richard youngs ,what's his best stuff?

haha! i was going to do that today, in fact

Re spotify, I never got an invite, but I just signed up on their website and they sent me one within a week. so there's always that.

alright then, done!
and done.

nice, wide-ranging interview here:

http://thequietus.com/articles/06831-richard-youngs-interview-amplifying-host

yeah, great interview. Got me listening to Amplifying Host again, which I'm really liking now. Some gorgeous elephantine guitar sounds in among the minimalism.

Agreed, awesome interview. I don't have Amplifying Host yet, but it inspired me to spin Naive Shaman this morning.

Youngs is kind of the only guy active who brings that certain rarefied 'Laughingstock feeling' for me.

Here he is yesterday afternoon opening the Music Is The Music Language festival here in Glasgow with a blistering electric guitar & vocals set...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v28/p100539882-4.jpg

awesome! your photos are always great. pls say more about the show since he will probably never come here. (does he tour the states?)

oh damn, i didn't know about this festival (though i was out of the country anyway), looks great! what songs was ry doing?

i caught two of his shows from last years nz tour due to chance (didn't even know he was in the country). both had a totally different vibe, due to the venues maybe. when i saw him he was playing acoustic backed songs interspersed with acapella pieces (and a lot of foot stomping), mostly from autumn response. highlight for me was at his dunedin performance where he did belsayer time with alastair galbraith.

I saw Richard Youngs again last night, supporting Esmerine. Even by his standards it was a rather odd show - it seemed to be an exercise in mutual discomfort, as the set was loaded with painfully extended pauses, songs half-performed, returned to, but still left unfinished, audience participation (including my being handed the microphone and offered to continue the song at one terrifying moment), and all kinds of subtly unsettling behaviour. He is a true wonder, I believe...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v33/p807846182-3.jpg

Still haven't heard Amaranthine, which has been getting really positive reviews iirc (has anyone else got it?). But I have been listening to the new LP on Root Strata called Core to the Brave. Lyrically and vocally it's pretty much in keeping with the rest of his stuff, but the music was a nice surprise - lots of oddly looped percussion that at times sounds like quite mad clattering dance beats and at other times like the hiss and blur of black metal drumming, but on top of this chaos, you've got a load of evil-sounding bass and guitar that make me think of the Butthole Surfers boiled down into some sort of primordial stew.

The Healing Of Everyone, the last track on Core To The Brave is a fantastic track. Saw RY recently in London - at the beautiful Cafe Oto - and it was all kinds of funny, gorgeous and pretty. Guy is a National Treasure, really.

Man, so much RY stuff on Spotify! I am gonna go on a binge shortly, have been looking forward to hearing a bunch of these records. Mostly just heard the Jagjaguwar records. Listening to Advent right now ...

I'll need to chew over Amaranthine a bit more, but it's certainly one of his most interesting and surprising records of late. Some of his wildest shakahachi jams with falling-down-the-stairs free jazz drums and creepy electronics. There's a growling electronic bass tone on one track which freaked out my dog.

I can't listen to Sapphie with my dogs around -- too sad!

I can't keep up but of the recent albums I really love Ultrahits and Atlas of Hearts.

xp otm. i can't listen to sapphie AT ALL :(

Sapphie is by far my favourite RY album...but then I don't have a dog.

see, I know that's the backstory of Sapphie but I've never been able to make any of the lyrics out so I'm never sure if that's really what it's about or not

Apparently he just made up that dog story as a bit of a joke, but it's come to be taken as gospel. Beautiful record either way. And there's nothing wrong with people projecting their own loss on to it.

Does he ever play in the States? I've been an avid fan for ~5 years and have never heard of him touring here. He's creeping up my "must-see" live acts list...

Apparently he just made up that dog story as a bit of a joke

Oh man, is that true? I've been had!

i guess it wouldn't be the first time i cried real tears for a fake backstory ;_;
still, it just sounds so plaintive and mourning. RIP animals i've loved.

i just got Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits (in Brooklyn at Ian's store!) and holy crap it is so good!

there were other records of his that i didn't buy, and now i kinda regret it :-/

i think the sapphie story is a half-truth - it's named for and kind of in tribute to the dog of a friend who not-really-a-dog-person richard unusually bonded with. but then the songs don't have much if anything to do with the dog.

I've never really connected with Ultrahits, though I guess it's one of his most "acclaimed". Maybe I'll give it another go.

absolutely adore ultrahits, wish he would do more stuff like it

listening to core to the brave for the first time now, this is awesome.

I'm really failing to keep up with him lately, which means I only hear a release oh every month or two or so. A recentish one I have listened to but will have to listen to more is I Dream of Mezzanine / Cloudplanes, I think the most interesting of his wonky (er, not in that way) techno-ish things that I've heard, a lot of odd things going on but cohering into some kind of undulating pseudo-unity, something that sometimes doesn't happen when he's throwing so much into the mix.

still catching up on so much of Youngs' stuff but really, "arise arise" from under stellar stream is fucking mindblowing... want to find more songs like that one!

I haven't heatd that one, but I highly recommend the Youngsbower album. It's terrific!

This gig in Glasgow has just been announced, at which Richard will apparently be playing 3 sets!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/313118_268604729920506_903126558_n.jpg

does he/will he have new stuff out this year?

http://rootstrata.com/release/RS87

The most recent releases are the 'Core To The Brave' LP on Root Strata, as am0n mentions, the 'Amaranthine' LP on MIE Music, and, in the last couple of months, the Library Assistants cassette with Liam Stefani on No Fans, and two collaborative 7''s; Yellow Gardens/Energy Pond with Luke Fowler on Fourth Dimension and the Rotten Masters EP with Andrew Paine on Sonic Oyster.

If anyone has trouble getting the 7''s or the Library Assistants cassette then I'm very happy to pick them up and post on at cost as they're quite readily obtainable around these parts, though Volcanic Tongue should also have them, and both Sonic Oyster and Fourth Dimension can be mail-ordered from directly, I believe.

hoping to go to this gig, wondering if i shld buy tix in advance? hairdressers is p small

The FB events page just says pay on the door. It's not a big space, but it doubt it'll be rammed. Although it would be cool if it was of course.
He's also playing Music Language fest with Luke Fowler in September: http://www.cryparrot.co.uk/gigs/3/

Thanks for the info, Stew. The music lang fest is prob TOO MUCH MUSIC for me, these days, but it's always gd to know abt AMT gigs

i wanna see richard youngs... someday

me too

Come to Glasgow! Futon space available in return for whiskey...

He is awesome. I knew nothing about him until I went to see The Telescopes about four years ago near Kings Cross in London. RY supported. A month later I'd picked up about 6 of his albums and I've been collecting and adoring his music ever since. The last date I saw him at Cafe Oto was incredibly inspiring. You need to see him live.

First time I saw him was at Instal 04 (I think...) when he did an extended acapella version of Life On A Beam. One of the greatest musical experiences of my life, blew my mind and shook my soul, so it did.
His set at least year's Music Language fest was a treat: walked into 78 mid-afternoon to hear him playing priapic Foxy Lady riffage, before unleashing a 'greatest hits' medley IN ROCK. Joking apart, it did rock mightily, in the ragged choirboy way only Richard knows.

Tonight! Right now! He's playing 3 sets!

I saw him do 2 sets in London last year. One of them was him singing to a backing tape of Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits. I love RY but, well, y'know.

Well... we got an Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs 'Rotten Masters' set, then Richard played us some tapes of electro-acoustic sounds from around the 'Lake' period, which he simply sat and listened too with us, then he started to sing one song but stopped and called it a night when all his words fell off the music stand after a minute or two. It all made me happy, that he is forever unpredictable and gloriously confounding.

I dunno, I'd have felt a bit short-changed if I'd been at that gig (tho I'm not sure what an AP/RY set involves)

yes that ultrahits karaoke show really put me off him for a while after being so hyped to finally see him