You will fall in one of the two catagories of people when you pick this book up. The first catagory of people will say,'Oh, I've got that record, its great, been to that club, going to go go to that club, listens to HIS music, really like that, heard that was really good...'etc. And the other catagory who would not know but wish they did.
'Scrawl' is a collection of artworks mostly by the leading expointents of the new british music scene, or close accociates of them. A fine collection of works by artists not constrained by the limits set by the big record companies, their producers and their marketing study groups.
They test the boundries of graphic design which shows a real understanding of the music they are promoting and packaging, not lest because they are sometimes the one and same people; and the level of expression gives the whole package, be it a record or a club, an expremely high level of coherency. The record doesnt just stop at the music itself but extends it to represent a whole lifestyle. 'Street inspired artists' to quote the book blurb, and we get to see a clear trian of thought of artists from their graffiti to a record sleeve all together which makes this an even more interesting book.
The heavy inclusion of record sleeves, club flyers, promotional material from the likes of Ninja tune and other usual suspects makes this also an interesting snapshot of the dance youth culture, to use a cliche, at the end of this millenium.
The book could benifet on a more fleshed out discussion beyond the one paragrah soundbytes form each individual artists. If it was about words and letters, an intellegent discussion or commisioned essays would go amiss. A fine and beautiful book nethertheless, and I look forward to a sequel in a decade or so.