Richard Youngs

Multi-instrumentalist from Glasgow Richard Youngs began releasing albums in the early '90s on various independent labels. His music ranges from the pure experimental, instrumental, minimal, and avant-garde through to folk-inspired songwriting and progressive rock. In songwriting mode, he is similar to Robert Wyatt, Anthony Moore, and in particular other fine acts from Glasgow John Martyn and the Incredible String Band. In his more experimental projects with Simon Wickham-Smith and Brian Lavelle, the cacophonous roar is closer in style to the '90s noise underground artists such as the Dead C, Sun City Girls, or White Winged Moth. The CDs Advent and Festival were released on Table of the Elements and other indie labels. Majora and VHF released his music solo and in settings with like-minded collaborators, such as Stephen Todd, and most commonly with Wickham-Smith. Richard Youngs has produced an expansive body of work and his recordings are diverse and cover many different areas of musical interest. There is a common thread in his material which links his recordings, however, and that is an uplifting defiant and playful attitude that gives the albums a common charm, in that they expose the artist as joyously indulging in the delights of a hermetic and musical world. Not to say that his music is obscured by any means; he has a network of publishers and followers the world over. The Japanese label Meme released a CD by Richard Youngs in 1998 under the title of House Music which was not the exploration into dance music that one might expect, but in fact a series of candid recordings made with his father in their home. Taking the literal interpretation of the title, rhythmic door slamming, crescendos up and down the staircase, and all manner of music and noise generated in...