Fresh milk

Jul. 30th, 2006 07:55 am
imomus: (Default)
[personal profile] imomus
The new Momus album, Ocky Milk, will be released in the UK (Analog Baroque / Cherry Red) and the US (American Patchwork / Darla) in September. Here's the first glimpse of the finished sleeve artwork, designed by James Goggin (the man who makes The Wire magazine look the way it does), assisted by Julie Kim. This is the UK sleeve, which is a digipak. The US sleeve is a jewelbox. The cover star is Kajsa Stahl from Åbäke.



As you can see, the sleeve has come on a bit from the preliminary sketches made back in March. The colours, though, remain the same. The CD itself is coloured warm cherry blossom pink, Pantone 811c, a bit like this.

Yes, that is His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie inside. Why? Well, there's a song on the album which pictures devout rastafarian reggae pioneer Count Ossie in China. Also, I like how Haile Selassie looks in his crown. He's certainly not part of the global monoculture, is he? No Nike swashes or Adidas stripes on him.

Last time, James and I decided to put design critic Reyner Banham behind the CD. He was the bearded fellow riding a Moulton bike, and a hero to both of us. This time, it's the Emperor (read about his autocratic, delusional life in Rysard Kapuscinski's book The Emperor), but it could just as well have been Italian designer Bruno Munari, who inspired the front cover image.

You can read the press release for the record (and even place an early order) on the Darla site. UK orders will be possible shortly through the Cherry Red site. And of course the record will be available in fine stores near you. If there are any.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 06:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mandyrose.livejournal.com
Momus, wow the first comment of the day! Here is your red apple... how very Eddie Haskell. Anyway, I'd never actually sat and deeply listened to Otto Spooky... I'll admit I follow your writing more than your music (though I have some faves). I listened to Otto today and warmly enjoyed it. Like fine pebbly silk shantung. Can't wait for Ocky! Cherry blossom pink is one of my favorites at the moment. I'm trying to figure out a way for it to go with silver leaf and gunmetal blue-grey, but cherry-blossom pink wants to be with periwinkle instead.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 07:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
Ah, those stubborn colours!

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Date: 2006-07-30 07:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eptified.livejournal.com
My, what an attractive barcode.

I really like the new cover..

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Date: 2006-07-30 07:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] autokrater.livejournal.com
mr. momus!
i cannot wait for this album!!!!
i have heard the song "nervous heartbeat"
and it's so very good.
the cover art is very good,unique,interesting and makes me want to hear everything on the album.
good formmmmmmmm

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 08:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
Sank you, sank you!

Advance consumer testing is bringing good news: Toog and Flo and Antonin in Paris seem to be loving their preview copies. (Check out Antonin's blog (http://www.maudevintage.com/diginikki/) for hot new pix of Kumi Okamoto and Mai Ueda! Why am I not blogging all the beautiful women?)

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From: [identity profile] cityramica.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 04:23 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2006-07-30 08:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dayofthelocust.livejournal.com
Looks good! And the world could stand more Selassie at the moment, much better than a Nike swash any day. I will definitely be seeking out a copy of The Emperor.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pixelmist.livejournal.com
A handsome bit o' kit, indeed! Very much looking forward to getting my copy. I'm so excited, I have to invent a new adverb for how excited I am. I'm Momacuockily excited!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 10:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jimyojimbo.livejournal.com
Oh! Is the little circular "Momus - Ocky Milk" going to be one of those impossible to remove stickers?

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From: [identity profile] jimyojimbo.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 12:17 pm (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 12:32 pm (UTC) - Expand

industry secrets

From: [identity profile] cityramica.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 02:52 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: industry secrets

From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2006-07-31 01:39 am (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] beketaten.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 10:08 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2006-07-30 11:05 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Will Cherry Red be doing press after all?

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Date: 2006-07-30 12:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
No, Andy Fraser is doing it, I'm pretty sure.

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Date: 2006-07-30 12:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sleepyworm.livejournal.com
Personally, I'm relieved to hear that the US release will be in a jewel case. Digipaks are distressing to me; you can't easily replace them if they get broken somehow. In fact, I have a friend that refuses to buy cd's if they come in a digipak for that reason. But he is a bit of an extreme case...

digipaks

Date: 2006-07-30 12:47 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I prefer digipaks. I'm in England, so that's OK for me.

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From: [identity profile] cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 04:20 pm (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] beketaten.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 10:11 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2006-07-30 01:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kineticfactory.livejournal.com
Looks great.

I take it that the image of "Ocky Milk" spelt in the cut-out paper letters won't appear anywhere then, though?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 02:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
No, it won't. But it's implanted in the mind of Click Opera readers, subliminally. Only they will see it.

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Date: 2006-07-30 01:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thisisnota.livejournal.com
Oooh, "I Refuse To Die" is in it.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 02:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scottbateman.livejournal.com
I love that front cover so, so much.

The behind-the-cd photo looks a lot like the behind-the-cd photo from one of Bill Laswell's Axiom Dub compilations, but I don't have the CD handy to compare and contrast.

Sound and Vision.

Date: 2006-07-30 02:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peripherus-max.livejournal.com
Am I wrong, or is the sleeve design (esp. the font) very much influenced by "Otto Spooky"? I love the continuation and this lights my mind with visions of three. Triptychs. Low, Heroes, Lodger? :) Fashion Flesh as Eno? Ah, sweet cryptic Berlin.

AND YESSSS! You've included "I Refuse To Die"... my favorite Momus song ever!

Re: Sound and Vision.

Date: 2006-07-30 02:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
Yes, that was very much the intention, to give it a trilogy look (not that Low, Heroes and Lodger look much like each other, of course). The titles also all begin with "O", so the trilogy is called "Stories of O", naturally! Soon to be shot in New Zealand at vast expense with a CGI cast of millions. With Brian Eno in the role of Fashion Flesh.

Re: Sound and Vision.

From: [identity profile] beketaten.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 10:12 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cityramica.livejournal.com
yay!!!! i am very excited! the cover looks great!! i wish i could listen to it right now!

also, i just got Bruno Munari's drawing a tree in the mail and i [know you don't like tattoos but i] may be getting a little Munari tree tattoo.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bopscotch.livejournal.com
My fine store has Oskar Tennis Champion but does not have Otto Spooky...

And good choice on including Jah! A fine picture. Hopefully, my fine store will have this album for sale in September.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 03:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beketaten.livejournal.com
Oh wow! The cover looks very Takako Minekawa-esque.
You know just how to pull us in with your cover designs :P

Athough we'd buy it even if the cover were a nude picture of Alan Greenspan.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 04:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
Not sure if that's a Momus sleeve, but it might be a good one for the Aphex Twin...

Image

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Date: 2006-07-30 05:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lord-whimsy.livejournal.com
Ocky Milkman is a member of a very colorful cast. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Milk_Wood) Best collection of fictitious names since Dickens.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 05:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
Dylan Thomas was a genius. When I was about 12, the three things that impressed me the most were "Under Milk Wood", Eliot's "Prufrock", and the Sitwells' "Facade".

"Under Milk Wood" was originally going to be called "The Town That Was Mad". According to "Dylan Thomas" by Paul Ferris, which I was reading in the Used Book Project in NY not long ago,

"The play was to show a town peopled by free-living eccentrics, who are declared insane by the conformists of the outside world. The citizens (led by their spokesman, Captain Cat) insist that the issue be tried in court. But when they hear the prosecution's description of the sane world, they decide to stay as they are, cordoned off."

It's interesting that I have a song about a "Dr Cat" on the album too. Pure co-incidence.

Another idea Thomas had for the play was that it would be "the story of a love affair between two streets."

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From: [identity profile] lord-whimsy.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-07-30 06:24 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2006-07-30 06:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] littlesips.livejournal.com
I saw this NY Times magazine cover photo this morning and I thought, "I wish Ocky Milk had arrived first!" Different font, but having noticed these shapes frequently in use and now on the Times magazine, they no longer feel so fresh!

Image (http://photobucket.com)

I do enjoy the final version of the Ocky Milk cover more than the sketches you posted in March. Kajsa's hands have a beautiful tautness to them. I can't wait to hear it.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 09:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
That's a bit different, though, I call that the "Pearl Paint" font. Not Milton Glaser-designed, anyway.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-30 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lord-whimsy.livejournal.com
Did Banham express any opinions on Soleri's notions of Arcology? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology)

lyrics?

Date: 2006-07-30 08:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rroland.livejournal.com
i tried to type in the url for the lyrics, is it up, or am i typo?

Re: lyrics?

Date: 2006-07-30 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] imomus.livejournal.com
That page isn't built yet.

congratulations

Date: 2006-07-30 09:42 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
congratulations! I love the design and I hope to find one copy soon.
Somehow the combination of the two covers reminds me of the one I designed couple of years ago: www.venusdischi.com/cd/cd_rap.php?id_titolo=31

carlito
www.flickr.com/photos/bizcarlito

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-31 12:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] desant012.livejournal.com
Hire Pantone to make your own unique color for your materials - they tried to charge Jay Z $100k for Thugg Blue, so with rolling rates, you could probably get away with $600.

Could we get a song list?

Date: 2006-07-31 02:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zzberlin.livejournal.com
<< No results match your search for ""ocky milk"" in Amazon.com. >>

I'll check ebay next.

I have embarrassed myself again

Date: 2006-07-31 02:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zzberlin.livejournal.com
Of course, Ocky Milk is available on Darla.

I suppose it reflects an American impatience and bias that I first thought "Amazon."

My apologies.

http://www.darla.com/cart.asp?action=Add&prdID=11514

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-31 03:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] intergalactim.livejournal.com
great, thanks for all the info.

i've got something like that already; i found his picture in an old cut-up encyclopedia. it felt wrong to throw it away, so he ended up under the tray of a Blood & Fire dub cd
Image

i am really looking forward to this album, it is quite different to the wait for Otto, where everything had been mp3'ed already.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-31 05:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bopscotch.livejournal.com
good choice.

Foppy milk?

Date: 2006-07-31 07:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] qscrisp.livejournal.com
Well, I'm looking forward to this. My credit card is out of action, however, so I will have to visit an actual shop. Don't suppose you know if you will be in FOPP (http://www.fopp.co.uk/)?

(Also looking forward to this (http://www.blitz-verlag.de/index.php?action=produkt&id=144) September release, in Germany.)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-01 12:14 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
This new beverage design (as seen on the side of a bus today) evoked a momus album (er whatever?) cover...

"watered down" so to speak, but still I thought of momus!

http://www.metromint.com/index2.cfm




trixie

imomus tm

Date: 2006-08-01 02:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zzberlin.livejournal.com
the trademark terrorist was here