Cool Comp

My cover art for Blue Note Japan is out now. Sunday Blue is a compilation of chilled Blue Note tracks selected by Toshio Matsuura. Toshio contacted me back in June with a brief to do the cover. It was a refreshing experience working with a client that cares about how things look as well as contributing some good direction and ideas.

The tracklist is excellent and it was playing constantly while I put the image together. The Ronnie Foster track is the one that does it for me! Here's the complete list:

Gene Harris - Latinfunklovesong
Bobbi Humphrey - Please Set Me At Ease
John Lee & Gerry Brown - Love the Way You Make Me Feel
Ronnie Foster - What Happened To The Sunshine
Gene Harris - Beginnings
Donald Byrd - Places & Spaces
Eddie Henderson - Inside You
Marlena Shaw - Feel Like Makin' Love
Maxi Anderson - Let Him In
Bobby Hutcherson - Love Song
Horace Silver - The Mohican And The Great Spirit
Chico Hamilton - The Morning Side of Love
Moacir Santos - April Child
Also worth checking Toshio's Seven Eleven Radio show.

If you're in the UK you'll be able to get a copy of Sunday Blue through Juno Records.

A print of this illustration is available to buy now from my website:
Ali Augur

Exhibition at If Music

The '16 covers' I did for Gilles at the beginning of the year have finally made it off the computer screen and onto a wall. Jean Claude at If Music has kindly given me some space to exhibit some work.

The covers are based on the eclectic mix that 'we' all love. Jazz, Folk, Hip Hop, Electonic, New and Old. While they look simple they're bloody hard to put together and took weeks of pain!

The 16 images work as one piece but also work in isolation. The order in which they appear also took many hours of shuffling.

While 'uploading' the images to the wall on Monday night (using a step ladder and spirit level!) I enjoyed the banter as JC and Aaron played Quiz Masters to the poor punters who were desperately trying to 'Name The Covers'. "Marvin Gaye? Nah you fool, and I thought you knew your music!". "Swedish, Jazz, Two blokes who like wearing womens clothes, C'mmon Dude S'easy"

Joking aside, it's important that people continue to respect and value the art in record covers, especially in the age of the MP3.

While my site (and new store!) is being updated, the work will be available to buy in the shop. So if you're passing, drop-in and test your knowledge, and buy some records while you're there!

Support the Record Shops!

Kuler is King

Every so often a website comes around that totally changes the way you work. Last year, MyFonts and in particular its whatthefont site got me out of a few tight spots. Now this site looks to do the same. Kuler was forwarded to me a couple of weeks ago. Its amazing. As any designer will tell you, picking a family of colours is difficult! I can remember 'back in the day' literally cutting up swatches of colours and laying them all out to see which ones worked. Well those days have gone.

This site is amazing. The tag system is genius too. I'll be signing in soon and sharing a few of my camo swatches and old Balance/Plastic People ones too.

thank you Vince Frost

Being a Virgin Blogger, I assume that the hardest Blog to write is the first, right?

I've been meaning to start a Blog for far too long now. I guess the moment of inspiration came during a recent lecture by Vince Frost Alongside his work were photos he had taken while he was out and about, daft snapshots that amused him. It was cool seeing these 'snaps' alongside work that had obviously been loved and crafted.

I thought of all the daft photos I've taken over the years and my empty Blogger page. Its time to get on with it.

All I need to do now is find those photos...