Menagerie is an ongoing series of compilations with books of illustrations. Issue three is an LP and full colour book, in a limited edition of 500 copies. Side A of the vinyl sees illustrators react to music and side B sees musicians reacting to artwork. The illustrators are Jim Stoten, Jake Blanchard, Simon Fowler and Adrianne Neal. The musicians are Ben Nash, Twinsistermoon, Isengrind and C Joynes.

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Sleevefacing is the art of using vinyl covers as part of a bigger picture. The term was coined by John Rostron, a DJ from Cardiff, who uploaded a couple of photos he’d taken with his friends back in 2007. You can find thousands of examples at Sleeveface, where you can also choose between different bands.

We have a Major Lazer prize pack to give away to a randomly selected LAEM subscriber featuring a Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do t-shirt, vinyl and CD. To be in the running, simply be a subscriber and tell us why you want it.
So who is Major Lazer? He is a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. Diplo and Switch produced his first LP.

Major Lazer also have a cool iPhone app, too:

iDrum: Major Lazer lets you instantly remix elements from the new album, Guns Don’t Kill People … Lazers Do, produced by dancefloor innovators Diplo and Switch along with lazer-armed commando Major Lazer. With a huge arsenal of dancehall drums, laser blasts, instrument hits, sound effects and vocal samples, iDrum: Major Lazer is the ultimate zombie-fighting accessory. Take control and re-arrange rhythms, drums, effects and more from songs on the album. Or use the raw drums, effects and instrument sounds to make your own musical creations. iDrum’s simple interface lets you build beats layer by layer by tapping the touch screen. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never made a beat before, with iDrum, you can create music with simple shapes and color combinations that let you visualize the rhythm.

There’s not much one can say about an artist who has recorded more than 400 albums — even if you manage to listen to a large portion them, there’s a good chance you’ve missed something. Good thing, as far as I know, R. Stevie Moore is the only person who has released that many records (Daniel Johnston may come close), many of which were cassette-only or printed in limited numbers. Virtually unknown for decades, the obsessive music geekdom that has reached a fever pitch as this generation of fans has allowed Moore to keep his relentless flow of Zappa-esque weirdness, power-chord pop, tongue-in-cheek ballads, satirical new wave, and whatever else we’ve most certainly missed, gushing out into the universe.

Thanks to our friends at Universal Music, we have three Beck 7″ vinyl Chemtrails singles, off his new Modern Guilt album, to give away to randomly selected Australian subscribers. Leave a message under this post saying why you want one. And remember: creativity always wins, hands down. Entries close August 12th.

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