The Art of Noise: Ultramajic
Despite being born out of a "random idea" that Jimmy Edgar had while visiting Machu Piccu last year, Ultramajic has proven to be one of the most invigorating new record labels around. So far, the label have released white hot dancefloor funk by the likes of Danny Daze, L-Vis 1990, Matrixxman, Aden, and Jimmy Edgar himself, with releases by SOPHIE and Chambray planned for the future, but what sets Ultramajic apart from the rest is its visual aesthetic. Born out of a desire to create something with "a bit of fun, magic, mystery, and fashion", Ultramajic have developed one of the strongest and most distinctive visual identities of any new label. "The visual identity is the whole label," Jimmy says, "I feel confident in making music that dope, and I think that really helped us to have the music on lock."
Most of the Ultramajic's design is made with Pilar Zeta, a visual artist who worked with Jimmy on his 2012 album 'Majenta'. Jimmy and Pilar do just about everything together, working side-by-side and rarely doing anything online unless it doesn't require too much thought. Every piece goes through a different design process. Jimmy does "frenetic research" coming up with symbols for each piece, the 3D design, and working on the nitty gritty details, airbrushing and retouching "pretty heavily" to emphasize the importance of the colours. Pilar is "the Photoshop master", excelling at the layout and design and, ultimately, "making everything look pretty." For their music videos, they've worked with artists like "really outstandingly fresh 3D animators" Brez (who created the video for Jimmy's own Hot Inside) and Joeri Woudstra (Danny Daze's Silicon), who help bring Jimmy and Pilar's artwork alive.
Ultramajic's aesthetic identity spreads beyond cover art, and they plan to expand into the visual realm even more in the future – they're working on exhibitions, work with Art Basel, merchandise, and prints, while Jimmy recently told Dummy that they're "jumping on the merchandise vibe, because Pilar and I have designed some interesting wearables for later in the season."
Ultramajic take over Room 2 at Fabric this Friday (May 2nd), with Jimmy Edgar, Danny Daze, Letherette, SOPHIE (more information and tickets).
