I was talking to an old friend on the phone the other day, ranting about internet slop and discussing how LLMs could actually be useful if used properly - you know, as something other than machines for churning out heaps of digital dung per second while trying to make a quick buck from it.
Look, I'm not totally anti-AI (although it should really be called LLMs and nothing else) even though there are certainly some soggy grey areas around environmental impact, stolen training data and what have you. But I'll always be human first, and mostly what pisses me off is how people are using this slop and trying to sell it to you as if they made it themselves.
I'd give them a backhand slap or two if I ever met such a person in real life. I mean, why the hell should I give you a second of my attention if you don't want to invest that time yourself to produce the shit you're trying to force upon me?
Fuck you.
But I digress.
My friend then admitted that he'd been enjoying some AI remixes on YouTube, mostly because it's getting increasingly difficult to find human-made remixes these days. Fair enough. But that got me thinking, and eventually led to this blog post: a collection of artists and YouTube channels you can crank up in the background while slowly wasting away at your 9-to-5.
Without further ado, and in no particular order, let's go!
Lo-Fi Girl
As you've probably already noticed from the featured image, I'm a huge fan of Lo-Fi Girl. Lo-Fi Girl is a channel that produces and streams lo-fi hip-hop and other genres, and has recently ventured into synthwave with the introduction of Lo-Fi Boy.
The tracks are soft, nostalgia-inducing compositions accompanied by slow-paced, Studio Ghibli-esque animations of the titular girl and boy studying or working. The lack of vocals and catchy hooks means I can work on complex stuff that requires my full attention without my mind wandering off to the music playing in the background.
The Lo-Fi Girl channel has been around for almost 10 years, so it's guaranteed to be LLM free. Give them a sub now!
This Week in Chiptune
This Week in Chiptune is another channel which, despite its name, doesn't offer all that much chiptune music these days. This 13-year-old channel is 100% human produced and contains everything from piano arrangements to chill-pop versions of popular video game music. Much like Lo-Fi Girl, it's great background music for working and studying.
The video playing in the background is usually non-distracting too, often depicting lightly animated scenes from random fighting games. Sometimes though there can be more fast-paced, repetitive animation going on. It really depends on the playlist or livestream you're playing. The music is always top notch, though. Give them a whirl if you haven't already!
Locabrary
A fairly new channel in my collection is the Korean music club Locabrary, mostly because it's new to YouTube with its first video being released in March this year. But this one is interesting, as it's as much an art experiment as it is something you can listen to in the background.
They mainly focus on soft jazz, but also have some chill house and electro-funk. The interesting part is that they invite the community to reach out to the channel and have them highlight local places around Korea, mostly music bars with a bit of history. The background videos then consist of footage from these locales, filled with people listening to the very same mix you're listening to.
The combination of the music and imagery of people in real places makes me want to jump into the video, crack open a bottle of maekju, sit down next to someone and just discuss what it's like to live in the moment. It's enchanting.
Some of the playlists can be a little too jazzy for my taste though, so I'd suggest picking out a favourite curation and settling in. Oh, and no LLM in sight.
Yellow Cherry Jam
The Yellow Cherry Jam channel prides itself on making human-made music for a human audience. Yellow Cherry Jam consists of Dasha, Yel and their golden retriever Jam, all of whom feature prominently in their videos hanging out - usually outdoors on the grass - while Yel lovingly plucks away at the guitar.
The music is lo-fi chill hip-hop with mellow riffs and soft drums, making it easy to wind down and relax after a long day at the office.
Lame Genie
Sometimes you just want to rock out on a Friday afternoon. That's when the video game metal covers come in. There's nothing more satisfying than writing that last line of code or finishing that last email and slamming the laptop lid shut while headbanging to a hard-rock rendition of Megalovania from Undertale.
Lame Genie, as their name implies, is a band that doesn't take itself too seriously. This trio of Rhode Islanders - Kyle, Mike, and Jeff - have been chugging away at metal VGM since the early 2010s and even though they've recently started leveraging LLMs to generate thumbnails for their videos, their music is 100% human-made, played by their own hands.
Not only are the remixes recognizable (nostalgia!), they're also reworked with such a distinctive touch that they can sometimes feel like entirely new songs (ooh?! What's this, then?). The mixing is great, with no harsh tones or jarring beats, so the music works just as well as background noise while slaving away for the daily bread.
The videos themselves are the run-of-the-mill MTV-style close-ups of the members playing their instruments, mixed with scenes from the games the music comes from. It could be a bit distracting, but then again, you can always minimize the browser window.
Go give them a listen and sub! 🤟🏻
Well, that's all for now. As the blog post title implies, I probably will continue this series with more channels to recommend. If you have a channel you'd like to see featured, feel free to throw me an email or reach out on Mastodon!
Cheers.
