Associate editor Duncan Cooper and art director Harry Gassel share a special fondness for amateur YouTube covers—songs sung solo in someone's bedroom, shot through their webcam and into the world. In their new column, Cover Art, Duncan and Harry each share a favorite recent find.
Keeping with the do-it-yourself spirit, we'd like your help.
Every week, we'll use a new version of the words "cover art." (Duncan made this one.) You too can illustrate the column by writing, illustrating, or just typing the words "cover art" in whatever style you'd like. We'll pick our favorites to use for the column art, and send the winners copies of our last three issues and link to their sites. Artwork must be black and white and at least 1000 pixels wide. If it's a vector graphic, send the original file. Please send submissions to coverart@thefader.com.
Bethany Jean Conroy, "Hurt (Nine Inch Nails Cover)"
Bethany Jean Conroy's straight-ahead stare reminds me a bit of "Blurred Lines" director Diane Martel's statement from earlier this summer: "I directed the girls to look into the camera, this is very intentional and they do it most of the time; they are in the power position." Nothing is really "silly as fuck" here, though, as Martel describes of the male stars of her video—just the feeling that, yeah, this song is prettyyyyy intense and this person is making it only intenser.
Evan Patterson, "March of the Pigs (Nine Inch Nails Cover)"
For the original video for March of the Pigs, Trent Reznor stripped down the finicky studio craft of the album cut to a raw, single-take thrash. It showed the Nine Inch Nails project for what it was: a punk band with synthesizers. In his "NIN drum covers" playlist from 2008, the then-11-year-old Evan Patterson drum solos his way through the NIN catalogue with every bit of adolescent rage he can muster. His 39-second "March of the Pigs" is the clear highlight of the bunch—fast, loud, and personal, a perfect tribute to the band.
Bonus Round: NIN Covers by Maroon 5, Linkin Park, Kermit the Frog
