10 Album Covers Guaranteed to Rock Your Brain

Fat White Family, Black Marble, Lil’ Kim and more

When you’re editing video—whether it’s film, TV or commercials—your choices for background music to work by are limited. Too often they will interfere with the job at hand. But sometimes—at the beginning of a project as you’re screening dailies; or later, when you’re hyper-focused on some visual problem—playing an amazing album in your workspace can inspire you like nothing else. I like to put on a record and then place the sleeve in a little wooden stand on my desk. Admiring a great cover can really nudge your brain, leading to reflection on composition and typography.

Cristina

Sleep It Off (1984)

Synth with driving beats can really get you into a rhythm. Cristina’s Sleep It Off is some great sloppy, arty electro-pop with deadpan vocals to keep your head nodding. The cover is by Jean-Paul Goode, who is most known for working with Grace Jones. He used this “work in progress” effect here, a year before employing the same style on Jones’ Slave to the Rhythm, where he cuts up multiple prints to create exaggerated proportions.

New Order

Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)

Just a classic album to put on and chill to while screening some dailies. The cover has a calming, almost impressionistic painting of a basket of roses by 18th-century painter Henri Fantin-Latour. Then there’s a curious block of colors on the side that resembles a printer’s registration mark. The cover was designed by graphic artist Peter Saville, and you might think that registration mark is kinda like what Jean-Paul Goode was doing, bringing a bit of the process into the final piece. But no! Saville invented a color code/substitution cypher that he used on all the New Order albums he designed. There’s a color wheel on the inner sleeve that kind of acts as a puzzle key, and the cover says FACT 75, a reference to the record label.

Fat White Family

Serfs Up! (2019)

Another classic painting paired with provocative graphic design, alongside some catchy transgressive music. This one boasts imagery by Maximilien de Meuron, depicting an idyllic Swiss countryside, with a red gothic font “Serfs Up!” Ironic and funny, just like their intentionally exaggerated and provocative lyrics.

Black Marble

It’s Immaterial (2016)

I saw this cover before I had heard any Black Marble music and just had to listen to it based on the weirdness of this image. It feels like this girl is some dark magician stuck in contemporary suburbia. She’ll either put a hex on you or tip you off on the best underground clubs in the city. The photo is by Logan White.

Sparks

Kimono My House (1974)

The art for Kimono My House is a stone-cold classic and is just as effective today as it was in ’74. Bright, poppy colors, two disheveled geishas with smeared makeup clearly having fun—and no mention of the band’s name or album title. Looking at these two super-cool geishas makes you think, “If they like this music, it has to be good!” The image is by Karl Stoecker, a fashion photographer who previously shot covers for Roxy Music. Stoecker’s garish, hyper-poppy style prefigures more contemporary photogs like David LaChappelle and Pierpaolo Ferrari.

John Fahey

Blind Joe Death (1964)

When you want to chill out to some minimal, slow, relaxing music, you can’t do better than John Fahey. This is his first album, and Blind Joe Death was a funny nickname he had been given, so he used it as a kind of alternate persona. (The A side of the record was credited to John Fahey, and the B side, mostly standards, was credited to Blind Joe Death). The jacket is just paper white with large, stark lettering. Since Fahey funded the record pressing himself with money he earned as a gas station attendant. It’s not clear if the cover’s simplicity is a result of that, but the result provides a lesson in powerful simplicity that complements Fahey’s stark style.

Donovan

Hear Me Now (1971)

Keeping with the slower, chill folk vibes, Donovan is another favorite background artist. Hear Me Now is just a comp album, but I always loved looking at the cover. The purple and blue-tinted photo by Sid Maurer makes this look like Donovan’s Hammer Horror album, complete with the gothic font. Looking at the cover and listening to these more low-key Donovan songs, you feel transported to the gothic English countryside.

Rico Nasty and Kenny Beats

Anger Management (2019)

When I want big beats and shouting, I go with Rico Nasty. Anger Management has an amazing, surreal image with an old-school painted/airbrushed feel. I immediately thought of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain the first time I saw it. Artist Keith Rankin denies that’s the inspiration, saying it’s based on a cover for the book The New Primal Scream.

Lil’ Kim

Hard Core (1996)

The title and provocative photo of Lil’ Kim illustrate what you’re about to experience on the album, but the design rides a perfect line between high and low art. The photo by Michael Lavine, even with the cheap set dressing, would be right at home in a fashion magazine or gallery show. And then it’s paired with this harsh pink motif that really hits you with the album title HARD CORE. I always saw the cover as a tasteful and high-end version of the Pen & Pixel designed hip hop covers of the ’90s, with the flashy fonts and intentionally bad Photoshop.

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Thank God for Mental Illness (1996)

And speaking of intentionally bad design, you’ve got Thank God For Mental Illness. While John Fahey’s album design is probably a result of no money and little time, this album seems intentionally naive and in-your-face. The photo was taken by lead singer Anton Newcombe, and the subject is the band’s tambourine player and unofficial mascot, Joel Gion. The squished image and simple text are so effective in their juxtaposition. It’s like a contemporary meme template, just from 30 years ago.

The 2026 Clio Music Awards are open! Enter your most creative work HERE by Oct. 3.