If it isn’t enough for you that your record is spinning funky music, well you gotta have these hypnotic vinyl records to have the full psychedelic experience.
You’ll get a little dizzy staring at these beautiful records in equally beautiful vinyl packaging but that’s exactly the point, amirite?
Besides, why should you buy modern art that costs you a thousand bucks when you can actually have one with music?
Here are some of the most artsy-looking hypnotic vinyl records that you should collect:
Table of Contents
#1 ANY MINUTE NOW – SOULWAX
This is a really interesting example of visual illusion.
At first, all you can see is just a pattern of dots or lines. But if you look from far away, you will see the title of the album.
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#2 PHOSPHENE DREAM – THE BLACK ANGELS
Vibrant colors and a sphere that looks like it’s going to tear through the surface.
There are just lines but they work the way that we see more than just them. Good cover for a good psychedelic rock album.
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#3 FEW FOLDER – FEW NOLDER
If you closely look at this one for five seconds, the lines will become volume.
This is a repetitive minimal house and electronica. Probably could be played in clubs. Not too simple-stupid though. Colours remind me of neon lights and club interiors.
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#4 OUT THERE – THE HELIOCENTRICS
Although titled as a Hip-Hop album, to me it’s not. I would say its just beats with some tribal and urban motives.
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#5 OBAN – JAGA JAZZIST
Spirals and lines are a common thing in optical illusions. Basically these are the key elements to making an artwork trippy.
This remix is an electronic music. Although the cover is close to the one before, the melody here is faster and we hear more repetitive patterns that change over time like this spiral.
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#6 DESTRUCTION UNIT – DEEP TRIP
This one looks like a sample piece of a previous one. However the sound is very different. It’s a dirty punk-rock with changing rhythm and weird guitar progressions.
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#7 KILLING SOMETHING THAT’S ALREADY DEAD – MACHINE, DEAR
This one is here to finish the series of black and white striped covers. This EP is rather calm comparing to others, but it has a interesting change over six tracks. Plus its has an usual physical cover.
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#8 THE FAUST TAPES – FAUST
This is a Kraut rock album. It has a strange kind of sound, not always clear, mashed up with noises. But to me it’s fun looking at the cover for some time and listening to this.
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#9 TODAY! – HERBI MANN
This one is the oldest in my list. It’s a Jazz album. Jazz can be groovy itself just as the visual effects here. Do you see them moving a bit?
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#10 VIAGGIO POP 1&2 – NARASSA
Italian label Cinedelic released a compilation of music by Narassa (Alessandro Brugnolini) entitled Viaggio Pop N. 1&2 in 2015 which featured a printed window in the front half of the gatefold sleeve containing a magenta starburst pattern. A yellow and blue printed insert creates fantastic moiré effects when removed or jiggled inside.
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#11 200 MILLION THOUSAND – BLACK LIPS
This cover has the same effect as the ones above. But this time it has a hidden face, which is very creepy. The album itself is not that creepy though. It’s rather dirty and noisy.
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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
