So the new Thumpermonkey record finally got finished. It is entitled “We Bake Her Bread Beneath Her Holy Fire“. Here is the artwork that I prepared for it. The look I was aiming for is bold and striking - an attempt at a classy and “iconic” feel (whatever that means!). The bird-headed woman speaks to the Aztec imagery that Mike Woodman enjoys so much, the birds are a nod to HP Lovecraft’s soul-snatching whippoorwills (as mentioned in Whateley, track 2), and the toaster is, well, an incredible looking toaster (and matched to the imagery in Proktor Cylex, track 4).

Yes. It is here. Four tracks of molten gloom recording at Keynote Studios in Reading. Half the recording was paid for by Nightshift Magazine, Oxford, after they awarded 50ft Panda with Demo of the Month, and the engineer, Umair Chaundry, got an absolutely blinding sound for the record. I truly free the bar has been lifted again - this is definitely the best sounding record I’ve ever been part of.

Please download Olid, by Olid for free (at 320kbps mp3) from TootingBizarre.org, our free netlabel.

Todger’s third album, and their first full-length album with the full-fat electric line-up is now available. Recorded by our good friend Anthony Chapman, I was struggling to come up with the right cover for this. Something humorous but rocking, evil looking but with a wink. After a number of false starts, I woke up one morning with a vision of this. Luckily I have some instantly game friends, and I thank Mr.W and Miss.P for their assistance.

Inspired in no small way by the recent Francis Bacon exhibit, I was excited to try a tryptic of my own and bring some narrative into the design in a way that I’ve not achieved before. Here is the front cover in context:

The back cover is particularly silly and makes a satisfying job of undermining any initial perceived seriousness in the front cover. The satanic halo I’m particularly pleased with…

Completed the album artwork for the new 50ft Panda EP - The Tribunal of Mr Shout. This is their second recording, and we went for a more esoteric, pseudo-mathematical, Illuminati symbolism, mystic conspiracy kinda feeling. I’m very pleased with it, and I’m sure Robert Anton Wilson would like it too…

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I have also updated the 50ft Panda site to match the new artwork. Huh!

In November, the device made another EP. It is bass and piano, and it is available for free download. Here is the artwork.

Diefenbaker bootlegged their recent gig at Dragon Hall, part of the Norwich Fringe Festival, and it turned out so well they’re giving it away as a live EP.

Todger have been busy. They have been gigging like monsters, and so this document has been produced to immortalise the “interim” line-up, now that Nathen “The Artful Todger” Sparks has returned to reclaim his (drum) throne. I have provided the following ridiculous artwork for the live album. The title is, of course, a tribute to the seminal Peter Framton live album.

It is my very great honour to present my album art for Miss Kat Marsh’s new EP, which can be heard at her myspace. Kat gave me some clear pointers as to style, and Natasha Williams provided some great photos.