John Foster takes music packaging very seriously. He has deconstructed the design of the recording industry through his personal work and his books, Maximum Page Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport) and the upcoming For Sale: Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW) – out in October! As well as a monograph of Sub Pop’s Art Director, Jeff Kleinsmith, slated for publication by the label in 2009.

He will be poking and prodding various albums on a weekly basis so please be sure to keep an eye out!

This week’s victims:

Sportsguitar “Married, 3 Kids”

Is it worth listening to no matter what it looks like? From the unlikely indiepop mid-90’s haven of Switzerland (wha wha whaaa?) came the fuzzy joys of Sportsguitar. Fronted by Oliver Obert with Roland Saum wearing a multitude of instrumental hats through their self-released debut and two records for Matador, the band gave a charming take on this well tread area of indie rock. Combining a little Mary Chain fuzz and twee melodies with beginner level Television-style intermingled guitar lines. It’s not earth changing but it certainly has its catchy moments.

For all intents and purposes, this was the full-length debut in the U.S. for the band.  Beginning with the shambling, Pavementesque “Very Weird,” the template is laid before us. Squawking guitars and jittery strums over a barely in time (and often not) back beat and Obert’s deadpan vocals detailing simple bits and pieces of life. It’s those vocals that add so much to the experience. Obert’s hard to place accent (Swiss of course) only adds to the charm as he keeps a straight face as the music around him seems on the verge of falling apart.

“Never Waste” chugs ahead with a straight pop push and then “Help” teeters in and out with it’s super lofi rhythm guitar, sounding as if it were ripped from a boom box home recording, and then coming together over a clumsy, yet just right lead guitar and a suddenly perfect chorus that makes the whole thing beautiful. The sentiment of be willing to accept help – if only someone would offer – is presented in a matter of fact manner with no whine what so ever. Tempos differ a little and the Pavement feel (or even more so the New Zealand pop influence) is heavier in some parts than others. “So Shy” adds a shoegazer break, while “Reliable” is more of a freakout like a junior high school band covering Dinosaur Jr. while one of their Dad’s sings over the cacophony. (I mean that description as a compliment!)

“Hero” slow burns, “Dinner” is half clickity clack dare night recounting and half effects pedal bliss. “Doesn’t Matter” stutters in before providing a noisy bed for a singsong spoken melody as basic as it is engaging. “Get You Out” screams Pavement in the lead and “Robocop” is the only obvious clunker, but they then finish with “Wanna Walk” which could be a Chills b-side, and the simple “Croonin’” and it’s sludgy slide into the night. The charm doesn’t just end with the music itself as they subtly list that during mixing “we used AC/DC’s “Touch Too Much” as standard sound reference.

Credit: “Cover by: Dr. Dittli F.O. and Marc Philipp from Typoundso”

Any signs of creative interference in the design process by the artist? Hard to say, but Dittli F.O. would also produce the more “Swiss” design for the album that followed.

Does the look fit the sound? Typoundso is a solid, if unspectacular, Swiss firm in a crowded marketplace. Few countries have such a high standard of design in all of their common goods – much less a creative project such as a CD. Philipp is it’s founder and continues to guide it’s ship 12 years on. Their music packaging now seems to be far more conservative than the raw experimentation evident here. Which on is more successful can be left in the argument.

Presenting a photo of a tiny box with cut and scribbled paper inside it and Christmas lights poking through on the cover captures a little of the lofi flavor and perhaps properly paints the fuzz within but seems to miss the warmth and charm aspect greatly. Combined with creating the back typography and one side of the booklet which folds out into a poster (or giant info graphic?) using what looks to be a carbon sheet that had ball point pen creating the words on it – you have a much darker image than needed or welcomed. It would seem that they themselves recognized this as they went overboard with the generic sunshiney yellow cover on the follow-up “Happy Already.”

Where they got things right is in the simple ruled reverse side that operates as a chart, showing the words in the lyrics in alphabetical order along with corresponding numbers to find their place in the written out impressions on the other side 

It all seems like a good idea – and in theory it should work. But the reality is that any joy is lost in the difficulty visually dealing with the mess of raised lettering on the carbon. The fact that it certainly isn’t the easiest thing to photograph does little to help matters.

I commend them for trying, but with an album so ripe with visual possibilities and dying to reach out to just the right listener, it is a failure that stings.

Final score (out of 10): 5.5 design, 7.5 for the music

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