Saturday, January 27, 2018

YouTube Channel Profile Series: AlgomA62

This month's YouTube Channel Profile is finally here on the site, as we kick off another year at the SMS with this ongoing spotlight feature of 1-3 YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk bands and/or concerts. This month's randomly selected installment brings us to a single channel, and it's from one of the most prominent local metal bands of recent years, so here's what you should know!
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AlgomA62 (http://www.youtube.com/algoma62

Owner: A member of local doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA (identity not firmly stated, but I'd guess that it's guitarist Boyd Rendell)

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 27th, 2013; videos posted from the next day until September 2017

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for AlgomA, this channel was launched shortly after their public concert debut, and transitioned from a live video source early in their run to primary usage re-posting their studio material. The channel features 9 live performance clips (video or audio), a commercial for their Echo Bay concert in October 2013, and 10 studio tracks from their first three physical releases. (FYI, the "62" in their YouTube account's name references Boyd's film production company 62nd Chamber Productions, who handled most of the concert clips here.)

Why You Should Watch: This is a must watch channel for fans of AlgomA's brutal studio releases and live concerts, and as their official channel, more material is bound to turn up there when activity picks up! The fact that none of their videos exceed 450 views at press time is very surprising, but hopefully more and more fans find these clips soon! However, note that no public concert videos have been posted on AlgomA's channel since 2015, and the channel has played host to unlisted videos in the past, some of which still being online and publically linked elsewhere.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

AlgomA - Live @ 180 Projects (03-24-2013): The first & most viewed video on AlgomA's channel is of their full half hour set from their debut concert on March 24th, 2013 at 180 Projects, where they opened for Soul Killing Female. The band was then and now comprised of ex-Beefmouth bandmates Kevin Campbell & Boyd Rendell (then a.k.a. "Marty Chase" & "Darby Wigwaas") on vocals/bass and guitar/vocals, plus future Bad Back frontman Jamie "J.V." Vincent on drums. That night's set featured their forthcoming debut CD "Reclaimed By The Forest" in full order (save the opening track "Bedsores"), including  "Fell Down A Well", the title track, "Tertiary Syphillis", "Go On, Git!", and "Extinct Volcanoes". The video is suitably aggressive and sludgy, well edited, and an intriguing early look at one of the biggest local metal acts of the mid-2010s long before they got any worldwide notice, but their lack of crowd engagement was noticeable, even if it was intentional at the time.



AlgomA - Fell Down a Well (Faust): A common sight at AlgomA's increasingly rare concerts at 180 Projects is a video projector that has been used during performances for visual effects and ambiance, with or without specially edited footage. AlgomA embraced the concept and featured this video during the above performance of "Fell Down A Well", featuring clips from the 1926 silent movie Faust, based on the eponymous German legend about a man selling his soul to the Devil for pleasure and knowledge. The song doesn't really connect to the story, but the dark and gothic visuals set the mood very well, and the early jam room version of the song is raw and brutal itself!



AlgomA - Reclaimed by the Forest [2014]: With the exception of their half of last year's "Trading Faces" split tape, all of AlgomA's physically released studio material can be streamed for free on their YouTube channel, including "Failed Stunt Fatality" from their split single with Hooded Menace, and both songs from their split EP with Chronobot. However, these postings began in March 2016 when AlgomA posted their October 2014 EP "Reclaimed By The Forest", in two forms: Each song in an individual upload, and the whole EP in one 42 minute video. Recorded locally at "Das Bunker" and released through Malaysian label Deadbeat Media, the EP features their songs "Bedsores", "Fell Down A Well", the title track, "Tertiary Syphillis", "Go On, Git!", and "Extinct Volcanoes", and is an aggressive, fully realized slice of Northern Ontario doom metal that fans definiely took to upon it's release! Here's hoping for a full length follow-up in the future!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we'll be looking at two randomly chosen channels, as the first one that we selected only has videos from two distinct concerts, so I'll add a single video channel to round thing's out. That said, next month's profiles will be on the YouTube channels of former Polly Pocket's Melting In A Microwave bassist Jamie Whalen's channel (featuring four videos of that band from the early 2000s), and former RedD Monkey drummer Joe Bumbacco's channel (featuring one video from their local heyday.) Look for those on or around February 26th, and stay tuned for our first CD review of the year in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

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