Kevin Bryce has once again been hard at work putting together something very special for our vinyl release, Europe. Similar to his custom CD cases for Uncharted Places, the electronica artist turned his skills to the woodwork studio to surpass all expectations and create a unique piece of art to accompany our second vinyl release.
Made with Walnut, finished with Natural Tung Oil and featuring Bubinga, Coca Bola and Koa wood inlay segments, each one is unique and has taken months to hand-craft.
“I (Kevin) used a Zenbot CNC machine to do the engraving and inlay cutting, and then finished the case by hand and gave it several coats of Tung oil. Tung oil is a natural oil from the nut of the Tung tree. It is an environmentally friendly wood finish and it is my favourite as it brings a warm lustre to woods like this one, – Walnut. It usually comes in two ways, one with mineral spirits to speed the drying process, and one completely natural. These cases were completed with 100% natural Tung oil, meaning it took an extra few days to dry, but the upside is, it should be safe to eat off of should you choose to do so!”
The design was conceived by my friend Nick Brzostowski and represents the ten tracks included on Europe. My brief to him was to represent the ten tracks in a very simple, striking way that would integrate with Kevin’s woodwork. Nick ended up with this beautiful geometric approach, pin-pointing the areas the tracks were inspired by, and connecting the design back to the four corners of the globe, alongside my home, Portland, Oregon. We ended up with a truly global effort; from Kevin in the Fraser Valley of Vancouver, to Nick in London, myself in Portland and all of the artists featured on the release across Europe.
There will be just five of these special edition Europe vinyl cases available, going on sale on Sunday February 1st 2015 at 11am PST, 7pm GMT via the ASIP Bandcamp Page. They will be priced at $200 plus postage (postage is unfortunately expensive to anywhere outside of the USA). The price still doesn’t do the many hours that went into this product justice, but I want to make sure that Kevin can at least recoup his material costs and continue his trade ready for our next release. A big thank-you to Kevin Bryce for his relentless perfectionism and dedication on this project.
More details on the vinyl and digital release of ASIPV002 Europe, available here.
