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Inner Sleeve: Irwin Badman
- Issue #267 (May 06) | Inner Sleeve
- By: Irwin Badman | Featuring: Vermonster
- Printable version
VERMONSTER – SPIRIT OF YMA (TWISTED VILLAGE 1990)
DESIGNER JIMMY JOHNSON
PHOTOGRAPHER KATE VILLAGE
Back in 1990, collecting records must have been a different experience from what it is today. No, I wasn’t doing it (too busy producing a paper doll adaptation of the Cats musical with my sister), but I heard stories. Apparently, people would go to record stores and fleamarkets and all these physical places to search for records. They would get info from magazines and from possible friends who shared their knowledge. Some people were seriously into it. They would be dealing with the record dealers who offered the rarest of the rare, the most far-out and the most desirable items. Without stuff like file sharing and CD reissues of every single album in the history of recorded sound, I’m sure people were constantly disappointed. One of the more notorious record dealers was Vermonster. It was a name shared with a group who sounded special in the way that all the private press holy grails should have sounded. Around ten years ago, Finnish fanzine guru Janne Mäki-Turja was kind enough to educate me with a cassette copy of High Rise II and Vermonster’s Spirit Of Yma LP. Eventually, that poor tape was listened to death and I had to get myself a copy of the actual LP. I wasn’t prepared for the cover art to make love to my eyes and mind in the awesome, amazing way it did. What a beauty! The sleeve also smells great, and I love the way it feels against my cheek. Every time I put the record on, I reread the hilarious liner notes collaged from the ecstatic writings of the Vermonster himself and carefully study the stylish whole. On the front, the cover girl wearing a mask made of five cut-out Yma Sumac faces is stabbing a huge knife through a copy of Voice Of The Xtabay placed between her legs. I’ve been told that back then the album had some esoteric symbolic value for psych collectors. Same thing with the Wendy & Bonnie LP and the Morly Grey poster featured in the back cover shot. You see, I’ve put together some pieces of the puzzle. But for some reason the cloud of mystery will not go away. As the liner notes put it: “Real bent groove midnight atmosphere, the beautiful cover are perfect!”
Musician and artist Irwin Badman is the mainstay of the Kemialliset Ystävät collective in Tampere, Finland. He is also part of the team responsible for their artwork.
DESIGNER JIMMY JOHNSON
PHOTOGRAPHER KATE VILLAGE
Back in 1990, collecting records must have been a different experience from what it is today. No, I wasn’t doing it (too busy producing a paper doll adaptation of the Cats musical with my sister), but I heard stories. Apparently, people would go to record stores and fleamarkets and all these physical places to search for records. They would get info from magazines and from possible friends who shared their knowledge. Some people were seriously into it. They would be dealing with the record dealers who offered the rarest of the rare, the most far-out and the most desirable items. Without stuff like file sharing and CD reissues of every single album in the history of recorded sound, I’m sure people were constantly disappointed. One of the more notorious record dealers was Vermonster. It was a name shared with a group who sounded special in the way that all the private press holy grails should have sounded. Around ten years ago, Finnish fanzine guru Janne Mäki-Turja was kind enough to educate me with a cassette copy of High Rise II and Vermonster’s Spirit Of Yma LP. Eventually, that poor tape was listened to death and I had to get myself a copy of the actual LP. I wasn’t prepared for the cover art to make love to my eyes and mind in the awesome, amazing way it did. What a beauty! The sleeve also smells great, and I love the way it feels against my cheek. Every time I put the record on, I reread the hilarious liner notes collaged from the ecstatic writings of the Vermonster himself and carefully study the stylish whole. On the front, the cover girl wearing a mask made of five cut-out Yma Sumac faces is stabbing a huge knife through a copy of Voice Of The Xtabay placed between her legs. I’ve been told that back then the album had some esoteric symbolic value for psych collectors. Same thing with the Wendy & Bonnie LP and the Morly Grey poster featured in the back cover shot. You see, I’ve put together some pieces of the puzzle. But for some reason the cloud of mystery will not go away. As the liner notes put it: “Real bent groove midnight atmosphere, the beautiful cover are perfect!”
Musician and artist Irwin Badman is the mainstay of the Kemialliset Ystävät collective in Tampere, Finland. He is also part of the team responsible for their artwork.
Posted 13/05/06
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