It's quite a warm and sunny day outside. One that I could quite easily waste with a cold drink and my pipe. But instead I'm at the computer, gazing out of the window and typing up a long overdue update for you all.

I've only managed a couple of shoots so far this year. One each with my always reliable and eager models Scissor Doll and Alivya V Free. The results of which I'm very proud of. So proud in fact that I'm currently writing some verse to go with the pictures from my latest shoot with Alivya in order to put together a book, which I will probably self publish on Lulu and Amazon.

I'm quite excited by this prospect as it has been a while since I attempted any fiction or poetry despite holding a degree in creative writing.

Anyway here are a few examples from both shoots:

The Steampunk shoot along with some miscellaneous work is available to view on my flickr page. And there are more of the 'Oracle' pics as well as a couple of spooky black and white photos on facebook. However I'm only going to reveal a few until the book is finished. However there are also some 8mm style gifs from the oracle shoot in the works, so expect them to be available to see soon on my tumblr page.

You may have also seen another still life set called 'L'Absinthe C'est La Mort'. These will soon be available as prints/posters/cards on the red-bubble page.

In other news, it's sunny and warm... the perfect time for more infra-red photography. I'm looking to get a dedicated infra-red camera this year, so if you've been put off by the thought of long exposures and an element of the unknown, this solution should promise shorter exposures and crisper, more predictable photos. I'm still looking to arrange shoots with models and bands prior to this though, so if your'e interested, contact me through facebook, purpleport, model mayhem, or good old fashioned email.

That's all for now. Please continue to add my profiles and check out my casting calls.

So it has come to this. Part four of my series on great album art. I think after this one I'll leave this series for a bit as I've come to the end of the original list I drew up in November. However I will continue it in the future. But in the mean time feel free to comment and leave suggestions as to what albums I should cover. What I'll do next is a similar format, but looking at music videos... maybe that one will be a little more infrequent. Who knows???

Alien Sex Fiend - 'Acid Bath', 1984
Mr and Mrs Fiend's second full-length outing which produced the classic Goth club anthems 'EST (A Trip To The Moon)', 'Dead & Buried' and 'Hee Haw'. Personally my favourite Fiend album was the somewhat overlooked 'It [The Album]', but as far as album art goes ASF hit the mark with 'Acid Bath'.
Nik Fiend's iconic artwork of a Technicolor character with bulging-bug eyes sums up the demented style of the band perfectly. Best of all it has what all album art should ideally possess... T-shirt credibility. In fact the 'Acid Bath' T-shirt surpassed it's album sibling thanks to an appearance in Tim Burton's 1996 ode to B-movies, 'Mars Attacks', in which a character wears the T-shirt (actually the T-shirt design was taken from the 12" single of 'EST' but two colours are cheaper to screen print).
The longevity and level of exposure of this album cover for such an underground band playing such underground music, even by Goth standards, is absolutely astounding.
 
 
 

Play Dead - 'From The Promised Land', 1984
Now, the sound may have been so plain that the band limited the release of 'From The Promised Land' to a mere 1000 copies to remix and re-release in 1992 as 'Resurrection', but the cover is stunning. The simple, haunting and minimalist composition of the cover photo is quintessentially Gothic. The numerous figures stand solemn and still in the water as the sun is either setting or rising out of frame. The light feels cold, the water looks cold and the people seem to snake throughout the composition. It's so quiet that it seems sinister.
The cover of the band's singles compilation album and the single 'Sacrosanct' may have more immediate Gothic overtones. However for me, 'From The Promised Land' wins out with its subtlety.

Pink Floyd - 'Wish You Were Here', 1975
Pink Floyd's ninth studio album and perhaps one of their most poignant. Opening and closing with 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' the album deals with the loss of their former band mate Syd Barrett. Barrett had left the band soon after the release of their second album and had released to fantastic solo albums, though commercially they were eclipsed by his work with Pink Floyd. Barrett's experimental and acid-fuelled lifestyle had taken its toll on the singer and left him burnt out. The album is haunted by the spectre of Barrett who actually visited the band when they were recording it; they failed to recognize him though as he had gained weight and shaved his head.

The album cover, once again created by the great Storm Thorgerson, is a serene but violent image. Two men, virtually mirror-images of each other calmly shake hands as one is combusting before the other. The shaking of the hands is, by the suggestion of the tracks 'Have A Cigar' and 'Welcome To The Machine', an empty gesture. The image is reflected in the original LPs packaging which was shrink-wrapped in black plastic with an image of two mechanical hands clasped together.



Great Music Videos Vol. 1 coming soon...
However Great Album Covers will return with Vol. 5!

It is the first blog of 2011! What better way to kick off a new year and a new decade than the third installment of my "Great Album Covers" series. If you want to suggest any album covers for me to feature feel free to leave a comment. Try and keep suggestions in the spirit of the previous posts though.

Bauhaus - 'In The Flat Field', 1980

Bauhaus' debut was pretty much panned by every single music magazine in the UK upon it's release. But their previous four singles ['Bela Lugosi's Dead', 'Dark Entries', 'Terror Couple Kill Colonel' and 'Telegram Sam'] had built them a solid fan base in the scene that was to become known as Goth.

Bauhaus' minimal formula of driving bass-lines, relentless drum beats and screeching guitars coupled with Peter Murphy's baritone voice and often surreal lyrics became the blueprint for all the Goth bands that would follow.

The cover of their eponymous debut is probably their best visual depiction of their sound. The sleek and stylish black and white and bold font (with no title... just the band name) is simplistic and striking. However, at the heart is a impressionistic, blurred photograph that imitates a classical or renaissance nude. The photograph titled “Homage To Puvis De Chavannes” (1978) is by the American photographer Duane Michals. The title is a reference to the influential 19th Century French painter and founder of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Pierre Puvis De Chavannes. Michals, a prolific commercial photographer working for the likes of Vogue and Esquire. His artistic photography on the other hand often explored homosexuality and homoeroticism from a spiritual point of view.

Dalis Car - 'The Waking Hour', 1984

Another group involving Peter Murphey, this time in partnership with former Japan Bassist Mick Karn, who sadly died earlier this month after a long battle with cancer. Again this is an album that was much maligned upon its release. Unfortunately its avant garde style of bass and keyboard driven surreal pop was a commercial flop, but it has since come back into its own thanks mainly to rabid collectors of Bauhaus and Japan material.

The album is surreal and peaceful and the cover image, a detail from "Daybreak" (1922) by Maxfield Parrish, is suitably apt. The soft but colourful depiction of two feminine figures cast against the 'dynamic symmetry' of the composition could have been taken straight from the pages of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Parrish considered this to be his "great work" and it is one of the 20th century’s most popular art prints that, according to The National Museum of American Illustration continues to outsell the likes of Andy Warhol’s "Campbell’s Soup Can" and eve Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". The original painting was bought at auction by actor Mel Gibson's wife Robyn in 2006 for the sum of $76 million.

Covenant - 'Northern Light', 2002
Sweden's Covenant have been a shining light in electronic music for nearly twenty years. Though their album art can sometimes be accused of being a little bland - choosing modern graphic design over photography and paintings - but when they do put effort into the packaging it definitely pays off.
2002's 'Northern Light' was one such instance. Another album that seems to divide critics and fans, it gets mixed reviews. But the photograph by Kaskara adorning its cover - depicting a rear view of a lone male figure sat on a chair in the mountains who has apparently frozen to death - is very striking and even a little disturbing as it invites the viewer to fill in the details of his back story.
The image is both beautiful and sombre, and bares comparison to the work of Storm Thorgerson on the Pink Floyd albums 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' (1987) and 'Delicate Sound Of Thunder' (1988) which again are somewhat abstract in their composition but equally fascinating at inviting the viewer into the story of the pictures.

 
Vol 4, Coming soon...

Ladies and Gentleman we are on the cusp of a new year and a new decade. So to celebrate here is the second part of my personal favourite album covers of all time:

Tool - ‘Lateralus’, 2001

Unfortunately the above photo doesn't do this album art the credit it deserves. Like the music of the band, the album art has to be experienced first had in order appreciate the skill that has gone into it. Laterallus is intricately laid out layer-upon-layer to build up the image you see above. Thinking outside the box, the band and artist Alex Grey printed the different elements on separate sides of clear plastic that made up the album's inlay book. The listener could then flick through the different layers - all of them full of sacred geometric shapes and spiritual symbols - and look at them as a whole. Simple but Stunning.

Type O Negative - ‘Bloody Kisses’, 1994

It's no secret that I hold Type O Negative in high regard, but I will be the first to admit that most of their album art through the years has been rather basic. However 1994's 'Bloody Kisses' is a major exception to the rule. This simple monochrome photograph - given a slight green tint - is reminiscent of the lesbian vampire erotica of Jean Rollin. While it isn't explicit in its depiction, it still oozes sensuality at the expectation of what is to come.
The album has gone down in history as one of Roadrunner Records most defining moments yielding the first mainstream radio and video hits as well as Gold and later Platinum status. Musically the album may not be as complete and well rounded as 1996's 'October Rust' it remains Type O Negatives first taste of success. Bellow is a video of Roadrunner A&R VP Monte Conner and his thoughts on the album.

Kraftwerk - 'The Man Machine', 1978

I mentioned Kraftwerk's 'The Man Machine' in comparison to Rammstein's 'Live Aus Berlin' in the last post for it's recognizable German aesthetic (Rammstein have also covered the hit song 'The Model' from this album). Dressed alike in red shirts and black ties with red lipstick and dark, gelled hair the band members look uniform and efficient. Not unlike the modernist typography laid out around them.
Kraftwerk's image and sound define modernism. As a term in constant flux as the aesthetic of modernism changes over time, so too does the sound of the band. Evolving from home-made electrical devices and analogue synthesizers to sleek digital technology Kraftwerk's influence over electronic music has been at the cutting edge.

 

Vol 3, Coming soon...

Ophelia (1852) by Sir John Everett Millais

One of my obsessions is the Pre-Raphaelites. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William, Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais. As well as those painters who influenced them and the ones who carried on those styles when the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had ostensibly 'sold out' and focussed on more commercial works.

The early doctrine of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood contained four points:

1.To have genuine ideas to express;

2.To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;

3.To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote;

4.And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.

Originality was King, and the belief that art was essentially a spiritual practice was held in high regard. Rossetti in particular liked to bridge the worlds of art and poetry which blurred with the principles of the Romantic poets such as Byron, Shelley, Keats and Clare.

Elaine Watching the Shield of Lancelot (1859) by Henry Peach Robinson

Interestingly in the late 19th century, Pre-Raphaelitism's ideas and visuals such as 'Realism' and 'Medievalism' began to make their way into the growing realm of photography. Rossetti began to incorporate photography into his sphere of works and was joined by figures such as Henry Peach Robinson, and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (AKA Lewis Carroll).

Mrs Jane Morris (1865) & Proserpine (1874) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Within these photographs are elements common to paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites - the wild haired and un-corseted/un-crinolined female ideals of the artists in particular. In the case of Charles Dodgson (below) that ideal is summed up in the innocence of the Liddell sisters one of which, Alice, would become his most famous.

Alice Liddell as a Beggar Girl (1859) by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Pre-Raphaelitism has since been an ongoing source of inspirations for photographers since. Now the modern tastes for Gothic and Fantasy art, coupled with the resurgence in popularity of antique photography styles Pre-Raphaelite inspired Artistic Photography seems to be a viable style to explore.

Sarachmet, AKA  Malgorzata Maj, is one such person who has drawn on 19th century imagery and the principles of Romanticism in her photographic work. Her images are haunting and ethereal with the essence of the Pre-Raphaelites throughout. I really urge people to check out here work (link below).

http://sarachmet.carbonmade.com/

Well the first of 3 lots of photos for album artwork has been published. This is a band photo of the sublime Avant Garde Black Metalers Eibon La Furies in the album art for their debut on Code666 records 'The Blood of the Realm'. You can see the full selection of promo photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagomortisuk/sets/72157623173732954/

It may yet change but it seems as though sleazy goth rockers Deadfilmstar and Satanic Industrialists Midnight Configuration will be using photos in the artwork for their forthcoming albums that I took of them at the Nightbreed Records gig back in March at the Elektrowerkz in Islington, London.

Now it's time to post the second half of the shoot with Miss Cobweb. Last week the photos were more glam/geisha inspired, but this week they're along a more 80s punk/hair metal theme:

Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagomortisuk/

A latex uniform shoot with Felix Liquer and a Fashion Shoot with Alivya V Free will be posted shortly.

This is a transferred post from my previous wordpress blog published on: Oct 10, 2008.

It has emerged that former Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids bassist and Unpop artist Gidget Gein has died.

Gidget (real name Brad Stewart) co-wrote many of Marilyn Manson's early songs and played on the 1994 debut album Portrait of an American Family. He is also credited as the main influence behind the early visual aesthetic of the band.

After being forced out of the band on the eve of the release of the album, Brad moved to New York and formed his own art-rock band The Dali Gaggers, and released one album; Confessions of a Spooky Kid. After moving back to his home state of Florida, Gein worked as a 'bag boy' for the coroner's office, which he recorded on his official website http://www.gidgetgein.com/.

 

He mended the bridge with former bandmate Marilyn Manson and appeared in the video for (s)AINT along with a sculpture (later bought by the video's director, Asia Argento) entitled In Case of Emergency Break Heart.

He moved to Los Angeles in order to further persue his Art and Fashion, and became a member of the Unpop art movement (alongside such notoraries as Boyd Rice, and Adam Parfrey). He was exhibited at a number of shows in the Hollywood area, and made his art available through his fashion line Gollywood. Gidget's art dealt with alot of themes common to the unpop movement - degenerate art thematically heavy with aspects of American pop culture now swept under the carpet. In 2006 he appeared as Detective Jeffery Mourir in the film Black Dahlia. In 2007 he released three new albums of music and recently began playing live again as part of the band People.






The one constant in Gidget Gein's varied and artistic life was his battle with drug addiction and on the 9th of October 2008, it was a battle he finally lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gidget_Gein






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I had communicated with Gidget numerous times via his personal myspace page and had always found him to be a wonderfully polite, smart, witty, and obviously a very talented person. As a fan and admirer I am deeply saddend by this news and my heart goes out to his friends and loved ones.

RIP GG