N.A.S.A.’s debut album The Spirit of Apollo (released last month on Anti-) features an impressive list of collaborators, including David Byrne, Tom Waits, Kanye West, M.I.A., Seu Jorge, Chuck D, Karen O, Santogold, Lykke Li, RZA, Spank Rock, the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and many more. And it turns out that N.A.S.A. masterminds Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon’s collaborative energy didn’t stop at sounds, as they also recruited artists Marcel Dzama, Mark Gonzales, Shepard Fairey, Sage Vaughn, and the Date Farmers to design a series of interchangeable album covers. Fairey, who’s currently battling the Associated Press over the rights to his iconic image of Barack Obama, continues to show his political bent with his cover, essentially a redesign of the dollar bill with the band’s name front and center. Vaughn’s outlandish collage, which features astronauts, rockets, and a hooded KKK member juxtaposed over a giant disco ball, also connects the group with American identity in an unexpected way. And Dzama, whose meticulous watercolor drawings have graced the covers albums by Beck and They Might Be Giants, offers a mysterious little galaxy of figures that appear to be distantly descended from comic-book characters. Dzama is the latest of the artists to be paired with an animator for a N.A.S.A. music video. His work was brought to life by director Syd Garon for “The People Tree,” which features David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab, and Z-Trip. Fairey’s currency-based artwork has also gotten the video treatment, for another tune featuring Byrne, Z-Trip, Chuck D, Ras Congo, and Seu Jorge, appropriately titled “Money.” And if all that wasn’t enough, N.A.S.A. is also planning to launch a pair of limited-edition artist-designed skate decks. You could power a small city with the energy that’s gone into this project.

To read our story on N.A.S.A. in the spring issue of VMAN, click here. For more videos, click here. For more videos, click here. For more news and information, click here or here.

Cover artists, clockwise from left: Sage Vaughn, Mark Gonzales, Shepard Fairey, the Date Farmers, Marcel Dzama

KEYWORDS: art, David Byrne, DJ Zegon, Marcel Dzama, Mark Gonzalez, Music, N.A.S.A., Sage Vaughn, Shepard Fairey, Squeak E. Clean, The Date Farmers, video

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