I recently had the extreme pleasure of working together with wonderfully curated label, MERZBILD, and respected Iranian composer ATA EBTEKAR on his new release.
The process of the layout/packaging directly reflects Ata's approach in electronic composition for this very focused release. Respecting the medium, and constructing from the source.
We started out with beautiful tapestries that Ata's wife, Leila hand-painted, had them digitized, and then I further re-worked the original source images, to present them in an abstract, distinctive, yet complimentary manner, respecting the finalized work as a multi faceted approach in sonic/visual practice. In short the visual-information flow went something like this: original source >> digital >> deconstruct >> re-compose source >> result. You can preview the layout below, please click to enlarge.
The packaging and disc will be presented in quality Stumptown mini-gatefolds, and printed in rich black and metallic gold (Pantone 871). Pre-orders and excerpts from said release can be heard at the links above.
Further details from Merzbild:
"MB17: ATA EBTEKAR Dear Iran, Miniature Engines Throb In Time For Your Beating Heart [CD]
Ata Ebtekar (b. 1972 in Hamburg, DE) is an Iranian composer primarily concerned with the electronic manipulation of the Radif ( ردیف), a series of discrete scalar patterns structuring the Persian modal system. Programming synthesis languages, Ebtekar recasts these modes - known colloquially as the Dastgāh (دستگاه) - by fracturing form from content. Ebtekar's compositions are syntactic reworkings of the semantic structures of sound. Being, time, place and origin are compounded. Dear Iran, Miniature Engines Throb In Time For Your Beating Heart advances Ebtekar's unfettered electronic sensibilities, making apparent the distinction in style this project has from his work as Sote. Time and again, Dear Iran communicates a narrative of displacement, of the disjunction of culture and the migrating of identity in twentieth-century Iran. Precise in emotional tone, his narrative achieves cohesion by giving birth to machinic assemblages of synthesis.
The imprinting on the face of the replicated compact disc is in silkscreened in full colour. The disc is dressed in a 385 g/m² folding four-panel jacket with graphic elements printed in Pantone 871 C and Pantone Black 5 U. The disc insert includes Persian text and a motif from the cover art and is printed on transparency film. English-German parallel texts appear on the inner left panel of the jacket. The compact disc and accompanying literature reside in 118 g/m² protective black inner sleeves in the right panel pocket. Disc packaging prepared by Stumptown Printers in Portland, US. The total duration of this recording is 39:23. Limited to 300 copies.
Pictured below is a high-resolution mockup of the album cover including on-disc graphics designated for this publication.
Artist: Ata Ebtekar
Title: Dear Iran, Miniature Engines Throb In Time For Your Beating Heart [CD]
Label: MerzbildPublication Date: July 2013Catalog No.: MB17Program Length: 39:23Price: 15.50 USD / 20.60 USD / 24.90 USDAvailability: PRE_ORDER (SHIPS 1 JULY 2013)"
