This month, Insound looks at minimalist album covers.

Remember that old adage less is more? Well often times this can prove all too true in a market full of album designs that explode with more than their fair share of visual overload. We picked a few of our current favorite minimal designs along with a few historical touchstones that have kept things classy from the get go.

New Order – Movement
To this day Factory Records’ design team stands as a gold standard among album designers. New Order’s debut album Movement is a study in uncluttered design and it’s clean lines and crisp text perfectly mirrored the cold, calculating music contained within the bounds of its intriguing jacket.

Germs – GI
The simple lines of The Germs’ seminal album GI would belie the fierce turbulent energy housed within. Their restraint in visual imagery put the focus right where it belongs, on their tenacious songs and fevered energy. This iconic album cover stands as one of the best and most instantly recognizable in the entire punk canon.

No Age – Losing Feeling EP
When teamed up with Brian Rottinger (as they almost always are) No Age are a veritable force of music and design. The team plays it simple with an image of a smudged LP adoring the jacket of their latest LP. A fitting image to a band that blurs a traditional punk base under mounds of noise and crackling distortion.

LCD Soundsystem – 45:33 Remixes
James Murphy issues a series of 12″ remixes of his precision running mix “45:33″ with each numeral, and therefore each individual 12″ represented by a color on the CMYK color model. It all comes off as a pretty visually stunning package a perfect accompaniment to the crisp beats laid down on these 4 discs.

Thom Yorke – Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses 12″
Yorke continues his thematic riff on curved lines that has flowed through his album art since the release of The Eraser. This time he opts for the black on black with a die-cut sleeve to keep things interesting. A perfectly bleak fit to one of his most dark and foreboding singles.