Olympia bands Letters (who we’ve covered several times before) and Poppet have released a new split cassette tape, and they sent me a copy to enjoy. Being that I don’t get too many cassettes, I figured it was time again for a Cover Art piece. (more…)

On Friday, I received a nice little package in the mail by Funny/Not Funny Records containing three 7-inch singles. As it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a Cover Art piece, and with our nice new bamboo floor, I figured now was the time to reinstate that section on FensePost. All three are super limited pressings of 300 each. (more…)

Any music nerd that enjoys the physical release is likely to favor limited print items. Case in point: me. I love ‘em! Can’t get enough of ‘em. A limited release means it will ultimately go out of print, and that OOP association is something nerds like me freak out about. Take, for example, yesterday; someone gave up some old early 90’s K and Sub Pop 7″ singles to Sonic Boom in Ballard (a Seattle neighborhood, for those of you who aren’t familiar with The Emerald City). I picked up OOP singles by Seaweed and a super rare early single by Beck. (more…)

Edible Onion always provides the most unique cover art, be it on CD or vinyl. One of their latest is from a band called Snow Caps, the release: Moonbreak. Snow Caps creates light, playful bedroom folk-pop. The band is Andrew Keller of Hermit Thrushes, and Moonbreak is the result of more than two years of recording by Keller, spanning several rooms in a Philadelphia home. The album flickers between full folk-pop songs and instrumental ones. It is intricate, beautiful, a little odd at times, but always unique — just what you’d expect from album art like this. (more…)

Banned Books, I don’t really know what to think of you. There are times where I get your music, like with “Summer Death Camp”. I can totally rock to that. But others like “Wilderness Area” are a bit out there for even an eclectic palate such as mine. Still, for the most part, I’m totally down with Mission Creep. “Anti-Anthem” is superb, and I definitely dig “The Alarm” and “Mission Creep”. The same holds true for “Black Knot Of Plum Or Cherry”. I can also dig the visual elements. (more…)

Was the last *new* Cover Art really from the holiday season? Boy does time fly. Well, I received this nice slab of vinyl in the mail the other day and I couldn’t help it. The camera came out and that led to this: the first Cover Art piece we’ve done in more than six months. The band is Charles The Osprey and the album is their latest, Consider, out now on Friction Records. And on green vinyl at that! (more…)

Another Cover Art piece transferred over from that site, this time covering three out of print singles by one of the greatest Australian bands to ever exist — The Lucksmiths. The band may no longer be together, but their music stands just as strong as it did one the day it was released, be it from their humble beginnings in the early 1990s to their final release just a year or so ago. Here’s the original post: (more…)

Last week I featured Air Waves’ song “Keys” in the third installment of the FensePost Podcast and I made reference to this post. You see, a while back I created a little page called Cover Art and I did it outside of FensePost. Ultimately this site is the one that dominates my time, and I found it more cumbersome than anything else to update two music blogs on a regular basis. So I combined them and began transferring a few of the posts over. I didn’t realize that this one had not yet made the transition, as it’s been a solid six months since the last. Here’s the original post.

Air Waves‘ style of sunny California surf beach pop is fit for the creation of authentic packaging. Their acoustic sounds fit well with the fancy recycled paper, used as a 7″ single-worthy folded slip encasement. Add to that the simplicity of the CD itself, and brilliance ensues. It’s an indication of true creativity and modern indie affluence; to produce outstanding work in multiple formats. Air Waves is a prime example of why I started Cover Art.

That being said, I have two brand new Cover Art posts ready to go live and they will in the coming weeks. These will be the first new posts in at least six months, and I’m excited to revitalize this once dormant category. Hope you enjoy!

Download: “Keys” by Air Waves

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On a recent drive to Seattle from my new hometown of Mount Vernon, I picked up my iPod Touch and changed the song to Royal City’s “Bad Luck”, putting it on a one-song repeat. The song clocks 3:04 and is only the palest shade less impressive than album opener “Here Comes Success”. Both songs are absolutely stunning, blending a gritty folk-rock with freak-folk and noise. (more…)

“Mykonos” was the most noteworthy song off Fleet Foxes‘ debut Sub Pop EP Sun Giant, and now they give it the single-worthy nod of recognition it deserved at the time by releasing it on 7-inch vinyl. (more…)