rather ripped cover: a change in direction
 

i may be mistaken here, but it seems rather ripped is the first one of their major album releases for a while that seems to use artwork that was designed specifically for the record. most of them (apart from maybe ejt&ns and washing machine) have used selections of artworks, or works done by their friends. is this again perhaps symbollic of a commercial slant to the record, or am i delving too deeply into it? at any rate, id like to thank the band for introducing me to the work of gerhard richter and mike kelly...

I don't think its a commercial slant, I mean its not a pretty cover its a hard core cover but hell that's subjective hard core can be pretty to people just as puppies can be.

I think it brings more attention to the music it being a in house cover. For reviews. No ink will be spilled talking about any other artist other than the four responsible for the music





and i'm also wouldn't be surprised if theres an alternate cover with a candid picture of Dan Rather of cbs, drunk. Rather, Ripped so to speak.


ok maybe not, maybe



I don't this cover is less artistic than any other before it just cuz its two tone. Look at Psycho, Hitchcock only needed black and white. Who's is the artist for RR?

is that black lace on a blood red background? with 'Rather Ripped' in red superimposed over a black hole, ripped out of the lace? It is, isn't it?

yeah but...

i got into richard pettibon thanks to the goo art
i got into richard kern thanks to the youth
though not mike kelley, that was through paul mccarthy

anyway sometimes their artwork makes you discover artists that take a significance in yr life. not sure about rather ripped though. we'll see....

it seems almost perversely sexual...

Really? I think it's more violent than anything.

i agree

hardcore cover my ass.

well, it probably looks "hardcore" to the fall out boy/good charlotte crowds...

punk doesn't mean lazy and uninspired

this is probably their blandest cover ever

he's name is raymond pettibon, not richard

i like the artwork tho. its kinda..... post something. but yeah i get what everyone is saying. i liked the first rumoured cover, the one with the eye make up mirror....

i like that it's basic, but the style (industrial fasion) of it is kinda gay

I think the cover is pretty bland. Kind of a let down really.

i like that it's no indication of what the album sounds like. if it is in fact the official cover

Whatever, it's an album cover. Stick a cartoon nurse on it and people will lap it up.

It does seem to denote a certain atmosphere of violence... Especially with all the ripping... Maybe the violence is more of the emotional nature? Violent, passionate emotions?

I ripped your heart out from your chest/replaced it with a grenade blast...

That's from Incinerate...

so this is sonic youth's emo album

Maybe it's Sonic Youth's emo-transcendental album

its anything but "emo"

Hey, thanks for the heads up. Probably a freudian slip on Richard Kern. Or Terry Richardson... funnily enough I got to see 2 of his art at the Statens Museums for Kunst last weekend.

___-___-
 

Steve: "Hey, Thurston...some of these guys on the message board say they don't like the new album cover."

Thurston: "Oh, yeah?"

Steve: "You think we should change it?"

Thurston: "What?"

I like it. It still doesn't look like most shit out there.

Maybe they're just being hella-ironic. Knowing SY..

nope. like i said in the other thread, it's a referential work just like the other recent covers. it's based on a christopher wool painting. i still don't like the cover at all.

exactly. like i said last week.

i love the title "rather ripped" and i was hoping for a cover with a little more humour to it.

i think i would like the cover a lot better if it was white and black instead of red and black.

I like the cover but I don't think it really suits to the album (at least to what I've heard of it, meaning Incinerate, Reena, Do You Believe in Rapture? and live versions of Rats, Turquoise Boy, Sleepin' Around and Lights Out)

I noticed that the cover art is not exactly characteristic of Sonic Youth. Seems more like a punk or metal bands kind of cover. But whatever. It's what is inside is what counts the most.

fantastic, i stand corrected! my apologies to christopher wool. maybe its because the text is so prominent in the desig, which they dont normally do.

i still think it's too bad that the designer didn't spend the time cutting out his own fucking stencils instead of just using one of house industries fonts. L-A-Z-Y.

The covers okay! But i want more traditional Iconic covers from SY like Daydream Nation or Bad Moon Rising. Their music goes from strength to strength, but their covers are fast becoming really lame! I havent liked a SY cover since Dirty (apart from the SYR covers, they are amazing!)

Washing Machine has a great cover.

Washing Machine was interesting, but it isnt a iconic cover like Daydream Nation. The image of a candle in a dark corner is so haunting and speaks volumes