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Having already expressed my opinions about the Worst Album Covers of 2007, it’s time to talk about the Best of 2007. These are the covers that I thought did something just a little different in their overall packaging.

Battles “Mirrored”
Beautiful photography taken from their “Atlas” video shoot, an interesting angle and understated type. A futuristic look that was one of the coolest cover images of the year.

Simian Mobile Disco “Attack Decay Sustain Release”
SMD’s cover is a nice counterpoint to the dance music norm of futuristic vector graphics and hip typefaces we usually see. The title itself sounds like a play on The Circle of Life, but it’s actually a list of production effects.

Deerhunter “Cryptograms”
A cool visual of simple shapes and overlays forms a dizzying optical illusion. The tiny wildlife being scoped in the center is a visual play on the band name.

Sunset Rubdown “Random Spirit Lover”
Wolf Parade frontman’s second solo album uses nighttime neon collaged with lettering constructed of overexposed light.

Brad Laner “Neighbor Singing”
Influences of M.C. Escher and 1950’s architectural style form a fun illustrated cover, probably alluding to “seeing multiple sides of the suburban lifestyle.” Or something.

Jay-Z “American Gangster”
All rappers imagine themselves as Scarface (it’s on the hip-hop application form, I believe). But only Jay-Z is cool enough to live the dream. Nobody else can walk into a closed restaurant looking this badass.

VHS Or Beta “Bring On The Comets”
This messy neon scramble of the band picture was a real eye-grabber.

Panda Bear “Person Pitch”
I won’t pretend to understand anything about this cover except that it reminds me of the pastiche-style music it contains. I also like the subtle nod to Sgt Pepper’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to cover shots. Anyone with a walrus on the cover is doing something right.

Kanye West “Graduation”
I usually get tired of Kanye albums pretty fast beyond the world-crushing single or two they contain. But this is the first time I’ve really liked his cover from the moment I saw it. In typical flamboyant character, West had this commissioned by Japanese pop-artist Takashi Murakami and I feel like he really captured the spirit and bounce of Kanye’s sound.

Queens of the Stone Age “Era Vulgaris”
A simple comic-style illustration of two buck-toothed meth bulbs smoking pot, a “used record” imprint around the edge indicating wear and tear, the 50’s style hipster font, even the badge proclaiming “Mono.” Hilarious.

Radiohead “In Rainbows (alternate)”
The thing I like about this alternate (possibly vinyl) version of In Rainbows is the bolder, more refined approach to the text treatment – the multiple spellings of the title reflect the infinite prices consumers could choose to pay for the online shopping experiment. The background image has been cropped and manipulated into a texture more than a visual, representative of the digital format itself.

LCD Soundsystem “Sound Of Silver”
The image of aging surveillance technology speaks to the album’s audience of getting-up-there-in-age hipsters. I just love the washed-out look on this cover.