My first CD cover artwork released in Japan

This summer I left behind my art studio in Switzerland and moved to the US. I am now in Ithaca NY for a new chapter in my career (more about my new hometown in a forthcoming blogpost) and you will not be surprised that except for some color doodles you may have seen on my Instagram account I have been a little more occupied with settling in than with new artistic productions. However, all the exciting projects mentioned in previous articles are well underway, and I am very happy to announce the release of a particularly pleasant collaboration: my very first CD cover artwork for the album "Empyrean Tones".

The CD features Jason McGuiness aka Analog Burners' best productions so far and has just been released by the established Japanese label Ultra Vybe (which celebrated its 30th anniversary - not a small accomplishment in the current record industry). The compilation is a great introduction to those not familiar with Analog Burners' catalogue. It also features a cast of great jazz musicians such as Kamasi Washington, Keyon Harrold and Phil Ranelin. As a music aficionado, I can’t tell you how excited I am not just to see my first CD cover artwork being released, but to see it in the form of a Japan import with a nice obi. Japan is well-known for their exclusive new releases and reissues, and this Japan-only compilation is another example of that.

Of course you can order "Empyrean Tones" online, for example via Disk Union (the world's biggest record store), Tower records Japan or HMV Japan, or you can ask your favorite record store to order it (and I really think it is always a great idea to support your local record store). For the time being, it comes only as a CD release, but there might be a vinyl edition if the album sells well. Fingers crossed. And above all, congrats to Jason McGuiness for this release. It makes it easier to wait for the release of the new album he is currently finishing.

The CD on the shelves of Tower reords in Tokyo (next to the Kamasi Washington album, an artist who is also featured on Jason's album).

Empyrean Tones: Keyon Harrold – Trumpet (D’Angelo, Maxwell, Miles Davis biopic, Kanye, etc) Duante St Louis – Keys/Organ Brandon Eugene Owens – Bass (Kendrick Lamar/Robert Glasper) Te’Amir Sweeney – Drums (Aloe Blacc) The role of art, at it’s most brave and brazen, has always been to provide unflinching reflections of reality. Music, the purest of all art forms, has the ability to crystallize moments and make history tangible. We’re living in the midst of current and historical pain, each new individual moment of destruction and despair opens deep wounds. From the opening sax notes, “We Could Be,” is a daring record in the tradition of grassroots music from the 60’s and 70’s. Bittersweet, it acknowledges the imbalance of pain within our communities. Bold, it refuses to buckle under that pressure and instead, it asks of us to step into the promise of previous generations. It proposes that we could be closer to freedom. While the lead track is a hard and hopeful aspiration, the flip side, “Empyrean Tones,” is the mind flight. This is where the heaviness of before dissipates like smoke and we are allowed to dream. Jason McGuiness, the projects’ producer, is in the old-school tradition of producers who need not pick up an instrument. With a vision and purpose, McGuiness culled an experienced group of music makers to create something that would reflect us back to ourselves. The instruments you hear are wielded by masters who have shared their talents with the likes of D’angelo, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Robert Glasper, Aloe Blacc and more. But they’ve never done something quite like this. From Te’Amir’s drums to Mark de Clive-Lowe’s keys, up toKeyon Harrold’s sublime horns and HighScience Project’s timeless vocals, the magic here is in the submission of the individual in reverence of the collective. pre-order link: http://www.fatbeats.com/products/jason-mcguiness-ft-the-high-science-project-keyon-harrold-we-could-be-b-w-empyrean-tone-7

Additions to my visual discography

Maybe you have already realized how much a music fan I am by reading this blog or by following my personal Instagram feed. Not only a music fan, but a very old school music fan: I prefer to listen to music on vinyl or tape rather than streamed or downloaded. Some of my music related illustrations are published in the "sound pics" section of this website.

Last year, thanks to my online postings, music producer Ologist BBB from the Better Beat Bureau collective of Virginia approached me and asked me to provide him with a couple of illustrations. His request eventually lead to my very first album cover artwork, for his "When Crates Create", which is a beat tape on actual old-fashioned tape. Therefore I owe the Ologist my very first entry in the online encyclopedia of discography Discogs.

This was only the beginning of our collaboration: thanks to the Ologist I am currently working on the cover artwork for another tape release. (Yes another tape release, and yes we are indeed living in the 21st century.) Actually, there seems to be a revival of tapes, similar to the vinyl revival we have witnessed during the last few years. Like the vinyl revival, the tape revival is spearheaded by music fans who like to have a nice object on physical support (a digital file is just not the same!), although the love of tapes represents more of an underground phenomenon than the love of vinyls.

The new tape project is inspired by breaks and samples mixtapes such as the "On track" series by Djs Kon & Amir in the mid 90's, mixing parts of soul, funk, jazz, rock records already sampled on hip hop or electro records or potential breaks to be used. Contrary to these releases, the originality of the project comes from the fact that the records have been selected by various vinyl collectors from all over the world, who have found each other thanks to the vinyl community on Instagram. I will not only provide the cover artwork, I have also had the honor to select a track for the mixtape. It is not easy to select only a single track out of the thousands of records I own, but I have finally found the one. A rare 70's Swiss psychedelic rock record, discovered some time ago through a fellow vinyl connaisseur and friend of mine.

My collaboration with the Ologist has sparked another project: I have been approached by his friend Jason McGuiness aka Analog Burners. He is a L.A. based DJ, record collector, graphic designer and music producer. You may know him because he released an incredible tribute to legendary Motown producer Norman Withfield a couple of years ago. I was very humbled when he asked me to draw the cover artwork for his new project, a jazz album mixing sampled beats and live instruments, which will be released on vinyl. Jason is currently putting the finishing touch on the recording and mixing of the full-length album. The first single will be a 45 vinyl with two tracks of the project titled "We could be / Empyrean Tones", featuring the works of such great musicians from the L.A. scene as keyboard player Mark de Clive Lowe, Aloe Blacc, drummer Te'Amir Sweeney and trumpet player Keyon Harrold, who played with D'Angelo, Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye West, and played the trumpet parts in the Miles Davis biopic "Miles Ahead" (to be released in Europe soon).

Empyrean Tones: Keyon Harrold – Trumpet (D’Angelo, Maxwell, Miles Davis biopic, Kanye, etc) Duante St Louis – Keys/Organ Brandon Eugene Owens – Bass (Kendrick Lamar/Robert Glasper) Te’Amir Sweeney – Drums (Aloe Blacc) The role of art, at it’s most brave and brazen, has always been to provide unflinching reflections of reality. Music, the purest of all art forms, has the ability to crystallize moments and make history tangible. We’re living in the midst of current and historical pain, each new individual moment of destruction and despair opens deep wounds. From the opening sax notes, “We Could Be,” is a daring record in the tradition of grassroots music from the 60’s and 70’s. Bittersweet, it acknowledges the imbalance of pain within our communities. Bold, it refuses to buckle under that pressure and instead, it asks of us to step into the promise of previous generations. It proposes that we could be closer to freedom. While the lead track is a hard and hopeful aspiration, the flip side, “Empyrean Tones,” is the mind flight. This is where the heaviness of before dissipates like smoke and we are allowed to dream. Jason McGuiness, the projects’ producer, is in the old-school tradition of producers who need not pick up an instrument. With a vision and purpose, McGuiness culled an experienced group of music makers to create something that would reflect us back to ourselves. The instruments you hear are wielded by masters who have shared their talents with the likes of D’angelo, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Robert Glasper, Aloe Blacc and more. But they’ve never done something quite like this. From Te’Amir’s drums to Mark de Clive-Lowe’s keys, up toKeyon Harrold’s sublime horns and HighScience Project’s timeless vocals, the magic here is in the submission of the individual in reverence of the collective. pre-order link: http://www.fatbeats.com/products/jason-mcguiness-ft-the-high-science-project-keyon-harrold-we-could-be-b-w-empyrean-tone-7

You can listen to "Empyrean Tones" above and pre-ordrer the 45 single on fat beats records. It has already received raving reviewes by major US music magazines such as Ego Trip and Wax Poetics.

One of the privileges of being an album cover artist is the fact that I have already had the chance to listen to some other tracks, and I am really excited about the forthcoming release. It will also feature jazz legend Phil Ranelin from the Tribe collective of Detroit, who released many classic spiritual jazz albums on their Tribe independent label in the 70's and 80's (all releases are collectors' items today) and even recorded an album with Detroit Techno legend Carl Craig some years ago.

I am very happy to report that Jason liked my artwork proposals for the album cover. He liked them so much he had a hard time selecting only one illustration and might even be using two different drawings/paintings... To be continued.

Cover artwork llustration proposal by Gregoart (2016). All rights reserved. China ink and pencil on paper.

Cover artwork llustration proposal by Gregoart (2016). All rights reserved. China ink and acrylics on cardboard.

Spring update: atelier, exhibition, cover artworks etc.

Back to business after a short vacation in Italy.

Since I last posted on this blog, I have been busy with quite a lot of private matters such as my wedding among other small things :) I have also been busy with gregoart related stuff, and I am happy to give you an update of what I've been up to since winter.

'Open atelier' week-end

First of all, please get your calendars and note the week-end of April 16th and 17th. On this week-end, artists from the Lausanne region will open the doors of their ateliers and I am one of them. The open house event for ateliers is organized by APERTI, a very dynamic association of Lausanne artists. Wait, I realize I haven’t told you about my atelier space yet. Since the end of last year I have had the pleasure of working in the atelier of sculptor Didier Guex (actually there are three of us, with illustrator Christophe Thomas). This space has given me the opportunity to work on bigger scale mixed techniques paintings. Please visit us in our atelier at Rue de la Pontaise 45 on the afternoon of Saturday 16th or Sunday 17th. We will be happy to welcome you and show you some of our recent artworks.

Gallery exhibition

Another occasion to see some of my recent artworks will be my next exhibition at the Galerie Iris in Pully. I hope your calendars are still close, so you can save the dates: the inauguration will be on May 27th and the exhibition ends on June 17th. I am very excited to show you brand new artworks. Without giving away too much I can already tell you that they have not been realized on iPad (the «old friends for sale» re-exhibition which ended in February was the last that showcased my iPad drawings). The exhibition at the Galerie Iris, taking place during the month of the gemini, will focus on the theme of duality, a theme I am very fond of.

Cover artworks

Furthermore, I have created cover artworks for two upcoming, great music releases. After the cover artwork for "When crates create", an awesome beat tape on actual tape, I will provide my very first artwork for a vinyl release. It is a jazz soul record produced by Jason McGuiness alias Analog Burners from Los Angeles, one of the artists who did a beat for "When crates create". He enlisted the help of great session players (who had already played with the likes of Aloe Blacc, Kendrick Lamar, D’Angelo and Robert Glasper to name but a few) including the rising trumpet star Keyon Harold who plays Miles Davis' trumpet parts in the forthcoming Miles biopic "Miles Ahead". A 45 vinyl single has already been released through Fat Beats (you can listen to it here) and been reviewed in two of the top music websites/magazines: Wax Poetics and Ego Trip . And spoiler alert: based on the new tracks I have had the pleasure to listen to already I assure you that the rest of the lp sounds just as great .

The second cover artwork will be for my man Ologist, who is into some great projects after his "When Crates Create" beat tape. One of them is a compilation of obscure vinyl records mixed together in the vein of the classic Kon & Amir "On track" breaks and samples mixtapes, with tracks curated by various records collectors from all over the world active on Instagram. Not only will I do the cover artwork for the tape, I will also provide a track for the compilation.

As a vinyl addict, collecting records since the mid-nineties, I cannot tell you how excited I am about these two music releases, and about playing a humble part in their creation.

More gregoart-y stuff

I have always been interested in experimenting and I like the idea that my artwork comes alive in different contexts, on different objects. Some of my characters already appear on t-shirts, and I have designed a few accessories, but the experiment was very limited. Thanks to the internet and partner websites there are so many possibilities to make my artwork accessible that I am currently in the process of creating more diverse objects. Stay tuned!

Limited edition prints

Last but not least, I am also planning to release a limited edition of high-quality prints on the theme of jazz music through Manétiz, an impressive start-up dedicated to providing an original art experience.

As you can see, a lot of great events and releases to come in the near future! And to be sure not to miss any news, you can subscribe to my newsletter using the form on the right of this page.

Introducing Oh ! the Beat Nomad

At the beginning of the year, I decided to take on an Instagram challenge and do « A drawing a day » as part of my new year’s resolutions. Not an easy task and like most new year’s resolution I couldn’t manage to do it for the whole year. Yet, after 4 months, I had posted more than 100 drawings and doodles (you can watch them on my Instagram account). I am proud of this as I had never produced so much day after day, or maybe yes, when I was a child. There is nothing like daily training to improve your skills and even though I don’t post a daily drawing anymore, I do practice daily.

Among other subjects, I drew a couple of Alien characters which got some positive feedbacks from the IG community. Even though I am not a social media die hard fan/user I do like me some Instagram where I post drawings as well as some pics of my vinyl records. What I like most about this particular social media is that you can follow and be followed not only by friends but by people from all over the world who share the same interests (a bit like twitter but using pictures instead of short texts I cannot write as you can see judging by my blog entries:) And this is thanks to Instagram that I have been approached by a beatmaker called OlogistBBB, BBB standing for the Better Beat Bureau collective out of Norfolk, Virginia. He saw some of my drawings and liked them very much, especialy the alien characters such as the one below.

I had heard of Ologist and the Better Beat Bureau who are Virginia underground hip hop best kept secrets. He had released a tribute album to Gil-Scott Heron composed of samples of the late poet. Those not familiar with hip hop might think : « well, they do not come from the main rap cities like NYC, LA or Atlanta ». Think again, Virginia is a major state when it comes to hip hop and R&B. The State is home to R&B icons such as Pharell Williams, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, D’Angelo as well as hip hop producers like Nottz or Bink! who appeared on albums by Jay Z, Busta Rhymes, Kanye West or even the last and excellent Dr Dre album (Bink ! did the soulful « it’s all on me » beat). Ologist is actually close to Nottz and Bink! and has been active on the scene for years, releasing good old hip hop beats, reminiscent of the mid 90’s so called « golden age » without being pale imitations.

So, Ologist contacted me on Instagram and asked me if I could draw a new alien character for him, one which would be kind of his alter ego, a bit like Madlib did with the Quasimoto character drawn by Stones Throw Art Director Jeff Jank. So I drew an alien character dressed like a B-boy and a real hip hop producer digging for records and using a MPC, one of the cult sampler/sequencer used by the best producers.

Ologist found the name « Oh ! The beat nomad » and soon after released a first track using the character, a nice little remix of « Rememory » by Chance the rapper, Donnie Trumpet & the social experiment ft Erykah Badu you can listen here :

The track was mentioned on a couple of major music blogs like 2dopeboyz and it felt really good to see our little alien in there. Then, Oh! the beat nomad struck again with a remix of « ...gointohell » by R&B’s newest star Miguel, a couple of days after the release of his album. The remix was also posted in some high profile blogs, and Miguel himself retweeted the remix on his account to give it a good exposure (he has more than 800k followers).

And this is only the beginning of « Oh ! the beat nomad » adventures as Ologist is working on his new EP called « Numb3rs » and I have the pleasure of doing the cover artwork. More info about exciting future collaborations very soon... To be continued