The pandemic-ridden period of recent years has left a deep mark on most industries, unfortunately not in a very positive sense. Encouragingly, however, Discogs reports show that there is a spirit of unity among music fans, with vinyl sales breaking records year on year, making it the most popular music format for 2020. In this selection, we present covers that not only provide remarkable packaging for the tracks on the album, but are also worthy of a beautiful frame.
Altın Gün—Yol
The album “Yol” (Road) combines all the vectors of the Altın Gün experience, with which the Amsterdam band has produced its most convincing and unique album to date. Although drawing from a rich and incredibly diverse tradition of Anatolian and Turkish folk music, ”Yol” is not just an album that rethinks traditional sounds for a contemporary audience: the album often presents a textured, avant-pop sound, as the debut and second track on the album, ”Ordunun Dereleri”, demonstrates.
release date: February 26, 2021.
Pavel Milyakov & Yana Pavlova—BLUE
”BLUE“ is the result of a collaboration between Pavel Milyakov, also known as Buttechno, and a singer and artist from Kyiv, Yana Pavlova. It features seven tracks of minimalist guitar loops, saxophone and dubby bass, with Yana’s shadowy vocals all mixed together. Microphone noises, clicks and other sonic imperfections are a natural part of these tracks, as they were all composed using random and unpredictable Pure Data algorithms, purely improvised. The result is the perfect soundtrack for those chaotic summer days and nights.
release date: July 26, 2021.
Tomek Kuczma—Affordance
Tomek Kuczma is no stranger to the Polish creative industry. In his single-person agency for branding and visual communication, he completely re-identifies various companies. The album “Affordance” is a series of psychoacoustic musical experiments that explore the influence of sound on the perception of space in compositions rooted in techno and contemporary music. In addition to the simple but gorgeous cover, the album’s bonus feature is that the vinyl labels transform into various optical illusions as they spin.
release date: December 11, 2020
Bella Boo—Supervillain
The story of Studio Barnhus artist Bella Boo is not one of overnight success. If you’ve been immersed in the weird and wonderful world of Swedish club culture for the past 12 years, you may know her as one of the most eclectic, informed and hard-working DJs on the scene. “Supervillain” is the Hungarian-born Bella’s first solo release of 2019: a perfect EP with tracks that are the ultimate representation of spring. The artwork was created by Stockholm-based visual artist Alexandra Karpilovski.
release date: April 12, 2019.
UMAN—Chaleur Humaine
“Chaleur Humaine”, the debut album by French brother-musician duo Danielle and Didier Jean, is being reissued for the first time since its original release in 1992. While history is full of creative relationships between siblings that simply ”didn’t work out”, the UMAN story is uniquely different, which is brilliantly illustrated by both the cover and the tracks on the album.
release date: September 17, 2021.
Pavel Milyakov | Soundcloud
Tomek Kuczma | Soundcloud
Bella Boo | Soundcloud
UMAN | Soundcloud
Source: Bandcamp
Commemoration, in style | ÁpoltSír x DARE STUDIO
Winter is coming—The energy strategy of our region II.
