The reason I haven't done a roundup of animal or bird album covers for a while is that, in the last few years, this concept has exploded to an uncontainable extent. I considered trying to pick favourites - still extremely difficult - or grouping them in categories, ie: "Horses," "Monkeys" or even "Jellyfish." Still basically impossible though! And no, I don't think they're doing it so I'll blog about it here :).


With everyone from Nick Cave (Grinderman) to Mercury Rev to Enya featuring animals on their covers there is seemingly no restriction on genre either, though it's interesting to note where the zeigeist spontaneously occurs simultaneously.

The oddest subgenre of these (as previously noted in another post) is the Girls with Birds in Their Hair theme, evidently still a widespread hairdressing problem, with these being only three of the more aesthetically pleasing examples from the current crop. All fine albums from accomplished artists by the way, so you could do worse than collect on this basis :).


And yes, I owe lots of emails, sorry about that...

Labels: Animal album covers, Bird album covers, Girls with birds in their hair album covers

There are lots of new animal and bird album cover designs around, so I thought I'd kick off this latest run with just birds. A couple are truly iconic images focused on the bird as an image, there are a few hummingbirds and owls, and quite a few with birds more as an incidental, sometimes two-dimensional part of the design.

The first two have a similar feel, in spite of very different intent and music styles. The Clubbers Guide is a favourite - bird as a simple, imaginative device engaged with the concept - as is Andrew Bird's snooty budgie, which captures the witty spark of his music well. As for that Wilco cover, that is pure genius, capturing a mood perfectly in the most stylish way possible - a picture that says so much, both in content and design, and a very powerful image. Those owls on The Terrible Twos are way cute - let me know if you're recording a CD and want a cartoony design along those lines (or even a naturalistic cover illustration) - I'd like to do one.

(Click on pic for closeup - list and short reviews below)



Top row

Clubbers Guide to 2007 - Mixed by Kid Kenobi & Goodwill - 38 track latest definitive guide to upcoming dance music

Various Artists - The Coodabeen Champions Present Sunday Nightingales - ABC Radio collection of great female vox, from Laura Nyro and Lulu to Beth Orton and Joan as Policewoman

The Finches - Human Like a House - Acoustic Folk pop from female fronted San Francisco duo and friends

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - Seventh album sees Tweedy, Stirratt and Co. re-embrace roots influences with a classic rock feel
2nd row

Claude Vonstroke - Beware of the Bird - Innovative underground dance music, first album on this label

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha - Third solo album and best yet, which is some achievement (they're all great!)

The Hard-Ons - Most People Are A Waste of Time - Return of iconic Sydney pop punk three piece

Uncle Ho - Roads to Roma - Broken beats and dub backdrops mash up electic mix of sounds from across the world
3rd row

City City City - The Perimeter Motor Show - mostly instrumental with diverse instruments and a jammy, occasionally dissonant sound. I like this a lot!

Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males - Drowning in the Fountain of Youth - first full-length from local songwriter, inventive musically and lyrically

The Terrible Twos - If You Ever See an Owl - Something different from Matt Pryor (of Get Up Kids) and the New Amsterdams, a cool, hook-laden children's album!

Mr. Knightowl - Classics for the Calles - Hardcore gangtsa rap
4th row

Rebel Meets Rebel - David Allan Coe (with Pantera) - Witty country metal featuring Dimebag Darrell's guitar

Belles Will Ring - Mood Patterns - Chiming and melodic debut recorded in our own Blue Mountains by a rising star band!

Einstellung - Wings of Desire - Birmingham four piece debut with hypnotic post-industrial sonic architecture

Miguel Miggs - Those Things - All star lineup fronting more organic dance-music approach by deep house DJ producer

I thought about starting a separate category for female artists with birds in their hair, as demonstrated here by Sarah Blasko on What the Sea Wants the Sea Will Have and Emma Tonkin on The Anchor and the Albatross. These capture the vibe and themes of the respective albums perfectly, intelligently incorporating images of the artists themselves and the other elements (I hate albums that just have a boring photo of the artist on the cover).





Last but not least there is Hatebeak, the death metal band from Maryland, whose lead singer is an African grey parrot named Waldo (smart species, the African grey). The cover itself is evidently a tribute to Judas Priest. Waldo records separatelyfrom the band, due to a sensitivity to loud noises, so don't expect a tour. With the CD singles sold out, an album is in the works.

Labels: Animal album covers, Bird album covers, Girls with birds in their hair album covers

// posted by Ian T. @ 10:40 pm (1) comments

This has been growing for a while. I decided to split the usual roundup of current/recent album covers using animals as iconic images, by putting birds into their own category. Actually, there turned out to be so many that they're not all here, so at least one might appear in the next lot. It's been a good year for birds in music, kicking off with Kate Bush's Aerial, featuring a clever soundscape as landscape cover, built out of a blackbird's song.

My usual principle for selecting these images is that the animal/bird has to be the featured icon, not just a minor accessory to a picture of the artist. I decided to relax that a bit this time, so the last three do include people (one even the artist herself).

(Click on pic for closeup - list and short reviews below)




Top row

Patricia Barber - Mythologies - jazz at the frontier, an inspired song cycle based on Ovid

The Morning Birds - Lay - Melbourne trio, trip-hop, blues-roots featuring guitars and cello

Lisa Germano - In the Maybe World - Musings on death from powerful singer/musician

Bert Jansch - The Black Swan - timeless wistful acoustic magic from Scottish folk-singer

2nd Row

The Melvins - Houdini Live: a Live History of Gluttony and Lust - 12 years of Washington sludge remade live in studio with guests

Erase Errata - Nightlife - A timely best yet from regrouped indie rock band of female musicians

Andrew Morris - Valleys - second country/folk/rock album from Brisbane singer/songwriter

The Red Eyes - Rudeworld - New album from huge 11-piece Australian dub reggae group

3rd Row

LABJACD - Vote With Your Feet - Melbourne 9 piece with big sounding hiphop/salsa/jazz

The Watson Twins - Southern Manners - acoustic rock featuring dreamy melodic harmonies from twin sisters

Because of Ghosts - The Tomorrow We Were Promised Yesterday - evocative moody debut from Melbourne instrumental trio of brothers

Joanna Newson - Ys- 5 songs, 55 minutes, a lush, ambitious journey

Labels: Animal album covers, Bird album covers