How do BAM readers usually listen to music? Streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify have long dominated the listening experience, but in a striking countertrend to digital convenience, vinyl records are once again on the rise.
What makes vinyl so captivating is not only its warm sound but also its bold, striking album jackets. The distinctive square format and large-scale artwork allow vinyl enjoyers to appreciate every detail up close. A vinyl record is more than just a way to hear music; it’s an art object meant to be experienced with the eyes as much as the ears.
Vinyl Reborn: Beyond Nostalgia
Young people, weary of an ever-accelerating cycle of trends, are beginning to seek out the charm of once-popular, time-honored cultures. Music is no exception: Shōwa-era pop songs are finding new life on streaming services, and teens are dancing to retro tunes on TikTok. Yet the vinyl revival isn’t merely a product of nostalgia – it reflects something deeper than a simple longing for the past.
Japan has a thriving market for record stores. From the extensive collections at Disk Union to the eclectic selection at Shimokitazawa’s Flash Disc Ranch – featured in PERFECT DAYS – fans from all around the world flock to hunt for hidden gems. In addition, music from Japan’s ’80s and ’90s has gained renewed value as it has been sampled1 by prominent artists, driving demand for high-quality secondhand records. Well-preserved items from Japan’s used market have thus attracted attention on a global scale.
The Expanding World of Album Jackets
Moreover, the rise of digital music has only strengthened the desire for more tangible, physical listening experiences. Album covers created by contemporary art luminaries like KAWS and Julian Opie are now sought after as art pieces in their own right. Pop art pioneer Andy Warhol famously designed covers for acts such as Rats & Star, The Rolling Stones, and John Lennon, helping fuse art and music into a single force that energized pop culture. Just like this, album jackets evolved into collectible objects – pieces to be owned, displayed, and cherished like artworks or interior décor.
Contemporary artists are no exceptions in embracing this trend, releasing their new works on vinyl. Juice WRLD, the Chicago-born rapper who tragically passed away from an overdose in December 2019 at the age of 21, had his second posthumous album The Party Never Ends issued on vinyl. The album artwork, created by Takashi Murakami, was reportedly developed after the two met in person in Tokyo just two weeks before Juice WRLD’s passing.
The Power of Design, Told Through Iconic Jackets
Album jackets are now celebrated as artworks and one of the earliest examples of a truly conceptual visual approach is The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, the cover famously assembles a cast of cultural icons – from Marilyn Monroe and Bob Dylan to Aleister Crowley. By presenting the album as a single, unified art piece, it sought to create a powerful synergy between music and visuals.
Here in Japan, the genre now known as ‘city pop’ gave rise to a distinctive style of album illustration, exemplified by Eiichi Ohtaki’s A LONG VACATION and Tatsuro Yamashita’s For You. Created by artists Hiroshi Nagai and Eizin Suzuki respectively, these covers evoke a sleek, urban aesthetic. Their flat, shadowless depictions conjure an almost utopian space – one that invites listeners to momentarily forget the noise and distortions of everyday life.
Contemporary musician Brian Eno has described album artwork as a kind of ‘instantaneous art.’ In the zero-second moment before the music begins, the cover serves as a ‘doorway’ — a visual introduction that hints at the world of sound to come. Inseparable from musical expression itself, art on album covers continues to expand the listening experience, inviting us on an endless journey through integrated experience where art and imagination meet.
Shops Where You Can Discover New Records
- Sampling: A production technique in which portions of someone else’s work are extracted and restructured to create a new track ↩︎
