After the pandemic hijinks that was COVID I hyperfocused on more obsessive youtube channels. This is a followup to part 1 from a few years ago.
I mostly want to document a few unexplainable channels that seem to exist with their own laws and frameworks. Some of these may not have much of an audience, but that isn’t really the point. I find that many really great youtube channels somehow deal with documenting TRANSFORMATIONS from an expert’s point of view. This makes watching them wonderfully cathartic. Others do not seem to transform or change anywhere and seem to be stuck in a type of digital amber. This is also therapeutic because they are reliable and their obsessive consistency is dependable! Unlike most humans.
What is NOT comforting are the amount of ads Youtube manages to jam into videos now. They have it down to a money funnel science apparently. I like intentionally NOT buying products I see in ads on YT after I see the ad more than a dozen times. I suppose we have crossed a threshold when product annoyance is an ad strategy.
Anyway to continue with a few picks…
Travel: Home Town Saskatchewan
This is the most mysterious channel. The narrator travels to very small towns throughout the Canadian province with a more than encyclopaedic knowledge about the town. His voice is rather soothing and hypnotic. He started using a drone on the more recent videos, that makes the documentation even more ethereal. There are basically NO HUMANS in these videos. I lost track trying to count how many towns he’s visited. The Canadian government needs to give him an award.
Wonderful documentation of train sets in high definition. Some POV cameras on train sets. Relaxing music to watch the scenery and dreamlike miniature activity. We are the inert giants in this world. I imagine this to be the perfect stoner channel.
I recently discovered the sub sub genre of Bardcore which takes modern pop music and translates it into mediaeval arrangements. This is more a collection of channels. Some amazing covers include Nirvana, Radiohead, Wu Tang Clan and Hildegard von Blingin’s version of NIN’s Hurt. The ancient latin or greek translations make me think that the purpose of music has never ever changed.
“R.I.P Kurtus Cobaenus 😢”
I keep meaning to go back and listen to this whole channel for the day, but maybe my allergy to mold prevents this. However, I am a fan of any generated plant type communication or media and I am glad people like Mycolyco are absolutely dedicated to this. There are other experiments on the channel with cacti and crystals. The organic plant networking aspect fits so well with modular rigs. You wonder where this will all be in the future. Will wire patches and plant vines be the same thing?
Project JDM is an expert on polyrhythms. He also visualizes and animates pendulum type dynamics via some type of computer that might be his brain. Not exactly sure how he does all this. The animations are also tied to sound, so it’s all one kinetic smorgasbord of hypnotism and chill. A good type of obsessiveness.
Post your fave little known obsessive video channels in the comments below. I should do another one of these that is NOT Youtube. I’ve recently become interested in live tiktok channels that cover inhuman repetitive jobs.
– XFP