click opera - Ocky Milk's baby teeth

July 2009


	1


	2


	3


	4


	5


	6


	7


	8


	9


	10


	11


	12


	13


	14


	15


	16


	17


	18


	19


	20


	21


	22


	23


	24


	25


	26


	27


	28


	29


	30


	31

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 08:01 am

Ocky Milk's baby teeth

A few tweaks, morphs, flips and twitters (mostly by that extraordinary Dadaist of sound, John Talaga) aside, my 2006 album Ocky Milk is finished. On the audio side, anyway. Something now assumes a looming importance: the sleeve.

Luckily one of Britain's best graphic designers, James Goggin, has once again agreed to the commission.

James made the Otto Spooky sleeve, and documents it here. He's also responsible for many of the posters and catalogues for Tate Modern shows. Amazingly, Otto Spooky was the RCA graduate's first published record sleeve. Its cables-and-tape theme inspired designer Daniel Eatock to make a series of short film loops of his studio, a trail of colours, shapes and letters prompted by the sleeve and texts and lectures by Ryan Gander, and unveiled at a workshop at the Werkplaats Typografie in Holland earlier this year.

Here (left) is the preliminary sketch James has come up with for Ocky Milk. Just to illustrate how it looks colorised, I've added some colours based on a photograph of a shelf of beautiful books I took in the Venice apartment of Nikolas Montaldi, one of the organisers of my recent concerts there. The sketch uses Milton Glaser's 1968 font Baby Teeth, of which the only available digitized commercial version is a copy called Bebit.

I feel some sort of family tie to Milton Glaser because the veteran designer shares a building with Mirko Ilic, who's very generously hosting all my books and records in a corner of his studio (they'll be shipped to Berlin in summer). In 2003 Mirko introduced me to Glaser, one of the giants of the design world, a political radical perhaps most famous for his "I (heart) New York" logo, but author of a great deal besides (for instance, the quirky illustrations in an Ogden Nash book I just bought at the Used Book Project).

My original idea for the Ocky Milk sleeve was of some visual identity that would tie it in to Oskar Tennis Champion and Otto Spooky (this is the third installment, after all, in my "Berlin trilogy", my "Stories of O" series, records with black-based sleeves, names beginning with the letter "O", and sonic "reproduction" by John Talaga). I wanted the letters in Baby Teeth to "cut holes" in the black ground and drop away to either pure blocks of colour or pictures of various things. James immediately suggested die-cutting the letters, which would have been great, because it would have referred to Bruno Munari and Enzo Mari's children's books and games. But I don't think we have anything like the budget for punching holes in the card, alas.

Since picking it out as the font for the Ocky sleeve, I've (of course) noticed other people using Baby Teeth. For instance, Supermundane, currently exhibiting their work in the gallery at Edinburgh design space Analogue, chose a (version of?) the face for their logo for Paper + Glue Records. Well, there are only so many typefaces in the world. It's what you do with them that matters. And James Goggin will do something wonderful with Ocky's baby teeth.

chuckdarwin

Tyler Massey

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 01:18 pm (UTC)

It's a great font...

(Anonymous)

	Sat, Mar. 25th, 2006 07:26 pm (UTC)

Looks like the foundry P22 modified Baby Teeth in a similar way.

http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/detail.htm?pid=400560

-ndkent

lucaskrech

Lucas Krech

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 01:51 pm (UTC)

Good colors. Would the photograph then be on the inside cover. Or is that too conventional?

imomus

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 02:05 pm (UTC)

It's really up to James. I didn't originally plan to use that photo, but actually the books illustrated, the Comunita series, fit quite well with the themes of the record as I outlined them back when I was still referring to it as "The Friendly Album". Comunita is Italian for "community".

pinwheelcloud

Colour me Periwinkle

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 04:58 pm (UTC)

i'll be waiting for the opportunity to pick up a copy, i have most of your albums. I like the looks of the cover so far.

yours,
-Douglas Kong

artysmokes

Spaz, interrupted

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 02:12 pm (UTC)

The typeface is ace and I like the muted colours you've used in your mock-up. Reminds me a bit of Mylo's album cover.

imomus

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 02:22 pm (UTC)

Well, the emotions and textures are very different, but I see what you mean, it's the line-breaks and the graphics-domination.

hexachrome

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 06:02 pm (UTC)

Uh-oh, not Mylo! Perhaps a sign to move on to the paper-cut stage, Nick!

cityramica

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 02:31 pm (UTC)

makes me think of 'the future' circa 68-72 slash Pacman slash genetically mutated webbed feet. i mean this in the best possible way, of course.
you should add a picture of you in your white robes riding a unicorn over a rainbow or something.

cityramica

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 03:03 pm (UTC)

& of course there's always Glaser's

imomus

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 03:19 pm (UTC)

Wow, that almost looks like Julie Verhoeven! Nice!

benchilada

benjamin sTone

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 03:45 pm (UTC)

First, Otto Spooky has one of my favorite album covers ever.

Second, "...who's very generously hosting all my books and records in a corner of his studio..."

I absolutely love how the word "hosting"--like the word "access"--has morphed into a beautiful word with so many overlapping meanings...

charleston

Bonham C

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 04:12 pm (UTC)

Hello

This is totally off topic and all that but your “occasional radio show” has come up on my iPod two days running now and I’ve listened right through and loved it all including your very softly, softly voice which is such a joy because I like hearing the information but I hate DJs usually because their voices get on my nerves.

Please phone the authorities and get yourself on the Digital Audio Dab thing in the kitchen and the car! Please.

lord_whimsy

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 04:18 pm (UTC)

Uncle Miltie has very large, soft hands, Don't ask me how I know this.

Love Ogden Nash.

Babyteeth always seems to work best when it is employed as the main image. Palette's pinks, puttys and greens are nice and warm, too.

bopscotch

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 06:21 pm (UTC)

I love the art, especially those colors! I want to read all those books you have sitting there, what are they and where can I aquire them?

cap_scaleman

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 06:31 pm (UTC)

It would be cool if that font on that black background was set in the middle of the front cover with some sort of folkish collage around it all. Or, if that is not good for the budget it would be nice with some kind of white lines around like a frame(Lines in the same style of those at crossings).
Just.... Some thoughts I got out of looking at that cover art suggestion...

tassellrealm

XWSF Tassell

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 06:50 pm (UTC)

Yes, that's a nice font.

Nice colours as well, a bit like early eighties English bathroom fittings.

lolitard

Bruise Springsteen

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 07:01 pm (UTC)

It's so pretty it makes my heart hurt a little bit! It's like someone singing about spring in the dead of night.

insomnia

Insomnia

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 07:13 pm (UTC)

Typography is powerful.

Just be careful, though, or you'll get people interviewing you who want to call you Mo.

fishwithissues

jordan fish

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 08:49 pm (UTC)

I like the vertical acrostics this cover invites: m om, omci, -ukl, syk
did I miss the entry where you explained the origins of the title "ocky milk", or is it spookily ambiguous?

imomus

	Wed, Mar. 22nd, 2006 09:15 pm (UTC)

You know what? I did explain it before, saying that "Ocky Milkman's Wife", the origin of the title, was the title of a painting I'd seen somewhere.It is, but I just googled and discovered that Ocky Milkman's wife is a character in Dylan Thomas's radio play "Under Milk Wood". That play was a favourite of mine when I was about 12, I had the book at boarding school and must have read it many times. So the reason it jumped out at me when I saw the painting title is that it was already buried deep in my head. It's a Dylan Thomas reference. My Welsh album!

tassellrealm

XWSF Tassell

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 09:19 am (UTC)

Oh yeah, I did that for O' level.

(Anonymous)

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 01:40 am (UTC)

baby teeth

there's a chicago-based band called baby teeth. i believe some of the members have something to do with bobby conn (backing band perhaps?). the very start of this song sounds like it could be from the little red songbook. http://www.babyteethmusic.com/Baby%20Teeth%20-%20Heather%20via%20JC.mp3

imomus

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 01:45 am (UTC)

Re: baby teeth

If it were a lot ~~worse~~ better produced that could almost be Ariel Pink.

peripherus_max

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 06:26 am (UTC)

Beautiful sleeve! Will there be any multimedia content? Prince is giving away golden tickets in his new release you know.

http://www.nme.com/news/prince/22422

intergalactim

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 06:38 am (UTC)

i've been meaning to ask for a while,
was this yellow disc trend just a coincidence so soon after working together?
dicipline & otto spooky
top: anne laplatine "dicipline"
bottom: momus "otto spooky"

imomus

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 11:26 am (UTC)

Anne designed her CD sleeve herself. I remember her saying she liked the textless orange blend I did on the CD for "Summerisle" (which I designed). I also suggested the plain yellow CD to James, so "Summerisle" may be the common ancestor to both these records in terms of that "plain bright-coloured CD" meme.

imomus

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 01:59 pm (UTC)

Oh, wait, it was the background that was orange, not the CD! I'm blithering...

intergalactim

	Fri, Mar. 24th, 2006 07:47 am (UTC)

well anyway, one of those pinks, greens or rich greys would make a nice disc colour for Ocky Milk...

annes' album came out first didn't it?

(Anonymous)

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 11:02 am (UTC)

Thought for next time.

Would you consider soliciting covers from the internet community
?

imomus

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 11:28 am (UTC)

Re: Thought for next time.

To be honest, I don't think I would. Although there would no doubt be some great ones, I think a lot would also hurt my eyes. And it would be awkward to have to say "Thanks but no thanks" so many times.

tassellrealm

XWSF Tassell

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 12:25 pm (UTC)

It's very difficult to make good designs for CDs.

Because they're not square.

And they're not oblong.

cap_scaleman

	Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 07:01 pm (UTC)

I might be a bit late about this, but what do you think of this album cover, Momus?

imomus

	Fri, Mar. 24th, 2006 03:53 am (UTC)

It's not bad, I quite like this "hello-earth-hello-trees-hello-flowers-hello-geography-teacher" style.

cap_scaleman

	Fri, Mar. 24th, 2006 06:27 pm (UTC)

Thank you! That made my day!

dominik500
dominik500

	Fri, Mar. 24th, 2006 08:51 am (UTC)

Lyrics?

Any chance Ocky Milk will contain the lyrics somewhere in the packaging?

Dominik

(Anonymous)

	Wed, Mar. 29th, 2006 01:06 pm (UTC)

Dada in Kansas

I'm a stay at home mom, living in a split level in Lawrence, Kansas. I get an artsjournal email, daily, to keep my mind from rotting away completely. I LOVED your article about brainstorming and masks. I've been thinking about those topics a lot just recently. I can't believe I've never heard of you up to this point. I plan to read here more frequently in the future.

I am very proud of the Mayor of our city, Boog Highberger, who recently announced a string of random days to annually celebrate as DADA day. April 1st will be our cities first Dada day parade downtown. I think I'll wear a mask. (a physical mask, not the one I wear around everyday)

xvs

Lethal Krsna

	Wed, Nov. 22nd, 2006 12:37 am (UTC)

shit
you're genius
GE-NI-US

i've just only had some similar thoughts formed and done in some sort of some demos, but once again, you did it first :)
maybe it's like same mind-frequency, i just don't know, but it's so fucking familiar - like i saw last night in my dreams
have you been there?

thank you for your great music :)
really.

btw, do you plan any concerts in russia, please?
really wanna see you live:)