AtomicPopMonkey

Welcome to October! This Halloween those of us at Label 51 Recordings offer you a compilation of our spookiest songs from our roster with the release of The Horror! Vol. One.

Check out the spine chilling new video and track "Black Horror" from Prairie Prince ...

Prairie Prince - Black Horror (Official Video) BLACK HORROR, the first single from PRAIRIE PRINCE COLOURS and PASS...

FlatironrecordingsOfficial whom I work for are releasing a new album from Zebra - while I didn't do any of the design work on it, I did act as a consultant / QA on the packaging.

Back in the day, my friend Brian Posehn and I were the writers of the music review section for the Sonoma Valley High School (Official) newspaper - The Dragon's Tale.

Brian wrote a glowing review of their debut album back in 1984/85 ... life can be sort of weird when we look backwards on it.

Preview and pre-order it at:
https://flatironrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/zebra-v

AI on how I view Generatvie AI:

Jon Krop's Perspective on Generative AI:

Jon Krop has openly discussed the temptation and ultimate pitfalls of relying on automation in the arts, advocating strongly for preserving human intuition:

• The Loss of Self: Krop has admitted to experimenting with AI tools in his production process but came to a definitive realization: relying on it means losing your creative identity. He noted that while it might save time or make money, "the true you won't be there in the end.

• "Human Intuition vs. Algorithms: He contrasts his own design approach with AI by emphasizing that human art relies on lived experiences, intuition, and shared culture. He argues that AI simply generates solutions based on data probability, eliminating the magic of genuine human relationships and intentional design choices.

• The "Slop" Critique: Krop has publicly critiqued major industries for leaning into algorithmic creation. He pointed out that major record companies paved the way for this by demanding "dumbed-down" and repetitive creative outputs. He views the over-hyped AI ecosystem as hazardous to the environment, overly expensive, and lacking the "happy accidents" that make traditional art meaningful.Instead of letting algorithms dictate visual culture, Krop advocates for indie creators to prioritize authentic human connection and to learn technology strictly to enhance—rather than replace—their original artistic voices.

One of my career highlights to date was in 2015, when one of my all time favorite rock/musican photographers reached out to me to do the graphic design work for an album he photographed and art directed.

I was already a huge fan of John Scarpati from having a collection of his work via albums like Redd Kross Neurotica, Dramarama, Rush Roll the Bones, The Bangles, New York Dolls, Jet-Boy, The Cramps, Michael Monroe, among many others.

We worked on a few projects together, including the reissues of Redd Kross' Neurotica, Teen Babes, Researching The Blues, and a couple of releases for Lee Ann Womack.

I feel so lucky to have gotten to work with him - especially on a couple of my favorite albums from favorite bands.

I keep hoping we might get to do one or two more one of these days ... though his is pretty much retired these days.

The cherry on top of this was that we won the Golden Addy Award for this project for best packaging CD/DVD in 2014.

Love Scarpati and his body of work, and he's a great wonderful human being on top of it all. I'm forever thankful for his inspiration, mentorship and friendship.

Fantastic new video by Chris Stamey for his cover of The Kinks' Waterloo Sunset - available as a 7" single as well as on his new album Modernism from FlatironrecordingsOfficial now!

Chris Stamey - Waterloo Sunset (Official Video) “Waterloo Sunset” (Ray Davies)STREAM: https://ffm.to/stameywaterlo...

I recently designed this full page ad for The Cramps Official Vengeance Records that's running in Ugly Things Magazine

Back in 1993 I got my first Mac - a Centris 610, and one of the first professional projects I did using Photoshop 2.0 with a mouse was to draw this business card for my pal Brian Posehn ... who has a birthday coming up!

Crazy to think we've been pals for 43 some odd years now, and I'm so happy we're both still around and I still get to do design and art stuff with him.

Happy birthday week buddy!

BREAKING MUSIC!

I'm so excited to finally share a project I've been working on since Feb of this year. I was asked to design the cover and packaging for this brand new LP from The Cramps!

Preorder link, video, website, merch and more info at:

https://linktr.ee/thecramps

Chris Stamey has a new digital single out via - "Hey Bulldog" a cover of the Beatles tune - from his forthcoming new album "Modernism".

This track also features Jody Stephens of Big Star.

I had the honor of working with Chris on the DSP singles and album art.

"Hey Bulldog" is streaming now on Spotify, YouTube and other services

https://open.spotify.com/track/0edo30P6ViwEw6QVWx2Vs8

Fans of The Cramps ... be sure to follow and bookmark https://thecramps.com ...

There's some exciting news coming down soon! I've been working on this secret project for a few months now and will be able to share more info very soon!

Huge thank yous to Larry Hardy and Henry Rollins for having me be part of this ... it's gonna blow fan's minds!