Youngs and Harrison

Richard Youngs

Top 10 Tote Bags Photo Documented

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Richard Youngs is a fenchild of the 60s who has spent the past 3 decades in Scotland attempting to remain mystified by music. .

Duncan Harrison

Top Ten Dark Corners of YouTube

1. Thursday Lane
Quite simply the best thing on YouTube. Impossible to explain in short, Thursday Lane’s channel is best understood as a collection of fragmented glimpses into the fascinating, singular world of a total one off human being. Thursday sees patterns and sequences in life that most of us miss and explains the structure of this universe through vlogs, drawings, plays and camera phone footage of his general home life ephemera. The uniting force holding it all together? An unshakeable enthusiasm for male farts and all things related to them. To really grasp what is going on here I recommend spending an afternoon watching as many videos as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4M6S882MFY

2. Reh Dogg
An amateur hip hop musician who has been active a great many years, consistently publishing new works for free via YouTube. It is obvious from the outset that Reh Dogg lacks a certain technicality vis a vis conventional rap skills but beyond the initial absurdity of his videos lies a body of work marked by a unique vision for hip hop, deeply personal lyrical narratives and a staunch D.I.Y. working method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mWW6kRITEY

3. Eddy Tan
Another amateur musician here. The bulk of Eddy Tan’s video content is based around solo instrumental performances in which he demonstrates impressive feats of extended technique on guitars, drums, basses and keyboards; often with only one hand. Mostly these videos take place within his apartment however the viewer is also treated to a number of lengthy live performances in a Malaysian shopping mall. One can only hope that it was paid work. Elsewhere on the channel: the occasional cooking demonstration, driving instructions (one handed), Eddy’s take on various social and philosophical issues and even some of his original compositions and recordings which are so poorly performed and recorded that you’d swear they were entirely deliberate (and well exacted) attempts at improvised no wave/noise rock if you didn’t know better…but of course, like all ‘outsider’ musicians the charm and beauty of Eddy Tan lies in his ostensible unawareness that any of this might seem like anything besides straight up Rock N Roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKLCvFN8GJk&t

4. Matt Taylor
For a number of years there was an empty, white house situated in the middle of the coast road from Brighton to Newhaven daubed with the words ‘SUSSEX POLICE ARE MURDERERS’ in red paint. Over the years I’ve made numerous attempts to work out exactly what the story behind this was but was always stifled by poorly designed websites containing illegible and rambling information in headache inducing colour combos. What I do know, however, is that the ‘murder house’ is directly linked with one Matt Taylor: Sussex based journalist, freedom fighter, political activist and former parliamentary candidate for Kemptown. His YouTube presence as well as a tangled network of related, self built websites is a treasure trove of confusing yet none the less intriguing conspiracy theory and political punditry inextricably linked to life in the South East of England.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgHForPLc2s

5. Mudboy 26
Everyone has their kinks. Some enjoy role-play, others some light spanking and for some the height of sexual arousal lies in getting dressed up in hi-vis work clothing, driving to a secluded bog and filming oneself wading in mud. The interests and outputs of the ’mudding’ community extend further and wider than the YouTube channel of Mudboy26 of course, but I find his videos contain a particular pace and aesthetic that keeps you watching, often achieving a De Sagazan like atmosphere at their best. The back and forth of the comments section of these vids are also particularly insightful as to the supportive community nature of this niche yet thriving practice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFV5UN6TjwI&t

6. Todd Weeks
Despite years and years of watching this guy I still don’t really understand what’s going on in these videos. Martial Arts demonstrations overlayed with musical performance all within a strangely home made and theatrical quality that may or may not be intentional. From what I gather, Todd Weeks is also a plumber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7Svd7Mblk

7. Majela ZeZe Diamond
Shamefully the only female artist on my list. Majela ZeZe Diamond is one of the longer serving individuals detailed here and nearly every video she has made follows the precise format of this one: tuneless, non-sequitur tirades delivered against a backdrop of midi dancehall and the red walls of her living room. The content of her lyrics is so pornographic that it borders on the otherworldly, so it is difficult to notice much else going on, but the understated presence of various household items, decorations and photographs in the background is really what tops off the obscure atmosphere to these videos. This lady once auditioned for X Factor which can also be found somewhere on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUBUi4eV3Q

8. Pamperchu
Perhaps the best known member of this illustrious collection of YouTubers? If you have been hanging out on weird, memey corners of the internet for a while you’ve probably run into Pamperchu by now. The short version: an adult baby living in Portland, Oregon (I think) who also has a major flare for outmoded, old technologies. The content of Pamperchu’s channel has gone pretty downhill in recent years but at its peak it was probably the best place to go if you wanted to watch the same person gurgle warm milk in one video then fix an old printer in the next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufes9Jfm4kI

9. CoolDudeClem
There is a lot going on in CoolDudeClem’s channel and at the time of writing he has just uploaded a video celebrating 10 years on YouTube. Congratulations, Clem. The overarching focus of CoolDudeClem is electronics, computers and - like Pamperchu before him - old technologies. Clem’s aptitude for modifying, building and fixing these things is highly impressive but it is the human drama lurking within these long, often dense videos that provides the real draw of the channel. Only through close, longterm engagement with Clem do we learn of the trials in his life: his autism, the loss of his Father at an early age, his difficulties socialising and disputes with his neighbours, his seemingly isolated, lonely life living at home with his Mother and his ongoing battles with YouTube trolls. On the surface this is pretty sad stuff and it’s tough not to take pity on Clem, but it is important to remember what the channel represents as a whole: Clem on his own terms, dealing with the things he likes, how he likes. For all the sadness it can reveal, CoolDudeClem shows us that everyone can and should take up residence in their own small corner of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfV2kon4RMQ

10. bbillyk
A nice, simple one to end. A knife and sword enthusiast demonstrating and reviewing knives and swords. Mostly this takes the form of hacking huge bottles of water to pieces (something which appears to be the gold standard of knife/sword review videos) but often he’ll lay waste to a bit of wood with very dramatic, cinematic results. Billy has a couple of vids in which he responds to various challenges from other YouTubers trying to debunk his claims about weapons. I’m guessing that the world of knife/sword reviewing can be quite competitive because YouTube is filled with similar kinds of videos and arguments between sword guys seems to be a YouTube wormhole possibly deserving of its own top ten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxzVAc-hWPc

Duncan Harrison is a Brighton based experimental sound artist working within the fields of free improvisation, Fluxus-based performance art and noise. In physical stature he is wiry, and seems to be energy itself. Everything shall be upfull and right.