You know what, America?  There’s a lot of negativity in the air lately, and with good reason.  The economy’s in the shitter; there’s toxic petroleum spewing into one of our most fragile ecosystems, coating pelicans and porpoises alike in evil, brown goo; Sarah Palin seems to have found the means to clone herself and run for high office in various states around the nation; and the icons of our TV and filmic youth are dropping like flies.

And so I’ve decided that at least for this month I will not engage in my usual snarky takedowns of terrible album covers, hilarious as they might be.  I will take the high road, and pick out some good covers from the batch of recent releases to share with you.

The Like – Release Me

The thing that all of the covers I will discuss in this month’s column have in common is that once I saw them, it was very hard to keep from looking into the albums, reading reviews or descriptions, or trying to find a sample to listen to.  This is exactly what album covers should be doing – drawing you in, making you want to learn or hear more – and exactly what most of them fail spectacularly at.

The Like’s cover for Release Me is a great example.  It’s executed in a perfectly retro style, evoking in general the LPs of the mid-60s, without calling to mind a specific one (at least to me).  Not only is it well designed (the fonts, the colors, the way they call out certain song titles, and the “stereo” icon are all just right), but the photography is perfect, and they actually got someone to make them these adorable little mod dresses that spell out the band name.  Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the band seems to consist of four very lovely ladies.  All that said, you still don’t really know what you’re going to get from this record: It could be straight-up 60s girl pop, sure (and I’d be kind of disappointed if it were, as that would make the whole thing just a bit too on the nose).  But it could also be bratty punk rock, or fuzzed-out psychedelia, or pretty much anything.  Point being, if I were in a record store, or if lala.com still existed (let me take a moment here to say Dear Steve Jobs, I hate you), I would absolutely put this on to find out.  Mission accomplished!

If I may make one little critique, though: As fine as almost every element of the cover is, I do find the ladies’ gestures to be a bit off.  I know the question of what to do with one’s hands in a picture is always hard (especially for people used to holding and playing instruments with those very hands), but I do think they have found the three or four best answers to the question of what not to do with one’s hands.  “K” seems to be doing all right, keeping it simple and understated, but the rest of them are just mystifying.  At first I think maybe they’re trying to communicate something?  Semaphore, a la The Beatles’ Help?  I don’t know, but it disturbs the otherwise brilliant composition of this cover.

Punch Brothers – Antifogmatic

Yet again, here is a band about whom I know nothing, with an album cover that makes me want to learn more.  The band name, font choices, and neologistic album title have me leaning somewhere in the direction of classic-rockish jam band, but that’s really just a gut feeling.

What we have here is kind of the holy grail of album art: an actual original piece of art – in this case a drawing – that would work almost as well hanging on your wall as it does in this context.  This surreal little piece, involving some kind of Rube Goldberg chemistry kit with a half-submerged human face being boiled by a bunsen burner, floating in the fog, ties in really nicely with the album title, without hitting you over the head with it.  I wish I had the CD cover (or, even better, the vinyl) in front of me, as this seems like the kind of artwork that holds a lot of little details and would reward a more detailed viewing than a Jpeg can really provide.

Gurrumul – Gurrumul

OK, I’m totally sold.  After looking at this cover, I don’t just want to know more about Gurrumul – Who is Gurrumul?  What is Gurrumul? Is it the guy on the cover?  Where is he from?  What does he do? – I want to buy this album.  I’m pretty sure Gurrumul is the guy on the cover, and I’m pretty sure whatever he does kicks ass.  This photo is gorgeous and rich, and the guy’s soul just oozes out of the image.

Again, one tiny nitpick, though: I think the edgy, distressed font choice is a bit over the top and unnecessary.  If anything, it should be a small, understated typeface – maybe even in white, rather than gold – but really, I don’t think there should be any type at all on the cover.  This guy’s face, captured by this photographer, will sell the record all on its own.  Once we’ve been pulled in by the image, we can scroll down or look at the spine to learn more.