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Kraggy is a designer and artist based in London.

Hey Krag! Can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?

It’s gig season! Nights are getting colder, no more day festivals, we’re moving inside to the dark mood lighting and confined space of a venue; I love it. I Listen to loads of different genres, mainly more chill electro / hop stuff most of the year, but something about it getting darker makes me go see actual bands more. Proper fuzz, high energy, improv, raw sound, maybe even… a pit?

It seems like a lot of the bands I see with mates around this time are Aussie or from West Coast and I think this brings a different enthusiasm than local artists, something the audience picks up on, I hope this comes through in the playlist. Essentially what I’m trying to curate here is ‘the gig’; fast openers, followed by long jams, slower songs, then bringing the pace back up at the end and maybe a fun encore, finishing with the last two tracks for after the show… Perhaps a taster of the bands I’ve seen recently and some I’m yet to.

How did you go about the artwork for the tape?

I guess the obvious inspiration is the gig paste ups all around us; I knew I wanted to incorporate the ‘tearing down’ element as a canvas after walking passed some accidental poster layering the other night. From there I also wanted to convey some of the shapes and textures that I’d picked up from seeing Khruangbin last week, like the smoke clipped into bold spotlights from above and below.

I play a lot with type and vector drawings in my own work, and wanted to add a rough texture to this, taking influence from decaying posters.

What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?

Ergh so many… too many. All in different genres. I’m still in awe of anything Leif Podhajský makes (The Horrors special edition vinyl he made is permanently on my desk). Yeah too many… so I’m going to narrow it down to ‘from bands on the playlist only’ to help me

‘Shred for Summer’ [single] – DZ Deathrays
2017, I Oh You

Hungry Ghost – Violent Soho
2013, I Oh You
Artwork: Sam Dunn