Session Notes!

[aymat]

Hi @​johncave,

Absolute pleasure meeting and getting to know you!

I'll be posting here some notes about our session just to recap. Feel free to post responses or anything you'd like to share as well. I plan using these private spaces as a way to keep things organized and in one place for quick reference. More in a bit! - J

[aymat]

Some inspiration for visuals...

The Designers Republic -  these guys were essentially responsible for that 2k aesthetic

https://typeface.agency/design-thought/on-how-the-designers-republic-sculpted-childhoods/
https://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/565386_WbO0PON_aCeyV5OJLEDcOURcc.pdf

Really cool video about them as well:

Few more...

Buredestruct:
https://burodestruct.net/work

Design Plex Magazine:
https://archive.org/details/DesignPlexMagazineNo.12GraphicsGoAroundTheWorldWideWeb

[aymat]

Artists...

Dave McKean:

https://www.davemckean.com/portfolio/covers/
https://artizar.es/en/artist/dave-mckean/
https://x.com/DaveMcKean

Chris Foss - he was one of the most well known futurist illustrators from the 70s:

ChrisFossArt.com – Chris Foss art, Chris Foss prints with unique customised sketches.

Shop Shop Chris’ iconic images are available as prints from our shop Chris first experimented with airbrushes in the early 60’s and has become one of the most widely recognised artists using this medium. He has created over a thousand book cover artworks for authors

ChrisFossArt.com (chrisfossart.com)

Syd Mead - He was the original concept artist for the Original Bladerunner and probably one of the most bad ass illustrators of all time. That 70s futurist aesthetic owes a lot to this guy:

Syd Mead - Home

The Official Web Page of Visual Futurist Syd Mead, and Syd Mead Incorporated.

(www.sydmead.com)

[aymat]

Music inspiration...

David Arnold "Changing Lanes Soundtrack"... the whole thing is incredible:

The Sugarcubes - Einer Orn is the male vocalist on this album (its the guy I thought you sampled). Their "Lifes Too Good" album is fantastic and well worth a listen, its in that very 90s alternative/indie/rock style and they have a very interesting way of structuring songs 

Skinny Puppy 12inch Anthology... but especially this track:

The rest of these are more breakbeat / big beat driven stuff... a little varied but I think worth exploring

Crystal Method - big playlist here, really varied:

The Prodigy - Experience, Music For The Jilted Generation, Fat of the Land are almost required study at this point for most breakbeat producers. Liam Howlett is a master craftsman:

By the way, I had a chance to listen to Sewer Slvt, great stuff. Theres a couple of producers doing similar things like TKDPLL and Savant Shadow, might be worth taking a look at those as well.

[COLOG]

Some of those recommendations are great! I love that song by The Crystal Method upon first listen (especially the second half). I've heard of them but never listened to their music. Kinda reminds me of french house stuff I used to listen to (Kavinsky, Vitalic, SebastiAn, Birdy Nam Nam) so I really like it.

The prodigy stuff is definitely bread and butter stuff.

That Skinny Puppy track is insane - I love the texture of those harsh bright sounds so much, all of their music sounds rhythmically like it's being churned through a factory. So cool.

Never heard of The Sugarcubes but i'll definitely check it out soon. I used to listen to a lot of Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Cocteau twins, Bauhaus, the Cure, etc and it sounds like all of them combined.

And the changing lanes soundtrack sounds cool, very experimental and I love the inclusion of so many simpler shorter pieces. 

---

To expand upon my Sewerlvt suggestion - I want you to listen to this:

. It's their best song imo (maybe my favourite song of all time) and I think you'd really like it.

I listened to TKDPLL and Savant Shadow. Really liked them both.

I should also add some notes about my influence I forgot to mention in the call:

I LOVVEEEE some of the music that came out of the 2010s vaporwave aesthetic. It was originally just fairly monotonous slowed 80s/90s pop but evolved into 'slushwave' or just general ambient.

Take '2814' for example:

Their music stands so well on its own - but some of my main inspiration when beginning production was imagining what their stuff would sound like layered with breaks, and with more progression.

---

I'll get into looking at all that design stuff you sent soon. Definitely already heard of some like Syd Mead. I'm a huge sucker for both Blade Runner movies.

Hopefully we can somehow combine the Y2K aesthetic with the retrofuturist stuff. I'll continue this thread with some more precise design ideas/context for the album cover as you wanted soon.

[COLOG]

I think this anime has a chokehold over the aesthetic I'm aiming for with the album. Love the gritty cyber tech stuff. I think I still need to bring my music further in that direction. Not sure on whether I want a more modern type cyber thing or a retro-futuristic thing for the cover too. I'll get back to you in a third post before our next call with a true decision + collage of inspirations. Also watched the video you sent me on Designers Republic now. A lot of the stuff definitely looks familiar since I'm from Sheffield where they were based and see the effect of their work out and about occasionally.

[aymat]

[quote data-userid="3" data-postid="46"]

I think this anime has a chokehold over the aesthetic I'm aiming for with the album. Love the gritty cyber tech stuff. I think I still need to bring my music further in that direction. Not sure on whether I want a more modern type cyber thing or a retro-futuristic thing for the cover too. I'll get back to you in a third post before our next call with a true decision + collage of inspirations. Also watched the video you sent me on Designers Republic now. A lot of the stuff definitely looks familiar since I'm from Sheffield where they were based and see the effect of their work out and about occasionally.

To expand upon my Sewerlvt suggestion - I want you to listen to this: . It's their best song imo (maybe my favourite song of all time) and I think you'd really like it.

I listened to TKDPLL and Savant Shadow. Really liked them both.

I should also add some notes about my influence I forgot to mention in the call:

I LOVVEEEE some of the music that came out of the 2010s vaporwave aesthetic. It was originally just fairly monotonous slowed 80s/90s pop but evolved into 'slushwave' or just general ambient.

Take '2814' for example:

Their music stands so well on its own - but some of my main inspiration when beginning production was imagining what their stuff would sound like layered with breaks, and with more progression.

---

I'll get into looking at all that design stuff you sent soon. Definitely already heard of some like Syd Mead. I'm a huge sucker for both Blade Runner movies.

Hopefully we can somehow combine the Y2K aesthetic with the retrofuturist stuff. I'll continue this thread with some more precise design ideas/context for the album cover as you wanted soon.
[/quote]

Sewerlvt - Existing Everywhere : Very nice! It's pretty wild how a lot of the music that has come out over the past couple of years has evolved from so many genres. I can so many different influences in this, FSOL, progressive trance, ambient , drone... to me this is the beauty of progression in music. Take whats there add something that's yours and keep it moving forward. Love this!

Yeah that 2010 vaporwave was kinda hit or miss for me. But I think some generally decent stuff came out of it. I was into more of the lo-fi deep house stuff that was coming out along side it which I thought was actually pretty nice. I dig the 2814 suggestion. Its not normally what I listen to to (my break obsessed brain cant cope lol) but I can tell its done very well. Btw, a friend of mine makes some pretty beautiful ambient/drone stuff that has that same vibe. He goes by bvdub, has a huge discography. There's all sorts of gems in there and I think you might like what he does.

[quote data-userid="3" data-postid="47"]

I think this anime has a chokehold over the aesthetic I'm aiming for with the album. Love the gritty cyber tech stuff. I think I still need to bring my music further in that direction. Not sure on whether I want a more modern type cyber thing or a retro-futuristic thing for the cover too. I'll get back to you in a third post before our next call with a true decision + collage of inspirations. Also watched the video you sent me on Designers Republic now. A lot of the stuff definitely looks familiar since I'm from Sheffield where they were based and see the effect of their work out and about occasionally.

[/quote]

This is great direction and youre approaching it right. That anime aesthetic has such beautiful visual impact and I think would fit your music perfectly. I'll see if I can find some additional links that move toward this, specifically for cover design to help fine tune what youre shooting for in our next session. Looking forward to it. Talk soon! - J

[COLOG]

Here's the moodboard from earlier: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mtXyenqo3kx4oiiVT06mXOs5m92YVeNl/view?usp=sharing

Hard to believe you're doing this all for free

By the way, I meant to ask, do you want a commision for the cover design? Why don't you send me some of your other past work as well as the album cover concept so I have a good idea of what's to come, I'm looking forward to it and really appreciate the help.

[aymat]

Got mood board, awesome!

Dont worry about the commission, I'm happy to do it pro-bono since youre helping me in the process of going through the sessions. 

These are a couple of examples of the kind of I work I do:

https://joelcarlo.net/portfolio-items/concept-comic-covers/
https://joelcarlo.net/portfolio-items/mechahatechimp/
https://joelcarlo.net/portfolio-items/artistic-anatomy/

The mood board is great though, it gives me a really good sense of direction. For the meantime take a look at the image I posted in the other thread and let me know if you think thats something you might be interested in working with. If not no worries, we can keep working on ideas until we get something concrete.