I love beautiful record covers. Here are my favorites until now (no specific order):

Vessels - White Fields and Open Devices
Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Till It Was Light
Pyramids - Pyramids
Midnight Juggernauts - Dystopia
etc.

Fleet Foxes is quite nice I spose.

Worst - Islands, Arm's Way.

Best:

A Weather - "Cove"
Silver Jews - "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea"
Okkervil River - "The Stand-Ins"

Worst:

The Hold Steady - "Stay Positive"
The Tallest Man on Earth - "Shallow Graves"

man, how did this topic just now get started? i'm pretty sure the one from last year is how i found these forums. i was searching to see if anyone else loved the burial cover as much as i do when i found myself here.

girl talk - feed the animals
jon foreman - all of 'em are pretty cool
shearwater - rook
neon neon - stainless style (hilariously inappropriate)
cut copy - in ghost colours
m83 - saturdays = youth (cheesy, but i like the colorrrs)
punch brothers - punch (also a little cheesy)
sam amidon - all is well (hilarious when you think about it)
pyramids - pyramids (haven't listened to it, but it looks pretty awesome)
weezer f. baby - ok, the weezer one is sorta dumb, but i think it's fun and i wanted to make that awful joke

worst: al green - lay it down

I love album artwork. My personal favorite of the year is:

Subtle - ExitingARM

But I also really like:

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Okkervil River - Stand Ins
The Walkmen - You and Me
Coldplay - Via la Vida

And if you want to discuss bad album art I will suggest to you:

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

I mean seriously, I would have prefered a cheesy picture of the band standing in the desert with their instruments.

Oooh, lots of good choices this year. Eggy makes a good call with Dystopia above. Here are some other nice ones:

Subheim - Approach
Kilowatts & Vanek - Focus & Flow
Letna - Tisza Meets Dunav
Dom & Roland - Through The Looking Glass

So far my favourite is Naked Acid by Valet. And when you open it up and lay it flat the rest of the cover continues on the back.

I really like:

The Walkmen- You & Me

and that's about it.

Obviously it's pyramids - s/t

<img>http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/1474250.jpg</img>

quote:

Originally posted by DFelon204409:
Obviously it's pyramids - s/t

<img>http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/1474250.jpg</img>

I'm "meh" on the album itself, but the cover is pretty.

The ultimate winner of this thread goes to...
Metallica's Death Magnetic.

quote:

And if you want to discuss bad album art I will suggest to you:

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

The Notwist's Devil + you and me is pretty awful too

He's not calling the album awful, he's calling the album art awful.

Well, the worst album art is really that one of MMJ's Evil Urges... It's painfully bad especially after the wonderful cover of Z.
Amongst the best are:
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
No Age - Nouns
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
and of course my fav cover:
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:
He's not calling the album awful, he's calling the album art awful.

Ha, I just realized this. I think I accidentally opened this thread without realizing it. I totally agree by the way. THe European album art was pretty great, but the US art is awful.

Some favorite album covers of mine from this year:

James Yorkston - When the Haar Rolls In

Your Heart Breaks - Love Is A Long Dark Road (cassette version) Wish I could get a bigger picture of that one, but that's the best I can find. The tape only costs $3 from Lost Sound Tapes, and I recommend it.

Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams

Ready Fire Aim - This Changes Nothing

Accidental - There Were Wolves

quote:

Well, the worst album art is really that one of MMJ's Evil Urges...

huh? I like it a lot

I think Evil Urges isn't the worst of the year but I do see it as a let down.

I might be alone on this one, but every time I look upwards to a cloudy sky all I can see is The Tallest Man On Earth's Shallow Grave, and I haven't even heard the album yet.

It's getting to the point where it's almost worrisome, like some annoying song you can't forget.

Also, my favourite album art so far is the Pyramids' s/t.

Atlas Sound "Let the Blind Lead..."
m83 "Saturdays = Youth"
Girl Talk "Feed the Animals"
Portishead "Third"
Neon Neon "Stainless Style"
Crystal Castles "S/T"
Silver Jews "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea"