Richard Youngs

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Richard Youngs
Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs is a British musician, best known for his prolific and diverse output and his many collaborations. Born in Harpenden, England in 1966, and based in Glasgow since the early '90's, his extensive back catalogue of solo and collaborative work was formally inducted with Advent, issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, especially the guitar, but has been known to use a huge variety of instruments and objects, including the shakuhachi, theremin, oven tray, dulcimer and even, in his early days, a motorway bridge. He has toured only once (in 2002, supporting Low) and only occasionally performs publicly, preferring to focus his energies on recording.

Contents

[edit] Style

His music demonstrates a very idiosyncratic writing style, with songs often centered around a small clutch of repeated musical and lyrical phrases, a strategy likely born of a desire to reduce the form to its most powerful core elements.

It could be suggested his musical styles range from acoustic to indie style folk to progressive rock to improvisation to space rock with creditation of electronics. Some recordings have been compared to the work of minimalists like Lamonte Young, although with a more spontaneous recording process.

Whilst early works were characterized by a somewhat minimalist lo-fi production quality (frequently recording to reel-to-reel 4-track or minidisc in his Harpenden bedroom), Youngs has since graduated to using a professional standard computer-based recording system.

[edit] Collaborations

A keen collaborator, he has released albums with Matthew Bower, Brian Lavelle, Neil Campbell, Stephen Todd, Makoto Kawabata, Alex Neilson, Andrew Paine (both under their given names and as prog-revivalists Ilk), Telstar Ponies, and most extensively with Simon Wickham-Smith, their releases occasionally being issued under the obtuse moniker R!!!S!!!. He has performed live with Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof! and Skullflower and was also a member of the collective A Band, appearing on many of their releases. In recent years, his work with Andrew Paine has been especially plentiful, with 8 full length releases between 2005 and 2006.

[edit] Jandek

Recently, Youngs has been gaining attention from his recent live sideman gigs as bassist for the notoriously reclusive American avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek. Youngs can be heard on the Glasgow Sunday, Newcastle Sunday and Glasgow Monday albums, which were recorded at Jandek's first 3 known live performances, taking place in Glasgow on 17th October 2004, in Gateshead on 22nd May 2005 and in Glasgow on 23rd May 2005 respectively.


[edit] Labels

Throughout his career, he has recorded for over a dozen independent record labels, with VHF releasing much of his collaborative work and Jagjaguwar issuing the lion's share of his recent solo albums. Other labels have included Freek, Fourth Dimension, Majora, Fusetron, Table of the Elements and his own labels, beginning with Jabberwok in the 1980s, and then the self-deprecatingly named No Fans Records.

[edit] No Fans Records

No Fans Records is Richard's own label. Thus far, he has released only his own solo and collaborative work through the imprint. Although only used sporadically, the imprint has issued some of Youngs' most highly regarded music and several sought-after collectors' items. The label exists as a microcosm of Youngs' aesthetic with recent homemade CDR releases emphasising both the spontaneous nature of much of his work and the diversity of his activities.

NFR Discography

  • NFR01 - Advent LP - (300 copies pressed, 1990)
  • NFR02 - Lake 2LP (with Simon Wickham-Smith, credited to R!!!S!!!, 300 copies pressed, 1990)
  • NFC01 - Durian Durian by Neil/Richard/Simon/Stewart (Neil Campbell, Youngs, Simon Wickham-Smith and Stewart Walden) - cassette (1992) - later reissued on vinyl by Forced Exposure
  • NFR03 - New Angloid Sound LP (co-release with Forced Exposure, 300 copies pressed, 1992)
  • NFC02 - Tape Hiss cassette (by Tape Hiss, a trio of Youngs, Neil Campbell and Stewart Walden) (1994)
  • NFR04 - Zenith CD (with Ilk, 500 copies pressed, 1998)
  • NFR05 - Nova Scotia Breakout CDR (very limited, as few as 5 copies exist, 2005)
  • NFR06 - Summer Wanderer CDR (1st edition limited to around 10-20 copies, all given away by Richard - 2005, 2nd edition in alternate packaging available commercially, unlimited - 2006)
  • NFR07 - Garden Of Stones CDR (limited to around 35 copies, sold at concerts in Portugal, 2005, later reissued on MP3 format by The Wire on their website, coinciding with their cover story on Youngs, September 2005)
  • NFR08 - The Wood Is Barren, My Mountain Is Lonely CDR (with Andrew Paine, limited to around 10 copies, 2005)
  • NFR09 - Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi CDR (initially limited to around 30 copies but later repressed with an amended back cover, 2006)
  • NFR10 - No Home Like Place CDR (limited to 18 copies, 2006) nb - released after NFR11
  • NFR11 - (untitled) CDR (no formal title, edition unknown, 2006)
  • NFR12 - 20th Century Jams CDR (disc states "recorded during the 1980's and 1990's in Glasgow, Harpenden and St. Albans", edition unknown, 2007)

[edit] Recent work

His 2005 solo album The Naïve Shaman saw him receive some of the most positive reviews of his career to date and appear on the front cover of The Wire. He has since released his first collaboration with Simon Wickham-Smith in 5 years - the aptly titled 5 Years - as well as issuing several duo sets with Andrew Paine and reviving his No Fans imprint for a series of privately pressed solo releases. It is anticipated that further Jandek performances in which he was a participant will be released by Corwood Industries.

[edit] Discography

The No Fans releases noted above have been included in this section, both for reasons of completeness and in order to include re-releases of NFR editions.

[edit] Early Recordings

Youngs's 1980s recordings were mostly as Omming For Woks - principally Youngs and Andrew Trussler with Barry Lamb joining them for the Show Me A Sane Man EP. Several privately issued cassettes on their own Jabberwok label including Living in Harmony (1984) and Shouting The Silent Slogan (1986) and a clutch of compilation appearances including Sympathy on Time And Time Again with Assorted Artists (1985 Clump - temporarily unavailable, but may eventually be reissued on CD via Fragment Music of Essex) and Marjorie Daw on Sensationnel N°5 - All with voices (Illusion Productions 1987).

Jabberwok issued several cassette compilations which featured OFW material: Fugitive Pieces (1984), The Great Difficult Music Swindle (1985), and Cars and T-Shirts (1985). A 4-song release entitled Show Me A Sane Man was issued in 1984 and is variously listed as a cassette and a 7“ single - the 7" edition has been offered for sale on eBay. Also of note is the 1985 collaboration Rock and Roll Should Have Stopped With Bill Haley with The Strolling Ones - in which OFW and TSO proceed, by means of tape editing, to twist, subvert and ruin their record collections.

Two further cassettes have recently come to light, again through being offered on eBay. Both are primarily solo Youngs and appear under the artist name The Creation Room - Dark Shadow Breath b/w Roog Confetti and Apricot Tree & Will To Tedium b/w 19 Used Postage Stamps (the latter being explicitly referred to by Youngs in The Wire, issue 259 and reissued on the limited edition 20th Century Jams CDR in 2007). Neither names the Jabberwok label on its sleeve and the former features a number of collaborators, including Trussler. Other recordings issued under this name include the cassettes Music From the Creation Room (1984) and Music that Undid Him in a Japanese Minute (1985) as well as the song "Sometimes For Him", but none of these have been offered for sale in the recent past.

[edit] Solo recordings

  • Advent - LP (No Fans, 1990), CD (Table Of The Elements 1997), CD reissue (Jagjaguwar 2004), LP reissue (Jagjaguwar 2006)
  • Mundanity - cassette - one side only, other side by Neil Campbell (Cakehole 1993)
  • New Angloid Sound - LP (Forced Exposure/No Fans, 1993)
  • Motorway - cassette (Chocolate Monk 1993 - some copies run out during the final track)
  • Festival - CD (Table Of The Elements 1996)
  • Sapphie - CD (Oblique 1998) CD reissue (Jagjaguwar 2000), LP (Jagjaguwar 2006)
  • House Music - CD (Meme 1998)
  • Making Paper - CD (Jagjaguwar 2001)
  • May - CD (Jagjaguwar 2002)
  • Airs Of The Ear CD (Jagjaguwar 2003)
  • 171 Used Train Tickets - one sided 10”; a spoken word piece from 1990 (Fusetron 2004)
  • River Through Howling Sky - CD (Jagjaguwar 2004)
  • The Naïve Shaman - LP/CD (Jagjaguwar 2005)
  • Nova Scotia Breakout CDR (No Fans 2005)
  • Summer Wanderer - CDR (No Fans 2005, reissued 2006)
  • Garden Of Stones- CDR (No Fans 2005)
  • Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi - CDR (No Fans 2006)
  • (Untitled) - CDR (No Fans 2006)
  • No Home Like Place - CDR (No Fans 2006)
  • 20th Century Jams - CDR (No Fans 2007)

[edit] With Simon Wickham-Smith

  • Lake - credited to R!!!S!!! - 2LP set (No Fans, 1990), CD (VHF, 2000)
  • Ceaucescu LP (Forced Exposure 1992)
  • Asthma And Diabetes LP (Majora 1994)
  • Kretinmuzak CD (Slask 1994) (nb - has been erroneously listed elsewhere as a collaboration with Matthew Bower).
  • Worried About Heaven 7” (Fourth Dimension 1994)
  • 444D 10” (Fourth Dimension 1995)
  • Enedkeg LP (Majora 1996)
  • Knish LP (Ignivomous 1996)
  • Veil (For Greg) CD (Insignificant 1997)
  • Red And Blue Bear CD (VHF 1997 - credited to R!!!S!!! on CD spine)
  • Pulse Of The Rooster CD (VHF 1998)
  • The Enigma Of Rotons - lathe cut 7”, only 50 copies exist (Hell’s Half Halo 1998)
  • Metallic Sonatas - CD (VHF 1999)
  • LAmmERGEIER CD (VHF 2001)
  • 5 Years CD (VHF 2006)

[edit] With the A Band

  • Untitled - 7" (Any Old Records 1991)
  • Anusol - (cassette - Chocolate Monk 1992, recorded 1990 - Greek magazine Pulse reviewed this item as a CDR and the same has recently been offered for sale on eBay but there is no such edition noted on Chocolate Monk's current catalogue)
  • Artex/A Lot - LP, Youngs on Side 2 only (Siltbreeze 1993)
  • A Band - CD (private pressing- 1997. Hand-painted sleeves, Youngs part of the 18 piece line-up, recorded in Nottingham in 1991. 547 copies pressed.)
  • A Band - LP - some copies featured a bonus CDR entited TV Set For Winter (note - the discs read "TV Sets From Winter" - the former title is correct), LP contains some material also found on the 1997 CD release. Youngs edited the music together for this edition (Qbico 2002)
  • As well as these, there are a number of other A Band releases but only those which are confirmed to feature Richard have been included here. A discography for A Band is included in their article.

[edit] With Neil Campbell

  • Durian Durian - with Simon Wickham-Smith, Neil Campbell and Stewart Walden - cassette (No Fans 1992) reissued on LP (Forced Exposure 1993)
  • Tape Hiss - with Tape Hiss - Youngs, Stewart Walden and Neil Campbell - cassette (No Fans 1994)
  • How The Garden Is - with Neil Campbell LP (HP Cycle 2001)
  • Astral Social Club #10: Live At Subcurrent - with Neil Campbell and Tirath Singh Nirmala as Astral Social Club - CD-R (Astral Social Club 2006). Documents a live Astral Social Club performance at Subcurrent 2006, Glasgow, Scotland, with Youngs on F/X and electronics.

[edit] With Matthew Bower

  • Site/Realm - with Matthew Bower LP (VHF/Insample 1995) - occasionally erroneously listed as a split album with a side from each. The album is a collaboration.
  • Adieu, All You Judges - with Skullflower, CD is split with Ramleh (Broken Flag, 1995)
  • Sorties - with Skullflower cassette, Youngs appears on some tracks (Broken Flag 1996)
  • This is Skullflower - with Skullflower, Youngs plays guitar on The Pirate Ship Of Reality Is Moving Out CD (VHF 1996)
  • Delicate Autobahn Under Construction - with Sunroof! Youngs appears on some tracks 2CD (VHF 1997)
  • Slipstream - with Sunroof! Youngs appears on some tracks CDR (Rural Electrification Program 1999)
  • Bliss - with Sunroof! - Youngs plays guitar on Distoria CD (VHF 2001)
  • Relayer - with Matthew Bower, credited to Youngsbower CD (VHF 2002)

[edit] With Brian Lavelle

  • Radios CD (Freek 1996)
  • Radios 2 CD (Freek 1997)
  • Radios 3,4,5 3CD set (Freek 1997)
  • Radios 6 CDR (Bake Records 1998)
  • Radios 7 CDR (Bake Records 2000)
  • Radios 8 CDR (Bake Records 2000)

[edit] With Andrew Paine

  • Zenith - as Ilk CD (No Fans 1998)
  • Canticle - as Ilk - CD (VHF 2005)
  • Mauve Dawn LP (Fusetron 2005)
  • The Wood Is Barren, My Mountain Is Lonely CDR (No Fans 2005)
  • Collodion Positives : Volume 1 CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2006 - this is Paine's own imprint)
  • Santos CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2006)
  • 1958 CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2006)
  • Forest Of Swords CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2006)
  • The Memory Plain CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2006)
  • Roman Concrete - Volume 1 CDR (Sonic Oyster Records 2007)

[edit] With Alex Neilson

  • Ourselves CD (VHF 2004)
  • Beating Stars LP (HP Cycle 2004)
  • Partick Raindance CD (VHF 2005)
  • Belsayer Time - with Neilson and Alastair Galbraith - LP, numbered edition of 900 (Time-Lag 2006)
  • Road Is Open Life CD (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon 2006)

[edit] With Jandek

[edit] Other collaborations

  • St Helena/Juniper - 7” single, Juniper with Stephen Todd (Insample 1994)
  • Denny/Twechar - with Leather Mole 7“ (Crank Automotive 1995)
  • Georgians - with Stephen Todd CD (VHF 1996)
  • Brewery Of Eggshells - with Telstar Ponies 12” single/CD (Fire 1996)
  • Voices From The New Music - with Telstar Ponies LP/CD (Fire 1996) - note Youngs only appears on this Telstar Ponies album and the above tie-in single. He is absent from all other Telstar Ponies releases. He is credited throughout as a member of the band and not as a guest artist.
  • eponymous - with Makoto Kawabata CD (VHF 2001)
  • Bluster, Cragg, & Awe - with Tirath Singh Nirmala - Youngs appears on one track - CD (Digitalis 2006)
  • Richard Youngs & Tirath Singh Nirmala - with Tirath Singh Nirmala LP (HP Cycle 2007)

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • String Quartets, Loops, Garden Talk - by Neil Campbell - the 6-part track Garden Talk (for found tape and synthesizer) is credited as having been composed by Campbell and "assembled" by Youngs (self-released CDR - material from between 1994 and 1997).
  • Psychiatric Underground - by Ceramic Hobs - the track Meeting The Summertime has the credit "score by Richard Youngs". The track is a rough tape collage, backed with some faux-baroque keyboards. Neil Campbell is one of 4 people credited as having provided tapes for the track. (Pumf/Mental Guru CD, c. 1999)
  • When Conditions Were Right - by Andrew Paine (self-released CDR). Solo acapella album with "post-production" by Youngs.
  • Richard has also published a recipe book. Cook Vegan (Ashgrove Press) was printed in 1996 and reprinted in 2001, receiving favourable reviews.
  • Adelade Audio - this recording is circulating credited to Simon Wickham-Smith and Richard Youngs. It is, in fact, a solo album by Simon Wickham-Smith issued on VHF.

[edit] Unreleased material

Youngs records prolifically and there are many, many unreleased projects. There are at least 5 unreleased albums recorded with Simon Wickham-Smith. Those known to exist are as follows -

  • Song Phase - featuring Talking About Death At The Leisure Centre, Trudy Po, Emergency Exit, Quiddity, Things Like Abandonment, Everydayness, As If, Dream Song and West Of The City. Dream Song was made available through the VHF website on MP3 format.
  • Live - featuring Medtner Grooves On Etna, I II III IV, Tame Take One, Tame Take Two and Autumn Leaves (note this was intended as an anagrammatical follow-up to Veil and an album entitled Evil was also mooted)
  • S M I R R - featuring Saudeti, Sark and Fischer Mix
  • The Random Sailor - featuring Lord Bateman and The Keys Of Canterbury
  • Parrots - featuring Parrots 4, currently available on the VHF website.

Material from all except Parrots was broadcast across two special programmes by Californian radio station KFJC in May of 2001. The tracklistings are incomplete (with the possible exception of Song Phase) but represent all tracks that were broadcast.

  • Simon Wickham-Smith's website [1] lists as forthcoming a 10" record split between himself and Youngs (as opposed to being a collaboration). Wickham Smith's track is Papa Deo Bilong Mipela and Youngs contributes Wynding Fall of Mind. The title of Richard's track would suggest it dated from the sessions for May. The listed label, Rhizome, has not released this item, nor is it noted as forthcoming on their website. The release has presumably been abandoned. Also abandoned was a proposed Youngs album for the Siltbreeze label.
  • Other items known to exist or to be in limited circulation include Festival Of Carols, a cassette of Christmas songs from around 1990/1, given to friends in lieu of Christmas cards (The Wire, issue 236 reports that 11 copies were made. However, it also lists the item as a No Fans release which is incorrect). Tracks including God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen, The Boar's Head Carol and Jesus Born Today. In addition, there is an unreleased follow-up to Georgians recorded with Stephen Todd, a cassette of the music Richard composed for Niall Ashdown's play Hungarian Bird Festival, also featured in a later BBC radio adaption and a shelved Ilk album titled Herald. In 2005, Richard recorded a session for Resonance FM entitled Chips And Curry Sauce which contained some previously unissued music alongside a recording of Richard cooking the titular meal, giving full instructions for those who wished to try his recipe for themselves (he also recorded a contribution for a Resonance FM series called No Place Like Home - this formed the basis of the very limited No Home Like Place album issued in 2006). There were 2 radio sessions with Brian Lavelle; one piece from four recorded for radiotuesday has been issued (see below) and a live recording for Radio 3 made at the Purcell Room in London in 1996 remains unreleased. The Mauve Dawn album with Andrew Paine is part of a proposed trilogy but release dates for the other 2 albums have not yet been announced.

[edit] Compilations, etc

  • WNF Tag Team Noise Rumble Spectacular - with Simon Wickham-Smith, credited as R!!!S!!! - artists provided tracks which were played in mono in one speaker whilst another artist played in the other speaker - R!!!S!!! teamed with Expose Your Eyes and Smell And Quim. Also features Prick Decay, Incapactiants, The Haters, Evil Moisture etc etc - red vinyl LP, 500 pressed ( Stinky Horse Fuck 1995)
  • Walking The Mongoose - with Simon Wickham-Smith on 4 7" set Breaking the Plastic Hymen, Vinyl Virgins & Lo-Fi Whores (Fisheye 1996)
  • Dreamsong - with Simon Wickham-Smith - from Song Phase (see above), temporarily available on the VHF records website as an MP3 file. Recorded 1996.
  • The Hartford Address (Extract) and Act 3 (excerpt) - both with Simon Wickham-Smith - on Stand Up For Art Rock (Because Space Rock Is Over) promotional only compilation. The second track is an extract from Red And Blue Bear (VHF 1997)
  • Parrots 4 - with Simon Wickham-Smith from the shelved album “Parrots”, still available via the VHF Records website as an MP3 file. Recorded 1999.
  • Wofer - with Brian Lavelle on e.g. Sometime Instant, a compilation documenting a short lived Glasgow radio station radiotuesday. Lavelle & Youngs recorded 4 tracks for their session of which this is one. The remainder have not been issued. (radiotuesday, 2000)
  • 1966 - on I Am A Photographer, a tribute album to the film “Blow Up” (Plain Recordings 2000)
  • Come Hear Us Now - on Festivalsampler 2001, a promotional CD for the 2001 KRAAK festival (not commercially released)
  • Like Tigers Now - on Back Into The Shadows CD - free with Comes With A Smile magazine 2002 (Volume 7 of their compilation series)
  • The World Is Silence In Your Head - on Song To The Siren DVD by Damon & Naomi on tour with Kurihara. Youngs supported Damon & Naomi at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow and is shown both backstage and performing. This is an alternate, more developed version of the song to that found on Making Paper and is performed on acoustic guitar rather than piano. He does not appear on the CD part of the package (Sub Pop 2002)
  • Oceanic Days - on CD given away with issue 13 of Fanzine Overdub 2003
  • Time Of Tomorrow - on Guitars Undressed CD Marrakech Recordings 2003
  • The World Is Silence In Your Head - on the Routine Jazz #2 DJ mix compilation CD by Kei Kobayashi. JVC (Japan) 2003. Same version as appears on Making Paper
  • New Morning - on * (There Is No Hidden Meaning) - A Compilation 2CDR Kabuki Kore c. 2004
  • Sonar In My Soul - on Mind The Gap Volume 59, given with Gonzo Circus magazine issue dated December 2005/January 2006. Same version as appears on The Naive Shaman
  • House Of Constant Song - with Alex Neilson - on Not Alone, a 5-CD benefit album on Jnana Records, with all proceeds donated to Médecins Sans Frontierès specifically to target their work on the AIDS epidemic in Africa - 2006
  • Soon It Will Be Fire - on Motion, Heat, Noise and Waste, given with Plan B issue 18, February 2007. Same version as appears on Sapphie

[edit] External links

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