3 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "noir" design theme, spanning the 1990s, 2020s. These covers sit within the hip-hop, electronic, rock, alternative tradition and feature work by Tyler, The Creator, Portishead, Sonic Youth. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
Tyler, The Creator's album cover for CHROMAKOPIA captures the theatrics of 1950s film noir with its sepia-toned imagery. The masked rapper, photographed by Luis Perez, conjures classic Hollywood glamour while concealing his identity behind a specially crafted ceramic mask.
The grainy, noir-ish photograph with a woman's face partially obscured in shadow creates an atmosphere of nocturnal melancholy — the purest visual expression of the 'Bristol Sound' aesthetic of dark, cinematic trip-hop.
Two cool kids in sunglasses share a cigarette under a hand-lettered confession about murder and the open road. The drawing looks like a comic panel, but it traces back to a real paparazzi shot from one of Britain's most notorious trials. This is the story behind Sonic Youth's Goo.