As we approach the release of Lab 2010, I wanted to let you all know about the new process we used this time for the cover art, and the very cool piece it created. The tradition of the cover art for the annual Lab recordings of The One O’Clock have been almost as eagerly anticipated as the music itself. Everything from wonderful student art to work from professors and pro graphic artists have graced the covers of first the series of LPs, then CD covers, then…well… nobody is quite sure of what is next in the world of recorded media, but rest assured that The One O’Clock will be on top of it…cool blog to follow.
This year, we initiated an exciting new program where we opened up the process to the world community. After posting the job on a couple of freelance graphic arts websites, we got almost 40 bids from established and budding young graphic artists from around the world! Part of the mission of this initiative was to promote the talents of the winning artist, so we have also devoted a page on our One O’Clock website just for said artistic promotional love.
The winning artist is a young genius from London, UK named Kutzman (to learn all about Kutz, his business, and how he created the Lab 2010 cover art go to the One O’Clock page devoted to this search.) And, man did he produce something great!
So…how DO you put a cover on a volcano? Huh? (voice of Scooby Doo). What I mean by that is Lab 2010 is a sizzling slab of molten fire-power (no brag, just fact [voice of Walter Bennan]) The band sounds amazing, and the writing is superb. As I mentioned in the previous blog, I feel it is even stronger than Lab 2009! …did you hear that Grammy NARAS voters? 🙂
Therefore, we needed a cover that would be a soul-mate for this stunning aural celebration. As you will read on the Kutz page of the One O’Clock site, I gave all of the hopeful artists the track listing, and my wish that the winning work would be “cutting-edge modern incorporating elements of Sci-Fi and classic Blue Note Records” (double Huh-Huh? [again with the Scooby]) I then asked them all to send us mock ups of their concepts so that the band could vote. Once the momentous day arrived and the One O’Clock Cats went to the polls, it was unanimous: Kutzman was the winner.
So, what is this a picture of? No one knows, not even Kutz himself. I instantly thought it was some kind of alien red beast (I see that kind of thing in much of my day-to-day activities…but I digress), and every single other person to see this cover has spotted something different. One O’Clock trombonist Luke Brimhall described the vibe best when he said: “I don’t know what it is, but I know I would buy it just to find out!” And THAT is how you cover a volcano: with something equally as virtuosic and water cooler-worthy as the music itself.
And now; the Crimson Creature itself…enjoy!
Lab 2010 Cover Art by Kutzman
The Blog Shed 
I was watching the news the other day (last week I think) and I see this santa clause looking dude talking about a bad storm that had just come through Corinth. Then I saw the subtitle and it said Steve Wiest, Corinth resident.
Santa Claus! Oh well…that’s what I get for giving up on “Just For Men” hair coloring. 🙂
Yeah, that was an unusual storm to say the least. They are calling it a “micro burst” About 75mpr winds that came out of nowhere and knocked down a bunch of trees. Nobody was hurt, but the neighborhood all came together in classic fashion to clean up. Does a heart good!
[…] last year we had a world-wide search for great cover art (and FOUND it via the super talented Mr Kutz from the U.K.), this year we had to look no further than our own back yard. Dustin is featured on Lab 2011 in […]