richard youngs

richard youngs ~ rurtain (alter, 2012)

"split into two parts, “Rurtain” is a new elec-tronic piece which picks up from where the “Core To The Brave” lp on Root Strata left off, but taking a more abstract road into something more skeletal and strange. In the first part, broken beats cluster around minimal hits of percussion and wordless vocals that sound like they’re trapped in a vacuum, evoking a slightly unsettling atmosphere. things become a little more celebratory in the second part with the addition of some very erratic organ playing, giving an ecstatic and almost ‘free-jazz’ feel to the piece. the b-side features three very different interpretations of Richard’s originals by Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club), John Clyde-Evans and Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never). Neil’s version expands the organ of the second piece into a huge kaleidoscopic drone, whilst John hones in on the woodblock and percussion to make something more metallic and abrupt. finally Daniel Lopatin closes the lp grandly by adding violent stabs of digital synth and mel-ancholic guitar playing to Richard’s voice, almost creating a kind of futuristic ballad." alter

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tirath singh nirmala

tirath singh nirmala - growing into the wind (rhizome 2009)

“An excellent collection of electro-acoustic drones, eye-lolling bell tones and automatic musics in the vein of Neil Campbell/Richard Youngs/Matthew Bower/Vibracathedral Orchestra et al.” volcanic tongue

“Streams of electronic & casio light converge like thousands of beams of sunlight alongside massed hand percussion shake and clatter and frenetically fluttering flutes. A midway spot between Moondog and the jungle ecstasies of some of the recent Skaters’ extracurricular projects.” melody bar

"From elevated drones to gut-spit vocal edits, blown woodwinds and heavyelectronics, this is one of the finest summations of music made in ‘the Tirathera’ - English artist John Clyde-Evans has retired his Tirath Singh Nirmala name and now flies under the jce banner...." tomentosa

no sé qué decir, growing into the wind es uno de esos discos que parecen salidos de una realidad paralela, como the naïve shaman de richard youngs. through damp violence

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richard youngs

richard youngs - summer wanderer (gipsy sphinx 2004)

“Summer Wanderer” is a sideslip in the discography of the Scottish avant folk musician Richard Youngs because it’s the only acappella release in his eminent and extensive list of recordings.

“Summer Wanderer” was released for the first time in 2004 in an edition of twenty copies. For close friends only. A year later, Youngs re-released these recordings on his own No Fans imprint. So this vinyl release on the Ghent based Gipsy Sphinx label can actually be called a re-re-release. But that doesn’t matter because the more people who hear this music the better.

And this is why: “Summer Wanderer” of course gets to your attention because of its concept: a full album with the singer's voice as the only instrument. But besides that, this album also contains all the specific Richard Youngs characteristics: it sounds minimal, repetitive, meditative and improvised. I’m not sure if these songs are actually improvised but it sure sounds that way.

Time for a conclusion: “Summer Wanderer” doesn’t only stand out because of its concept but also because of its musical quality. For me personally, “Summer Wanderer” is as excellent as “The Naïve Shaman”. And that means something because “The Naïve Shaman” was, to me anyway, the best record of 2005. 9/10" foxy digitalis

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richard youngs

richard youngs - autumn response (jagjaguwar 2007)

"If Richard Youngs ever wanted to make an album for the ages, he could. His voice bears the trial-won wisdom of an aged farmer. His circular guitar patterns entrance. His electronic timbres pulse with all the color of a choral fugue. In sum, Youngs infuses his music with poetic emotion and classical power. But he never pours all of his talents into any single recording. Instead, he creates focused albums: a minimalist piano piece here, a collection of primitivistic acid-rock there, a set of acoustic folk in between.

Autumn Response, like earlier releases Sapphie and May, is a display of Youngs’ idiosyncratic take on British folk. Each of these songs contains simple ingredients: acoustic guitar, two vocal tracks, and a repetitive melody. Sharp picking and the doubled vocals lend the album a disorienting, sub-psychedelic feel, but the songwriting itself is clear and linear." tiny mix tapes

richard youngs hace suyas las palabras otoño, verano y bucle y las razones por las que nos gusta tanto se multiplican por mil. hay una canción que se llama I'm the Wheather y así es Autumn Response, un disco clima envolvente que no llega al grado de locura de Naive Shaman pero en donde siguen repitiéndose hasta el infinito las voces que se superponen, las guitarras, y unas letras fascinantes siempre en contacto con la naturaleza: caballos, agua, orilla, clima, otoño, aire, luz... en Low Bay Sky repite una y otra vez "i'm so young, i'm so young"....

download aquí autumn response (link que me encontré aquí)

low bay of sky (mp3)

richard youngs & tirath singh nirmala

richard youngs & tirath singh nirmala - same (hp cycle vinyl 2007)

"Debut album from the duo of Richard Youngs and Tirath Singh Nirmala (nee John Clyde-Evans) that has the pair creating a bucolic minimalist meditation. Side one interchangeably features hammered strings, gong/cymbal washes, droning vocals, and breathed shackuhachi/flutes. The second side leads with a melodious encounter before delving further into a glimmering psychedelia with sawed strings, fluttering reed organ and electronic drift. The results resemble a non-western approach to traditional musics filtered through the personalized aesthetic that runs through each of the artist's prior works. The LP is enclosed in a full colour cover with suitable "of the earth" imagery." hp cycle

"Long-awaited vinyl LP from these two key UK underground players. Very pastoral/dusted folk feel with plenty of wind instruments, hand percussion and lush, minimal drones cohering in a way that isn't a million miles from Japanese folk/psych unit Ghost circa Second Time Around. Stand-out track features wordless, oddly modulated vocals from the duo, hovering round a melody whose contours seem plotted by the stars. Very beautiful." volcanic tongue

escuchar cualquier cosa de Richard Youngs siempre es un placer, pero si le acompaña Tirath Singh Nirmala en un disco enterito y encima ese disco lo publica Hp Cycle, el mismo sello de C.C., Boots, Snake & Remus, el placer es casi un sueño hecho realidad. y esta es una pequeña muestra de lo que ocurre cuando se juntan dos genios. el exceso multiplicado por dos. desde la tensión de "5 years" del joven Richard con Simon Wickham Smith hasta la espiritualidad y la locura de "bluster, cragg & awe" de Tirath Singh Nirmala, pasando por las campanillas orientales y esos inconfundibles cánticos de monjes abducidos que revolotean sobre todo el disco

no hay títulos, tan sólo 'la uno' (un baile tribal de dulzura extraterrestre y una conexión Davenport-Pelt que quita el hipo), 'la dos' (en sintonía con las estrellas), 'la tres' (furia flotando en el espacio, contundencia), 'la cuatro' (flautas y bongos, la placidez del bosque), 'la cinco' (belleza, sencillez, la canción que escucharía mil veces, palmas y voces que se elevan hacia el cielo como en "Young Prayer" de Panda Bear), 'la seis' (una voz y un violín fantasmagóricos, dieciocho minutos de silbidos, ruidos, percusiones, catarsis y resurrección) y la 'siete' (distorsión en estado puro).

richard youngs

richard youngs - untitled (no fans records cdr 2006)

como Ben Reynolds o Brad Rose, Richard Youngs es un músico prolífico, no le basta con una identidad, necesita desdoblarse, colaborar en múltiples y diferentes proyectos, a veces solo, otras acompañado (casi siempre de Alex Neilson y Simon Wickham-Smith). en Untitled vuelve a experimentar con los límites de la fantasía y el minimalismo más absoluto, eleva una vez más su voz hasta el infinito, la mezcla, multiplica y ensucia con drones, platillos, flautas, guitarras acústicas y otros instrumentos exóticos: cifteli, dulcimer, electric slide bass, kazoo, thai harp y zither. todos las canciones duran nueve minutos aunque parecen una sola alargada durante casi una hora.

no hay rastro de la belleza formal de 'Trees that Fall', pero sí un oasis de atmósferas inquietantes al más puro estilo Jandek (la portada podría ser otra referencia u homenaje al misterioso artista) o Emerald Cloud Cobra. 'Hand in a dream' desvela su naturaleza salvaje, demuestra que Untitled no tiene título porque todos las canciones son restos de un incendio, libres, irracionales y transparentes como la pataleta de un niño. y como siempre cada experimento del joven Richard resulta tan imprescindible como los precedentes.

'Brand new limited, privately-pressed and hand-assembled album from Richard on his revitalised No Fans imprint. Beautiful collection of song-based material that reconciles his recent experiments involving miasmas of heart-fluttering shakuhachi with delayed vocals, acoustic guitar, cifteli, dulcimer, electric slide bass, kazoo, thai harp and zither. This last batch of No Fans releases has been one of Youngs' most consistently mind-blowing runs since the early Advent/New Angloid Sound/Ceaucescu series and this one feels like a coming together of a whole bunch of recently formulated moves. Very fragile atmosphere with the kind of disorientating F/X-heavy depth that will have record collectors puzzling over whether to file it next to Mark Fry, Martin Carthy, Jandek or The Grateful Dead circa Aoxomoxoa. Great cover shot in patented Summer Wanderer-style too. Apparently some of the basic tracks were recorded several years back at home in Harpenden but finally finished in the last month, a fact which only emphasises the general career-spanning feel of the sonics.' volcanic tongue