Try typing in the comment section with “alt” and “J” at the same time on your keyboard if you were a Mac user, and definitely send it to me as a way of saying hi.
So, me first: ∆, and here’s my story today.
Alt-J (∆) is the name of the band I really like for the last couple of years. The UK indie rock band’s debut album An Awesome Wave won the 2012 Barclaycard Mercury Prize when I got to know them for the first time. From this award-winning album, the lyrics in a song called “Tessellate” says, “Triangles are my favorite shape, three points where two lines meet.” The band name is really just a delta symbol that implies “change” as a Greek letter used in scientific study, but the band needed a name that is not only written but can be spoken. So alt-J, there it is. How smart packaging is that?
Buzzfeed has compiled a list of “23 Things You Really Should Know About Alt-J,” which is a good read for a fan like me. I personally like the band for so many reasons. Their music genre is hard to give one name, yet well-combined with trip-hop ambience, electronic riffs, indie-rock quirkiness, and pop catchiness. Many music critics compare them to my other favorite UK band Radiohead for a big time. And the band members are adorably weird or weirdly adorable.
I especially love their music album cover, and I’m legitimately biased to say that An Awesome Wave by alt-J has the coolest music album packaging. Art directed by Virgilio Tzaj.
Seems psychedelic? Don’t assume yet.
When the band was choosing the artwork up against a deadline, they tried to Google “delta” for an inspiration. Instead of a delta symbol, Google started to come up with satellite images of geographical deltas. The image selected eventually by the band was a multi-layered radar photo of the world’s largest delta of the Ganges rivers in Bangladesh, acquired from the European Space Agency.
Isn’t that the coolest music album cover, if not ever? Anyway, I just happen to like the labyrinth-like story.
And you know that kind of feeling of being a part of the live concert of your favorite band. So here is a small video I’ve made during alt-J’s Boston tour at Orpheum Theatre on November 18, 2014.
Enjoy, and don’t forget to send me that little triangle ∆ !
The Packaging Snob 