sleeve approvals - the Wedding Present and Cinerama

sleeve approvals - Pete Astor

Pete gave these the nod this week

release date - the Catenary Wires

yep - the first Catenary Wires single is released today

seven sleeves

all the stamps are here now, so this is what the seven sleeves from this year's singles club look like - each one adds up to seven units of currency, counting down from seven stamps on the first, to one on the seventh

boxes of sleeves

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the first two singles should be coming out to all you lucky subscribers in the next fortnight or so, so now's the time to renew your subscription (if you haven't already) or sign up for the first time

as a member you will get all 7 of these lovely, and exclusive, singles in the post, along with some very special bits and bobs

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Part 4: Designing the Sleeves

Let's face it, none of us have enough room, if I just wanted the music it would be far more practical to get it digitally, but i don't. I want the THING cos it's beautiful, the grooves, the labels, the 12" mailers on the doormat, the 7" bag in the pub... and the SLEEVES

I've lost track of the unlistenable records I have bought cos they look fantastic, and more importantly the hits I haven't cos they look dreadful.

A well designed sleeve in a shop or on a record stall makes me want a record I have never heard. 

Is it the same for you?

In which case (obviously) use your imagination to design a sleeve that will stand out on a shelf load of its peers - have a chat with your art college and photographer mates who, I assure you, are itching to design a record sleeve. Money is always going to be tight so think of alternatives to the regular card sleeves, talk to local printers, think about hand making, invite all your chums round when you have the parts and have a put-it-all-together party.

If you decide to hand over the sleeve with the record to the manufacturer, talk to them, make sure you have the right templates, resolution and bleeds.

Perhaps also think about coloured vinyl or picture discs, although they will put the unit cost up considerably.

If you're putting together a number of different releases, think about a standard label sleeve you can use for all of them (these can all be printed in one go, and so end up much cheaper per unit), or a theme (if I have part four of a seven-single set I'm going to find it hard to walk past the other six) but remember NEVER to trust a band with a logo (metal excluded).

While you’re working on the pictures think very carefully about the WORDS - have you credited everyone? Is the catalogue number correct? Is the tracklisting in the right order? have you thanked the guitarist’s previous boyfriend by mistake? Have you called the producer the engineer? is the band name spelt correctly? Have you included website and social media details? For you AND the band?

Are you including sleevenotes too?... perhaps a guide to releasing your own records?

Read, re-read, re-re-read and re-re-re-read, give it to a friend to read a few times too, and then leave the corrected copy for a weekend, and re-re-re-re-read it before sending it off to print.

A good cover will help, but won't guarantee, you sell your records - at the very least you will have a handsome pile of unsold pop sleeves to wallpaper your pad.

77 days is too long - Trick Mammoth

yup... just 77 days until the second single of wiaiwya-7777777 2014 is released!...

and you can pre order these two new (and exclusive) tracks from New Zealand's finest - Trick Mammoth - here... remember there are just 77 copies available individually (the rest go to subscribers)!

artwork for the Freschard single

as you know, we have a different artist illustrating each picture disc in this year's series of sevens... the first is Tom Humberstone, and here's what he's done:

wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Daniel Novakovic

Daniel Novakovic is an artist based in Sweden who started out by writing and drawing comic zines about his crap relationships and then found himself getting work writing and drawing about his crap relationships. He's very amazed that he gets away with it.

He also runs the So Tough! So Cute! club night. Nowadays mostly in Sweden, but this December in London, UK. He's the kinda DJ that plays Crass right after the Supremes and Beat Happening so you should definitely go.

SO TOUGH! SO CUTE! - Indiepop, Soul, Pop Punk & Girl-Groups
Friday, 20 December 2013
10:00pm-4:00am
The Waiting Room (downstairs of the Three Crowns)
175 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LH, London, UK
Door: £4
facebook event

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Andy Hart

Andy Hart writes A Fog Of Ideas blog/fanzine. Is one half of the Come Again DJ duo and one third of the Nottingham POP Alldayer organising committee.  Andy has provided artwork (sleeve art, fliers, posters, t-shirt designs) for HHBTM, Odd Box, A Layer of Chips, The Spook School, amongst others.  Most recently he produced the artwork/lettering for the Joanna Gruesome 'Weird Sister' LP (Slumberland/Fortuna POP!) and art for the two Fireworks singles (Shelflife).  

2014 should see Andy's first attempt at comics and, perhaps, a website...

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Frances Castle

each picture disc from wiaiwya-7777777 2013 will be illustrated by an amazing artist, this week we'll be introducing you to each of them:

Frances Castle is an illustrator who runs Clay Pipe Music, a small label that releases exquisitely packaged CDs and vinyl.

Clay Pipe specialises in atmospheric music that has a strong theme or sense of ‘place’. Previous releases include Darren Hayman’s Lido, Plinth’s Music for Smalls Light House and new release; Jetsam and Gareth E Rees’ ‘A Dream Life of Hackney Marshes’. 

websites www.claypipemusic.co.uk    www.francescastle.com

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Tanya Meditzky

Tanya creates comics, illustrated books and art stuff. She produced her own comic 'milkkitten' for some years and currently enjoys collaborating with other illustrators. She recently organised an exhibition of work by 14 artists along the length of Lambs Conduit Street in London as part of the Alternative Press Fair. 

Some examples of her work are here: www.milkkitten.com

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Sarah Lippett

Sarah Lippett is the bass player from Fever Dream as well as an illustrator extraordinaire... buzzin' that she's managed to squeeze in an illustration for 2014's singles club... BUZZIN'

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Tom Humberstone

each picture disc from wiaiwya-7777777 2013 will be illustrated by an amazing artist, this week we'll be introducing you to each of them:

Tom Humberstone is an award-winning comic artist and illustrator based in London.

He is the regular comic artist for the New Statesman, producing his 'In The Frame' comic for the magazine on a weekly basis. In addition to also publishing his own comics, he edits and publishes the critically acclaimed UK comics anthology 'Solipsistic Pop'.

for more information; www.tomhumberstone.com
blog: www.ventedspleen.com/blog
Solipsistic pop: www.solipsisticpop.com

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wiaiwya-7777777 2014 - the illustrators: Jeff Mellin

each picture disc from wiaiwya-7777777 2013 will be illustrated by an amazing artist, this week we'll be introducing you to each of them:

JEFF MELLIN is a multidisciplinary artist, singer/songwriter and award-winning art/creative director. He’s illustrated and designed for magazines, arts non-profits, literary presses, food manufactures and high-tech companies. 

While immersed in the 90s Boston music scene he got a reputation as a go-to guy for album packaging and poster design. Since then he's worked with countless bands and record labels looking for his vintage-inspired aesthetic and musically informed sensibility.

He reviews student portfolios for the Art Institute of Philadelphia, has been invited to speak to college and high school students about artist branding, judged the Connecticut Art Director's Club Awards, and has appeared as a guest panelist at the Chrysler Museum of Art with Sub-Pop/Nirvana photographer Charles Peterson to speak about album cover photography.

He’s also collaborated on multi-media performance installations in NYC, Boston and Philadelphia, and his video collaborations with photographer John Soares (as Soamel Pictures) have been selected for the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, the New York City Indie Film Festival, and the Arlington International Film Festival. His most recent semi-abstract films and photographs ("abstralographs") discover and disconnect geometry from reality, flattening 3-dimensions and inverting perception of negative space while balancing organic, inorganic, and atmospheric forms and textures.

As a songwriter and musician, he’s been releasing recordings since the 90s, including recent singles for London’s WIAIWYA Records featuring memebers of SHRAG, Jenny Dee and Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground, and a concept album with Delicatessen’s Neil Carlill. Oakland-based poetry press Kolourmeim Press has published a collection of his lyrics.

With his brother, the NYC-based composer Joel Mellin, he’s helped to promote the creativity of others with both Stereorrific Recordings, a small underground pop label, and Waxfruit Arts Media, Inc., a not-for-profit organization he co-founded to support and create projects connecting indie music with other media arts and the community at large.

Now based in Philadelphia, he continues to work and collaborate with creative people from all over.

For more about Jeff visit http://www.jeffmellin.com

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