War Child UK’s famous Secret 7” record sale is back – and this year, it’s celebrating a whole decade of its renowned auction. Over 5,000 one-of-a-kind records, nearly a million pounds raised for charity, and hundreds of artists involved. It’s quite the feat and once again you are invited to be a part of it. If you’re not in the loop, here’s the deal: the initiative puts out an open call for artists, designers and illustrators alike to create unique, individual artworks for seven tracks from seven artists. Each song gets printed 100 times, which equals 700 completely original record sleeves. When the vibrant selection of collectable vinyl is put up for auction (with all proceeds going to charity), the public is guaranteed to pick up something idiosyncratic and singular. But bidders have no idea who designed the sleeve or what the song is inside until the auction ends.
Included within these hundreds of anonymous artworks stand a few creative titans hiding in plain sight – this year, some of those significant visual artists include Clare Twomey MBE, a groundbreaking ceramic artist, Thierry Noir, a Berlin Wall muralist, and several artists from UK indie-rock royalty such as Orlando Weeks, the frontman from The Maccabees, Justin Frischmann, the frontwoman of Elastica, longtime The Cure cover designer Andy Vella and Ben Kelly, the interior designer of Manchester’s legendary Haçienda nightclub – as well as Anthony Burrill, Sumuyya Khader, Joey Yu, all selected for being leading examples of intelligent design and supporters for solving global issues. This year’s records all feature an exclusive B-side etching by It’s Nice That-favourite artist Murugiah, whose work also resonates with those seeking kindness, authenticity and compassion. Past contributions included Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Peter Blake and Ai Weiwei, proving the record sleeves can be made from anything: concrete, felt, Lego, clay, stitch work, each pushing the format in different directions in response to the different musical artists.