11/100 (Patent Pending Industries 1999 – 2010)

Revered indie rock illustrators celebrate 11 years of work with a new exhibition

by Noah Armstrong Eleven years ago Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux left Sub Pop Records’ art department and formed Patent Pending Industries, designing posters that channel the analog days of graphic design, a time when hand-drawn illustrations were the norm. The highly influential duo—who “met while whizzing tomatoes at oncoming trucks”—has since created an immense portfolio of work, blending computer-based design with hand-drawn illustrations to …

Black City Totem

Matthew Dear taps the Boyms for an object-based digital release of his latest album

For the release of Matthew Dear’s latest album, Black City, his label decided to take a slightly more inventive approach to packaging. Teaming up with award-winning design firm Boym, Ghostly International will release an ominous-looking totem, inscribed with a unique four-character code that accesses a download and stream of the full digital album, as well as an exclusive track. The Black City mini-sculptures, described as …

Superhumanoids: Urgency

Ethereal tunes from a collective of L.A. music nerds

Dubbed an “indie pop quartet,” L.A.-based band Superhumanoids has more in common with the emotionally-languid style of vets like Morrissey than with peers lumped into the same near-meaningless genre. Like all good design, their tunes balance honesty, innovation and attention to detail that stems from the group’s dedication to music. The four members—Sarah Chernoff, Cameron Parkins, Max St. John and Evan Weinerman—all play different instruments …