richard youngs ,what's his best stuff?

I like Electic Lotus. It's pretty different than the Ilk stuff, though. More in line with the Beating Stars or Mauve Dawn albums. Free-ish drumming with electronic droning buzz, for the most part.

I finally caved in and typed up the 'Gregorian Chart' that Richard did for the Wire magazine a couple of years back, since I could never find it online.

Richard Youngs' Gregorian Chart

Just bought "Multi-tracked Shakuuhachi" (CD-R on No Fans) the other day and it is glorious. A thing of droney beauty. I've previously avoided (the) CD-Rs, but have pretty much given up that conceit now. So where to next? Anyone else heard this one?

rReEaAlLlLyY lLiIkKeE tThHeE aAuUtTuUmMnN rReEsSpPoOnNsSeE aAlLbBuUmM...

krakow: the "Mariendork" that you suspect to be a typo could very well actually be "Mariendorf". It's a common enough place name in Germany, literally "village of mary". There's a part of Berlin called Mariendorf (for example -- there's no abbey there)

and and the autumn the autumn response response album is album good is good

@ henry s and Duke #2 - haha, very nice

@ Duke #1 - I agree. When I searched for Mariendork Abbey and turned up absolute zero, my initial thought was that it should probably be Mariendorf. Unfortunately even that doesn't seem to turn up any info on the listed recordings.

i've only heard "Advent". Like the minimalism.

and the lugubriousness.

Now that's a nice word.

Krakow: I found it. It's Maria-Laach Abbey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Laach_Abbey

Lovely part of the world

I should have added: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organs-Bells-Maria-Laach-Abbey-Roloff/dp/B000JJ3WES

Wow, thanks Duke. Well done. That's quite some typo. I'll update my wee write up.

I also received this advice to my question of where to next from elsewhere:

""Airs Of The Ear" is like a more psychedelic and slightly heavier companion to "Autumn Response" and is completely brilliant. "Summer Wanderer" is a masterpiece - 3 solo voice tracks, proper singing (sound poetry? nein danke!), utterly enthralling. They should both be available without any stress."

"Oh, and no-one who loves Sapphie shoulde be without "May" but start at track 2 the first time you listen to it."

I suppose if you pronounce Laach with a Scottish or English accent, it can quickly sound like "lark". But still quite a leap to "dork", mind...

I can wholly recommend River Through Howling Sky.

Airs of the Ear is the masterpiece imo.

Lotus Edition is five tracks of free shakuhachi + Alex Neilson on drums so you might like that

Summer Wanderer is absolutely gorgeous, I agree. I wouldn't have liked it so much a few years back, but it's a nice addition to a night of Anne Briggs, John Jacob Niles, Shirley Collins et al.

The other one I've been listening to a bit is Beating Stars, with Alex Neilson. The opening track is a perennial favorite; it could be ten minutes longer and it would still be too short.

However hyperbolic Volcanic Tongue may be at times, they're right on this one...

"Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits" is truly special (yes, really, that is the title).

Richard Youngs' new CD-R on Andrew Paine's Sonic Oyster label. It's 'pop' in as much as anything by Youngs can be. It's beautiful, wonderful, all that... highest possible recommendation, indeed.

it's a nice addition to a night of Anne Briggs, John Jacob Niles, Shirley Collins et al.

sounds like a pretty good night...

I love the split w/tirath singh nirmala. the loooooong penultimate track is gorgeous.

tho the somewhat harsh closer always startles me. the rest is largely warm and sedate.

Just in case anyone ever wants to be rid of their Richard Youngs No Fans releases, I'm the man to talk to...

Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm frustrated at myself for having ignored them at the time, and now they're like an even more unobtainable form of gold dust.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RICHARD-YOUNGS-10-CDs-jewelled-antler-fursaxa-haino_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a12Q7c66Q3a2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c72Q3a1205Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem2ea669fa2eQQitemZ200360458798QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported

Looks like someone's selling a lot of his No Fans CDs on ebay.

Thanks. I have a few of those (there's a lot of Sonic Oyster stuff in that lot, as well as No Fans stuff), but might take punt depending how the bidding goes.

Looking forward to seeing Youngs play with Heather Leigh Murray as a duo in London in October. The Skaters and Astral Social Club supporting too. Nice!

"Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits" is really, really good - it's Youngs making 3-minute pop songs, which are even more perfect than you'd expect.

'"Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits" is really, really good'

listening to this - has a depeche mode or camouflage feel to it. different and i think i really like it. r. youngs is always full of suprises.

search: the boredom of poetry (aka 'untitled' i think) which reminds me of 'festival', also really great. almost all the wickham-smith collabs are memorable - enedkeg probably near the top.
and, holy shit, 'belsayer time'. until it came out, i never considered what a dream union a galbraith/youngs record would make. so beautiful.

I lost out on the above-mentioned auction, got a wee bit too steep for me. Rats.

i've heard far from all of this man but still Belsayer Time is one of his best for sure.

yes the new one is fantastic, very glad i managed to grab a copy

and, holy shit, 'belsayer time'. until it came out, i never considered what a dream union a galbraith/youngs record would make. so beautiful

Had never heard of this - sounds great!

for me it's just 'sapphie' and nothing else. all the other stuff it depends on my mood, etc. but sapphie hits me as on target every time, even if i'm not in the mood for it

'Sapphie' is a good 'un but 'Making Paper' just edges it for me.

wow you guys weren't kidding about Ultrahits, this really is pop. loving it.

the new one Under Stellar Stream on jagjaguwar is very very nice too. not as pop as Ultrahits but very listenable.

wish I could find "Ultrahits".....nobody seems to have it in stock anymore

yeah there were like 100 of the things, I think we missed it.

ed at eclipse told me he thought there would be some kind of second edition released.

There was a second edition of 100 but it has gone already as well. My copy (ordered from VT) was from this second edition.

the new one Under Stellar Stream on jagjaguwar is very very nice too. not as pop as Ultrahits but very listenable.

― Jamie_ATP, Tuesday, 25 August 2009 20:04 (1 hour ago)

Fantastic news. Can't wait for this then.

Volcanic Tongue had exlusive hold of the second run of Ultrahits (each run was 100 copies). Both editions went within days sadly.

ultrahits will definitely be in my top ten of the year i think

Amen to that. Number one for me at the moment I think.

new one is growing on me. lyrical repetition can get somewhat tedious but when it works . . . "all day monday and tuesday, heartbeating, heartbeating." this is much more ilk-ish (ilkisher?) than beyond the valley of ultrahits

i was kind of hoping the new one would sound like rock bottom when i saw the instrument list. but it's pretty good anyway.

haven't heard the latest yey. he sure has been prolific this year. didn't get into Like A Neuron that hard, i think it's safe to say it's one of his more out there recs

R. Youngs doing a Rock Bottom is my idea of heaven. But I guess I'll have to wait. I haven't heard this new one yet (only found out about it when I saw it reviewed on Pitchfork...), but Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits is pretty great. I'd love to hear more by him in that vein, esp. like 'Like a Sailor' and 'Collapsing Stars'.

sounds like he's been listening to roy harper lately, lifemask especially

For the Winter Solstice and Lunar Eclipse there is a new Richard Youngs LP out on Apollolaan called "Atlas Of Hearts" in case anyone is interested... http://www.apollolaan.co.uk/ It looks amazing and the posted track sounds pretty great.

listening to the album with Makoto Kawabata is bringing back vivid memories of the many cross-country bus trips it soundtracked. Not sure that anything else could make a Megabus journey quite so transcendently beautiful.

He's on tour with Damon & Naomi at the moment, playing songs from his forthcoming Jagjaguwar album with Damon. Here's some photos from the absolutely wonderful gig last night in Glasgow...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v18/p582580979-3.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v23/p553732081-3.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v19/p1053864071-3.jpg

Couple more here... http://krakow.zenfolio.com/richardyoungs0511