Forgot to mention Tunnidge's solo exhibition show presented by LAVA Collective, most definitely my bad. The London Audio Visual Art collective have been putting on massive shows and have featured the works of Obey, Faile, Swoon as well as S • W • C favourite, Ashes57. They also throw massive after parties and have bought in the likes of Loefah, Mala, Jehst, Kryptic Minds and others for the dance.
Tunnidge, the killer dubstep producer and dj is also behind all of the portraits of the Deep Medi family on their record sleeves and his first ever exhibition is aptly titled 'One For The Heads'. Unfortunately the show ends on 02/03/11 but you can find more information over at LAVA COLLECTIVE. Ashes57 has also documented the night in her usual inimitable style and you can find all pictures of the launch night and exhibition on her FLICKR.

Following on with the Skull Disco theme, we at S • W • C have always held their sleeves with high admiration and with a supreme fresh rating. The label owned by Appleblim and Shackleton during 2005 to 2008 had its iconic artwork provided by the artist Zeke Clough. While it is not uncommon to see an artist assigned to an entire dubstep label's artwork, Clough has produced incomparable hand drawn illustrations throughout the back catalogue and visually translated exactly what the music sounded like. The rhythmic tribal percussion, dark rattling subs and hypnotic samples and melodies are matched by intricate black and white line drawings of mystical voodoo, ancient rituals and Egyptian imagery together with a heavy metal style. Post-Skull Disco, Zeke Clough is working with Sam Shackleton on his new label Woe To The Septic Heart as well as his own comic zine series Proto Murk. Piccadilly Records describes it as "deeply visceral and effluvial, disgusted and apocalyptic, brilliant and funny." Sounds about right.
Check out the rest of his work at www.zekeclough.com

Obsessed with record sleeves, i set myself the mission to find out where the fresh sleeves for all the Hemlock Recordings releases come from. Turns out label owner Untold used to be a graphic designer and the co-owner also is a print and exhibition designer. The design is a modified Renaissance wallpaper pattern. Mystery solved.

Kode9 and The Spaceape - Time Patrol

Dark video from Hyperdub.

GIVE UP ART

Give Up Art is a super sick studio based in London run by designer Stuart Hammersley and frequently partnered by photographer Shaun Bloodworth. These collaborators have been behind the mighty designs for the record labels Tempa and Apple Pips as well as the unmistakable Rinse FM and FWD>> visual identities. Between them you can find their work on the iconic posters, CDs, vinyl sleeves and photo albums surrounding the UK Dubstep scene. They formed their studio in 2006 and have had over 25 years of experience, both well known within the industry.



Like Ashes57, Bloodworth has an eye for capturing people in the moment, with atmospheric tones that fit the producers and DJs' personality perfectly. Design-wise, Hammersley has a minimalistic approach that is instantly recognisable with a sharp use of colour and fresh typography.



Recently, they have collaborated with Bleep.com to produce a transatlantic limited edition art-music project called North/South/East/West showcasing what the ever changing bass culture has to offer. Featured are selected labels, artists and club nights from the North and South regions of the UK and the USA's East and West coasts. Artists range from Hudson Mohawk and Rustie to Geeneus and Skream as well as the US's FaltyDL, Flying Lotus and Daedelus. Beautiful.



From Give Up Art-

'500 hand-numbered editions were produced comprising of a custom wallet printed in fluorescent and metallic inks on pale green stock, containing A5 portrait prints of the featured artists, plus a 12 track CD (with 9 exclusive tracks). Plus a further edition, limited to only 100 copies, this time printed onto grey stock. Comprising again of the portrait prints and CD, with the addition of an A2 poster, featuring previously unseen portraits and extra shots from the project.'




Sounds and looks tasty!

Check out the rest of their work at www.giveupart.com and www.shaunbloodworth.com

ESKMO

San Francisco based electronic music producer Eskmo has been making waves this year and has recently released the video to 'We Got More'. Eskmo's tunes are unusual taking elements from electronic hip hop and dubstep to breakbeat, with none of his style sticking to the same generic sounds . He's had releases on the massive labels, Warp, Planet Mu and has now signed to the highly respected Ninja Tune Records. With his new release, you can expect to find the trademark choppy melody and live instrumental noises similar to his 'Spor- Knock You Down remix'.
Nice track aside, the video directed by Cyriak Harris is pretty sick. It's got a trippy Inception vibe crossed with choppy edits that works with the music.. like a dream, within a dream, within a..



Good to see an actual music video that pushes the more experimental elements, hopefully creative videos will reflect the super back to the future forward thinking scene that's kicking off now.

The director's website says "Hello, I am Cyriak from 100 years into the future, where I have been exhumed and sent backwards in time via cyberspace in order to welcome you to the unabridged contents of my brain-damaged imagination." He's based near Brighton and his illustrations are sick.
Go check his work HERE

You can listen to other Eskmo tracks HERE

Alien Vs Predator most definitely sucked out, but Alien Vs Tron? BIG.

The Message Manchester // Ashes57 18/11/2010



Illustrator, designer, photographer and nice person extraordinaire Ashes57 is exhibiting her work this thursday in Manchester at The Art Corner (above Trof's, Fallowfield). Fans of DMZ might have seen her cruising behind the decks and lurking around the dance taking only the sickest photos. She's produced illustrations for Loefah's Swamp 81 label- noticeably for Kryptic Minds' One Of Us/ Six Degrees release as well as all the flyers for the hugely influential badass night Dub War in New York. She's worked with heavyweight artist Obey and drawn for record sleeves to murals, taken photos of everyone from Madlib and RZA to DMZ and Cope2, and still remains super humble- easily killing it as one of my favourite artists within the scene.
The hosts Lava Collective are bringing UK Hip Hop artist Jehst to supply some beats on the opening exhibition party as well as Manchester's Format residents, Braille- it's free so come down and get cultured! All photographs, posters and original prints are up for sale too- check out her work HERE.
You can find all other details on the Facebook event page HERE.

EROSIE



Was looking through the collection the other day and found the sleeve for Martyn's 'Velvet' and 'Twenty Four' release. Other than remembering how big the tunes are, i found out that the sleeve was by Erosie- an old school graf-turned-street art badman artist and it turns out he does all the graphic design and illustrations for his and Martyn's label, 3024. (Altered Natives- The Bitch / Crop Duster above)
Always impressed when tracks add some colour to the box and even tell you a bit about the track and artists- Burial & Four Tet's pure matt black cover and even Reso's hypey multicoloured Optimus Prime artwork gives you a little insight so i've got massive respect for all things fresh in record sleeves. And Erosie's sexy 80's colour blends with abstract and contemporary, super odd drawings fit perfectly with the wax.

You can have a cheeky look at the rest of his sleeves for 3024 and other tasty artwork HERE.

Skatebook - Book 3: The Lance Mountain Edition




















This book features photographs from Lance Mountain, Tobin Yelland, Shiego and many more and portrays skateboarders and skate spots from the last few years, with particular focus on early 90's San Francisco. As well as providing an awesome coffee table book, this is a great opportunity to check out some of skateboarding's best photography and learn some history about one of the greatest truck companies of all time - Independent.

Available at all good book stores.