Marc Mac - Hipology

An explosion of inspiration was the thinking behind the image for Hipology. Having a single image for the album cover would've been wrong, especially after Marc had explained the thinking behind the project. A scrapbook / montage of imagery seemed a better approach with Hipology set in the centre.

Using a shared Dropbox, we pulled together imagery that reflected the project, from old photographs to scans from magazines we soon had more than enough to work with. I was keen to build the montage by hand so cut a 600mm square piece of plywood and applied some old school cut 'n' paste (scissors n glue) rotating the board as I built the image up. Check out the original BBE logo that's in there, I designed it 15+ years ago. Lots of gems in there I love the Dollis Hill tube sign alongside Buggin' Out.

The project became a labour of love for the last part of 2011. I'm pleased with the final artwork, especially the 12" vinyl. The album sounds incredible and up there with the best of Marc Mac productions. Hipology is released on 28th May on double CD and vinyl. A limited box set of 5 x 7" is also out there. Released on BBE. Check out 101_Apparel for the t-shirts and mixtape too.

Marc Mac, Patrick Forge & Jean Claude at the Launch of the Hipology boxset at If Music, Record Store Day 2012.

Marc Mac presents Visioneers

From Mr Kirk's Nightmare to Star Chasers I have masses of respect for Marc Mac. So getting a call at the beginning of the year and being asked to do the sleeve for his new Visioneers single was great.

After some initial thoughts, we got to the bold typography idea quickly and I was keen to use a stencil font that was different to the norm. Eames Stencil from House Industries worked well, especially when it's split up using colour. I love the shape of the 'S' and 'R'. To stop it looking too flat I dug out a photo I'd taken years ago of New York taken from the Staten Island Ferry (never thought I'd see my holiday snaps on a record sleeve).

The single is released via BBE records. The last time I worked for Pete was in 1995 (I did the first gen. BBE logo). Apache is on the A side and Shaft in Africa on the B Side. There are only x1000 out there, so get them while you can. Hopefully some more singles will be released before the album drops later this year.