Matt & Kim/ New Era of Album Artwork

I love Matt and Kim.  Who doesn't love Matt and Kim? They're the cutest band ever! I was introduced to them about two years ago when a friend of mine needed someone to go to their show with.  Needless to say, I fell in love instantaneously and never looked back.  What I loved the most about them was that it seemed as though they lived in a cartoon world--Kim (drums) was drumming and grinning away while Matt (keyboard, vocals) was singing his tales of love and happiness against a backdrop of a comic-book town. It was as if they lived in a cartoon world! How fun!

Not knowing it at the time, the backdrop against which they were playing was actually the artwork from the album they were supporting at the time--"Grand".  With their new album "Sidewalks" about to be released, I got curious of what fans were in store for visually.  Behold:

 

 Yay for Cyan! I love it--I also love that some of the apartment building visuals from the previous album have carried over:

Upon visiting their website I found that this theme carried throughout.  It got me thinking about the state of the genre of "album art".   Ever since downloading has taken hold of the majority of music sales, the importance of the album artwork has been reduced (quite literally) to a 1x1 inch square.  However, with bands like Matt and Kim and the Dandy Warhols using their artwork as more of a visual theme that is carried out in their website, videos, live show, and promotional materials, the importance of album art is not lost.