feeling but just couldn't find the right words with which to express it. Thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 11:29 AM on May 11, 2009
14'6! You could buy a suit for that!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:13 PM on May 11, 2009
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:13 PM on May 11, 2009
White college radio? Clearly, your view of college radio is rather pedestrian, or not nearly snobby enough. I got a bad taste in my mouth when reading the tagline: Classic records lost in time and format.
Some are not what I would consider classic, and most are not lost. I was happy to see From Here to Eternity, which somehow seems fitting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:47 PM on May 11, 2009
Some are not what I would consider classic, and most are not lost. I was happy to see From Here to Eternity, which somehow seems fitting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:47 PM on May 11, 2009
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posted by bendybendy at 4:32 AM on May 11, 2009