Tuesday, September 1, 2015

More YouTube Channels I Subscribe to

YouTube's classical music promotion won rave reviews from the Castleford team

This is a follow-up or update of some kind on some more YouTube Channels I've discovered and gone back to a lot of late (Here's the post from a few months ago)

And this update seems to be a lot about the Music Reviewing community on YouTube and the social aspect to it.

Also the fact in the last month or so, I finally, after so many years, discovered a way to check out YouTube at work, which more or less made a lot of YouTube videos like potential podcasts to me. I more or less have been YouTube-podcast heaven for the last month, with such a variety and depth of stuff to check out.

Even just long interviews with musicians and what not, have totally given me a plethora of discussions to check out, that I never did before. I suppose interviews included, as I found an Anthony Phillips one a few weeks ago that was great to check out at work, that went well over an hour.



Ministry of Music
I've really gotten into a lot of this guy's videos. Part of it could be purely on his taste in music and progressive rock I guess. I also really enjoy his "React to WatchMojo" videos, as he frequently both has funny critical comments on the results of the lists (and the clips they show), along with echoing my and many others feelings about their lists.

And he's rather prolific as he has been able to make 4 or 5 videos a week or more. Although part of that could be per it is Summer and he's had more free time of late, I dunno.

He makes comments that are both funny and warranting comments about. Even just some of the specifics, the fact he reviewed both Bend Sinister and Jellyfish tells you something about his taste and mine.

And he more or less will review anything music related, which is admirable.

And frankly, I never find myself bored with his videos. I suppose like some others on this latest update, it has helped with my new found ability to just listen to them at work to pass the time. I.e., they are more like podcasts than videos to me.  But regardless of that, this guy's videos really keep me engaged and I hope he is able to continue making them for as long and often as he has been able to.

Honestly, if this dude were even a fraction as well known as The Needle Drop, I would probably start promoting his channel every chance I get. I would say for now at least, along with a new podcast about progressive rock I discovered, I cannot get enough of his channel.

00jets aka Superior Reviews
This guy I stumbled across when he asked a rather forward/egocentric question in a recent The Album Man's Q&A. And it was odd as his question and then his videos I later came to discover were rather character-driven from a narcisstic and outspoken viewpoint, in a lot of ways. That is why he took or referred to himself as "Superior Reviews."

But I later came to realize it was at least in a lot of ways, a Bit, and a rather funny one to me. Even just how he did his "It's time, for another episode of..SUPEEEEEEREEEE-ERRRRR REH-VOOOOOOOOZZZZZZ" ..He yelled it so loud into the mic, I got into the habit of always lowering the volume when he did. But I got used to that and actually usually found it funny in a character/meltdown-ish sort of way.

But also it turned out, he has a lot of common taste to me in his interest in older progressive rock and classic rock, and so I ended checking out a lot of videos.

I also like how he seems to be rather social with other reviewers which led me to find many other recent channels which I'm grateful.

However, this past week he made a video for the 1st time showing himself on camera, which was largely in part to his changing/transitioning his channel to a more common/traditional format. I'm not sure if his strong/character-driven personality will change dramatically; but also the fact he is having to sacrifice some anonymity (for professional reasons among others), may not give him much of a choice.

But his taste and hopefully activity level is reason for me to still be going back to his videos.

DownFall
I found this guy's channel per Superior Reviews and also noticed how active he was both in making videos and commenting on videos. And his taste in progressive rock and metal was one of the reasons I started enjoying his videos as well.

Whether it be for the details in each review, or even just common taste and covering bands I enjoy of course, including Dream Theater, Rush, Yes, Pink Floyd? I think as well. And he's a Fates Warning fan as well.

He knows his stuff, and he also seems to be into a decent amount of modern music like many reviewers (Porcupine Tree and Opeth seem to be usual suspects of course).

Superior Isotope
This guy was formerly known as "Insignia Reviews" but changed his channel's name to sort of reflect Superior Reviews influence I guess. I do enjoy his channel, although I haven't spent as much time with many of videos as some others. But my sense is, his taste parallels some of the others in this cool, underground music reviewing community with progressive rock and metal.

Iron Maiden seems to be a favorite of his. But he does enjoy a lot of classic prog stuff I guess as well.

2 Metal Heads
I was referred to this new channel about 2 relatively close in age to me Metal Heads living out in the East Coast, from a friend who lives out there as well.

Anyway, this is fun little channel where the 2 guys just chat about recent news, albums, stories, for the most part related to Metal. They have good banter, and some of the opinions are definitely worth a laugh or to, even if at times it's a bit Male-oriented (or even Caucasion-Male).

And for a new channel, I give them credit with being prolific, as they seem to make 1-2 videos at least per week.

A good diversion during my workday from even talk radio and the music I do take in.

The Strong Boyz 19

I have checked this guy's videos sparingly, since subscribing like a month ago. And I do enjoy them overall. Some of his strong opinions are pretty entertaining to hear. Ripping pop music. I forget, but he did 2 or 3 videos talking about musical artists that are overrated if I recall, and I remember really enjoying those.

He is a bit like Ministry of Music in that sense, although I'm not sure his taste is as close to mine and MoM's is, but so be it. I do recall he enjoys some prog and classic rock anyway, which is how I found his channel I recall. And I certainly have enjoyed his videos and will be going back to them.


That is the Plan

This is Anthony Fantano's other and possibly original? YouTube Channel, which I think at 1 point, he meant to keep it rather low-key, and a bit of secret. Mainly because he includes a lot of stuff he does not include on The Needle Drop channel. Stuff like music news and news in general.

Also The Needle Drop podcast, which for my work, works well, as the discussions are of podcast-length (30-to-well-over-1 hour). I find TND podcast to be hit and miss. Some of the topics and guests I do enjoy, namely one where he had a fellow YouTube reviewer, who specializes in Film reviews. Or another he had on a guy who works on engineering music. I would of course love to ask that guest he had on, about Kevin Gilbert's music. But I also question if leaving a comment would even lead to anything as it frequently does not.

But the truth is, over the last couple of months or more, I find I watch TND's channel less and less, but I do check out and enjoy this channel a lot more. It's more real-life, and not so fancily-edited, etc. And it is in a lot of ways, Anthony being Anthony, and not thinking about the words he uses, etc.

And the fact he will cover music he doesn't on TND channel, which often is stuff I'm into.

Consequence of Sound: Rock it Out Blog

This is a channel affiliated with the website of course, which is a bit like My YouTube Channel. It has a weekly? I guess panel show every Friday which discusses music and I guess entertainment news. Often new releases and such.

The main host is this guy named Sami Jarroush, who I recall has done some Google Hangouts with The Needle Drop and some others.

The Friday show is usually him and like 2 or 3 or more guests from their site/blog and some other music sites/publications. Last week, I think they had someone from AVCLUB.COM, which I usually wonder when I see the name if they took their name from Freaks and Geeks.

I guess overall I like this channel, although taste-wise, they only crossover to my taste to an extent. I did just yesterday, stumble upon THIS REVIEW of The Dear Hunter's new album, Which was done on their website/blog of course, but if it manages to also be discussed on their channel, I will definitely be surprised and little impressed (even if they hate it).

They are also based in Chicago which is interesting, and they film their episodes at the JBTV studios, which of course I got to see Bend Sinister perform back in 2013 (and had Ours among others).

I also will credit them with some of their SXSW coverage, and man-on-the-street or concert-interviews, that I've enjoyed. I recall they interviewed Chromeo last year among others.


The Music Zone

I found this channel just a few weeks ago, and they are based from a U.K. music store that makes videos every Friday for the new releases, namely VINYL. Which given it is Friday now where every album is being released globally I guess, it makes some sense. The counter to that is of course, so much music is just bought digitally, so it's kind of moot. But there are still a fair amount of physical releases and reissue/re-pressings/boxed sets, etc every week  to warrant it.

Foxy Pancakes

I probably should have included her channel on the last entry as I have been watching her channel for a number of months now. It';s a channel of videos from 1 woman whose a Metal Head, like 100%. She more or less is into Metal, and her videos are almost all about Metal.

I have enjoyed her List videos and the Q&A's I suppose most.

She does know her Metal, including many more underground subgenres. From Black to Metalcore to Melodic Death, to Sludge, and Technical Death Metal. And even a fair amount of progressive stuff.

So there's enough of a crossover in my taste to want to keep going back to her channel.

SeaofTranquility.org

Like Consequence of Sound and my Channel, it is associated with the Sea of Tranquility website/blog. It is just 1 guy, Pete Pardo who makes the videos showing "What's Hot" mostly in his music collection. Mostly cds from what I have seen. And like the SoT site, it is mostly progressive rock and metal, with some occasional other bands here and there.

And with my taste, and even history enjoying SoT both the site and the magazine way back over 10 years ago, obviously some of the stuff he covers on his channel I do like, etc.

Also I guess he includes some other little things like food once in awhile which I find interesting and would go for a little more of. Kind of, of the curiosity, what do the fans of the music I like, enjoy, beyond the beer or whatever that is shown on a lot of other channels.

Jammindude

Like Foxy Pancakes, I probably should have included this channel in the last entry about YouTube, as I have been watching Ben's videos for well over a year on here. I suppose 1 reason I did not was his activity has been slowed in 2015, and his channel hasn't come up in my feed.

But I have known *The Dude* per some Dream Theater-related message boards and more recently on Facebook for quite awhile. And his taste of course does crossover a fair amount to mine. I remember he talked about the Fates Warning album a couple of years back and also a concert with Between the Buried and Me and some others.

Ben always has a "Black Russian" from memory, as his companion which is distinct. I could go for doing something similar, but I'm sober for the most part, so I'm not sure how well it would work for me. But it does for him and his videos.

Cover Kill Nation
I have known about or found this channel's videos, going back a number of years from memory. I just recall the guy would have topics about Metal that he was rather exclamatory. At least on the surface.
It definitely came across as quite Edge-y and potentially controversial. Which I guess I recall why I shyed away from his channel.

Also Metal I do like, but not as a primary thing, so that may have added to it.

But the guy has like 30,000 subscribers and is frequently mentioned by others, for better or for worse. And he just made the WatchMojo TopX Top 10 Music Review channels, and so I decided to subscribe finally to him.

I think at least 1 or 2 of the comments in that WMJ video mentioned how it's odd how he covers a lot more progressive rock than The Needle Drop does,  Which I honestly didn't realize, so that also got me more curious about his channel.

Ryan Rocks 84

I literally stumbled upon this channel the other day looking for Vinyl review videos and just from sampling a couple of them, this dude seems to have quite a lot of Vinyl videos, which I do like to check out. His taste seems pretty versed in 70's music from early impressions, including Pink Floyd and Zappa I recall. Unfortunately with Vinyl videos tho, I usually like to actually watch them and not listen to them at work, so more time may be required for me to get a sense about his channel and taste, etc.

Ralph Viera

Like Ryan Rocks 84, I found this channel via looking for Vinyl reviews as well. And if I recall though, this guy is into a lot of obscure prog and jazz namely. Which while both specifics I'm familiar with, I kind of wonder if watching some of the videos of his vinyl finds might get me more focused to investigate certain artists and albums specifically.

Also to add, I should be posting a PODCAST update as well soon as I have found some new shows among that format as well of late.