Update: Art Critic

As an artist and designer, one of the best things about picking up a new album is the opportunity to examine its artwork. These days CD covers go way beyond the old clear plastic jewel case insert, venturing into the realm of the digipak, cardboard sleeve and beyond. A good album can be let down by a poorly executed cover, and a shit album can be saved by a designer's artistic genius (Architecture in Helsinki's Places Like This rings a bell), but when an album kicks goals both for its music and artwork, everyone's happy.

From now on, as well as the usual mark (F through A+) I will be critiquing the artwork of each album I review in more depth. I realise that by doing this I'm probably opening my own artwork up to a world of criticism, but what the hell. Enjoy!