︎ ︎ ︎Mixloud / Spotify
Shelf Heroes is an illustrated film fanzine that celebrates cinema one letter at a time, created by London based designer Ben Smith.
Hello there Ben, can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?
I have to say, this is one of the hardest briefs I ever had to look at. I make playlists for myself and mates all the time, but doing it to spec was super tricky. As I’ve been deep into the new issue of my film zine, I thought it made sense to lock it into a cinema theme. So this mix collects a selection of songs from movies that have stuck with me in recent years. They’re definitely not THE BEST SONGS IN MOVIES EVER, but they’re from moments that have resonated with me personally, and created a sense of nostalgia for a flash of the past that only ever belonged to fictional characters. Some a lot of people will share (”Visions of Gideon”), and some that probably don’t mean much to anyone else (”My Favourite Girl” from Scott Graham’s Shell).
How did you go about the artwork for the tape?
It’s a found image of 35mm cinema film, zoomed into the audio tracks. I’ve read up on the technology countless times, but I still can’t really fathom how those waves and blocks can translate to sound.
What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?
I’ve never really had that relationship with album art that other designers have. Possibly because a lot of the stuff I liked had crap art? I had a giant …And Out Come the Wolves poster which covered my entire bedroom wall, so I must’ve been pretty into that.
Suffer – Bad Religion
1988, Epitaph Records
Artwork: Jerry Mahoney
Low Life’s Main Courses ‘Food’ – Various artists
2003, Low Life
Design: David Byrne
All – Descendents
1987, SST
What did you listen to growing up?
Inherited bits of dad rock and folk from my parents, but then pretty much a solid diet of punk, ska-punk and all the myriad subgenres around there. Basically whatever Household Name Records was putting out, and whoever was playing my local venue.
Here are the bands I described as ‘my favourite band’ from ages 13-23:
Rancid / Less Than Jake / Blink 182 / Farse / [spunge] / The Suicide Machines / The Menzingers / Lemuria
Special mention to FilmFour’s Essential Soundtracks album which I also played to death.
What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?
Paying the bills freelancing from studio to studio while I’m cooking up the next issue of Shelf Heroes. Onto the letter H this time, which is shaping up to be a good one.
Where to find Ben and Shelf Heroes:
︎ shelfheroes.com
︎ shelfheroes
TRACKLIST
Punch-Drunk Love - Here We Go / Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) / Doris - You Don't Have To Worry (Guts Remix) / Razzy Bailey - I Hate Hate / Johnny Moore's Three Blazers - Be Cool aka Keep Cool / Billie Holiday - Easy Living / Patti Cake$ - Thick N’ Thin / Van Morrison - Wild Night / Flowers Forever - Hanging On The Telephone / The Band - The Weight - Remastered / Mazzy Star - Fade Into You / Electric Wave Bureau - Colours / Sufjan Stevens - Visions of Gideon / Paul Dano - God Only Knows - (From “Love & Mercy: The Life, Love And Genius Of Brian Wilson” Soundtrack) / King Creosote - My Favourite Girl ︎