Bands whose visual aesthetic you really like

jude111 wrote: Something I really loved about Floyd was the fact that I didn't know anything about them - who they were, what they looked like. When so many other artists featured pictures of themselves, I loved how Floyd's albums were devoid of pictures of the band. Mind you, I was in the US, it was the late 70s/early 80s, and I was 12-18. Then I found their older albums (pre-DSOTM) and saw pictures of them, and couldn't help but be disappointed. I liked the mystique of not knowing anything about them... Of course, that was totally and irrevocably shattered by the Waters/Gilmour feud...

Seeing the photos of them from the first two LPs must have been even more of a shock, then. "Who are these goofy-looking hippies?"

For me it's been more of a shock adjusting to PF's later style and aesthetic. I started chronologically with Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Took a while for the Gilmour-fronted incarnation to separate itself completely from Barrett's influences too, which I guess is one reason why Waters doesn't really like anything the band released between PaTGoD and DSoTM.

I'm sure they never intentionally had a Kiss kind of thing where they tried to hide their identities. But I wish they had.

Perhaps not to the same extent, but the biography I read of Syd Barrett a while ago uncovered that his nervous breakdown and departure from the band had more to do with the stress of suddenly being famous than with drug abuse (though that certainly didn't help) and that must have left some impression on his bandmates.

This is actually an interesting topic, as I, for one, have never (consciously) realized that the visual aesthetic of prog is almost always great, and certainly of a higher caliber and creativity than most (any?) other music genres. After all, from the early Zappa and Floyd album covers, to In the Court (the album - and cover - that probably did more to launch prog rock than anything else), to Roger Dean, Hipgnosis and album covers of Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, and other "seminal" prog bands, through to some of Rush's covers, and then neo-prog and its covers (IQ, Marillion, Pendragon, Spock's Beard et al), and prog metal (Dream Theater, Tool, et al), the visual aesthetic of prog has always been and remains quite extraordinary.

I always felt in someway seduced by the cover art of this band:

I'm reminded of the enigmatic Syphilitic Vaginas, a Swedish metal/punk group who have gone to elaborate lengths to convince the world they're actually Japanese.


When a band is freaking called Syphilitic Vaginas and that's not the goofiest thing about their image...

Causa Sui is a bodacious and tubular band indeed.

One group whose aesthetic I'm not sure whether I find appealing or goofy is Acid Mothers Temple. The entire "every psychedelic space rock trope ever combined then turned up beyond the impossible" feel I'm not sure whether I find totally bitchin' or whether it just reminds me of a Japanese remake of Cheech & Chong. Doesn't help that I find their music very hit-and-miss.

Just discovered El Paraiso records, and can't recommend them enough! The label is run by Causa Sui, a great band, and releases other psychedelic instrumental music with a similar vibe, mostly on vinyl.  The reason I mention it here is the the packaging for all their releases is amazing. The artwork is in a retro and organic vein and really fits with the musical ideas. Also the vinyl is often in different colours. 

Edited by Hnrz - March 20 2014 at 08:18

Amon Düül ll had a really cool thang going for them at one point. I especially dig their lion costume "era":)

^ regardless, it was more that dark little door they appear to have nudged ajar in the Toaster Mantis soul that troubled me