Electronic Music cOVER aRT
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by Christian Huhnt_
Index Intro_ Culture_ Faces_ Djanes_ TYPES OF COVERS Label Patterns_ Bla(n)ck Label_ Graphic_ Typography_ Different Culture_ Sketch_ Photography_
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THAN KYOU FORD ANCI NG
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Intro_
Electronic Music is seperated into various genres. I will focus on the most relevant in the time of writing. Minimal. Tech House. Experimental. Melancholic Pop-Music. Dub. The genre really is not that much important for choosing the right cover. Much more is the story of what your record is telling us. What elements does it inlude? How many BPM (Beats per minutes). How long? Album, EP (Electronic Production), or band/vocals, etc.? _
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Culture_ In Electronic Music every move or trend is visually recorded. This means if some new trend derives in the industry with its own cover art people will follow. This is mainly because so much records are beeing produced and released every day. The recent culture decides the trend and the move towards a certain pattern of cover art. The cover art is of extreme importance, especially for the Vinyl artist, as he has to remember melodies of music by looking at it‘s covers, before choosing to listen to them. Also a good working cover will be recognized faster. This means it has to work especially by far distance and mostly in a darker environment. In terms of buying records its important to recognise the music you want by its cover and there are rules for it. A Dj decides what he listens to mostly by the cover. Thats why an attractive cover art is always good _
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Faces_ No rules. No pattern. No stereotype. Any age. Any gender. Any culture_
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Djanes_ The new culture within the culture. The female DJ - the Djane. Only a tiny fraction of the industry is female. It mainly is a male culture on its own and hardly disrupted by females. However a new era in the recent electronic hype has made female artists increasingly evolved. But the way they sell off there re c o rd s i s b y m a i n l y „ s e l l i n g themselves, their faces or their body. The example on the left is the famous Djane: „Niki Belucci“, who is known for her „topless gigs“. The cover in the middle at the bottom is „Monika Kruse“ with her Album „Changed Perception“. The title in itself makes someone think and the fact that this album was in the Top Selling Techno Records for month even more_
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DON` T TRUST THE DJ
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Types Of Covers Label Patterns_
Some bigger labels and record companies follow certain patterns or cover styles so people can remember them visually. This keeps The customers also noticed of what recent trend they follow and like to show visually_
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Trapez ltd_
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Masomenos_
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Cadenza_
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Vakant_
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Nummer_
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Upon You_
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Bla(n)ck Label_
The black cover stands for seriousness and a statement that says „only concentrate on the music“. I t i s a l s o a n a p p ro u c h o n UNFINISHED or INCOMPLETE work. Thats why promos (unreleased music) are always covered like this or in a white sleeve_
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Graphics_
Simple Graphics. Still the most common used Cover Art in any area of electronic music. These here are monoprints. It often represents a very electronic approach to the music. By that I mean no vocals, no experiments, simply the electronic music we know and love. Easy to play and always good transfers. Especially in the MP3 industry this style is often the choice of the artists. But it often lacks of individuality and thats why some of the monoprints are not working well_
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Typography_ Ve r y e f f e c t i v e i n t e r m s o f remembering vocals and names_
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Different Culture_
Mostly experimental or stereotyped. Using elements of other culture or vocalsthat make the music stand out_
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Sketch_
Mostly used for very aggressive/psychedelic electronic music. Not easy listening but also not too ravy. The cover art is still very new and not so common but I think very effective in terms of buying & listening. The example above is an album cover. So sketches can also be story telling. Again, there is a sense for unfinishing as you can find it often in electronic music_
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Photography_ For my taste still the most effective cover art. Impressive and creative photography can make a cover to a real artwork. And nowadays you can be so creative with photoshops, etc. But I will show various pictures, from very simple to very elaborate, black and white photography, from ugly to beauty. There are no borders. The music can be almost everything, but the most music with a photo cover is really the best of electronic music at the time of writing I have to say. There is no stereotype of it for electronics_
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Very good example for unfinished work that is open for remixes. On the right you see the original EP and down you see the front and the back of the Remixes_
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www.robert-johnson.de www.web-records.com www.deejay.de www.beatport.com www.myspace.com and many other_
Glossary 28
Jack the House
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