hello how are you Stanley Donwood: Radiohead cover artist we hope you enjoy

this magazine through enjoyable looking. Do not consume, if swallowed call

authorities immediatly for reprogramming. Reclaiming Space: New DVD box art
Caution: corners are sharp, read facing away from the grain. Keep away from
open flame.Yamaha’s new CD-R data side image drive Optimal reading envior-
this April 2004
Issue 4 Vol.3
issue:
ments include: not you, someone else, preffered repeat customers, sheep. Allow
8 to 10 weeks for news to become old. Free Blank Pages Just what is an “Editor
music design magazine at Large” Do not leave out in sun for extended periods of time, April 2004 - Vo.3.

Publisher
Thom Yorke
Editor in Chief
Chris Baker
Bring along your tinfoil hat and a healthy dose of
paranoia, as we delve into Stanley Donwood’s
collabroative artwork for the British rock
band Radiohead. {23
Editor at Large
David Bowie
Creative Director
Trent Reznor 45
{ What once was lost, has now been found. See why
designers are rejoicing over DVD’s larger case
format, one step closer to the design heaven that
was the LP sleave.
Managing Editor
Kurt Cobain
Senior Editor
Shirley Manson
Associate Art Director
Rivers Cuomo
Assistant Editor
Scott Weiland
Editorial Intern
Throw away all those Sharpies! Yahama
introduces a CD writer that is able to
burn images and text onto an ordinary
CD-R!
{52
Richard D. James
Copy Editors
{ What you thought there would be more in this mag-
azine? Sorry, no budget for that sort of thing. Please

64
Thom Yorke enjoy these blank pages, or better yet, design
Colin Greenwood something in them! We’ll be sure to rip you off later.
Contributing Editors
Jonsi Brigisson
Kjatan Sveinsson
Orri Pall Dyrason
Greg Holm
Bjork Gudmumdsdottir
Subscribers
Send subscripion orders
and inquires to:
XYZ Magazine
PO Box 143
Letters: you send them, we read them, then
laugh, then proceed to not publish them and
throw them in the trash. For those of you
sending email, our spam filter automatically
deletes anything you sent, so give up now.
{105
Pine Valley, CA 91962
www.xyzmagazine.com
555-555-5545

Check out googly

minotaur, just one of Stanley
Bla Bla Bla small legal text here that
Donwood’s creations for
you never read anyways bla bla bla Radiohead. These and
please don’t sue please don’t sue more all starting on pg. 23
please don’t sue please don’t sue
you’re still reading this? Please don’t
sue please don’t sue

2004/April/XYZ/ 02
 SEASIDE TOWN OF VAMPIRES observer, I imagine that they might see the cloud-
My holiday takes me to a resort for which I have distant scattered evening sky, reflected in my dark pupils.
but fond memories of innocent pleasures and fine bars. I
Whilst drinking coffee in my usual bar I am joined

STANLEY
wander the littered streets until I find my favourite can-
tina, now flyblown and murky. The proprietor fails to by a group of friends. A couple of hours pass in a

DONWOOD
recognise me, and I order a coffee.Sitting outside in the pleasant manner, and as evening darkens the sky I
an sunlight I am depressed by the changes that have am persuaded to join them for a bibulous meander.
taken place in this once beautiful seaside town. Many As the sun creases into a bank of simmering cumu-
shops are boarded up, the youth seem preoccupiedwith lus, consensus decrees that we visit a bar close to the
the dusty ground, and the cinema has been transformed meat-packing district. A relatively brief walk, and
into a seemingly unpopular bingo hall. Worst of all are our destination is within sight. Pigeons scutter over-
the diminutive vampires who bawl along the promenade head, and I am reminded of my jacket which I must
biting the legs of passers-by. The only way to deal with collect from the dry-cleaners.
these pointy-toothed parasites is to kick them viciously
into the quay, I entertain myself morosely in this way THE BURNING PUB
for about half an hour, sustaining only slight scratches The blackened city curves over our passage, and we
from the fangs of these riviera nosferatu. Things are not halt for a group consultation of the A to Z. I notice a
what they used to be around here. flash of light in the cornerof my vision, and turn
swiftly. Across the road, within the plate-glass win-
Unrelased linear note The thought reminds me uncomfortably of my ageing dows of a large and busy pub, sudden flames billow

ILLUSTRATING
artwork for Kid A, body, and my own repressed desire to live vicariously and swoop towards the ceiling. I stare, clamped to
Stanley’s album work the lives of others. I realise that although I can under- the pavement with disbelief. A surge of light blasts
includes eveything from

BIG BROTHER
foldouts to tracing paper.
stand the sad plight of the vampires, I cannot resist the from the pub windows, which are now completely
urge to kick them, flailing, into the grey ocean. I return filled with incandescence. I stand open-mouthed,
to my room, and sit at the window. If there were an unable to communicate the horror that is coursing

Always the illusive figure, graphic artist Stanley Donwood

has for the most part stayed out of the limelight of
Radiohead. Since attending Oxford University with Thom
Yorke, he has been designing artwork for albums, videos,
and parts of Radhiohead’s official website.

Most would agree that Donwood has created the face of Radiohead, apply-
ing his warped graphics to artwork for all of their recent albums, including
The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, and most recently Hail to the
Thief.

When he’s not working on album art, Donwood is working on various stages
of the official Radiohead web site, which has been a mecca for expirementa-
tion in HMTL and weird graphics. It is here we see how Stanley's artwork and
short stories have permeated Radiohead culture, providing inspiration and refer-
ence points for Thom Yorke’s lyrics and the sort of introspective moods you
might expect from the band. It may just be that Donwood’s bleak view of the
world fits nicely with Radiohead’s own discontent.

Donwood’s own website is a strange mixture of words and images. When he’s not
designing websites and album covers, Stanley can be found writing strange thoughts
about all sorts of things. Because we don’t really have anything more to say, we’ll let
Stanley take care of the rest, with a reprinting of some of his more “interesting” observations
about life.

These bears, which first made

their appearance in Kid A’s
artwork, were based off a
bedtime story Donwood told
his daughter.

all artwork courtesy of Stanley Doonwood

23/XYZ/April/2004 2004/April/XYZ/ 24
 1 2
Liner notes for the limited
edition release of
Radiohead’s Amnesiac.
CHIP SHOP
through me, merely ullulating monosyllabically. As
suddenly as they flared, the flames disappear. Within
the pub, the customers continue their evening. With
gasping breaths, I attempt to explain what I have just
seen to my friends. It is a new holocaust theme pub,
they explain. Nothing is real. I am unable to deal
with this, and make my way home through the echo-
ing streets with tearful eyes.
“ I realise that although I can understand
the sad plight of the vampires, I cannot
resist the urge to kick them, flailing, into
the grey ocean. ”
25/XYZ/April/2004
1. Artwork for the new
album Hail to the Thief.
2. Liner notes for the limited
editon of Kid A.
3. Kid A concept artwork.
Despite my reservations, I am wandering the streets 4. Donwood’s custom made tins.
of the town in the company of several people with
whom I have little in common. The evening has
been dominated by seemingly random sallies into
pubs populated almost exclusively by large men in
vests, with whom I have absolutely nothing in com-
mon. Every glance upwards reveals a sky that has
been soaked the colour of undistinguished lager.
Every time I attempt to join in the obvious jollity of
the occasion I am drowned out by the inadvertent
yelping of my compatriots, and I resort to adopting
a vacuous yet friendly expression whenever any
enquiry is directed in my direction. We stand in a
huddle of indecision outside a brightly-lit doorway,
and earnest debate fall around my ears as I watch,
with unbelieving nausea, a chef in the chip shop
opposite shoo a flaming, but living, pigeon from the
window of his establishment. The flying, sputtering
lump of flame erupts from the window with an
erratic path that is subsumed from my attention by
an enquiry from my colleagues regarding money.
I answer with rapidity, only to turn my gaze back to
find the burning bird has disappeared from my
view. After an eternity of boredom we emerge from
the club. The pigeon is lying in the gutter, curiously
expanded, horribly burnt, utterly dead. 4
3
2004/April/XYZ/ 26