Glue Eater

Looking through my email, I came across my monthly newsletter from Matador Records and this interesting item about the upcoming Stephen Malkmus album. So, I repost it here for your viewing information and generally to spread the "fuck you's" to Paste Magazine.

Read on . . .



As we count down the days until the release of
SM's ridiculously great 3rd album, 'Face The
Truth', we call your attention to the following free
instore performance:

Seattle
May 24th at 7PM
Sonic Boom Ballard
2209 NW Market St.

You can hear Stephen performing live on KEXP
(http://www.kexp.org) at noon (PDT) on May 24.

Download the new Stephen Malkmus e-card and do
with it as you will:

http:/www.matadorrecords.com/stephen_malkmus/face_e_card/index.html

Finally, we'd like to offer a shout-out (ie.
"fuck you") to the cowards and thought-cops at the Ad
Dept at Paste Magazine who have deemed our
proposed advertisement for 'Face The Truth' to be
beyond the bounds of "good taste." God forbid that
anything might challenge the sensibilities of
Paste's Yep Roc-loving, Starbucks-guzzling, Wes
Anderson-worshipping readership. Seriously, if there's
anything we or SM have done that is a poor fit
with Paste's Ad Dept's narrow worldview, that is
the highest compliment we've been paid since the
last time Spin refused to run one of our ads.

The ad in question can be viewed here:

http://www.matadorrecords.com/images/news/sm_paste_ad.jpg

Commie muthafuckas!

Album Cover - Big Breakthrough Imminent!

The album cover for the new EP "Shrimp Has a Death Wish" by Six Star General is below. Click on the title above for a link to their site. They play Tinker's Nest in Warren, RI this Saturday. Fun-for-all . . .

The band wanted the logo on the EP - because of the shape of the logo and the standard size of cd cases, I had to work around a lot of blank space. Using the ep title and the band name seemed to be the way to fill the space, but if they were too big, they would have been competing w/ the logo. Enter the compass-y design. Not overly thrilled with the front, but I am pretty happy with the inside info insert - I think using the lightning star was a good tie-in to the cover, but didn't make it too overused. I always loved the RKO Radio-Pictures logo that played before King Kong and bunch of other classic horror movies, so I swiped it for the insert. Simple fonts kept it from looking like they were FONTS. I hope. Anyway, about a week's worth of work, not counting the logo design that was done months ago and just touched up recently. I think it still needs one more thing touched, but I'll get to that later.

posted by jax

Design Meltdown

working hard on a handful of projects, so short post tonight - FX's The Shield has been as good if not better than any of the last three seasons. If you're not watching Macky and Shane, you should be, scumbag.

24 also better this season than last, but there just seems to be something bigger around every corner. I miss the idea from Season One where there was a single threat and Jack had one day to stop it. Now there's a new threat each hour and its just a juggling match to see how he can leap to the next hurdle. Still intense though and better written than 99% of the dreck on the rest of the major networks.

Finally, if you aren't aware or already reading them, head over to www.hardcasecrime.com -- a new mini-publisher specializing in crime fiction with a pulp slant. Featuring new writers, some of the biggest names in fiction (like Donald Westlake, Robert Bloch and Stephen King), and reprinting long out-of-print classics, this is the publisher everyone should have in their radar. Personal favorite so far: Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie - the best thing to come out of Scotland since Sean Connery.

Over and out.

Logo Time

So here's the latest logo for my bro's band - remixed, cleaned up and improved for the future.

posted by jax

Here's a little sampling of some of that Bama/Bantam magic . . .

posted by jax

Man of Bronze v. Hordes of Diabolical Midgets!!

For a few years now I have been tracking down and collecting the somewhat rare and mostly pretty cheap 1960s paperback re-issues of the classic Doc Savage pulps from the 30s. Re-presented in pocket-sized paperback novel form wrapped in the gorgeous art of James Bama, these are the ultimate in action-adventure tough guy pulp fiction. This past week, at one of Providence's best kept secrets -- Cellar Stories -- I found a new batch of these tough-to-find gems in absolutely minty condition.

Sure, The Shadow is more popular and more well known than Doc Savage. And, right, you're thinking Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow showed you enough of those silly "pulps" to last a bitter lifetime. But the Savage novels are the real deal my friend. And just to tantalize you with a taste of the freaky uber-action that happens in every one of the 161 novels:

The Menace of the Deadly Dwarf: Cadwiller Olden was only three feet tall, but he was the most dangerous man on Earth. With his legion of brutal giants, and control of REPEL -- a massive, devastating energy force -- the murderous midget began an all-out assault against the defenseless bastions of the free nations. As the entire world huddles in fear, DOC SAVAGE battles against the bizarre doll criminal, and the unleashed fury of his deadly tool of destruction, REPEL!

That's from the cover description to "The Deadly Dwarf", number 28 in the series. With a lead-in like that, and other titles like: The Gold Ogre, The Thousand-Headed Man, The Spook Legion, and The Evil Gnome, how can you resist?

You can't, my friend.

You surely can't.

Click the title at the top of this post for a link to the best Doc Savage resource on the web.

Another 45 minutes work, and . . .

we're done . . .

. . .and the final product, signed sealed and delivered.

posted by jax

Current Project 1 of 4!!!!

I'll put something up from the others in a day or so when I get them more in line. read on . . .


. . . also, check out http://www.super7magazine.com/ - they have a killer magazine (new issue out now) and I have been haunting the site a lot more lately. It's not just about Japanese toys, but great art, music and more. Go now, Gaijin!

here's a project that should be complete in the next day or so. All original art, by hand with photoshop. The inspiration was a Wheaties cereal box. This is for my brother's band, a fundraiser they are playing for a local pub's softball team. Just need to figure out the layout of the rest of the text . . .

posted by jax

The Fountain

click the link for instant transport to another article about Darren Aronofsky's upcoming flick "The Fountain." This movie just sounds sick and this article was written by a guy who had an exclusive set visit. I have been reading a lot about this movie and I can't wait for it to come out.

If you haven't seen Pi or Requim for a Dream go rent them NOW!

Anyway, I haven't even read this article yet, but now that I am linked to it, I will be able to come back to it later.

Night-night. . .

Hate!

Click on the word "hate" above for a link to a nice little interview with Peter Bagge, creator of the indy comic Hate - then, continue through the interviews section of Suicide Girls for an interview with director Darren Aronofsky (Requirum for a Dream) - his new flick The Fountain sounds like it is going to be superfantastic. That is all.
GO!

Boxcar Graveyard

this is a little work-in-progress, I'm not sure for what yet. I have a few things in the works and now that I have Photoshop and Illo back up and running, I am going to try and get on these projects a little more. Also, I think a biggish announcement in about a week or two. Stay tuned . . .

posted by jax