Accessing music digitally is practically instantaneous. Not so with vinyl, which takes a minute or two as you take the record out of its sleeve, put it on a turntable, pick up the needle and cue it to listen. Often it’s the record sleeve we connect with first. Cover art offers a clue, a sign, a portent of what is to come and, for many, an element as cherished as the music it represents. I’m part of a generation that adored this side of vinyl culture. The sleeve design would often be the first place I’d engage, looking at the images adorning the store’s walls and flicking through the contents of the record shop.
Natalia LL (1937–2022)
Polish Conceptual artist Natalia LL, whose pathbreaking works of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s critiqued consumerism, advertising, and the subjugating representation of women in pornography, died August 12
