One of my favourite things that I did while putting these mixtapes together was spending copious hours searching for inspiration.
I’ve mentioned before a lot of my reason for doing these designs was to improve my then-amateur design skills, and like a lot of people would agree, most artists often find themselves imitating before they create their own work. Think of it like following a recipe for a cake before you start experimenting with different ingredients, flavours, and… I don’t know, flour? I’m not a baker.
Anyway, when looking for inspiration to mimic, I really resonated with minimal design. It’s been something I’ve always enjoyed anyway, but it’s easy to replicate. That’s probably why I really enjoyed the cover to The Black Keys’ Brothers album. Fittingly designed by Michael Carney, the brother of The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, it’s a very basic design which explains what it is with simplistic text – a lot like Howlin’ Wolf’s The Howlin’ Wolf Album (which will be mentioned again later).
Ironically though, I struggled a lot on this one. Fonts were easy, but my very rudimentary designs left me struggling to get the textures right, to sort the borders, and in the end, I left out a little logo down the bottom and text on the right. Also, the colour is a little off as well. That is to say, it’s not my best work, but I’m happy with how it turned out.
One thing you may also notice is that I traditionally change the text to match the format of the media. However, I either forgot (or intentionally decided not to, which sounds better) to alter the CD design, so it still reads “cassette”. Live and learn.
I don’t know what that is, come to think of it, but looking at the CD design, it feels like I may have rushed it a bit. It’s possible this is why the text is almost all red on the rear instead of a mix of white and red like I’d have expected.
Also, this one has another hidden track in the mix. It’s a very inconsequential one, but Not From There’s ‘Rhinoceros Tap Dance’ begins with a six second song which opens its associated album – fittingly called ‘RTD’. Anyway, it felt weird not to have it in there, so I snuck it in. Tricks of the trade.
Speaking of album openers, having Sonic Animation’s ‘I’m A DJ’ was something else I was really proud of. I didn’t make the song, of course, but I’ve always felt it’s a perfect opener for anything given the audio at the start.
Lastly, the quote on the back flap comes from the lyrics of Parades’ ‘Invaders (Review)’.
Mixtape, Vol. 7 – Gallery
Mixtape, Vol. 7 – Tracklist
Side 1:
1. ‘I’m A DJ’ – Sonic Animation (2002)
2. ‘Mandarines’ – Butterfingers (2004)
3. ‘The Recession’ – Bluejuice (2011)
4. ‘Not Afraid Of Romance’ – Machine Gun Fellatio (2000)
5. ‘Breathing Through My Eyes’ – Skunkhour (1997)
6. ‘Happiness’ – Regurgitator (1999)
7. ‘I Can Be A Jerk’ – Eddy Current Suppression Ring (2010)
8. ‘Get Fucked’ – The Fauves (2004)
9. ‘Pale Grey Eyes’ – Pollyanna (1995)
10. ‘RTD’ – Not From There (2000) (Hidden Track)
11. ‘Rhinoceros Tap Dance’ – Not From There (2000)
12. ‘All Torn Down’ – The Living End (1998)
Side 2:
1. ‘Take Me Away’ – Lash (2001)
2. ‘Mr Charisma’ – Frenzal Rhomb (1997)
3. ‘You Broke My Heart At The Big Day Out’ – The Incredible Strand (2004)
4. ‘Do It With Madonna’ – The Androids (2003)
5. ‘Turn Up Your Stereo’ – Eskimo Joe (1999)
6. ’19-20-20′ – The Grates (2006)
7. ‘Sellout’ – george (2002)
8. ‘Invaders (Review)’ – Parades (2010)
9. ‘You Gotta Love This City’ – The Whitlams (1999)
10. ‘Holiday In Japan’ – live@subs (2004)
11. ‘We Don’t Walk’ – The Paper Scissors (2006)