Don’t judge a book by its cover, they say. Well, you might heard this one applied for vinyl records also: you don’t need an artwork to sell the record. Opting for a dull cardboard sleeve will make you focus only on the music, right? Because it is the music that counts bla bla bla. Actually, and you may or may not share our opinion on this, a vinyl record is more like an experience. A good artwork will give you the proper mindset for the music inside. It may give you the cultural context for the music, it may even get you closer to the artist. And, in our house & techno underground context, it may transform the sometimes abstract sounds into amazing visual trips.
Here is where we met Juliana, a visual artist from Lithuania who loves to search for organic shapes in straight lines and harsh angles . Now based in Berlin, Juli Jah expresses her feelings through mural art or paintings and she sometimes narrates complex visual stories on record covers. You can easily recognize her uniqe style on records released by Subtil, UNIC, Memoria, Berg Audio or ROWLE.
Juli Jah accepted our challenge to reveal a bit of her complex inner world of colors and sounds with a short track selection, backed by a few of her works. Like choosing the right music for her amazing drawings… or is it the other way around? 🤔 For every question we had for her, she answered with one illustration and one track and this is how we have the most visual interview of all. Enjoy!
Living in Berlin as a visual artist
Educating your own shadows.
The state of mind you’ve experienced during the lockdown.
It’s when you think but you think too much.
The most persistent childhood memory.
Albert Hoffman without Albert Hoffman – a colourful ride.
Winter in your hometown.
Freezing but keeping the balance.
One sleepless week at Sunwaves.
That’s one hell of a long story!
Monday mornings after a weekend on the dancefloor.
Still on the dance floor, still trying to not forget to go home.
The clicks and pops of a vinyl record.
Pinching your body and soul.
The world as it is right now.
Closed airport becomes a vaccination centre – it is as it is.
The future of humanity.
Questionable.
