Closes Vol 1 Cover and a few other early artwork questions

[Echelon]

What exactly does it depict? It looks like a VHS tape of a religious ceremony or a cult of some kind. Also that young teenage boy seems out of place in them. For a while, I actually thought he was a friend of the group rather than part of this ceremony.

And was this an event that Hexagon Sun actually attended since PIC took the pictures, or did he simply take stills of a video and assemble them into a collage.

This makes me wonder about the nature of the other photographs for the early albums too. Were they original art created in the heyday of the Hexagon Sun collective (early 90s, when they apparently made a lot of art and music together) or were they simply photos that BOC doctored?

Lastly, was that big photo of Play By Numbers legit? Was that ever decided?

We'll probably never get answers to any of these questions if they haven't been answered by 2020 but I guess we can still speculate.

[bungler666]

It's pictures of a TV, probably playing one of PIC's old home videos. If you read the accompanying text it explains how he grew up in Kosovo and had to leave because of the war. The pictures look like they come from some sort of seance or gathering.
Very interesting cover.

[Echelon]

It's pictures of a TV, probably playing one of PIC's old home videos. If you read the accompanying text it explains how he grew up in Kosovo and had to leave because of the war. The pictures look like they come from some sort of seance or gathering.
Very interesting cover.

That is interesting, especially if we consider that boy might be him, or represent him.

I am not sure what Kosovo refugees have to do with the content of Closes Vol 1, but the the damaged VHS quality of the video fit perfectly with BOC's damaged, aged sound. And perhaps, these are nostalgic images for PIC.

Fascinating stuff.

[2020k]

A pretty good quality picture from Last.FM, if anyone needs a reference for discussion.



More info from PIC, the photog: http://peteriaincampbell.co.uk/wp/?skil ... nd-in-song

His work is amazing btw. Check out the website, regardless!

[bungler666]

The boy could very well be him. The timestamp says 1997 though, that's probably incorrect.

[Echelon]

The boy could very well be him. The timestamp says 1997 though, that's probably incorrect.

Wasn't Closes Vol 1 repressed in 1997 too? They could have asked Peter for artwork for the repress and he gave them this.

It's very interesting Peter offered it up though especially with how personal it is to him. Why would he just hand them artwork from a totally unrelated project other than the fact it actually looks really cool and totally BOC-like.

[BoC Bandit]

The boy could very well be him. The timestamp says 1997 though, that's probably incorrect.

Wasn't Closes Vol 1 repressed in 1997 too? They could have asked Peter for artwork for the repress and he gave them this.

It's very interesting Peter offered it up though especially with how personal it is to him. Why would he just hand them artwork from a totally unrelated project other than the fact it actually looks really cool and totally BOC-like.

I recall one Twoism member asking PiC about the Closes cover and being told the original cassettes of Closes Vol 1 had no J card

[Echelon]

The boy could very well be him. The timestamp says 1997 though, that's probably incorrect.

Wasn't Closes Vol 1 repressed in 1997 too? They could have asked Peter for artwork for the repress and he gave them this.

It's very interesting Peter offered it up though especially with how personal it is to him. Why would he just hand them artwork from a totally unrelated project other than the fact it actually looks really cool and totally BOC-like.

I recall one Twoism member asking PiC about the Closes cover and being told the original cassettes of Closes Vol 1 had no J card

That's fascinating. I never knew that. That's kind of nice that they selected his artwork for a coverless tape. That's why whenever people doubt PIC's credibility with following that Instagram, I just think of all of the amazing artwork, photography and even covers (Closes, Geogaddi) they've used from Pete.

Here's hoping Peter does more photoshoots and covers for BOC in the near future *cough*newartworkforbocset*coughs*

[Zephyr Method]

https://imgur.com/a/zpv43oJ

1500 x 1500 cover of Closes vol. 1

[bakedsodium]

Lastly, was that big photo of Play By Numbers legit? Was that ever decided?

We'll probably never get answers to any of these questions if they haven't been answered by 2020 but I guess we can still speculate.

My theory is this:

The discogs page for Play By Numbers is up, but Hooper Bay, Acid Memories etc. has been taken down. Why? Because Play By Numbers was sold on 05 Jan 2008, to an unknown person. For 100 Euros. I guess that's proof enough for being legit. I always assumed the picture came from whoever bought it.

I did contact some discogs users who rated the release, or had it in their collection, and who also ordered an item on 05 Jan 2008. Only 2 people matched my criteria, a guy called Brendan who told me he only had it digitally, I think he had a fake torrent, because he said "you should be able to find it online with enough searching".

The only other guy is user "GARYTRONIC". Who hasn't had any activity for 7 years. He might have it... but might never know.

[Negamuse]

I've mentioned this on here before but of all their early releases Play By Numbers is the one that I'm fairly sure I saw in the wild before I knew it's significance in a record shop in Derby. I was a teenager at the time with nothing to do but go through record shops on the way into town to hang out with my brother, and I was already a big warp fan. I'd heard of boards of Canada and bounced off the band completely, didn't "get" mhtrtc so it was nothing to me at the time.

Like I say Im as sure as I can be I saw it on cd, one copy of it, that artwork kinda sticks with you. I'm assuming that it was promod in, or even guerrilla released into the wild, they wouldn't be the first band to just drop a cd on a shelf. Why that nothing of a Midlands town, I don't know.

If someone points out the glaring inaccuracy in this story that makes it impossible of course I'll concede it never happened and I was wrong about it, all I can tell you is I have the memory of it, for whatever reason.

[Negamuse]

I tell this story again just to say of all their releases I can see someone on discogs actually having a copy of, I don't blink at play by numbers.

[Geogandhi]

Wow, I know the shop and it turns out we are pretty local, ha.
You used to get random promo's and really oddball independent releases in there. I got some really weird promo's from there. I got a copy of Clarks Body Riddle in some photocopied sleeve many months before it was announced.

[Manc]

I've mentioned this before on here too, but I am 99% positive I saw a copy in a record shop called 'Vibes' in Bury (Greater Manchester), sometime around 1996. It was part of the 'Chain With No Name' group of independent music shops at the time. The artwork grabbed my attention but as CDs were expensive at the time, I didn't bother taking a chance on it.

[Negamuse]

Yep I fell like we've had this exact discussion before haha. but it was, God I miss the chain with no name. Selectadisc in Nottingham too.

And I'm not there anymore, but neither are the shops, the whole things been dynamited and replaced with an unholy bland mess. I could write tons of wistful nonsense on the lost parts of Derby city centre but that's another thread.

[Geogandhi]

Oh jeez, yeah totally plausible that we've had this discussion before, and more than once probably haha. It's worrying sometimes that it seems such a new revelation in my mind, Age I guess.

Also, i'm not sure if it's just me or does everyone feel like this? but I always feel that i'm new here and everyone else is more established even though the dates/figures show otherwise. Not just on here but I feel it's a forum thing.

[bungler666]

I've mentioned this before on here too, but I am 99% positive I saw a copy in a record shop called 'Vibes' in Bury (Greater Manchester), sometime around 1996. It was part of the 'Chain With No Name' group of independent music shops at the time. The artwork grabbed my attention but as CDs were expensive at the time, I didn't bother taking a chance on it.

Do you remember what the back cover looked like?

[Manc]

That’s such a good question!

No, I can’t. I was pretty hungry for new music back then and used to search for stuff based on sleeve notes (common producers, artists) and record label. Occasionally the NME. Google was still a twinkle in the Devils’s eye. I’m guessing that there may have been very little on the back of the case, and I wouldn’t have spent money on something I couldn’t find out much about. The cover did leave an impression though, and it must have sat in the racks for a few weeks at least. I would go in regularly to see what had been released, and it was one of the cases I’d skip over because I’d already looked at it.

[Moz]

A pretty good quality picture from Last.FM, if anyone needs a reference for discussion.

This is not a cult. These are Albanians, muslims, which are a main nationality in Kosovo. Red flag with an eagle is the Albanian flag. One of the last countries in Europe which declared independence but as it is technically a part of Serbia and they were not having any of it due to historical reasons, only up until very recently when Serbian president started to discretely move into that direction by signing some international agreements which usually indicate first steps towards separation. It is one of the very few remaining critical problems in Europe (read: war could easily happen again). I'm from ex-Yugoslavia so want it or not I know a lot about these quarells.

[outhudd]

I think I remember seeing that full home video online?