Press
DESIGN FOR DACAPO RECORDS
“Dacapo… the boutique Copenhagen-based label, known for manufacturing products of distinct physical as well as musical beauty.”
Grammophone, 10.06.11
“The Danish national label makes up for the fact that you’ve probably never heard of the composers they’re issuing (a good thing) by providing familiar and consistently beautiful cover designs. Copenhagen-based Kiwi Denise Burt has masterminded Dacapo’s covers since 2003. Budget constraints mean she often uses her own photography – shots taken in the parks and streets of KBH after chin-wags with the artists and composers themselves. Downloading is quick, convenient and high-quality, so Dacapo undermine it by re-affirming the beauty of their physical products (though you’re welcome to download the records, too). A Dacapo CD feels luxurious: the weighty jewel case houses a thick booklet on heavy stock; the disc itself gleams bronzy-gold rather than functional silver.”
Andrew Mellor, The Moose Report, November 2011
“For Graphic Designer Denise Burt, designing Dacapo’s CD covers is an assignment with a firm framework, a product in focus and and artistic project where there is space for personal expression and interpretation.”
Helle Lorenzen, interview, Danish Designers’ magazine, 2007
ATHELAS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL IDENTITY
“Several of the concerts offer a juxtaposition of the new ‘new music’ and the old ‘new music’ … The metronome which adorns the posters and website can be seen as a kind of illustration of this relationship. Every age has certain ideals that dominate and suppress those that don’t fit in. It seems like the festival has taken on the roll of making sure both sides are heard.”
Jesper Steen Andersen, seismograph.org, 27.05.11
CD PACKAGING AND DESIGN FOR MICHEAL GORDON’S TIMBER
“Music collectors are suckers for creative album packaging, and with Timber, composer Michael Gordon has a winner. It comes entombed in medium-density fiberboard, laser-etched with a starburst of 3-D planks. Thankfully, the Bang on a Can cofounder’s latest is as musically compelling as its mantel-ready wooden case.”
Time Out Chicago, August 10, 2011
“Collectors will be interested to know that physical copies of Timber – as opposed to the download versions – are packaged in very smartly designed, special wooden boxes made out of inch-thick, medium-density fibreboard – a very cool and appropriate presentation.”
Classics Today, August, 2011
“And then there’s the packaging (by the Cantaloupe label) for Michael Gordon’s new work Timber. The music is nothing more than six guys pounding on two-by-fours (it sounds surprisingly sublime), and the CD comes in a stunning wooden box. Hats off to the small labels who continue to keep music vibrantly alive.”
NPR, July 23, 2011
“Not only is this release musically pleasing, it’s easily one of the coolest packaging designs for a CD we’ve seen in a while. Instead of a jewel case, the CD and liner notes are packed in a wooden box -that weighs about a pound! Seeing performance details carved into the side of a wooden box is much for aesthetically pleasing and, I’d imagine, environmentally friendly, than plastic tray inserts.”
The Signal to Noise Blog, August 11, 2011
CD DESIGN FOR JEXPER HOLMEN’S OORT CLOUD
“In fact, instead of being an informative book, the cover is a piece of conceptual art, that unfolds chaotic principles related to those of the music. It is almost music itself.”
Jexper Holmen, interviewed by Collin Rae, for Mutations, Naxos of America’s blog
Interview about the design for this CD on Danish Radio (the interviewer speaks Danish but I speak English).
Hear the interview on DR’s P2
CD DESIGN FOR THE NATURAL WORLD OF PELLE GUMUNDSEN-HOLMGREEN
“This is one of those rare discs, where, from the very start of the process, with the composer sitting down with pen in hand to the design and finish of the end product, the guiding principle has been one of perfection. It leaves me slack-jawed with admiration.”
International Record Review, March, 2011