You guys HAD to read this article..it's basically entirely written by Linder.....who is a goddess, so I translated it. Mind you, I have not spoken Swedish in over 4 years...so my translation may be a bit choppy. It was great practice, and I had to bust out the dictionary a couple of times too!!!!
Where do all the boring record covers come from? No, actually, forget that question. Instead ask where do all the beautiful ones come from, and the answer is not that hard.. The beautiful and content-rich ones, the fantastical and artistic ones, the provocative and overachieving ones come from an independent label a world over. I had no difficulty discovering that fact when I once again went through my album collection of 'two steps ahead' records. Darn, I thought, this is the day to show certain album covers and talk about the ideas behind them. That is why I wrote to a number of labels and their designers and asked them about policy, content and thoughts.
The first answer I got you can see here- a long letter from singer/designer Linder from a Manchester-based group Ludus who were featured in last issue of SCHLAGER. Her design shows independence and ideas combined with assured individuality long before the 'planning book flirting mainstream music ever tiring prepackagings'
Linder Says:
"Ludus words, music and artwork and uniqueness develop and refine and merge together. I think it is both hard and easy to try to analyze your inspiration. My artwork is intense, personal and I find it impossible to create sufficient distance from myself to accomplish a truly objective dissection.
My greatest fascination is the female form and her visual portrayal in today's society. In spite of the fact that they are stylized, the women that I draw are incorporated with meat and blood, compared to those more common portraits of women as wet-mouthed, big-breasted and flat-stomached. Most of my women are strong and self-sufficient characters; with two exceptions- the woman on The Visit and the woman on one of the sides of The Seductions. These two manifest a different, unlucky and unavoidable side of being a woman- woman as an offer, woman who is persuaded, woman who is prey, woman who gives in and suffocates and is left mangled.
The woman's face on The Seduction is immensely expressive in contrast to those anonymous, empty photos from men's point of view. This one here has a more personal stance of an all too familiar female paranoia. Feelings are also found written in the song "Unveiled- a woman's Travelogue" on the same album.
The back-side on the "Seduction" come from a drawing inspired by the song "My Cherry is in Sherry" which actually means: my cherry/my girlfriend- is in sherry/is menstruating. Despite that it is right splendid description, there definitely is a number of women who fin that offensive to be compared with sherry and implication of consumption. The depicted woman bears the usual attributes associated with porn- fishnet stockings, garter belts-- clothes that are designed to incite and attract men. But the inclusion of bandages and holders interrupts and contradicts an assumption of feminine lust and suggest availability.
The inner sleeve of "My Cherry is in Sherry" shows two female figures who challenge the establishment on a notion that a girl necessarily must be heterosexual.
For the cassette tape "Pickpocket" we did a special photo-magazine and single "Mother's Hour", I worked with photographer Christina Birrer in order to transfer my ideas and sketches into a more crafty series of photos. For "Pickpocket" I began to research possibilities of three-dimensional fotomontage- something that I have already done earlier and which was a natural development of my earlier montages in Secret Public, Orgasm Addict etc. It is something that I believe will be understood on a deeper level in future.
LP "Danger Came Smiling" was my first attempt with two-colour-stroke! I let the whole intent be to give the women some facial expression, even though the ones from before had both eyes and mouths. There are about 30 preliminary sketches that lead to my private installation of brilliant, wonderful women. Women who are both independent and unmoved of how they look, women who feel strong and secure in their bodies. I especially like the ambiguity of the hair/helmets. "
Linder has currently finished the design for Ludus' new record- Riding the Rag" which will be released on an Italian record label, not New Hormones who until now have stood behind her endeavors. She was working on a series of album covers that are desired for the Crepscule-label. Linder has dropped all of her immense work and now focuses on exclusively designing for Ludus.
Linder finished my questions with somewhat of a policy-declaration, her beliefs towards the world around us.
"I am interested to desroy those frames that limit us all. Frames of gender, work, art, life. I don't think that you can ever be objective neither isolated- separation is the same as death. For me, food is art, f***ing is art, everything is art. Art is all"
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEEHER
