Currently watching: the Friendz.net channel on YouTube

In between all the slick over-produced images that get thrown at us, and the quirky amateur videos that get passed around by email, it’s nice to find something on YouTube that doesn’t try too hard. According to this interview, Friendz.net is a collection of seven graduates from the same university in Korea who get together to record songs and post videos. The whole vibe is like watching videos of some talented friends, as they try out new ideas.

There are a lot of cover versions, and how well they work often depends on your attitude to the original song. The original material, though, holds up well against the more famous songs. The most prolific in terms of videos (and they have an album out) is the band J Rabbit, but all of them are worth your time. Yana’s version of Miss A’s “Bad Girl Good Girl” is great, full of energy and humour, and leeSA’s version of “TikTok” is, I think, better than the original.

Given that most of the videos are based around one camera/one shot, they do well in keeping your interest visually. Their sense of enjoyment really comes through, and it’s nice to be reminded of why a lot of people play music in the first place – because it’s fun.