JD - Deconstructing Print Media

I have chosen to deconstruct the album cover of a High Contrast album, as he produces music in a similar style and genre to that of Netsky, who remixed the track we have chosen for our video

- The visual signifiers on this album cover are the artist himself, the lights on the wall, the obviously textured wall and the writing on the top left of the album cover; 'True Colours' in a rainbow colour and 'High Contrast' in plain white. These are all the iconic signs of the album cover.

- The album cover appears to be fairly unconventional with artist appearing in the centre of the cover, making him seem like he is not what your eyes are meant to be drawn to first. This is also enhanced by the fact that the whole background is in black and white. The light in the top left corner helps to create a leading line diagonally downwards through the writing and finally to the artist. The fact that the album name 'True Colours' is in the colour spectrum, connotes that the music may be happy, but on the other hand the 'True Colours' could be another reading, that the music is more about the artist and how he feels; his true colours, which may not necessarily be happy or good.

- The way that the album cover is laid out helps to create a star persona around High Contrast. It connotes that he is a very independent artist, which is a generic theme surrounding DJ's, but this dominant ideology is beginning to be challenged as DJ's are beginning to work together to bring new music into the genre. An example of this is Magnetic Man, a collaboration of three very 'famous' DJ's: Skream, Benga and Artwork. These artists are trying to bring Drum & Bass to the wider audience by creating a buzz factor around their work by using Web 2.0 and the radio to 'tease' their audience and attract listeners that may not have thought of listening to Drum and Bass before hand.