Category: Reunions Page 1 of 3

Finished artwork for Belly's DOVE LP and FEEL 10" EP, 2018.

Dove: Behind the Artwork for Belly’s New Album

Blog_BellyArtwork_ListeningPartyPosters_1920x1080

When Belly reunited in 2016 after 20+ years, they didn’t waste time hinting that they might have new material in the works.

Initially, the band floated the idea of an EP. But at some point, they clarified that the songs they were happily toiling away at in the Rock n’Roll Control Center (AKA bassist Gail Greenwood and partner-in-crime Chil Mott’s vintage bungalow) had actually blossomed into a PROPER LP.

Dove, the first new Belly recording since 1995’s King, arrived this spring, and the band are now on a multi-prong tour across the US that extends into early October.

Rather than talk about Dove, hailed by Pitchfork as a “fusion of grace and force” and covered pretty extensively elsewhere, I asked the band to discuss the creative process behind the creation of the album’s artwork.

Belly ca. 2018 is a staunchly DIY effort — everything from social media to tour booking is being handled by the band, with a few exceptions. Artwork duties were undertaken by drummer Chris Gorman, who contributed photos to all the Belly releases put out by 4AD/Sire in the 1990s, and Chil, who has for years been a design and production guru at Greenwood Associates. Take it away, Chris and Chil!

Typical Girls + Unruly Women: The Story of the Slits

Slits documentary Q&A with Paloma McLardy (Palmolive) of the legendary bands the Slits & the Raincoats; journalist Jenn Pelly + author Rob Sheffield

Slits documentary Q&A with Paloma McLardy (Palmolive), Jenn Pelly + Rob Sheffield

I’m trying in vain to recall when I first heard the Slits. I am reasonably sure that I first heard OF them in Greil Marcus’ incredible book, “Lipstick Traces,” which weaves together iconoclastic moments in music, art, philosophy and history to create a kind of invisible history of the 20th century. (One of their first-ever recordings, “A Boring Life,” is featured on the book’s companion soundtrack, which is well worth tracking down if you can find it.)

When I DID finally hear them, I was not disappointed. In fact, the music quickly became essential to me, like air — in large part due to its fresh mix of rage, humor and incisive assessments of the way mainstream culture boxes women in.

Ut: Digging Deep

Ut live at Sonic City, November 2017

UT
Live at Rough Trade, London
November 18, 2017

Warped Reality readers will know Ut, the legendary No Wave underground band that formed in New York in 1978. A reminder: Jacqui Ham, Sally Young and Nina Canal were Blast First label mates of Sonic Youth. They left the USA to tour with The Fall (1981), and even more interesting to those comrades who fight for active, not passive, listening daily, a young Steve Albini engineered the 1989 Griller album. Consequently tonight’s Rough Trade audience is made up of a generous portion of the alternative music world’s patrons, champions and groundbreakers, including Ana (Raincoats) and Bjork. Lovely.

Even more adorable is how their loud sound, jazz attitude, building layers of rhythm and awkward guitar shapes still swallow you whole, exemplified most in “Wailhouse” tonight (off Griller), and by which time they’ve warmed up.

Page 1 of 3

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén