Here’s the second installment of Soul Scrapbook, this set having a heavy emphasis on soul & gospel music. Some truly stunning and vibrant photos here with many many more to come. I really wish I could ID all of these groups as I have no idea who a lot of them are – if you happen to recognize any of them please don’t hesitate to comment.

As always you can view the whole set on my flickr page.

Soul Scrapbook marks the beginning of a new feature on D.I.A. – a showcase of vintage photography, album covers and anything else in the way of music related graphics. I mean, the music is where it’s at, but sometimes I get just as excited flipping through a batch of stunning photos, and this set that I’m about to share is definitely no exception.

For this first post I’m thrilled to share an amazing collection of vintage soul, jazz, funk and gospel photos I was fortunate enough to stumble upon – essentially a who’s who of all things soulful from the 50′s through the 70′s. You can click on the thumbnails above to start the slideshow or you can go directly to my new flickr page where you can view the entire set (only about 50 out of 100 are posted here). I’ll be uploading all of my scrapbook photos, mixtape covers, as well as other music related images onto this page, and I probably won’t post about it all so I’d recommend adding it to your bookmarks or checking it periodically so you don’t miss anything.

Enjoy!

Favela on Blast is the directorial debut of Wesley Pentz (better known as DJ and producer Diplo) and Leandro HBL. A true labor of love and years in the making, the documentary explores Brazil’s vibrant musical subculture called Baile Funk, as Pentz travels deep into favelas to examine the artists and communities that have helped shape this culture, as well as the output of his Mad Decent label.

Really looking forward to watching this. You can get a digital copy for only $5 here.

As I’m currently working on a project involving typographic treatments and motion graphics, I’ve been looking for possible things to reference. This Cee-Lo video came just in the nick of time as it’s a perfect example of how engaging simple text animation can be, and is very close to the vision I had in mind for this particular project. The old school film treatment is a nice touch too.

Hi-Fi from bante on Vimeo.

This is a really cool video celebrating Reid Miles’ work for Blue Note records, and his monumental impact on album cover art and graphic design. Seriously, if you flip through the CD bins at your local record store you’ll see how many people his work has influenced. The video was made to promote a series of summer jazz concerts at the Bella Vista Social Pub in Siena, Tuscany.

You can learn more about Miles here and see the side-by-side comparisons of the original cover art with the hi-fi versions.

Academy Records and Frank at Voodoo Funk will soon be releasing the heavily anticipated CD and 7″ box set for the Psychedelic Aliens, an obscure rock outfit from Ghana that released the obscenely rare EP pictured above. Original copies are pretty much non-existent, and thanks to the dusty fingers and hard work of Frank and Academy, this was really the only way anyone was going to hear it. In my mind, this is what reissues are all about – taking something that literally only a handful of people have heard and bringing it to a wider audience, in effect resurrecting a long deflated music career. I can’t wait.

Check out the promo below, hot off the press.

The other day I found myself looking through some stock photography for work and came across this gripping set of images taken by Axel Koester. Depicting late 80′s gang culture in LA, they serve as a great photo essay of the time, profiling The Grape Street Watts Crips and the Malditos. Stunning and terrifying at the same time, Koester successfully captures a world that most of us are only familiar with through Hollywood and the media.

You can view the whole photo set here.

Another record cover feature over at one of my favorite design blogs, Aqua Velvet.