Perturbator / Dangerous Days (2014)
A couple years after the launch of my record label, Telefuture began to pick up steam, releasing a plethora of genres of music falling under the ‘80s-inspired banner. I had been releasing a lot of music from music I loved and respected, and felt that needed a broader audience. A lot of other kindred labels shared artists with mine, including Perturbator. but were invested in strictly digital-only releases. I was more excited about creating unique physical releases, highly influenced by my favorite DIY record labels, like Three One G and Youth Attack.
Knowing that this release would be pivotal for the label — and genre as a whole — I decided to go all-in, working closely with the artist to come up with some novel marketing ideas. Together we planned physical releases on vinyl, cassette, and CD. To fund these physical releases, I turned to Kickstarter to produce some of Telefuture’s signature physical releases, including a limited CD box set for Dangerous Days.
As the crowdfunding campaign began to gain some traction, so did attention on the album. Bigger labels started to express interest in re-releasing physical copies of Perturbator’s back catalog, all the way from his debut release up to Dangerous Days. The result was a co-release of the album with now-defunct metal record label, Blood Music, further solidifying the crossover in the synthwave and metal fanbases. After determining which label would be responsible for each version of the release, I began doing layout for the vinyl and CD releases, as well as designing a limited edition CD box set.
The Perturbator’s Dangerous Days CD box set included a 6-panel digipak CD, stickers, pins, and a 8-page custom comic book, which I painstakingly did all of the design and layout for. It was an immense amount of work that required close communication with the musician, label, and illustrator, whose art was adapted for much of the release, including the black-on-black custom box for the set to create a mysterious, monolithic, and generally over-the-top feel to compliment the bright, bombastic artwork contained within.
The turnaround for creating all of the elements for the various physical releases meant adhering to strict schedules being put forth by Blood Music, as well as various manufacturers, which meant finalizing layouts and mockups for the release while traveling in Japan for documentary work with 2 Player Productions, often hammering away on record layouts in cramped Japanese hotel rooms.
Dangerous Days went on to be very well-received, being featured on NPR, Bloody Disgusting, and many other websites and blogs. The album’s first single, Future Club, has been streamed over 24 million times on Spotify alone, and was featured in Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, Eighth Grade. The album also appeared on “2016’s top 10 most collected albums on Bandcamp,” a massive honor for any independent musician.
Music: Perturbator
Illustration: Ariel ZB
Released by: Blood Music, Telefuture
Kickstarter Video: Paul Owens