And now...My Favorite Album Art of 2020

I was going to list 5-10 pieces of album cover art here.  I really intended to do that.  But really there was only ever going to be one album cover from 2020 to make the list.  Maybe i should have just listed it 5-10 times.  It stands head and shoulders above the rest.  Had i stumbled across it in a store, i would have bought it up without listening to a single note.  Bask in all its splendor...

1. Donny Benét - Mr. Experience

I trust we're all in agreement here.  Be back tomorrow for a bunch of non-2020 movies that watched for the first time this year and adored.

Favorite Album Art of 2019

Here's a bunch of cool album art that came out this year.  Enjoy.

 1. Mellotron Variations - Mellotron Variations LP

2. WOW - Come La Notte LP

 3. Black Pumas - Black Pumas LP

 4. Aesop Rock and Tobacco - Malibu Ken LP

 5. The Autopsy of Jane Doe OST LP

 6. Zombierella's Tentative Reels - Suicide Commando 7"

 7. Pinkish Black - Concept Unification LP

 8. M83 - Knife + Heart OST LP

 9. Sudan Archives - Athena LP

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling OST LP

Good, good stuff.  Be back tomorrow for some old movies i saw for the first time this year that knocked my socks off.

Favorite Cover Art of 2018

Another year end list coming straight at your face.  Here are my 10 favorite pieces of cover art that came out this year, in alphabetical order because how could i pick a favorite?  Take your "Sophie's Choice" bullshit elsewhere.

1. Author & Punisher - "Beastland" LP

 2. Body/Head - "The Switch" LP

3. JEFF The Brotherhood - "Magick Songs" LP

4. Mint Field - "Pasar de las Luces" LP

5. Moon Duo - "Jukebox Babe / No Fun" 12" single

6. "Night of the Living Dead" Original Soundtrack LP from Waxwork Records

7. Oneohtrix Point Never - "Age Of" LP

8. Street Sects - "The Kicking Mule" LP (Dig on that Francesco Francavilla artwork.)

9. Sudan Archives - "Nont for Sale" digital single

10. Ben Vince - "Assimilation" LP

And there you go.  Each one of these would look great on a wall somewhere (that Sudan Archives one in particular).  I'll be back again tomorrow with a handful of 2018 reissues that ruled.

Look! It's Our Favorite Album Art of 2017!!!

At last we've made it to our second to last list of the year.  I'll post a movie one late next week (so as to cram more viewings in beforehand).  Anyway, lots and lots of amazing artwork this year, and after some consideration, i think these are my 10 favorites (in descending order this time to shake things up), presented without comment (for the most part) because my head hurts.  Good work graphic artists!

 10. Boris - "Dear" LP

9. Sheer Mag - "Need to Feel Your Love" LP

8. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - "The Kid" LP
She looks like some kind of celestial being.

 7. Ariel Pink - "Dedicated to Bobby Jameson" LP

 6. Kelly Lee Owens - s/t LP
There's almost like a Bowie "Heroes" thing going on with this cover, not so much like it's Erich Heckel inspired, but like candid B-roll stuff.  It's awesome.

 5. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - "Spider Baby" 7"

4. "Witches Halloween Brew" cassette

 3. "The Blackcoat's Daughter" OST LP

2. Feral Ohms - s/t LP

1. Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper" LP
This piece of work is equal parts fascinating and terrifying, and i could probably stare at it for hours combing over every last detail and getting lost in the sheer immensity of it all.  Wow.

Favorite Album Covers of 2016

A lot of great music came out this year, and a lot of that great music had great cover art.  Here are my 10 favorite album covers of 2016 (in descending order for my wife).

10. Prince Rama - Xtreme Now
Everything about this band is ridiculous, but i love it all anyway.  On a side note, the ladies actually wear the above outfits while performing.

9. Kvelertak - Nattesferd
Just look at that album cover.  It's like someone took a screenshot of the inside of Ralph Bakshi's and Frank Frazetta's brains and made a record out of it.

8. Thee Oh Sees - An Odd Entrances
Being that i was actually awakened in the middle of the night once several years ago with a centipede trying to make its way into my ear, this cover speaks to...and absolutely terrifies me.

7. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Danny Brown's latest looks like something that would have been released on Wax Trax back in the late 80's.  I love it.

6. Stranger Things OST
Like "Stranger Things" wasn't going to be on this list.

5. The Monster Squad OST
Featuring amazing artwork from Gary Pullin, Mondo's "Monster Squad" LP knocks it out of the park.

4. Thee Oh Sees - Live in San Francisco
Another Thee Oh Sees record.  This shot of John Dwyer with sweat or spit or whatever flinging off of his face is just such a cool moment to catch on film.

3. The Body - No One Deserves Happiness
Simple and sparse, but the cover art on The Body's release from earlier this year catches my eye and does not let go.

2. Wojciech Golczewski - Tonight She Comes 7"
If that was a movie poster, i would see it in a second.

1. Laure Briard - Sur La Piste De Danse
Like a combination of some hallucinatory dreamland and an 80's aerobics video, French singer Laure Briard's cover art for "Sur la Piste De Danse" takes the number one spot.

And there you go.  I've got one more list to throw at you once i compile my favorite movies of the year.  The whole having kids thing has kept me from seeing a lot of films this year, but i'm going to attempt to cram a couple in over the Christmas holiday and get that list to you sometime next week.

Favorite Album Covers of 2015

I'm running through my compulsion to present list after list to you.  I cannot be stopped.  Here are my favorite album covers from the last year, the kind of stuff that should be on the wall of a museum somewhere, or neatly filed away on my record shelves...

5. Eartheater - R.I.P. Chrysalis
The symmetry here just sets my mind at ease...even if there are some disturbing images in the mix (grubs emerging from horse orifices).

4. Sexwitch - Sexwitch
I'm not really sure why i like this album cover as much as i do.  It's simple, but it's also kind of creepy...just like me!

3. Robocop OST
Jay Shaw's artwork for this reissue is gorgeous.  It makes me want to watch the film.  It makes me want to get a print of it and hang it in my house somewhere.

2. Run the Jewels - Meow the Jewels
Come on.  It's the Run the Jewels emblem, but with kitty paws and a collar instead.  It's adorable.

1. Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
The cover to the latest effort from Blanck Mass is just so visceral, what appears to be rolls of fatty flesh cascading against each other in an almost hypnotizing fashion.  It's kind of ugly.  It's kind of gross.  It's also kind of sexy.  I can't look away...

Hooray album art!