Key Changes in CD albums.

80s/90s/2000s

Drum and Bass, is a type of electronic music which emerged in the mid 90s. It consists of fast break beats, typically between 140-189 BPM, with heavy bass and sub baselines. Jungle came before drum & basss original blow up, and many of the drum & bass elements that characterize the genre today have come from the genre of Jungle. Therefore, the early analysis in this PowerPoint will consist of analyzing albums that are slightly of the jungle, and electronic genre.

EARLY 90s

The Experience by The Prodigy.

No primary image, only a boring grey background. Perhaps it lacks in a complex, digital design due to the lack of digital technology in the early 90s in comparison to what we are exposed to now by the media industry

The albums release: 1992.

Conventional to the genre in that there is no primary image of the artists. Alternative genres tend to allow their audience to identify with their artist via the front covers visually, Drum & bass albums tend to give prominence only to names and music styles, not the appearance of the artists.

The group produces styles of many genres, including the some of the earliest drum & bass breakbeat sounds.

There is great simplicity in this design. The colours scheme can be defined as relatively bland colours: Grey background with a grey and black writing. We cannot comment on the mise-en-scene because of the fact that there is no image, no camera work as the focal point and the In terms of typography analysis, the font size is very large, covering at least one album covers layout is third of the CD cover. There are no indications towards anything on the album being souly of the album name hand drawn, this is a digitally produced font design. One could argue that the font and title. design of prodigy; resembles the artistic style of writing that would be seen in graffiti. The experience is in a significantly smaller font, and it is indeed relatively conventional to the drum & bass genre for the layout to be as such: Album name smaller than the name of the artists.

There is a De saturated image, a wide shot, of the group towards the bottom half of the CDs back pane. It is arguably a sepia colour. In terms of layout, the track listing is above the image. It is relatively unusual to have an image on the back of the CD, they tend to be at the top, but perhaps this is conventional to the genre associated with rebellion and individuality as this is a relatively unique layout. Similar to the front cover, very simplistic design, no compelling artwork. Bland black and grey Music for the jilted generation colours remain. Institutional information and barcode present.

by

The Prodigy

1994

This is The Prodigys second album, released just two years after their first album The Experience. A key change that has occurred, is that this album has a primary image. We are exposed to a very expressive primary image that is slightly freighting, and arguably very artistic. This is conventional to the drum & bass genre greatly, using abstract, imaginative ideas. The face looks to be suffocated in a metallic sheet, screaming at the top of his lungs. The entire close- up image conveys the notion of energy, as perhaps the person is experiencing the somewhat deafening sound of Drum & Bass and Electronica, The Prodogies main genres.

Here we can see the albums back pane. Very interesting and unique to this album, there is no track listing on the back pane. Towards the bottom is the institutional information, however all the other paragraphs are completely unique to thanking people, and giving respect to people. Famous DJs such as Carl Cox & Dave Angle for example are acknowledged. Conventional to the genre? I believe so, the drum & bass & electronic cultures are all tight communities where various artists offer help, assistance, vocals for example to another artists song. It reaffirms the notion of unity within this music. White font upon a black background, clearly visible. We can see how the album designer used a revolving colour scheme of dark colours, and within the black colour, various shades of black. It is conventional in that the colours from the front cover are the same, however slightly less extreme.

It is clearly visible that the Typography remains exactly the same in both albums There has clearly been no change to the font design. The layout has differed slightly, due to the incorporation of a primary image, so the prodigy has shifted slightly higher than in the experience, as without this change would shelter part of the enticing image. Music for the jilted generation is placed at the bottom of the primary image, in a font far smaller than that of the prodigy, yet, honed and solid enough to still convey a deep sense of masculinity What the background and primary image resemble is a metal, a thin metallic sheet. In that, the colours are polished and glossy, yet still dull. Greys blacks and whites. We could argue how although far more detailed and rendered, this is similar to The Experience as they have not yet delved into colour pallets and used expressive colours and shades that fabricate the alluring artwork of drum & bass albums for present day.

In the early 90s, it is clear that Puffs play no significant role and are not placed on the album covers. Both out of the two albums so far analyzed are insufficient in puffs.

Although the primary image is very expressive and artistic, there are again no convoluted shapes and designs that drum & bass album covers are so famous for. We are not yet in the years that this become such an iconic part of the genre.

Mid- 90s
Where the genre Drum & Bass became defined and began to blow up.

Timeless album by Goldie Released 1995. Goldie is one of the influential Djs that really pioneered the movement of Drum & Bass music to its somewhat world renowned status. This was the year where the genre really took off. We can see how the conventional iconography: images associated with space and the universe are imbedded into this album front cover. The layout is relatively simplistic, similar to the prodigies early albums. A primary image in the center, the focal point of the album, and then the album title and artist name, one above one bellow, in the same font and size. The image colours are quite cold. The dark and light blues, with black shadows around one side of the space ship, pitched black eyes for the skull inside create both a puzzling and chilling image. Upon the quite and plain background, it is enhanced even further.
Again, puffs have yet to be introduced to Drum & Bass album covers.

The typography of the album title and artist name is a font similar to Andale Mono.What is interesting is that there are large spaces between each letter, which seek to fill up the entire top half and bottom half of the cover with writing. The Typography is conventional to the genre in that this idea of strength is suggested, the writing is bold and hard, sharp edged, this is very conventional to the drum and bass genre where all albums analyzed have used relatively masculine fonts.

Institutional information on both the CD and back cover. Here we can see the actual CD and its design. There is what looks to be an alien head of a very large size, or outline of one, as the primary image: Red. The background is white, similar to the front and back covers background colour. We can see in terms of colour schemes, primary colours have been used greatly. Red on the CD, blue on the album front cover. Broadly defined, this CD is conventional to the drum & bass genre as that Space and extraterrestrial bewildering element is prominent. The typography is the same font as the front cover, the difference is the layout on the CD. Both album title and artist name are at the top of the CD; what is conventional to the genre again is the artist name to be of a greater size than the album name, perhaps due to the lack of Artist images on Drum & Bass albums, the manor in which the artists connect with there audience is by capturing them by their names not their appearances.

Track listing split, on either side of the image. Very unique and therefore conventional to the genre in keeping in with the insurgent nature of Drum & Bass.

Back Pane: Colour scheme remains. Blue and white from the front cover, the exact same image also remains from the front cover. This is conventional to our genre to have a colour scheme that revolves. However, it is still very simplistic, as the genre has not yet fully evolved into a genre of art as well as music, e.g the lack of graffiti designs and convoluted shapes is still not prominent.

The Prototype Years by Grooverider 1997

Firstly, when analyzing the colours, it is clear tha a very dark colour scheme has been used for the design. The black background, accompanied wit the red, orange, and dark brown flame-ish design of the primary image creates one highly dusky atmosphere. One may even go as far as arguing i is far more conventional to a Heavy metal album an image that is somewhat satanic.

Not only the colours, but more so the image itself creates such a dark atmosphere. The primary image is of a close up, of one solitary Skull. We can see this, and its hollow eyes are looking directly at us, which is direct address, something conventional to drum & bass images. As mentioned before, images associated with space are conventional to the drum and bass genre. Now after analyzing both albums in the late 90s, this and Goldies timeless, images of death and destruction are clearly iconic to the drum and bass genre. Both albums have a a primary image consisting of a skull on their fron covers. Typography: Of a small font, both the album name and even smaller font the artists name, but still similar to all the other albums analyzed a font that Is quite thick and strong looking. This is therefore then highly conventional to the genre, fonts that depict power . What should also be noted on here is the Grooverider presents, and how it sounds far more formal.

It is important to note that for this album this is the only back pane image I could indeed find, and therefore, I am assuming this had been released in japan or china, hence the foreign language on the sides.

What we can see here, on the back pane, is that the colour scheme has remained the same. Dark colours, the blacks and dark browns combined with the somewhat beaming yellow, together creating the image of flames and fire. What is becoming far more conventional to the drum and bass genre as we descend closer in the 2000s Is this notion of complex designs. This design, both front pane and back far more detailed and less simplistic than the albums analyzed before in the PowerPoint.

Track listing is central to the CD back cover. Barcode is on the right hand side. The typography is very small, but sharp and capitalized. This projects the conventional notion of strength to the person viewing the album back cover. The layout is again relatively conventional to the drum & bass genre in terms of their being a track listing on the back pane.

EARLY 2000s

Logical Progression Level 1 by LTJ Bukem

Our eyes are drawn to the image of earth first, as it take up nearly two thirds of the entire pane. Then, the star, and finally our eyes are drawn to the typography. The metallic greyish tone to the text is perhaps there to allude us away from it, it is somewhat lost behind this alluring image, and in that, perhaps the design is trying to convey the notion that nothing is as important as the universe.

2001

Furthurstill, the font is small, still conventional in that we are presented with sharp, tightly compact fonts that subvert from feminine fonts such as Helvetica or apple chancery. I have noticed that all drum & bass albums use highly masculine fonts, its use can now almost be predicted. This is a convention I shall adhere to when designing my album.

We have now reached the early 2000s. What remains very conventional to the drum and bass genre is the primary image on this album front cover: Earth. The sun/gleaming star is the secondary image, to the left hand upper side of the album cover. This could bee described as an extreme close up of a quarter of earth. Clearly, this is an image of earth is very picturesque, broadly defined, it is these iconic images of the universe that the entire genre is a part of, and here it is adhered to greatly. The star illuminates a section of earth, and the black background seeps into the bottom right hand corner, casting a shadow. Although beautiful, I gain a sense of isolation form the image, the colours; bitter blues and greens really portray the universe as being a cold, solitary place. Drum & bass albums are somewhat famous for taking beautiful images and fluctuating with their saturations and overall atmosphere, to project to the audience something far more sinister. We could even go as far as deeming this a stereotypical image of the genre.

Very plain CD design. Album name and artist name visible, with numbers on both East, South, and West of the CD. Not entirely sure what VR stands for. Upon analysis, plain CDs are becoming increasingly more conventional to the drum & bass genre. Colours: Use of the primary colour red to draw clarity in the writing upon a white background. No primary image, in fact, the entire colour scheme looks to be entirely different from the albums front cover and back cover which is relatively unconventional to the genre, the blues and black tones are not present here. Barcode in the top left hand corner. In terms of the back panes layout, the image of the artist is central, and the track listing and institutional information lies beneath the image. The font from the front pane remains the same, the colour stays the same also: a metallic grey. It is upon a pitch black background that the grey does stand prominent. Conventional to the genre again is this notion of a masculine font, here is seems somewhat stretched as if the masculinity of it is being pulled even further. Web page. Important to note, as this allows the audience to expand their music experience further using web 2.0. We could argue that this is indeed very conventional to the drum & bass genre as this type of music, more so than all others, is a culture. People live, sleep, eat, breath, rave drum & bass- and this external link allows them to do this.

Back Pane: Primary image, of the artist LTJ Bukem. This is similar to Prodigies album The experience, where there is an image of all three artists on their back pane. This allows the audience to identify with the artist, it is a mid shot where his entire face cannot be seen. Perhaps, although he we can see what he looks like, he has masked most of his identity, mouth and nose, with shadows cast upon his face, to adhere to what the genre is famous for. Albums where the artists are no where near as important as the music.

Hold Your Colour by Pendulum 2005

What is conventional in the typography of the album cover is the artists name being larger than the name of the album. I believe this is because the artists rarely use pictures of themselves, they connect with the audience only through their music and name. Album name lacks important; what is important is the artist. Further still, what we witness again is this masculine, outstretched font that depicts a sense of bold strength. The letters are ridged, pendulum looks like a futuristic font, something we would see in movies depicting aliens. Again, this notion of the universe and outer space is projected to the audience, which is very conventional to the genre.

Now, in 2005, with they key change of technology rapidly increasing we can see one highly conventional image to the drum & bass genre. One may even call it the epitome of a iconic drum & bass image. The design looks to me to be an evolution of graffiti art- intricately detailed as graffiti but far more smooth in the strokes of the colours and patterns. It is a very complex image that induces bewilderment: What are they trying to make us feel? What does this image mean? How does this relate to pendulum? These are all questions this image poses for the the person viewing the front cover of this digi pack, and this is very conventional to a genre where unconventional and highly confusing images are used to project messages we can not fully comprehend. Perhaps the most conventional image analyzed so far in the PowerPoint. It could be described as one primary image, of an eye and its eyelashes that descend into a convoluted pattern. The colour scheme is very interesting an intense. Greens, light colours juxtaposed with dark purples and blacks all convey quite a dark image.

Puff used to attract audience attention. This is relatively conventional to the genre, arguably, because it mainly targets niche audiences with the underground drum & bass artists, pendulum, being perhaps one of the most famous drum & bass groups are targeting a mass audience and therefore need puffs to attract more people. So it is indeed conventional to them. The puff has quotes from critics about the album, and songs that are included in the album.

Both are images of the album Front cover.

Luckily, I have found an image on the internet of behind the CD. Unfortunately these images are very difficult to find, and therefore not all the other albums analyzed on the PowerPoint posses these images. What we can see: The entire colour scheme and design is evident here also. This means the album designer kept a revolving theme onto all panes of the CD, this is highly conventional to the drum & bass genre. It allows for one seemingly fluid visual digi pack. The primary image of two hands grasping some sort of energy. Perhaps this is indicative of the power of music the band have in their hands. What I find very interesting about this albums design in particular is that It appears, at times, hand drawn, and then at times clearly computerized. If so, this is conventional to the genre in that they keep elements of graffiti art in the album design. This idea of a conjunction of Hand drawn and digital technology is something I might use for my final design. We can see how the design clearly continues throughout the entire CD.

Image on the front cover also on the CD. Album name and artists name also on the CD. Example again of how the same iconic images and colours revolve around the entire Digi Pack.

Font remains the same.

Conventional again for the drum & bass album to have its track listing on the back cover. We can see how although the image (the eye) remains the same yet again. The green still permeates through the entire digi back. It is then somewhat sinister that this eye is following us around through all panes of the CD, which is relatively conventional to the drum & bass genre, this notion of something being so beautiful in design yet having an underlying sinister aspect to it. The eye is indeed quite scary.

Barcode and institutional information present at the bottom of the back pane.

My attraction to this album front cover is the colour scheme. It is a black and white colour scheme, I believe it is edited to enhance shadows and highlights as well as saturated slightly. This is done digitally, however similar to Hold your colour by The Prodigy, it has a hand drawn element to it. This image is very conventional to the genre in that it uses various techniques to create one beautifully confusing image. I cant help but recall M. C Escher's Stairs when looking at this image, it is highly perplexing.

Endangered Species by Black Empire Sun

2007 We can see now, both this album and the album analyzed before hand have used digital technology to the extent of producing a complex and beautiful image. It is because what people can do with technology increases as time goes on, and this is reflected in the album covers. A key change compared to the albums analyzed first in the power point.

The image is very confusing and I cannot even begin to understand what the artist is trying to convey fully, and this is again conventional to the genre. There are many faces within the design all depicting different, intense expressions. This looks to be some sort of demonic creature, there are eyes and people all around, amongst the stairs and hallways that all merge together. The image is both beautiful and quite frightening, and it is this that makes it conventional to the genre. In my opinion, drum & bass is built on juxtapositions.

Layout: Because it is one primary image that covers the entire album there is a claustrophobic atmosphere about this image, as it is so in your face. This is conventional to the drum & bass genre; this notion of being bombarded by either sound or images, as each rule of third of the image has a design that is as complex and intriguing as the other. Your eyes are not sure where to look.

The font looks very manly and strong, One could place credence in the notion hat is looks very metallic to create a futuristic feel. What Is interesting is how small both the artists name and album name are in comparison to the image, clearly they did not want to retract any focus away from this beautiful piece of art. This is very conventional to the genre, graffiti art being more important than typography words.