Sound by Its Cover

Welcome to the world's first album art review site (we think!). Below you'll find a preliminary archive of the reviews. We're working on migrating this content to SoundByItsCover.com. Enjoy!

Featured Review

The Bad
The Good
The Inexplicable

Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

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The Bad

4/11/07 John Ashfield


3/2/07 Mirror Snake


2/15/07 Smoke or Fire


12/11/06 The Size Queens


11/27/06 Sufjan Stevens


11/2/06 Rachel Ray's Too Cool for School Mixtape for Kids


10/26/06 Pillow Pusher


10/26/06 Charles Xavier


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The Good

3/22/07 The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound


2/21/07 Alexi Murdoch


1/8/07 Radio Moscow


12/18/06 The Welcome Matt


12/4/06 Shapes and Sizes


11/15/06 Easy Star All-Stars' Radiodread


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The Inexplicable

3/29/07 Lynn Marie & the Boxhounds


3/7/07 Altar Boyz


2/5/07 GoodWord


1/29/07 A Date With John Waters


11/7/06 Cerrone


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Featured Review

Sound by Its Cover: John Ashfield's Love Is Blue

This is, without a doubt, one of the goofiest album covers ever. It's a joy to behold, really, because it's so damn genuine. I'm sure John Ashfield is a stand-up guy -- totally nice, committed to his craft, a talented singer even. And that's nice to see. But his pose on the cover of Love Is Blue is a character unto itself, a look that supersedes the man. You could spend the next five years of your life with John Ashfield and never shake this image from your head. That's how profoundly goofy it is.

Something about a big guy like John dressed up in khakis and a baby-blue ribbed sweater while mimicking the playful pose of a schoolgirl is irresistible. He leans back, hands planted at his sides on an aluminum bench, mouth partially agape as if to say, Hey, I'm just having some fun here, legs extended out in front, feet crossed so that we can see the treads of his boots. Can't you just picture a ten-year-old girl dressed in her Sunday best making the same pose?

In addition to being frontman for SF-based power-pop group the Bobbleheads, Ashfield teaches music to elementary schoolkids, which explains why he's seated in a schoolyard, perhaps in front of his classroom. Has he adopted the innocent look of the children he teaches, or is this just a coincidence?

Maybe this will shed some light: Love Is Blue is a remake of a 1968 Johnny Mathis record of the same name. Ashfield borrowed that title as well as all of the song names in the original sequence -- including standards like "Walk on By" and "Moon River" -- but wrote all new music. The cover image, in fact, is also inspired by the original art, in which Mathis perches likewise on a fence wearing an almost identical outfit. So the look is the same, yet the substance is new. Perhaps this explains why a grown man would pose like a little girl. Totally postmodern, man. Or maybe just goofy as hell. -- Nate Seltenrich

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Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

We're looking for new contributors to Sound by Its Cover. You don't necessarily need experience writing about music or reviewing records the "normal" way, but you should know how to write and have a good sense of humor -- the idea is to have fun with this. If you're interested, please send a couple writing samples and a jpeg of the album cover you'd like to review to info@nascentmag.com. Relatively recent albums are preferred (within the last few months), but if you've got an older one in mind, feel free to sell us. We look forward to hearing from you and checking out some killer -- or hideous -- new album art.