Friday, April 26, 2019

YouTube Channel Profile Series: malaise666's Channel & Angela U

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, our monthly look at randomly chosen YouTube accounts whose content is mostly devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk bands or concerts,  in order to spotlight them anew and encourage new subscriptions! As the first randomly selected channel only had 9 SMS-relevant videos from a single album, I added a second channel with a single relevant video to round things out. Neither channel is locally based, but some big names are covered, so here's what you should know!
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malaise666's Channel (http://youtube.com/malaise666)

Owner: YouTube user malaise666, possibly of the Italian lo-fi solo band Malaise. Their real identity is unclear, but I'm sure they're not locally based

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 15th, 2011; Videos posted from December 23rd-26th, 2011

Channel Summary: With the exception of malaise666's final two uploads (which are songs from unrelated artists), their channel is devoted to most of the songs from local doom metal band Woods of Ypres' final studio album "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light.", Notably, these songs were uploaded here just one day after frontman David Gold's sudden death, likely following Earache Records' early tribute release of most of the album for digital download, preceding the album's on-sale date in February 2012.

Why You Should Watch: This is a fine channel to check out if you love Woods of Ypres' last CD, and these songs still resonate lyrically and sonically over 7 years later! In hindsight, malaise666's channel played a key part in exposing this album to a wider audience at a difficult time. Three songs were not posted here in 2011 ("Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide)", "Travelling Alone", and the 2012-unveiled "Keeper of the Ledger"), but the prior 2 were already out before David's death, and all 3 are readily available elsewhere today. Also, note that this channel has not been visibly updated since 2012.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Woods of Ypres - Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye) Part I: A unique aspect of Earache Records' early release of "Woods V" was a heavily altered track order, but the absent "Keeper of the Ledger" aside, the biggest change was seeing the 10+ minute "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)" split into two parts, keeping the heavier and slightly faster opening half separate from the doom ballad back half. I find the emotion and resonance works better on "Part II", but this is still a striking and dark song whether you consider this one long number or two 5 minute tracks, and David & Joel Violette made their mark!



Woods of Ypres - Finality: Fittingly the most popular video on malaise666's channel, over 57,000 people have checked out this copy of the penultimate song on "Woods V", which is a downbeat and emotional ballad (I'll let you decide if there was any foreshadowing.) A highlight of the album in a few different ways, "Finality" definitely struck a chord with listeners, and it's a harrowing listen especially for the first time, so I can see it being this popular! A producer's mix of this song was released on the vinyl prints of this album, but is not out on other formats or this channel.


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Angela U (http://youtube.com/malaise666)

Owner: YouTube user Angela Uttley, who I don't believe is locally based

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 7th, 2011; Videos posted on July 1st, 2015 & April 11th, 2016

Channel Summary: Angela's only two uploads are from live concerts, including an unidentified show in 2016, and as featured here, local/Toronto indie punk quartet Treble Charger playing their early hit "Red" at Kitchener City Hall on July 1st, 2015, as part of the city's Canada Day festivities. Opening for Hollerado & Fefe Dobson on this day, this short 21 second clip doesn't tell us a lot, but Bill, Greig, Darcy, and Jason have a good handle on this softer fan favourite, even if fan heads can get in the road. Still, it's nice to see some footage from one of Treble Charger's increasingly rare out of town gigs, especially as I can't find other clips from this set!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! This series will return on or around May 26th, and coincidentally, it'll also feature two channels, as the first randomly selected YouTube channel only has 8 videos with two distinct formats, so I added one more channel to fill things out. As such, we'll be looking at the channels of local acoustic hard rock duo Tattoos & Scars (featuring videos from their predecessor band Halfway Loaded) and defunct classic/hard rock quartet The 3 Day Millionaires, so look for these next month, and for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

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