Take the best of The Beatles…you know, when they came back from Rishikesh, India after studying “transcendental meditation” with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and getting completely twisted on copious amounts opium. Mix in the sonic foundry of Led Zepplin, color it with an amber cloud of bong smoke and press it to vinyl. That’s how the debut release from The Raconteurs, “Broken Boy Soldiers” plays. The record is a time warp soundtrack to a comfy sofa and a small group of friends surrounded by empty cans of domestic beer and Chinese take-out on a late October evening somewhere in the mid-seventies.
A raconteur is one skilled in the art of storytelling. Nobody names a rock band like that anymore. Most new rock bands have numbers or initials in their name or some sort of weird, overthought reference to a subject matter way deeper than the band could ever hope to comprehend. The Raconteurs have brazen chops and they know it. The only real liner note accompanying the disc is a statement the reads: “Remember a time when all was not fine and up from the dingy sewers came four lousy thieves who flourished like trees behold The Raconteurs.”
The band is comprised of guitarist/vocalist Jack White (the band’s most celebrated member- best know for his work as one half of The White Stripes) and his basement tape buddy and alt-pop master, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Brendan Benson. The mid-western garage rock band The Greenhornes’ drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence serve as the supergroup’s gritty rhythm section.
The first single “Steady as She Goes” is a nice introduction to the album. It is reminiscent of The White Stripes single “Walking With a Ghost” (actually a Tegan and Sara cover) in both tone and cadence. The title track “Broken Boy Soldier” is the most raw and aggressive track on the album; conjuring images of Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song”. “Blue Veins”, the closing track of album is a soulful blues number also comparable to a Zep classic, “Dazed and Confused” off of Led Zepplin I. The album also has its share of garage pop fun, namely “Hands”, “Intimate Secretary” and “Yellow Sun”. There is very little filler on Broken Boy Soldiers which is a bonus due to the short play time of the 10 track album, a tiny 34 minutes. The only noticeable slowdown is the 5th track “Together” which would be the last song on the first side of a vinyl release.
The poetry in the songwriting is simple but poignant, the vocals are somewhat raw but sincere, the guitar work is outstanding and the drums and bass do not overstep their bounds. The album is a solid, well-produced mix of classic rock wonder and a glimmer of hope in a dying genre. This disc is a must for anyone who considers themselves a fan of true blues based rock music.
Key tracks: “Steady as She Goes”, “Hands”, “Broken Boy Soldier”
In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share this awesome retro scary movie poster. It is for the french version of a 1968 UK terror flick The Devil Rides Out. The film stars Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings) as The Duc de Richeleau and the movie looks as cool as it does creepy. Lee’s fantastically sinister mustache let’s you know there is evil about. Fans of the HBO series TrueBlood might find some of the footage in the trailer very familiar. Happy Halloween!
SWEET! Check out the first two covers of the new The Invincible Iron Man arc “Stark: Disassembled.” The covers are illustrated by Frank D’Armata (Illustrated covers for: The New Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, World War Hulk, etc.), Salvador Larroca (Works include: Invincible Iron Man, Spider-Man: House of M, Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra, Ultimate Elektra, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, and X-Treme X-Men, etc.), and designed by Rian Hughes (Too much killer work to even start to talk about. Just visit his site.) I love the clean typography and non-traditional comic book cover layout. The creative team has avoided using the stereotypical “triumph” pose or the east vs. west, hero-villain head on clash layout. The coloring is subtle and stylish and the layout is balanced and thought provoking. Matt Fraction wrote the books and first revealed the covers on his site: mattfraction.com. Thanks to Brian E. for the find. I can’t wait to see what the other 3 issues in the arc look like.
I love everything about advertising, especially that people think anyone can do it.
-Thom Wilk
ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time — people who’ve profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising’s “creative revolution” of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for “Just Do It,” “I Love NY,” “Where’s the Beef?,” “Got Milk,” “Think Different,” and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them. Visually interwoven with their stories, TV satellites are launched, billboards are erected, and the social and cultural impact of their ads are brought to light in this dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion.
Electric Mayhem’s tour bus meets The Fast and the Furious. Academic Finance Corporation (AFC) used this 2008 Scion for street level visibility at several high school campuses. Creating graphics for the wrap was a welcome challenge. I used quick-reading text-speak to deliver the verbal message and explosive color and graphic movement to ensure the vehicle got noticed. This fun, moving billboard strengthened AFC’s brand with both students and guidance counselors each time it was parked on school grounds.
This tee shirt design was created in response to a call for entries from Fuse TV. The assignment was to design a shirt for Serj Tankian’s latest solo album “Elect the Dead.” The album features themes of political, spiritual and environmental corruption. These themes are reflected in the design with the seemingly pure tree growing out of all sorts of chaos and carnage. The symmetrical layout serves to emphasize the hypocrisy detailed in the album’s thesis. The design was voted by the public at fuse.tv as a finalist to be personally judged by Serj Tankian.
This piece was designed exclusively for a feature appearing in Uppercase Magazine. The concept was to retro-design a contemporary song into a classic looking album cover. This design features the iconic layout of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon cover mashed with the 2001 White Stripes hit Fell in Love with a Girl. The centerpiece of the design was changed from the original prism into a heart to reflect the love aspect of the concept. The rainbow from the Floyd version was replaced with variants of red to hold true to Jack White’s three color concept focusing on black, white and red. Subtle distressing was added to the piece to give the feeling of an album that has been moved in and out of housing and listened to several times over the course of many years. Classically cool and perfectly punk.
Spencer Savings Bank placed a series of ads in a publication called Baystate Parent. The focus of the magazine is mothers (both working and stay-at-home) in central Massachusetts. I developed this campaign to position Spencer Savings Bank as a partner in aiding the mother with her everyday life struggles. Through the use of smart copy and feminine visuals, the ads connect with the target audience on several levels.
I designed this spec poster for the Raveonettes 2008 Boston show at the famous Paradise Rock Club. The Raveonettes feature a mysterious 1960′s pulp B-movie vibe throughout their catalog and are a favorite among today’s garage variety hipsters.
Air-lock approached us to redesign their main collateral piece with the caveat of having to use their existing catalog of images, some of which were close to 15 years old. The images, while kind of cool in their own right, needed to be refreshed with the use of a modern, hi-tech layout. Different Pantone grays were meticulously chosen as the anchor of the piece so the older photography would be able to stand vibrantly in the layout. Various monotone images of space were added and the layout was redeveloped to breath fresh life into a stale design.
In 2004, Marshalls initiated a marketing thrust to the college age female demographic. When new stores were opening close to a college or university campus, Marshalls would target the female residents with direct mail, newspaper and billboard advertising. This is an example of a direct mail piece. The art features a sassy college student dressed in the Marshalls fashion of the day. I personally directed this photo shoot as well as wrote the headline copy. I positioned Marshalls with a welcoming wink to the prowess of the shopper.
