Richard Youngs

*150 copies limited edition* If you have been paying close enough attention to the often strange yet alluring part of the world Richard Youngs operates in, you should have noticed that since the middle of 2025 he embarked on a new sonic journey that has subsequently become a trilogy of LPs on Fourth Dimension Records. Each of these is limited to 150 and is named after either a mythical Babylonian king or entity of Richard’s own devising, while the music itself has been of an instrumental nature …

*150 copies limited edition* Zulaqrex, named after a mythical being that only exists in Richard Youngs’ head, is the album sequel to the now practically sold out Zerkelus LP and once again features themed artwork and is limited to 150 copies. Like its predecessor, Zulaqrex consists of two side-long tracks both given the same name as the title and once more charting a course into the beyond via a hypnotic approach that even some fantastically stumbling percussion cannot offset. Also employing shi…

Second LP of duets by these longtime VHF family staples, here delivering 2 side-long epics of “minimalist” bliss. Both sides feature Daniel O'Sullivan on piano and Richard Youngs on zither, with rippling waves of sound recalling classics like Charlemagne Palestine’s “Strumming Music” (Dan is a frequent collaborator with C.P.) and Richard’s “Advent.” “Persian Carpets I” is a real-humans performance full of tiny variants in rhythm and attack, rising and falling in intensity – sometimes a rush of s…

The inimitable Richard Youngs returns to Black Truffle with this third full-length for the label, »Hidden«. Like »CXXI« and »Modern Sorrow«, »Hidden« unfolds across two side-long pieces at once eminently listenable and possessed of the ›bloody-minded‹ dedication to having an idea and sticking with it’ that Youngs himself has identified as one of the key qualities of his work. At the core of both pieces are rapid, randomised arpeggios generated with a Moog Grandmother, hypnotic patterns that woul…

2006 release ** ""5 Years" is the venerable duo's first release since "Lammergeier" (vhf#58) in 2000. After recording and releasing nearly 20 albums between 1990 and 2000, Richard Youngs and Simon Wickham-Smith decided to try a novel and opposite approach to music making - they met once each year to record a solitary 10 minute track. The results show the duo remarkably unaffected by the half decade that elapsed - the tracks on "5 Years" reflect their long established signature mix of "real human…

*150 copies limited edition* Richard Youngs is neither a stranger to Fourth Dimension Records or creating music from a disparate array of sources that then fall somewhere near that space where immersive drones converge with something altogether more frayed, ravaged or disquiet. 'Zerkelus', named after an imaginary Babylonian king, comprises two lengthy side-long parts, with the first being akin to something of an extended orchestral tune-up utilising voice, oboe and indiscernible sources to crea…

2025 Stock. Last copies. Annelies Monseré always has had the urge to record many versions of one song and then remaining deeply in doubt which version to choose. For this release, she did not chose. (Though this is not completely true - there are still more versions of the song - including an a cappella version) She was interested in how different arrangements, tempo's, melodies and structures changed the expressive and aesthetic qualities of the song, convinced that no version is more 'essentia…

The endlessly prolific and unpredictable Richard Youngs returns to Black Truffle with Modern Sorrow. As any Youngs fan knows, one of the great pleasures of following his career comes from not being able to predict what the next entry in his inexhaustible string of releases will bring: Unaccompanied voice? Country songs? Shakuhachi? Guitar pieces played with his feet? Shredding fuzz bass over the top of hyper-speed distorted drum machine beats? Continuing in the grand Youngs tradition of explorin…

*Limited edition of 300 copies.* Similar to 2021's 'Iker' album on Fourth Dimension, this CD album idea sprang into life following our hearing some of Richard Youngs' experiments with loops and tones online and, subsequently, a few discussions via email about such music, its shortcomings, its appeal and, indeed, how it can be pushed into new spaces. Which is exactly what the pieces on 'New Emptiness' do. Each one of the five compositions here may use tones or oscillating loops as something of a …

Black Truffle present the latest offering from underground legend Richard Youngs. Hyperactive since the late 1980s, Youngs is widely celebrated for his remarkably extensive and varied body of recordings. His works range freely over a vast terrain, wandering from tender acoustic balladry to raging psychedelic noise and orchestral D-beat, always imbued with his distinctive, often mournful, melodic sensibility and irrepressible sense of joyous experimentation. Comprised of two side-long pieces, CXX…

New album from Richard Youngs that, similar to a lot of his work, happened fairly spontaneously following our having heard one of Richard's sketches utilising a Spanish guitar during the spring of 2021 and being duly impressed. We then proposed releasing a CD album of such work, where Richard uses the same guitar alongside real-time street sounds, birdsong, tape loops, synth, FM radio and runout grooves to create a setting that's comparatively gentler than most of his work thus far on Fourth Dim…

** Edition of 75 White Vinyl ** If you’re reading this and know the incredible careers of Chris Corsano (US), David Maranha (PT) and Richard Youngs (UK) you can already imagine what you’re getting into… or maybe not. Opened up to virtually infinite possibilities, this is a blessed gathering by three of the most idiosyncratic and illuminated artists working in the sprawling field where the most defiant and unmapped music converge. Leading figures of the unnameable, each of them on his own has cre…

** 2021 Stock ** Mysterious and minimal instrumental album by Richard Youngs, dreamt at home and recorded quickly in Glasgow's Green Door Studio. Centered on a single piano chord and bare snare strikes, Richard builds a haunting atmosphere in 4 episodes, featuring his guitar, organ, harmonica, and voice. Another essential work from the prolific and truly unique musician.

**Edition of 50** One night long ago, in the pre-Covid past, Richard Youngs was invited to do a DJ set, with the only instruction being that he should 'bring bangers’. However, instead of packing a record bag of floor fillers, he turned up to the party with a brand new set of his own Bangers! Four tracks of relentless home-baked beats, glitched electronics and morphed vocals finally available for your living room deep listening after a single live DJ set in 2019.

History of Sleep is a new release of slumberous drones for midnight vistas, by the duo of Donald W.G. Lindsay and Richard Youngs, a small pipes and electric guitar duo. These four pieces contain sighing, soaring improvisations for half-waking states, with keening bagpipe and whorls of resonant guitar. The 20-minute long finale, 'Dorrington' has at its heart a cue from the oldest collection of bagpipe music in existence by William Dixon. This tune was once played by the Allan pipers Will and Jami…

Title and concept play against Extrapool's short-lived Zonder Stroom programme (performances entirely without electricity). One bleak winter afternoon the trio decided to do the inverse, using every keyboard, synthesizer and piece of electronics they could lay hands on. The album collects mixes and remixes of that single session: a joyful, dense electroacoustic improvisation with Richard Youngs's experimental folk instincts threading through de Waard's and Nÿland's electronic vocabulary.

**edition of 300, 180gr. vinyl, hand-assembled** Recorded especially for Preserved Sound in Hebden​ Bridge, ​Arrow is sound of Richard Youngs alone at the piano, embellished with sparse drums and an old organ. This collection of solo improvisations is all about capturing the moment – that piano and that afternoon in Hebden Bridge.“I sat down at the piano and just played,” says Richard. “No preconceptions, nothing worked out. I wasn't trying to achieve anything other than to enjoy playing the pia…

Return of Richard Youngs to Fourth Dimension, a label that has supported his work since the early 1990s via collaborations with Simon Wickham-Smith. The latter returns to this set, based around the notion of songs featuring special guests. Spread over the two discs, the eleven songs here assume all manner of sonic guises that are often difficult or sometimes blissed-out, but always rewarding. Most include guests, themselves from a wide variety of backgrounds (taking in all from groups such as Tr…

Voice, guitar and zither by Richard Youngs. Composed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Richard Youngs.Motto of Populista Winter Triangle came about on 13th of December, 2014. It was a cold and windy day, a classic of pre-winter Warsaw, cold, wet, transparent yet at the same time grey, or perhaps mostly grey. It was also a day of the first Warsaw show of Richard Youngs in Komuna// Warszawa. Not fully by accident, there was a piano in the room, which made Richard propose performing 'ParallelWinter'…

Restocked! The unplaceable, implacable Richard Youngs presents a personal selection of five CDs taken from his long-running private press imprint, No Fans, plus 2 discs of previously unreleased and very covetable early material. An enigma to most, us included, Youngs' output over the years stretches as far as the ear can see, from tangled modular pop craft to noisy psychedelia and cranky folk, earning him a considerable cult fanbase in the process. These CDs include some of his rarest mate…

New solo album by the highly prolific yet always captivating Richard Youngs, whose music can waver healthily between new forms of singer-songwriter material, lo-fi drones and all manner of avant-garde forms. Here, his music sways towards the difficult and embraces organ drones and swells, frazzled electronics, a voice that is at once unnerving and unnerved, and more besides. Anybody expecting a comfortable listen should be prepared. 

After the mind-erasing and shamanic Amaranthine released in January 2012, MIE is ecstatic to be working with Richard again on a true magnum opus of the Youngsian experimental catalogue. Regions of the Old School is an epic and proudly sprawling collection of instrumentals and songs. In a conceptual nod to the long out of print Festival, released in 1994 by Table of the Elements, it features five extended tracks scored for a diverse array of instruments with guest vocals by Madeleine Hynes and ad…

Richard Youngs presents his debut recording for BaDaBing Records, and the label is looking forward to a long relationship. For Summer Through My Mind, Youngs pushes himself into a challenging new sphere yet again. A renowned musician with over 40 albums to his name, he goes somewhere he never has before - to the heart of American music. Summer Through My Mind is a country music album, warped through Youngs's ambidextral mind. A warning: it's not like any country album one has heard before. There…

At this point in time Richard Youngs should need no introduction. Through his vast discography (spanning over 20 years), he has created a fascinating body of work which has found a home on labels such as Forced Exposure, VHF, Jagjaguar and his own No Fans imprint. Like all great artists, Richard's work is hard to pin down and continues to evolve, mutate, and blossom into new forms, while at the same time bearing a unique characteristic that lets you know it could be by no-one else. Split into tw…

Hits w/ a shock & never lets up. Composed of what appears to be blown out bass & spastic drum rhythms, these tracks cascade into shimmering loops of distortion, their weight reaching a critical mass that often feels like it's on the verge of ecstatic collapse. Everything is elevated further in & up by that one & only voice, floating over top like a lush wind come down from the mountains.

Every new Richard Youngs LP is in some way an event – his modus is so restless and yet his muse remains so distinctively personal that it’s always a thrill to see where he’s gonna dive in next. Amaranthine puts his vocals way up front for a series of four ecstatic bardic/future folk classics that ride in on wave after staggering wave of free form percussion, clanging household objects, shakuhachi and fuzz guitar. The vocals fall into the classic post-Summer Wanderer style of endlessly rep…

Amplifying Host finds Richard Youngs wandering the guitar desert somewhere between Ry Cooder's Paris, Texas score and Neil Young's work on Dead Man. Yet, the randomly determined chord movements and Youngs' stretched-out vocal passes across the record are, perhaps, more akin to Jandek's Six And Six -- here, removed from its gauze and dipped in a dark gold. When Youngs bends strings in this anglo-americana vision, it's like he's bending spoons.For more than 20 years, the UK's Richard Youngs has be…

The Spring Press is very pleased to announce the release of a new masterpiece by the one and only Richard Youngs. A commanding new exploration of his interest in the composition of voice and electronics. Utilising motif and repition each work is rich, detailed and slowly developing, both tracks spanning over sixteen minutes each.

20 Years” is a celebration of 20 years of music from Richard and Simon, featuring 4 previously unreleased albums. The set includes an all new LP, “20 Years,” that is the first new vinyl from R!!! and S!!! in almost 15 years. The other three projects presented here on CD were all completed and intended for release by the duo during their prolific 1990’s, but fell by the wayside for various reasons. “20 Years” is a newly recorded LP, and is one of the heaviest, most uncompromising records of Richa…

Thus was the simple dare handed to Richard Youngs from his friend Andrew "Paz" Paine during their weekly Sunday meet-up. Ever the modest master, Youngs said in accepting this friendly challenge that he merely endeavored to capture the "beats and hooks" of contemporary pop. He's never attempted to disguise his gift for catchy musical phrases, though they may have come by way of careening, pleading, soothing or challenging multi-tracked voices.We present the results here as Beyond The Valley Of Ul…

Jagjaguwar is now proud to reissue this very important work on vinyl as well. Advent became a true underground success story, a critical darling, with Alan Licht, for example, putting it on his 'minimal top ten list' in the publication Halana. 'It is a record by an intense young man,' writes Richard Youngs, in an essay packaged with the record." Kinda amazing to have this record back on vinyl, in the year 2006. Originally recorded in 1988, it features Richard on electric guitar, piano, oboes and…

For his latest album, UK avant-folk maverick Richard Youngs seems to be converging on some of the most assured and firm-footed vocal work of his career to date, fashioning rock-solid songs from typically leftfield instrumental tactics. On 'Broke Up By Night', Youngs sounds like a gnarled old folkie of almost Ewan MacColl proportions, albeit accompanied by organ drone and wispy electronics. It's a rather magical, mantra-like cadence he elicits, and the album springboards nicely from this point. S…

“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 m…

Richard Youngs is a prolific British musician (located in Glasgow) with an extremely diverse output. Dusted Magazine once wrote he is defying strict genre classifications since the early nineties, swapping labels, styles, partners, motifs, and recording techniques as the desire has struck him. So his new album for Dekorder might not be a surprise to anyone following his career. Still, a self-proclaimed all-electronic 'ecstatic House record' comes somewhat unexpected. With a line of distinctive s…

This finds the duo continuing to pursue the head-scratching assortment and range of outer sound in a somewhat more contemporary style. LAmmERGEIR makes use of all sorts of exotic instruments, but like Metallic Sonatas, many of the pieces have undergone electronic transformation, adding an extra layer of unsettling aural alchemedia to the tunes. Some of the sounds show the influence of Simon's laptop work over the last couple of years. Laptops aside, the layers of microscopic detail on LAmmERGEIE…

For the past eight years Andrew Paine and Richard Youngs have met on almost every Sunday and recorded music. Mauve Dawn is the result of ten meetings during 2004. Its nine tracks feature processed epinette des vosges, glockenspiel, vintage keyboards and guitars, alongside granularly-synthesized household objects hacked together with resonated voices and filtered bells in a stereo field heavy on ring modulation. One part of the Mauve trilogy, this is an instrumental album of classic length.

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 mus…

The Old Angel, Nottingham, 1990. It was the A-Band's third live show and we were calling ourselves Advent for the evening in honour of a local record shop who -- judging by their filing system -- thought they were stocking an album entitled 'Richard Youngs' by Advent rather than Advent by Richard Youngs. For reasons that escape me now, I'd hoarded 171 used train tickets. It felt like a cool idea to read them out. So I did. Not in the privacy of my own home, but to an audience. They seemed to enj…

This epic double set combines an LP of all-electric rock mayhem with a CD of subtle drum/shakuhachi tracks. Electric Lotus is the Youngs and Neilson's self-proclaimed 'rock' album, and it is a mind-boggling clutch of guitar/bass/drums demolition. Coming off like an amphetamine-fueled Guru Guru, the music tumbles out in a crazy quilt of stun-level attack zonage, especially on the side-long Electric Lotus. Neilson's staggering freedrumming hits a new peak here, stepping beyond his laudable work wi…

Autumn Response is a spartan folk-"pop" record filled with tinder-box intimacies, composed of some of the shortest songs ever recorded by Richard Youngs. The simplest form of trickery comes from Richard Youngs' restrained use of an acoustic guitar, bringing it back to Youngs basics. Twenty-six seconds into "I Need the Light", the first track off the album, the listener is confronted with the pivotal element of the record, the drawing line between the hardcore Youngs purists and fairweather fans:…