Sleeveface: Be The Vinyl

25 Nov 2008 Category: Music, Photography, Worldwide

Sleeveface: Be The Vinyl

OMG, the record cover genre citing itself! Optical illusion by Matthew James Straker, expanding into the physical world. From the Sleeveface site.

With the advent of the MP3 era, the same album cover lovers who had to cope when smaller CD artwork came along, are again shrieking with horror as artwork shrinks further (nicely enough, iTunes realised that and turned towards a cover-based user interface lately.) How about some sleevefacing to pay tribute to good old vinyl? People have been doing this for a while, and, last year, the Sleeveface group from Wales started an online campaign: Select your favourite record cover (or the ones from your Mom) and imagine a story, a whole setting around the detail depicted on it. Take a picture, and done! The results are now compiled in the new Sleeveface - Be The Vinyl book. PingMag had a chat with one of the three founders, Carl Morris.

Written by Ian Newcomb

The How To Make A Sleeveface clip by Ewan, one of the three founders of the Sleeveface group. More on YouTube over here!

Though creatively expanding a record cover visually isn’t new, spreading it in the Internet age is. So, when and how did Sleeveface get started?

Sleeveface started when I was DJing in a bar in Cardiff, Wales. I held a Paul McCartney sleeve in front of my face and we took a photo. Gradually my DJ friends and I discovered more sleeves in our collections and started combing our collections for more. I posted a photo of McCartney and Ted Nugent online to a local music forum. When we reached ten or so pictures, I realised the practice needed a name and registered sleeveface.com in May 2007 which I later adapted into a blog. John Rostron started a Facebook group and Ewan [Jones Morris] made a video called How To Sleeveface featuring the voice of [BBC radio presenter] Huw Stephens and math rock music from Truckers Of Husk [watch above].

Some naughty Little Red Riding Hood! Photo art by Gary Kozak and Leslie Kenhart. From the Sleeveface site.

Recently, John Rostron said on Facebook that Sleeveface is about rescuing vinyl and CDs from MP3 tracks. Please comment!

Sleeveface was born in the MP3 era. Although people have been known to pose with album covers before, this era is also the era of social networking platforms where people can share stuff quickly. There is also a cognitive surplus which means that people are more drawn to interactive stuff rather than purely passive media. They have time and energy to participate and make their own fun. It’s also the era of history becoming flat. What I mean is, people are discovering old music like it’s new and everything is up for reappraisal, reappropriation and remix.
[More on remix culture from Lawrence Lessig here.]

Manilow Magic reappropriated by Tim Morgan. From the Sleeveface site.

Wise words. What’s the ethos of Sleeveface?

The ethos of Sleeveface is great records, great music and great artwork! The bonus is having fun while spending time with your friends. We’ve had messages and superb Sleeveface pictures from many countries, such as USA, UK and Canada… Also Brazil, Chile and South America are strongly into it!

Our favourite! Peaches had a sex change, by Vasilis Bibas. From the Sleeveface site.

And why do you think it’s been such a global success?

It’s visual, it’s funny and it has a memorable and easy to spell name. It also has a presence on lots of different social networks. Anyone can participate and if you make a good Sleeveface it can be seen by thousands of people within 24 hours.

Who are the most frequently submitted sleeveface artists?

I would say Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand and David Bowie. And Phil Collins.

Simple and beautiful! Alpert Square, elegantly vitalised by Jorge Herran Ramirez. From the Sleeveface site.

Ha! So, what makes a good sleeveface?

Good alignment! And sleeves that haven’t been done before. Dig deep! That said, there are still ways to rock a Manilow, Streisand or Bowie with unusual props or locations, even though we’ve seen several of them. Good photography skills help too. Take your time. If the head on the sleeve is small, ask a friend to hold it at a distance. Watch the How To Sleeveface video!


What’s going on (here)? Presumably Marvin’s out in the garden checking the progress of his grapevine. From the Sleeveface site.

And what would be your personal favourite?

My favourites are the ones that take the concept and expand on it. For example, a Sleeveface of some hands digging for records where the guy has cleverly used a sleeve that has a stack of records depicted on the front. [See main image.]

What do you think of anti-cover art? See, for example, Hard-Fi’s NO COVER ART sleeve…

Nice concept but see also: XTC - Go 2, The Beatles - White Album, or Flipper - Album Generic Flipper.

The movement has been such a hit that you complied Sleeveface — Be The Vinyl with the best home-made covers. How did the book get to life?

It took a call from 50 Cent’s literary agent to make it happen! He’d seen it online and hooked us up with Artisan Books, an independent publisher from New York who was really enthusiastic. The book looks fantastic! I’ve been looking at these images for a while, but I still can’t help browsing through and spotting new details.

Madvillain’s robot is content with a breakfast cookie, by Felix Steinbild. From the Sleeveface site.

50 Cent’s agent! It gets better and better! However, have you received any complaints from the artists or designers responsible?

We’ve received loads of appreciation and nobody has ever complained. There is a really positive quote from David Bowie on the front cover which feels like a lifetime’s ambition come true, except that I never consciously had an ambition to hold record sleeves in front of my face and have Bowie express his approval. He is the perfect advocate of Sleeveface, of course, because he is a chameleon. New Order’s Stephen Morris is quoted on the back. We also got some messages from Andy Bell of Erasure, producer Arthur Baker, Bill Drummond of the KLF, and Adam Ant.


Sleeveface - Be The Vinyl, the book cover!

This social network thing has spread by now: What exactly goes on at the Sleeveface party nights — synchronised sleevefacing?

We have done some mass Sleevefacing! For most of it, we do what we know, which is to play hairy funk and reggae at loud volume and dance like goons while our photographer friend takes pics. It’s good to meet the faces behind the sleeves too.

Finally, what next for the Sleeveface empire?

It’s up to you. What’s on your record shelf? There’s loads of room for innovation!

Thank you, Carl. Now folks, show us your fun side and engage in a little bit of sleevefacing too! Try the the awesome book, the Sleeveface site and their Flickr group!

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