Savath & Savalas “Apropa’t”

Press sheets from an art direction & design project for WARP Records recording artist Savath & Savalas. Recorded in Spain, I wanted to portray Maya Hayak’s photography within an architectural motif that illustrated the country’s rich history of accommodating external influences.

Initially I specified a cream stock but when it became difficult to obtain WARP was gracious enough to let me use a 5th color flood. And provide me with press sheets! The quality of European music packaging is such a huge contrast to what is done in the States where digital press results near color copy quality.

Prefuse 73, “Surrounded By Silence”

Art direction and design for G. S. Herren’s 2005 LP and series of singles on Warp Records. Guillermo and my initial thoughts were to shoot Super 16mm scenes between distraught lovers in a car on a dead end Brooklyn street. Motion picture film would be flexible enough for print and the nascent digital platforms, YouTube and MySpace,  although logistically and financially the choice was ultimately not feasible.

I did however choose to treat the imagery, shot and art directed by Grace Villamil, as if they were film stills, by not covering them with the typography. This decision allowed more flexibility in dealing with the imagery online, beyond just presenting the standard packshot, by thinking of the entire browser as the package.

Prefuse73.com, i20 Machine Funk Version

It actually seems dumb, a half decade later, but the site was supposed to mimic the production techniques of Prefuse 73. Digital, yes, but with an analogue intention, as if Chep Nuñez had an MPC but did not know how to erase. Or if the Latin Rascals and Lars Von Trier were somehow bonded together in creative matrimony. Regardless, no erasing took place in the design of this website, for better or for worse.