This week I decided to do a feature on Paul Alexander. He got his start working with architecture firms and advertising agencies, he then signed up with a New York City artists rep which got him on the radar with publisher ACE Books around 1977. ACE along with a number of other publishers for various books and magazines kept him very busy over the next two decades. He is very well known for his mechanical style and Vincent Di Fate called him “one of the top “gadget” artists currently working in the American paperback market”.
I really love illustration on that Guardian cover. I’m not a huge fan of most 80s sci-fi book covers but this one was released so early on in the 80s that it still feels like it isn’t too far gone. If you dig into some of his later stuff you will see what I mean about the heavy 80s style, I am talking raised lettering book titles with full mirror gloss finish. His early work really does differ from his later work, not so much in actual subject matter or quality but the style change is really evident. It’s clear throughout all his work he was an absolute master at the technical and mechanical elements.
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Patten is new to the Warp label, his LP is soon to be out. If you dig around on his insanely good website you’ll find free edits that he does, the best one in my opinion was this multi-fi edit of Burial.
I. am. thrilled. for. this. Small. Black. LP. Its like a slowed down Peter Gabriel instrumental!
Daniel Avery did up a perfect remix for Factory Floor, its something you’d hope someone would turn in for you, he leaves the original genre and gives you a beauty, DFA should be overwhelmingly happy.
I have been digging through almost every Delsin release this past week, just one by one and this was a stand out gem from D5, melting digital clouds.
The new Com Truise EP “Wave 1” is out today, stream it above.
Wave 1 is the first new transmission the world has received from producer Seth Haley since his gloriously futuristic debut album Galactic Melt. That album cataloged the genesis and evolution of Haley’s alter ego Com Truise — the world’s first synthetic/robotic astronaut, as Haley described him — and this EP continues the character’s journey into the outer reaches of the musical multiverse. In the process, it also builds on Haley’s signature production style, one that’s rooted in classic sci-fi sounds and analogue textures but nevertheless manages to sound utterly contemporary.
02.18 St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
02.19 Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
02.20 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
02.21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02.22 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02.24 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
02.25 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
02.26 Portland, OR @ Rotture
02.27 San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
02.28 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
03.01 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
03.02 Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
03.04 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
03.05 Austin, TX @ Red 7
03.06 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
03.07 New Orleans, LA @ Hi Ho Lounge
03.08 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03.09 Nashville, TN @ Exit In
03.10 Asheville, NC @ The Mill Room
03.12 Washington, DC @ DC9
03.13 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
03.14 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
03.15 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04.24 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
05.17 Lisboa, PT @ Musicbox
05.20 Hasselt, BE @ MOD
05.23 Rome, IT @ Spring Attitude Festival
05.24 Milan, IT @ Tunnel Club
05.27 Leipzig, DE @ Täubchenthal
05.28 Berlin, DE @ Flux Bau
05.29 Dortmund, DE @ Way Back When Festival
05.31 London, UK @ Shapes Warehouse
I’m following up last weeks post with one more series that I really like. In the late 60’s and early 70’s sci-fi author James Blish got commissioned to write a series of books that contained short story adaptations of the TV show. He started on volume one and made it all the way to twelve before he passed away, his run with writing this series was eight years long. Each book had a volume number and contained around ten short stories. Over the course of these twelve books there were many different artists that worked on the cover illustrations but the text treatments for the most part remained the same. How can you not love those big volume numbers on the cover, so good. I posted a few of my favorites from the series above but I encourage everyone to seek out the other covers and post personal favorites in the comments below.
My favorite would have to be volume six. This volume along with numbers four and eight (also favorites) were illustrated by Lou Feck. One reason I love Lou Feck is that his work is very easily recognizable when you are flipping rapidly through the paper back bins at your local used book store, high contrast and very dramatic. I am planning on doing a whole post dedicated to Lou, he is one of my favorite sci-fi cover illustrators and there are many other great ones outside of his work on this Star Trek series.
Number five was done by Mitchell Hooks, and I have to admit I didn’t know much about him before this post. When I went searching for more sci-fi work of his I really couldn’t find anything that came close to this one in terms of subject matter and style. A lot of his work seemed to be for mystery/thriller books and also some magazine cover work. Although much of his other work doesn’t quite fall under the sci-fi category I felt this image fits in well here so I included it. I hope you guys are enjoying this series.
A quick thanks to @jakekouba on instagram for tagging a few of these Star Trek covers a week or so back. Keep the #sundayscifi tags coming!
