Moldover Album Cover is Also a Theremin

I found this amazing little oddity referenced at The Walrus. It’s a CD cover for an album by Moldover which is–I am certain–the first of its kind. The artwork is actually a circuit board that is a working theremin. No cheesy toy, this–there is an explanation video showing the theremin/CD art at work and it sounds FANTASTIC. I am stunned by how great this is–a great marketing gimmick that is also a no BS musical instrument. Both retro and future at the same time, this wins hands down as the coolest thing I’ve seen all year in terms of indie music innovation.

WTF: Porter Wagoner’s The Bottom of the Bottle

Porter Wagoner may have been one of the legends of country music, but the dudes who approved the artwork for his records were clearly smoking Jimson weed for this one. Just WTF is going on with this picture, anyway?

Wagoner looks like he’s contemplating drinking this rotgut in spite of the fact that there’s a little man inside. “Hey Porter, over here! Look, you don’t wanna drink this. I just wee’d inside this bottle and it smells like a homeless shelter. Fer chrissakes, Porter…DON’T DRINK MEEEEEEEEE!”

The expression on Porter Wagoner’s face is priceless. It’s a cross between “Goddamn, I really want to tie one on here,” and “I wonder if free will is an artificial construct of the human mind or if it’s a crucial part of what makes our all-too-brief existence what it is?”

Or perhaps it’s kidney stones.

WTF: From Jesus to Satan

“Gladys, get me King Diamond on the phone.”

“Heyyyyy! King baby, it’s Mel down at the record company. Listen, baby, we didn’t sell enough copies of that last record you did and we need a favor. Holiday albums ALWAYS bring in a few bucks, so why don’t you come on down and give us something for Christmas, what d’ya say Kingie old sweetheart?”

“Whaddya MEAN you don’t celebrate CHRISTMAS? King, baby, I know how you feel, I’m JEWISH for cryin’ out loud. You think I wanna have anything to do with this goyim crap? Now come on, we all want a nice holiday bonus this year, right baby? Get your sweet self down here and take a nice picture for the album cover, ok? Yeah, yeah, yeah, hail Satan–I don’t care what you do at home, Kingie. Just come on over and let’s both make bank this year.”

“Thanks King, you’re beautiful, baby!”

The Vixens of Vinyl

I love vintage album covers. My favorites include any of the misguidedly cheesy “erotic” album covers by Mystic Moods Orchestra or any of the swinging bachelor pad album covers. Now I have stumbled across this book, The Vixens of Vinyl, and I have to say, it is essential coffee table reading for anyone who shares my strange fixation on vinyl album covers, people in outdated sexy costumes with too much eye makeup. In this book, Benjamin Darling collects the finest array of decidedly pre-feminist album art from Esquivel, Martin Denny and other vintage bachelor pad artistes. This one’s 132 pages worth of raging hormones, nonstop racy artwork featuring models with too much hairspray.