'Toys' - Take Two

This was the second attempt at the Special Benny cover - it didn't work for a few reasons but I think the biggest problem is the scale. There's too many figures and too much detail and given the actual size of a cd cover by the time it's reduced in size it doesn't have a huge impact.

'Strictly for the Birds'

'Strictly for the Birds' (aka 'no time to do new artwork and hope no-one notices the lack of ornithological themed songs') was my last minute contribution to the esteemed Very Good Plus annual Christmas mix swap. It's messy and all-over-the-shop starting off with a fuzz-driven pots and pans bashing Bollywood number before moving swiftly into the hippy-baiting pyschedelics then onto some filthy prog, before detouring through Kraut-lite rock, scratchy surf, beat, French prog-fuzz nonsense, whistley soundtracks, a touch of funk and soul, the obligatory spooked out Beatles cover before collapsing in a sweaty pool of slightly more contemporary stuff. Like I said it's a fucking mess. Ideally I would have had time to draw a cover that wasn't already destined for greater things and screen-print them but I was on the subs bench and only given the go-ahead in the dying stages.

Click on the pic to read the tracklisting.

'My Home is the Sea' alternative design

I just dug this up during a big mac clean up - it never saw the light of day as I decided to print each character separately but I'm still considering a small run of these. I can't make up my mind if I like it or not...

Cardboard snails, paints, inks and a straight razor. That's my dream, it's my nightmare.

I had the fantastical idea of cutting out hundreds of wee toys and hanging them on tiny thread in a miniature cardboard set for the Special Benny cover. Unfortunately it took forever and when I scanned the initial figures the light watercolour wash I gave them got lost in the process. Then I realised I'd need proper lighting and a decent studio for it not to look hokey and shit.

It was basically my Apocalypse Now - "I was in my studio, there were too many ideas floating around my head, I had access to too much booze, too much card, too many sweets and little by little I went insane."

Part two didn't go a great deal better but more of that to come!

Cornershop - Free Love

In a thinly veiled attempt to seem slightly more productive this month I'm sneaking the forthcoming Cornershop single into my blog for two reasons - it's great and the video is aces too.

I've always had a soft spot for Cornershop (dodgy big beat remixes aside) and still think 'Born for the Seventh Time' is a [well] good record so it was a nice surprise to hear this on the radio today - they're still more than capable of putting out records that are as catchy as they are unclassifiable. In their own words 'psychedelic extrapolation of Punjabi folk'. The gloriously hand-crafted video is animated by Chris Hemming - have a peek by clicking here.

I'm still knee deep in Special Benny artwork that has had me fretting for what is beginning to seem like forever...

Stuart Kolakovic

I chanced upon Stuart Kolakovic earlier this year when I was in Edinburgh and spotted one of his fine prints in Analogue Books all framed and ready to go for a paltry £10. Fast forward a couple of months and Mitch from OMG Posters decided to shine a light on Stuart highlighting some of the delightful ware in his shop including a rad (!) screen-printed slalom skate-board. The only problem now I'm forty notes lighter is whether to hang it on the wall or ring up my old catamaran buddy Damon and find a fuck-off big hill...

Special Benny's 'Air Filter' out now!

If anyone can tell me a better way to spend 69p I'll send them a free limited edition screen-print of the cover* but I certainly can't think of one. Click here to buy one - all nepotism aside it's my favourite single of 2009.

* when I do it in January.