Believing that visuals play a large role in the perception of an album, it only made sense for me to rank my favorite and least favorite album covers of last year. It was a fun list to put together, and I eagerly looked forward to doing it again in 2017. So here we are. Best is on the left, worst is on the right. One rule of thumb? I must have listened to the album, otherwise the intent of the cover would've likely been lost on me. Enjoy.
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Best | Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun | Chelsea Wolfe's music has always been defined by a sense of dread, an uneasy feeling that rides up your spine leaving you stiff in the knees. On Abyss' cover, it was Wolfe's surroundings that gave that feeling. On Hiss Spun though, it was Wolfe herself. Her all-black, contorted body against the sheer white really sends chills. Like a witch haunting the attic you're too afraid to venture up to.
Worst | Arca - Arca | It's an artsy cover. You wouldn't expect anything less from Arca. And much like his primary inspiration, Bjork, Arca's leaned that the body can incite the strangest of reactions. This is a love/hate cover, even I'm on the fence. However, the unnatural coloring, the beaten eyes, and the intrusion of personal space helps to make me unsettled. It succeeded, it's just not nice.
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Best | Migos - Culture | I despise Migos and everything they stand for. We basically couldn't be further apart on the spectrum, what with their obsession over materialism and carelessness over music integrity. Yet, I can't deny the grace, style, and relevance of Culture's cover. The Photoshop collage really, really works, and every copy and pasted image helps to convey their sense of Trap.
Worst | Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. | Like many minimalistic covers, I was on the fence with DAMN. The point I kept returning to was Kendrick Lamar's storied past with covers, namely good kid, m.A.A.d. city and To Pimp A Butterfly, two classic albums with classic covers to boot. By comparison, DAMN just seems lazy and lethargic. It's only hope is the far-fetched theory that the 'M' represents the Devil's horns.
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Best | The National - Sleep Well Beast | Apart from being pleasing to the eye in a most curious way, The National's Sleep Well Beast succeeds at relating the music to the tone. Being that it's night in the portrait, the stark backdrop of the house with a lit living room presents an ominous vibe that treats us, the viewer, as a peeping tom. Being that Sleep Well Beast is intensely personal, unraveling relational strife, that voyeurism is apt.
Worst | Broken Social Scene - Hug Of Thunder | I see what Broken Social Scene was going for. I think. While I don't know the origin of Hug Of Thunder's cover, one could assume it's a close-up of a wall that has meaning. At least I hope so, because otherwise it's totally meaningless. The end result though, to the average listener, is one big sigh of meh. It's too undefined to conjure up any sense of sentimentality, which, I presume, is what they were going for.
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Best | Fever Ray - Plunge | While the cover of Fever Ray's debut matched the cold, harsh tone of the music, it didn't really exhibit the heart of Karin Dreijer. Plunge does, finding our artist dripping with blood while exhibiting the thousand yard stare. Her bright, blonde, frazzled hair compliments the vulgarities streaming down her face which, in all respects, is Dreijer's personality to a tee.
Worst | The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody | The Flaming Lips aren't unaccustomed to the 'le random' schtick. It's been their thing ever since Wayne Coyne fell off the deep end. Recently it's gotten out of hand, what with Miley Cyrus' arrival and all. Thing is, Oczy Mlody's cover doesn't fail because of that (it's title does though). It fails by being straight up ugly, with horrible color combinations and a randomness that, by their standards, is immensely tempered.
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Best | Lil Yachty - Teenage Emotions | Teenage Emotions was awful, no way around it. And maybe, with due time, the cover will be too. You see, when the album was officially announced I was still on the Lil Yachty hype train. The horrid music hadn't happened yet. So his fun-loving, all-welcoming, all-accepting personality felt legitimate. That reflects beautifully on the cover. The question comes, just how sincere is Yachty's liberation? Still aesthetically pleasing though.
Worst | Big Boi - Boomiverse | Frankly, Big Boi has never been creative with his album covers. They've always featured him, face forward, posing with that cool demeanor. Boomiverse is no different, but takes it up a notch by surrounding him with a random icy hue of blue. On top of that, what is even materializing under him? A box? If that's the Boomiverse, it's about as uninspired as the music contained within.
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Best | Nmesh - Pharma | Vaporwave has always been about the aesthetic. It created the meme a e s t h e t i c, in case you didn't know. However, while the majority of Vaporwave covers were pleasing to the eye, they were rarely professionally done. Pharma changes that, by exquisitely layering an abstract portrait over styling's that bear resemblance to an old VHS slipcase.
Worst | Gorillaz - Humanz | I dislike Humanz' cover off principle alone. It is far too similar to Gorillaz' own Demon Days, and to put it in plain English, that pisses me off. Their lauded album sits as, possibly, the most influential album in my library when it comes to how my music tastes evolved. The cover itself is iconic. Humanz copies that and loses any and all originality in the process. Which, ironically, represents the LP quite succinctly.
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Best | Joey Bada$$ - All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ | The album presented a fair share of problems, both theoretical and musical, but that cover does not. The picture alone does a better job conveying Joey Bada$$' angst, anger, and incitement than anything he says on All-Amerikkkan Bada$$. Everything in the image, from the crystal clear sky to the makeshift flag, finger-flipping to the tied rope jacket, is appealing both visually and conceptually.
Worst | Anohni - Paradise | A classic case of a cover, or an idea, that could've been handled much, much better. Being that Paradise was virtually a throwaway EP, the lack of ambition is forgivable. But the point still stands, Antony Hegarty's notion to crudely collide nine weeping women, Brady Bunch style, into nine, borderless boxes was poor from the get-go.
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Best | Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory | Minimalism done right. The photo itself is pixelated in all the right ways, giving a vintage, West Coast feel even if it doesn't really associate with the goldfish and his bowl. But beyond that, beyond the wonderful collaboration of colors, is the cramped tone of a big fish in a tiny bowl. The album cover itself works as a visual representation of Vince Staples' metaphor on Big Fish Theory. With that cleverness you can't go wrong.
Worst | Brian Eno - Reflection | I've laughed at Reflection's cover multiple times over the course of the year. Basically any time I scroll past it, because obviously I won't be spending an hour listening to Brian Eno's meandering Ambient tone anytime soon. The cover itself, an ultra-blurry selfie of Eno in a darkened room, receives the same amount of care as the music itself. That is to say none. Devoid of creativity and dead inside.
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Best | Blanck Mass - World Eater | In theory, World Eater's cover isn't anything elaborate. It's literally the zoomed in, cropped out snarl of a dog's mouth. With some unnecessary depth of field thrown in. Yet, the sheer primal nature of that snarl is one that captures the lawlessness and feral pounce of Blanck Mass' World Eater perfectly. It's monstrous, yet totally organic.
Worst | St. Vincent - Masseduction | Unless done with a touch of ingenuity, high brow artists willingly choosing to make low brow work always rubs me the wrong way. It screams pretentious, and that's exactly the vibe I get from seeing Annie Clark's color vomit rear end on MASSEDUCTION. The gut feeling is that she's trying too hard to be weird and peculiar, when eccentricities should always come natural.
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Best | Thundercat - Drunk | There's just something about the cover of Thundercat's Drunk. The moment I, and many others, laid eyes on it, reacting to the imagery was compulsive. The absurdity alone forces you to comment. Adding in creativity, a dash of humor, and Thundercat's ability to correlate his submergence to Drunk's concept itself was brilliant.
Worst | LCD Soundsystem - American Dream | Who would've guessed my favorite album of the year would also win my least favorite album cover of the year? Well, probably almost everyone. It really is atrocious, and no defense could deter me from believing that. Another case of high brow going low brow, in this event using MS Paint and a stock photo, brushing your hands, and calling it a day. Pathetic, and a horrid visual representation of the wonderful album that is American Dream.
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I agree with number one. Despite not grabbing my attention enough, Drunk has a powerful cover.
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