When I was a kid, my dream was to become an album cover artist when I grew up. And I have many favorite covers including the one you see above of Billy Preston’s 1973 album The Kids & Me. Before acquiring this record as a child, I’d only ever owned Disney and Sesame Street soundtracks, so this was also one of the very first “grown-up” albums I ever owned.
And now forgive me for what I am about to do, but don’t think it’s fair that I should have to experience it alone. This week I saw one of the most disgusting pieces of album artwork I’ve ever seen. I found it so repulsive, that I felt a need to save it in my downloads so I would have it forever. Then the next day, without describing it, out of the blue, a friend asked if I had seen it. It had shaken him too. We both agreed that it was unforgettably disgusting and maybe, possibly, sort of perfect.
And with that, here is the cover of the forthcoming album by genuinely fab post-punkers Dry Cleaning.
Cover art is important. It can be the determining factor as to whether you give an album a spin or not. I know when I see a baby picture or childhood vacation photo used as a cover I immediately recoil in horror. I want adventure, weirdness & hand-made dreamscapes, not a kid in a hotel pool with f-ing mouse ears or holding a toy guitar on Xmas morning. A cover photo like that tells me “this album is not going to change your life” and carries the insufferable side message of “look how cute I am”. Whereas that Dry Cleaning album you have just seen is unquestionably an album that wants to fuck with you and destroy all your previously held perceptions of the world. And that is the kind of thing I wanna hear.
Is everyone okay? Maybe this will bring you back to consciousness. Here are the greatest new songs we have heard over the past seven days aka the WEEKLY NEW WONDERS PLAYLIST. Lots of absolute stunners in here so please, just shake it off, close your eyes and immerse yourself. And please be polite and rinse off the soap okay? Other people have to use it 😉
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PICKING UP ROCKS 
Best WNWP ever! On a scale of 1-10 – this is a 26. I’ve had this on rotation for two days now. Some tunes are instant earworms – Femes, Why Bonnie, Wild Things are a triple whammy in the middle of the playlist. But then the others slowly reveal themselves too. Pool Kids and Enumclaw are also standouts. I was unsure of the the Tim Bernardes tracks at first, after 2 or 3 plays I’ve found them to be rather beautiful. Not a bad track here whatsoever. I like the Dry Cleaning track, can’t say the same for the album sleeve though! A bit yuk, but probably coming from a hey you kids-get off of my lawn kind of guy! Thoroughly enjoyed the mix, big thanks for bringing these to my attention.
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Yes! That’s so awesome to hear (!) and I’m with you, it was an especially good week! And FYI, the new Pool Kids album is out 7/22, and Why Bonnie is on 8/19 (unrelated but Soccer Mommy and Muna albums are out this Friday, psyched for those too ). And Tim Bernardes is a bit outside my usual sonic stomping ground too but I find those two tracks to be absolutely hypnotic. And hey, I find the Dry Cleaning sleeve horrifying but they are great and I couldn’t resist. Sorry for burning your eyes 😉
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