Musiccosmos

Screen + Sound + Stage Text by Sadaf Shaikh Pop quiz. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you listen to the familiar guitar strain of Nirvana’s  Smells Like Teen Spirit?  Options: A. Kurt Cobain in his striped green and black t-shirt B. The nihilistic nature of your own youth C. A naked baby in a pool swimming towards a dollar bill dangling from a fish hook. If you picked option C, you belong to a group of people who ‘see’ music along with ‘feeling’ and ‘listening’ to it, the kind of people who prefer to watch music videos instead of simply saving the song in their playlist. Musicians go to great lengths to appease the visual indulgences of their audience and it begins with conceptualising the artwork for an album or EP. Special artists are commissioned to create covers which are then released ahead of the album to give the fans a glimpse of what’s to come. Pop quiz No.2. Think of album artworks in the international space. Which ones come to mind? Pink Floyd’s...