2024 YEAR IN REVIEW: Our 40 Favorite Album Covers of the Year (and a Dozen of the Worst)
If only every album cover could include a one-finger jazz pianist, an Evel Knievel homage, an orange scooter, a German luger, and an overflowing bag of cash, we'd be set for life. The black cat and just about everything right of the hot nurse is optional, not to mention nonsensical out of context. Sadly, this soundtrack has no movie (yet) to go with it, but I'd love to read the screenplay to see how all this comes together. As our mixtapes all have an "Intro" song to get us in the mood, we thought we'd do the same on our annual Favorite Album Covers list this year. Hence, we start with The Jazz Daredevil...the only guy with the proper credentials to usher in a post of such cultural significance.
Disclaimer: We have no professional design experience whatsoever.
PICKLED PRIEST'S 40 FAVORITE
ALBUM COVERS OF 2024
40
DISSIMULATOR
Lower Form Resistance
Why We Like It
An intentional, possibly unintentional, homage to H.R. Giger's Brain Salad Surgery cover (see below) for Emerson, Lake and Palmer from back in 1973? This version, albeit significantly modernized, is almost as unsettling.
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39
HINDS
Viva Hinds
Why We Like It
This initially looks like a magazine ad for pastel halter tops from a hot new brand called Viva Hinds, but it's actually a photo of the two main figures in Spanish band Hinds, Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote. The two have fashioned quite a career together, putting out three strong records in a row, each built on their undeniable chemistry, which is also on display here. That sense of togetherness and friendship oozes from this charming action shot, capturing the spirit of the album in the process.
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38
FACS
North America Endless
Why We Like It
The visual isn't particularly original. We've seen such photos before and perhaps you've accidentally taken one yourself with an unstable camera or one using the wrong aperture settings (I know very little about cameras). In this case, for a dynamic guitar band like Facs, where this type of distorted vibration is implied by their music, it's the perfect distillation of their sound.
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37
MILTON NASCIMENTO & ESPERANZA SPALDING
Milton + Esperanza
Why We Like It
Two icons for one low price, one with legacy cemented, one with legacy in progress, making music for the love of it. This photo mirrors the vibe of their wonderful 2024 collaboration which features this happy duo enjoying their friendship, inviting friends over, and playing with joy in their hearts. This cover makes me happy just looking at it.
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36
BOLDY JAMES & HARRY FRAUD
The Bricktionary
Why We Like It
The private notebooks of a prolific rapper. A crown implying dominance over all peers. The former factual, the latter debatable, but to play in this game confidence is king and words are how you vanquish your competition. Here, both are expressed artistically, worthy of an exhibit in a contemporary art museum. The title, handwritten just like the thousands of lyrics in the stack pictured, tells us that this is becoming less a voluminous body of work and more like a public reference tool for anyone who dares enter the same arena.
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35
THE LINDA LINDAS
No Obligation
Why We Like It
For a band with one member still classified as young (18) and the rest still classified as kids (16, 15, 13), this is everything you'd hope for from their latest album cover and more. The outer frame looks like a craft project using wrapping paper left over from a recent birthday party and the band rendering features the precocious girls goofing off wearing flower hats for a selfie, two still sporting braces, which only reinforces their youthful spirit. They're clearly having a blast together which comes out in their music. As an added bonus, yellow is about to swipe red's hat only adding to the playful adolescent hijinks. In the end, however, the joke is on us because this band rocks a lot harder than this cover would lead us to believe.
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34
JOANNA WANG
Hotel La Rut
Why We Like It
Joanna Wang's Hotel La Rut (a title inspired by a hilarious Kids in the Hall sketch) is a peculiar record made for those who love their pop eclectic and eccentric simultaneously. Its cover was predictably a hodge-podge of images taken from the album's loose plotline, but together has the feel of some bizarre board game you might find on a back shelf of some toy store in Taiwan. When I saw this cover, I simply had to find out what it sounded like, the ultimate purpose of album art in a nutshell. But nothing about this cover and the disc within can be summed up in a nutshell. This one requires the full nutsack.
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33
OPETH
The Last Will and Testament
Why We Like It
This cover has the foreboding aura of a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery. In a room packed with scions of a wealthy family as well as anyone else with a threadbare connection to the deceased, you can almost sense the jealous backstabbing and whispered suspicions of malfeasance about to ensue. How appropriate they are all shrouded in darkness, for cockroaches scurry when the lights are turned on. This eerie scene is brought to you by Swedish metal band Opeth, fine purveyors of death growl vocals since 1990.
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32
TROPICAL FUCK STORM
Inflatable Graveyard
Why We Like It
Objectively, a great album title, but that's not what we're here to judge so on to the cover. I love how the hands of the band's adoring fans are reaching out of a small space, presumably zombies emerging from a grave, trying to connect with the absolute mayhem that is Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm. A collage of frenetic stage antics are piled high and wide, only accentuating the mania the band brings onstage. The psychedelic yellow lettering circles the scene to complement the hysterics and the choice of pink background color, dubious in theory, works in practice. If you're going to contrast black & white with bold color, why not go all the way?
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31
GEORDIE GREEP
The New Sounds
Why We Like It
This dapper gentleman is clean cut in more ways than one. And all this for a single French kiss? Not worth it, to say the least. While the drawing does generate some questions, such as 'Why no blood at all on the knife?' 'Why no blood coming from his head?' and 'How could they have maintained the kiss with his decapitated head flying in mid-air?' the scene wasn't meant to make logical sense. Which tracks with pretty much everything this former member of Black Midi has ever created.
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30
CLASS
A Healthy Alternative
Why We Like It
You know it's a well-designed cover if it isn't doing much of anything and still attracts your attention. The design, font, coloring, and shading of Class, set against a rich, sky-blue background, just pops doesn't it? It has the feel of an old disco single from the 1970s, which might explain its retro appeal. It could also be used as a motivational poster in a high school hallway, touting the benefits of staying in school and attending classes all day with a healthy lunch break for energy ("Class...The Healthy Alternative!). Unlikely, but possible. In the end, it just goes to show you that simple isn't a bad way to go.
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29
WYTCH PYCKNYCK
Witch Pycknyck
Why We Like It
Not normally interested in black light posters and the like, this cover, created by Oakland trash-horror legend Skinner (just Skinner), is an exception. It’s clearly the only way to do justice to the monster sounds of Hastings, England’s fuzz-rock riff-crunchers, Wytch Pycknyck, a quartet of blokes with a demented sense of humor in addition to a thunderous guitar attack. Sign me up. Suffice it to say, Skinner left nothing out this time. He included some giant hands with eyeballs in their palms a la Pan’s Labyrinth. Add in a couple monsters fleeing from an axe-wielding psychopath on a chopper and a demon abducting a crazed woman with a barbed-wire baseball bat and a metal bra and you’ve got yourself an action packed, almost sarcastically colorful, debut album cover. For what more could you possibly ask?
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28
MORE EAZE & KAHO MATSUI
Computer and Recording Works for Girls
Why We Like It
Even if, like us, you don’t frequently walk the outside perimeter of the ambient pop universe, the cover of this album might draw you into that orbit for a while. One listen and I’m glad I did. Pretty cool minimalist compositions with electronics, real guitars, and other weirdness offer up a welcome respite from our usual wheelhouse. But I never would’ve made the trip if not for the intricate line drawing on the album’s cover that intrigued me upon first viewing. I love how busy it is, with each character fully drawn even if they should be, in theory, covered by one or more people, animals, instruments, or objects in front of them. At your discretion, you can follow the outline of any component in full. Granted, it can be difficult with so many lines intersecting, but the concept is fascinating, especially when executed in front of a clean white background.
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27
WUSSY
Cincinnati Ohio
Why We Like It
I’m a big fan of Jon Langford and not only because the Welsh musician has long been based in Chicago, home to Pickled Priest. While his musical credits are well known (Mekons, Waco Brothers, solo albums with Skull Orchard, and several other bands and projects), he’s known just as much for his artwork, which is often inspired by his legendary musical heroes like Joe Strummer, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams and many more. His work is often based on photos, but painted—often on wood canvases—to look like the product of the old American West. It makes sense, then, that he hooked up with Wussy, an American institution of sorts, for their new album, Cincinnati Ohio, because they seem like two peas in a pod, true believers living on the cult fringe of the music business and all the better for it. I love how the main blue and grey image of the band is laid on top of a red velvet backdrop, contrasting nicely, feeling like it is mounted to a wall in an old concert hall. It has a classic look and if any modern group deserves the Jon Langford treatment, it's Wussy.
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26
GRENDEL'S SŸSTER
Katabasis Into the Abaton Abstieg in die Traumkammer
Why We Like It
The beauty of the album cover list is that art is all that matters. So, a German prog-metal-folk band like Grendel's Sÿster can make the cut even if I'd never heard of them until a few months ago. The title of the band's new album means something like descending into a dream chamber, but that's all I've got. I stumbled onto this by accident, of course, but I was initially drawn in by the green and black color palette and, admittedly, the triumphant Mel Gibson-esque squirrel holding a bone over his head like he's fucking Braveheart! (Still clutching an acorn in the other hand, of course, as any self-respecting squirrel is a proud acornoholic.) Are we to believe he took down the giant animal on which he is standing? Or did he just discover it in passing and take credit for it? Doesn't matter. It's a cool visual. The cover looks like a screen or wood print, but I'm not sure. My dad used to make art like this and his looked similar.
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25
VELCROS
Strange News from the Vault
Why We Like It
It doesn’t matter where you live in the world, DIY garage bands will sprout up and release raw, noisy rock ‘n’ roll. Leipzig’s Velcros are proof that the desire to strip things back to their raw essence is hard-wired into some people, agnostic of location. As a byproduct of that aesthetic, it makes sense that that same back-to-basics mentality would extend to album covers, too. The two-color or (at most) three-color punk album cover, slapped-together quickly and then cranked out on a Kinko's copy machine, has been around for decades now. Budget and haste doesn’t mean there isn’t artistic value in that approach, of course. Witness the Velcros’ Strange News from the Vault which looks like a cut-and-paste job using images snipped from the back of a comic book, catalog, or high school textbook. One image for each song, it appears. That none of the images actually seem to correlate to the subject of its assigned song is beside the point. It’s just a cool concept, well-executed, and it never gets old. Oh, and extra credit for adding the run time of the album in the lower right corner. No garage punk album should be much longer than a half-hour on its best day.
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24
PAUL KELLY
Fever Longing Still
Why We Like It
Any time a modern album cover recalls the glory days of the late-50s to late-60s jazz era, Blue Note in particular, I’m all in. That the text perfectly hugs the houndstooth dress pictured (see song of same name on track list) is an added bonus. And it features out favorite color palette of orange, white, and black. Sold.
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23
ANNIE-CLAUDE DESCHÊNES
Les Manières de Table
Why We Like It
A French Canadian on Portland's Italians Do It Better record label? We'll buy it, especially when it has such a seductive cover like this textured black and white marvel. It makes you want to run your fingers all over it. And if you can stop staring at Annie's face you've got me beat. I haven't been this intrigued by a side-eye since Susanna Hoffs in the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" video back in 1986.
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22
SWAMI & THE BED OF NAILS
All of This Awaits You...
Why We Like It
This cover introduces a new concept in assessing the effectiveness of album art. Specifically, a cover that isn’t necessarily great art, great design, or even particularly well executed, but somehow still works nonetheless. Indulge me, if you will. The idea of a real live rock band, complete with matching satin ‘Rock N Roll’ jackets (Where can I get one? I want one right now!), setting off on a journey to an unknown destination is such a magical idea to me that it trumps any design reservations I may have in other areas (the title placement, the font, the muted colors, focus issues, etc.). To me, this is the rags to riches roulette wheel of the everyday rock band in a nutshell. The first step is doing it, becoming a real rock n roll band. After that, the sky is the limit. Of course, it could also last a couple futile weeks, too. But at least you get a cool jacket out of the deal.
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21
FINOM
Not God
Why We Like It
As proven by our unusually high ranking of A Hard Day’s Night on our Beatles album cover post, we do love album art that uses a ‘photo booth’ design approach, as demonstrated by Chicago’s Finom on their superbly-titled 2024 album, Not God. The four-shots-for-a-dollar (pricier now) shoot used here is one of the cheapest ways to design a cover. A few minutes of goofing off and you’re done. Tape the results onto a canvas, snap a photo, and you’ve got a workable cover. The girls in Finom, however, did some advance preparation, crafting large letters to hold up that spell out the band’s name (or more likely, white cards with the red letters added in post). A clever touch. Thankfully, we still get three pics of the band in the bargain so we don’t lose the spontaneity implicit in the typical drunken photo booth session. Without those, it wouldn’t be as effective. But then something goes wrong, intentionally of course, when during the production of the cover a chunk of hair gets dropped into the photo shoot. It looks like something went terribly wrong, but instead gives a cool effect to the entire design. This wasn't meant to be perfect, as the Not God title confirms. Also not unnoticed is the album title in the same font and color as the band letters. In design, even the smallest details count for something.
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20
JOHN GRANT
The Art of the Lie
Why We Like It
There is no better time to release an album titled The Art of the Lie than in an election year. Correction, in this election year, where lies were repeated so frequently they became facts—at least for some. In fact, you could argue there was no artfulness to those lies at all. That would be way too big of a compliment. It would imply a level of sophisticated deception by an intelligent source and we all know that just wasn’t the case this time. Heavy sigh. Nonetheless, here we find that title in glowing neon on a giant sign perched amusingly on a small unkempt building, possibly a donut shop or a seasonal ice cream stand. Has this place been inspected by a civil engineer? I hope so, because we’ve got a bit of a weight distribution issue on our hands. Perhaps the message isn’t complex at all. Everyone is putting each other on these days to some degree, be it face-to-face, during a political rally, or on social media. And oftentimes, the bigger the lie the less truth there is behind it. So we orchestrate the big lie even though there’s no support to hold it up. The good news for the liar? As long as you tell people what they want to hear, they’ll settle for a donut or sundae later and still call it a win. All this from one album cover, eh? It must be good then!
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19
LOMA
How Will I Live Without a Body?
Why We Like It
My main love affair with this cover is the judicious use of canvas. The entire available area is used, but much of it remains a plain French vanilla, set off by a meandering green vine sprouting some strange flowers. If you’re into a little quirk, this pattern would look great on a couch in your living room or wallpaper in your guest bathroom. It’s just visually appealing. Only when taken in context of the album title, however, does a little creepiness enter the equation. Soon a little Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe pops into my head and nothing seems as innocent as it was before. Which doesn’t mean I’m not lining my kitchen cabinets with it still, in fact it only increases the likelihood I will do just that.
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18
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Future Sounds of Kraut Vol. II
Why We Like It
At least it’s the future sounds of Kraut and not the future smells of Kraut. Two very different things. Here we speak of mainly electronic music (Krautrock works, kosmische only if you want to sound like a snobby critic) and not of sauerkraut, which I was traumatized by as a young child of a German immigrant. Well, it’s good to see the crazy Krauts (what we called my mom) aren’t settling for lukewarm approximations of Kraftwerk and Neu! and are actually pushing things forward on this compilation album. The only question is how best to visually characterize this development. I'd say this is a pretty strong attempt, putting a female face out front of some complicated electronic equipment in need of hooking up. Considering most influential artists in the genre were men, encouraging news. In this age of AI, seeing some old-school equipment makes me feel that the future of Kraut is alive and well and in good hands, providing inspiration for the progenitors of its next incarnation.
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17
ALAN VEGA
Insurrection
Why We Like It
Vega, still dead, passed away in 2016. Not a suicide (died in his sleep at 78, ironically), but his fame is the result of co-founding the group Suicide with Martin Rev way back in the early-70s. Insurrection is an album compiled from solo recordings he did from 1997 to 1998. Saying they’re dark in theme seems redundant, but this close-up action shot shows the man, the myth onstage in all his intense, doom and gloom glory. Rarely does a single snapshot of an artist make this list, but here’s an exception. Here, in classy attire—jacket, dress shirt fully cufflinked—we find Vega digging deep, so wrapped up in his own world he’s cracked his cigarette in half while white-knuckling his microphone with the other hand. This is a pretty great shot and a fitting way to remember him.
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16
PISSED JEANS
Half Divorced
Why We Like It
Artist Kento Iida's amazing creations (a few included below) all seem perfect for use as album covers and his contribution to Pissed Jeans' Half Divorced is a great example in support. His art is crisp, clear, and colorful and transfer perfectly to the relatively small canvas that is the vinyl album cover. His scenes are beautiful and rich, but there's usually a "double-take" element where something has gone wrong, will go wrong, or just doesn't make sense. A perfect fit for this heavy band with a biting sense of humor.
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15
HIGH VIS
Guided Tour
Why We Like It
A good cover doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes the right photo, the right color, and the right composition can add up to greater than the sum of its parts. Here's a good example. Color blocking can work on an album cover, especially when that color is orange and the lettering black. It always works. Contrast that with a superb black and white photo and the composition totally comes together. For a band named High Vis, the photo used here is a slice of everyday life in London that many would never see, Low Vis if you will, somewhere out by a council house where most eyes never go. A small slice of real life.
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14
ANNA TIVEL
Living Thing
Why We Like It
I have been searching for the words to explain my deep attraction to this cover, then I read a post from Anna herself praising the artist, her friend Heather Layton. This sums up my feelings better than anything I could write myself [taken from a longer post]:
The cover of Living Thing was painted by my dear friend Heather Layton. I can’t find the words to express how much it means to me to have her work on the front of this new album. I’ll try my best here. Heather is one of the most profound artists I’ve ever met, a seeker of color and story, humanity and connection. Her work is rooted in empathy, justice, creative optimism, and visionary kindness. She’s an ardent listener, a brilliant teacher, an open-hearted traveler, a deep and loving observer and reflector of the world. Whenever I start to lose the thread in my own work, start to doubt the purpose and meaning of making and sharing art, I always look to see what Heather is up to and everything real is illuminated again. Just to know she’s out there listening to the way the world moves, trying to capture the best of the human heart with honesty and bright future vision, it means everything. It makes me want to do better, to love harder, to make art that reaches toward people in all our communal mess, pain, and beauty. True gratitude to Heather for the use of this gold plated painting of the human embrace.
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13
GUIDED BY VOICES
Strut of Kings
Why We Like It
The fact Robert Pollard has released 41 Guided By Voices albums is in itself a staggering (or stupid) accomplishment. And I won't even mention the countless other releases and side projects. That he is also responsible for the vast majority of the affiliated artwork is equally amazing. How can he keep up? In general, most GBV covers are perfectly fine if a little predictable with Pollard defaulting to variations on his default collage design aesthetic for most. Only one GBV cover has made one of my year-end lists and that was Mirrored Aztec from 2020, which he didn't even design (done by artist Courtney Latta). Well, the drought ends with Strut of Kings, easily the most striking piece Pollard has ever created. It's a work of art, successful mainly because of the contrast between the black and white scene with the green Earth hovering like a halo around the heads of the woman and child. Visually, it's stunning, but it also makes you wonder what it all means. In Pollard's future are we all living on a different planet? I wouldn't doubt it.
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12
THE JESUS LIZARD
Rack
Why We Like It
Another fabulous painting by go-to Jesus Lizard artist, Malcom Bucknall, this one titled The Witch and Her Apprentice. There's no doubting that band and artist are a match made in heaven. Malcom has been behind several Lizard classics including Down, Liar, and their iconic split-single with Nirvana. Another creepy image this time, especially the fact the "witch" is a little girl and her apprentice (with floating goat no less) is even younger. Wicked indeed, but undeniably attention grabbing.
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11
WENDY EISENBERG
Viewfinder
Why We Like It
A photo of a Kodak contact sheet bursting with colors may seem an odd choice, but I am drawn to it, craving a copy in vinyl format. A study in colors, each one gaining impact by being surrounded by the others. It turns out it was inspired by Wendy's need for eye surgery, which got her thinking about perception and sight. It makes sense then that each image, from one shoot presumabl,y is wholly different than any other yet taken together seem completely of a cohesive vision. Cool stuff.
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10
JULIE
My Anti-Aircraft Friend
Why We Like It
Julie is a band. Julie is an art collective. They are from LA. It's not a surprise then that they created the artwork for their new record, but the real surprise is that is looks like it was done in a particularly boring study hall using whatever resources were available at the time. Hence, you get a folder sheet of paper (the back of a test?) complete with creases and blemishes and a drawing that's mostly done in #2 pencil with a few colored pencil accents tossed in (possibly found hiding in the bottom of a backpack). The image makes you feel sound without hearing it. The girl is cranking out some riffs, but all you see is some cacophony bursting out from the amp behind her. It definitely tracks with the sound of the band and it made me instantly want to hear the actual music housed inside. As we always say, that's the purpose of album covers.
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09
CASSANDRA JENKINS
My Light, My Destroyer
Why We Like It
With any Cassandra Jenkins album you're going to get some high concept in the bargain. This time, she's dealing with a cognitive shift that alters one's appreciation and perception of beauty. Not surprising coming from the same artist who gave us An Overview of Phenomenal Nature just three years ago. Whatever her new record means to her, it will surely mean something completely different to each listener. On the cover of her new My Light, My Destroyer album she appears to be pulling at the fabric of the Earth to see what's under it, almost like she found the end of a giant Earth-sized rug. Even here, she's toying with perception, her main artistic purpose to date.
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08
NALA SINEPHRO
Endlessness
Why We Like It
Painted by brilliant Parisian artist Daniela Yohannes and designed by Maziyar Pahlevan, Nala Sinephro's Endlessness is the perfect cover to complement the electronic jazz music housed within its sleeve. It's use of space (the astronaut helmet, the spacesuit) implies an endless expanse and the use of looping cursive letters also gives off the feel of the never-ending. I love how the letters circle like a ring around a celestial body. I've included a few more of Daniela's works below, one of which is clearly the source of the image included here. Far out stuff.
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07
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC FT. GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, MUSIC DIRECTOR
Gabriela Ortiz: Revelución Diamantina
Why We Like It
When it comes to album art, no genre is left behind here at Pickled Priest. This cover of an album celebrating the compositions of Gabriela Ortiz by the L.A. Philharmonic (with celebrity music director Gustavo Dudamel at the helm) didn't have to be titled Revolución for us to get the message, with multiple fists being raised to the skies and all, but the powerful images combine with a stunning color palette to make this one of those covers that might make you want to expand your horizons a bit. I know it did for me.
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06
PSYCHEDEREK
Alt!
Why We Like It
This discovery courtesy of Ban Ban Ton Ton, a favorite music site of ours run out of Japan. The records they cover frequently have cool album art, which has to be a coincidence, I'd assume. Perhaps they reverse engineer the process. Nonetheless, their interests span the globe, this one from Manchester, which is dreamspace psyche (hence the band name) and you don't need to know what that amounts to musically unless you're curious. The cover is certainly doing its part to grab your attention, though. Alt! means "Old!" in German, so that would explain the Krautrock feel of the title track as well as the perseveration of one word multiple times on the cover. Very fitting. It's a cool 3D visual with colors that pop and enough mystery to intrigue. No, I don't know what the red graphics represent, which doesn't make them less cool.
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05
FAKE FRUIT
Mucho Mistrust
Why We Like It
One of the reasons I spend so much time on album art is because it often leads me down the rabbit hole toward a new artist I didn't know about previously. Nada Hayek is the talented artist behind Fake Fruit's fabulous new cover for Mucho Mistrust, which hearkens back to the golden age of animation where animal hijinks were the order of the day. Based on some of her other work (shown below) this isn't going to be her last appearance on an album cover. Her work frequently takes an unexpected, sometimes startling turn to the dark side, which is right up our alley!
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04
VARIOUS ARTISTS SELECTED BY LEA LISA
Many Shades of House
Why We Like It
Also in play on our best album art list...compilations. Nothing is off limits. I love the simplicity of this cover for a comp of house music rarities custom made by DJ Lea Lisa, of whom I've never heard prior. No matter, the clean black lines showing multiple POVs of the tools of the DJ trade, sometimes in active use, sometimes not, is just plain appealing to the eye. A lot to see and appreciate in a small space.
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03
RICHARD THOMPSON
Ship to Shore
Why We Like It
Rarely have I seen a cover with colors that pop as vibrantly as those included here for Richard Thompson's Ship to Shore album. The image was "created" by graphic artist Michael "Mick" Dicken from England and if there's an album you need to have on vinyl to appreciate its art, make it this one. No smaller format will do. Orange is our color around the Pickled Priest offices and when one of our favorite artists shows up in a orange jacket and skull cap and a bit of an orangy sky (shoutout to the Cars' "Bye Bye Love"!), we're all in. But obviously the attraction is more than just colors. It's a fabulous portrait of one of the finest musicians of the last half-century plus. This is one of those covers that will stand out in any crowded record bin.
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02
WUNDERHORSE
Midas
Why We Like It
What a difference a year makes. The same design firm that created our #5 worst album cover in 2023 (Grian Chatten's Chaos for the Fly) is now responsible for our #2 favorite selection in 2024! Nice recovery! Granted, art is highly subjective so perhaps others know better than us. What we do know is that there's nothing more effective and impactful than a perfectly timed and composed photograph, this one taken by London "guerrilla filmmaker and photographer" Polocho (just Polocho). The perspective, with only the bird in focus and flying directly at the photographer (an attack perhaps?), is original, leaving the viewer to piece together the circumstances on their own. Yes, it's just a photo, but I've been staring it down all year, taken in by this small moment frozen in time.
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01
LADY BLACKBIRD
Slang Spirituals
Why We Like It
For the first time ever, one artist is responsible for our favorite record of the year, our favorite song of the year, and now our favorite album cover of the year. 2024 was the year of Lady Blackbird in the Pickled Priest offices, but sadly in few places elsewhere. She clearly did everything humanly possible to break her music this year, including luring new listeners with this magnificent album cover, which is almost as fascinating as Lady Blackbird herself. Set in gorgeous black, grey, and white, this collage is part sketch, part schematic, part architecture, part photograph, part graphic design, part sculpture, and part a few other things, but collectively it's a piece of fine art. I'm even getting a whiff of Leonardo Da Vinci, for heaven's sake! This is one of those rare album covers where you'll need to break out the house magnifying glass to investigate its many hidden treasures. I particularly like the small victrola, bottom left, with Lady's dog, Sir Reginald, wearing the speaker cone like he just got back from the vet's office. Other curios await you with a little effort—some pertain to songs on the album, some don't—but I do love the challenge of finding them while listening.
As far as credit for the artwork goes, things get a bit murky. In an Instagram post, LB credits the album cover to artist/musician Kinski Gallo, but strangely there's no mention of him in the album's credits; instead, the cover credit is given to three people: Hiro Krommo (cover), Christine Schwan (photo), and Giulla Villa (artwork). Perhaps there are some aliases being used? Has she misspoken? Is the album incorrect? Are both correct?Not sure, but whoever gets the credit, take a bow. It's a perfect image for such a complicated, multi-dimensional artist and especially an album as masterful as Slang Spirituals.
...And a Dozen of the Worst
There are a ton of ludicrous album covers out there that we all could've had some real yuks and grins shitting on, many by artists most have never even heard of before. That said, our definition of a Worst Album Cover is when an artist who should know better lets out a real shit sandwich and expects everyone to call it genius. Those are the ones that really deserve a harsh rebuke. A dozen examples follow.
12
DEHD
POETRY
We love this band, but three minutes on a purple Etch-a-Sketch? We call bullshit.
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11
FONTAINES D.C.
Romance
Dollar Store Valentine's Day present gone horribly wrong? Crocodile tear justified.
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10
BRIGHT EYES
Five Dice, All Threes
Why We Dislike It
I knew buying Conor Oberst Yahtzee for his birthday would backfire somehow.
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09
SIDESHOW
F.U.N. T.O.Y.
Why We Dislike It
I don't mind four fingers on one hand and nine on the other, especially if you're in the carnival sideshow business or doing a complicated math problem, but adding a second T to BIGGEST is more than I'm willing to allow.
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08
CONFIDENCE MAN
3AM (La La La)
Why We Dislike It
Blah blah blah at any hour. Instead of using this cover, where every inch of it is forced and stupid, particularly the smoking badger (how clever!), they could've just used the limited edition alternate cover below and got themselves off this list entirely.
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07
ILLUMINATI HOTTIES
Power
Why We Dislike It
Taken directly from a JCPenney 'Back to School' catalog?
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06
SABRINA CARPENTER
Short n' Sweet
Why We Dislike It
Yes, she's cute, but this looks like an ad for her OnlyFans site.
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05
MAGDALENA BAY
Imaginal Disk
Why We Dislike It
CDs are back! I knew it was only a matter of time! Wait, do I have to have a slot cut into my forehead by Elphaba and a laser installed in my frontal lobe? Maybe streaming ain't so bad after all.
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04
LAVA LA RUE
Starface
Why We Dislike It
I sure hope Paul Stanley is getting royalties from this one.
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03
GARFUNKEL & GARFUNKEL
Father and Son
Why We Dislike It
I'm all for album art, but album Arts? No thanks. It looks like someone is about to drop a Mrs. Wagner's Pie on the table any second here. Their excitement is palpable. And what's that purpose of that duck in the cabinet? Maybe he can use his beak to pluck that upside-down vagina goatee out of Art Jr.'s chin.
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02
KATY PERRY
143
Why We Dislike It
Normally Katy putting them on the glass wouldn't qualify for the worst album cover list, but the entire delusional staff at Perry, Inc. should've been fired for her lame output this year. And that starts at the top and goes all the way down to the design department or whoever concocted this pink and blue strip club vortex from outer space.
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01
ERIC CLAPTON
Meanwhile
Why We Dislike It
I've never wanted to bitch slap a bitter old man in a diner more than I do right now.
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STILL DECIDING...
I can make a case both ways, really. It all depends on the person saying "Fuck No."
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OUTRO:
MOTORPSYCHO
Neigh!!
One more for the road. Enjoy the upcoming celebration of the birth of Santa!
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Well that about covers it. See you in a week for our final post of 2024.
Cheers,
The Priest