i design album covers

This one is another in my series of “lost albums” that I recorded — I’ve done so much music, really, that hasn’t seen the light of day. Some of it is good. Some of it probably isn’t, but since I’m a transparent over-sharer, I’m throwing it all out there anyway. In 2001, I told myself “I came up with the Lunar 9 name, therefore Lunar 9 is whoever I say it is.” This was a supremely douchey thing to do/say/think, and as a result, my attempt to put together a third Lunar 9 lineup was doomed to karmic failure. I gathered Christopher Hill (my musical brother) and Brandon Dalida (my Medication / Blue Sky Blackout lieutenant) to basically be my band on this series of home recordings. The schizophrenic nature of the music reflects the extreme turmoil my life was in at the time. I was in the midst of splitting up with my then-wife, for one thing — at one point during the sessions she decided, in a fit of anger / jealousy / rage to overdub herself singing (badly) on every single song, erasing some of my backing vocals. Including, I might point out, the album title line, which was an ode to my next girlfriend. In the very middle of the recording of this album I checked myself into a hospital suffering from “exhaustion” — really just severe stress / trauma / depression. When I came out, I found out my ex was holding my recording equipment and instruments hostage, basically. So I never got to finish this. You can tell what I was listening to at the time — Mojave 3, Brian Jonestown, French pop, lots of old country, the Tyde, probably Ryan Adams. Oh, and Hall and Oates. Contains some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, including “Do You Dig Her Scene” and “Oldsong.”  Download it here. I promise at least a very schizo listen.

Fuck it. No rats, no soldiers. This is the “Hipgnosis does punk” version. I like this one best.

The Clash, “Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg.” Sometimes I get a request. Sometimes an image pops into my head as a result of that request. Sometimes I can’t do a damn thing about it except to carry it through to its logical conclusion, no matter how weird that image might be. Or how far from how it would have actually looked. Or whatever.

“Faux Snapshot III: Kiss Are ‘Bad News’.”

This one is called “Faux Snapshot II: We Used To Play Buck Rogers On The Playground”

This is from a new series entitled “Faux Snapshots,” which plays with the ideas of memory and nostalgia. This one is called “Faux Snapshot I: In 1978, I Saw A UFO.”

I wanted to do a Bob Dylan “Basement Tapes” cover that looked like it came from 1967 or ‘68 rather than the mid-70s. This cover is meant to house the 14-track acetate, recorded with the Band in Woodstock during his convalescence, that Dylan circulated around as a songwriting demo. I’ve never understood why it hasn’t had a legit release yet — almost all the songs are available. Hmph.

Bee, “Album.” All artists have their lost masterpiece. That album or book or drawing or whatever that for whatever reason ended up abandoned in the back of a closet, but that you KNOW full well is the greatest thing you’ve ever done. This album is that lost masterpiece for me and my Deep Shag / Lunar 9 / Medication compatriot Chris Hill. In the wake of Deep Shag’s breakup, we holed up for a month with an ounce of pot, a fridge full of Bull Ice Malt Liquor and a jones for lo-fi music like early Beck and Guided By Voices. This album is the result. The tape has degraded over the years, but it’s still THE BEST THING I’VE EVER DONE. And has remained unheard by anybody but us until right this moment. Sigh. DOWNLOAD IT HERE.

…and of course one couldn’t possibly do alternate Byrds covers without doing one for “Gene Tryp,” the Byrds’ unreleased, unfinished rock opera from the late 60s. The album was an update of the “Peer Gynt” story, moved into the old west. Many songs were recorded from it, including “Just A Season” and “Chestnut Mare” from “Untitled,” but the album has never come out in its original intended form.

In 1968, the Byrds were contemplating making an album that would show the musical history of the entire century, from jazz to blues to country to electronic music and beyond. Instead, with the addition of Gram Parsons, they went full roots with “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.” This is the cover of that alternate universe where they made that record. (edited to fix some shitty masking!)