Kanye and New Order

The new Kanye West album “808s and Heartbreak” has a conspicuously colorful border running down the side of the cover:

I think it’s a tribute to New Order, a band that did lots of pioneering work with drum machines like the 808. A lot of the music on 808s and Heartbreak updates the big, booming electro sound from the early 80s. Here’s the cover of their classic 12″ single “Blue Monday”:

Blue Monday

Famously, the sleeve for Blue Monday cost so much to produce that New Order lost money every time they sold a copy — and it was the best-selling 12″ of all time. The cover art was designed by the great Peter Saville, and I think Kanye’s album has a little of the minimalist look Saville is famous for. There are lots of variations on this story, but Wikipedia tells it well enough here.

Shameless self-promotion: The Nuts + Berries EP design by Sara Dillon looks a little like a nod to Saville’s art for the New Order single True Faith, though it was unintentional.