Dereck Higgins: YouTube Comfort Food for Music Nerds
I came late to the YouTube Channel of record collector and musician, Dereck Higgins. One of his videos popped up in my recommendations sidebar sometime in late 2019, and he’s been a staple of my YouTube consumption in the months since. But Dereck’s been at it for about a decade now, sitting at the same desk in the same room in the same house in Omaha, NE, with those vinyl-packed shelves behind him, holding up album covers to a grainy webcam while always telling it like it is. His musical taste runs broad and deep, but leans heavily toward psychedelia, prog, krautrock, and post-punk.
Since discovering Dereck’s videos, I’ve been loading my Spotify library with his suggestions. It may take me years to listen to it all, but, like a shelf lined with unread books, at least it makes me feel more sophisticated than I am. I don’t agree with all of his opinions, and he doesn’t expect me to. Dereck welcomes difference and debate, but quickly shuts down the quibblers and trolls. He suffers no fools.
In February 2020, back in the olden days before every grocery store became a haunted house, Dereck’s cult status fetched him an appearance on the Adult Swim program, Stupid Morning Bullshit. The day after, he announced that “Higg’s Corner” would soon launch as a segment on SMB. This hasn’t materialized yet, and may be delayed by “current events,” but fingers crossed!
Since the coronavirus crisis began, Dereck’s been a welcome, stable presence in my online life. He usually posts daily, sometimes twice a day, and his vinyl show-and-tell sessions have morphed into a sort of pandemic video diary.
The quarantine has forced celebrities and talk show hosts into the same casual, “authentic” corner that Higgins never left: a YouTube of intimate video monologues and homegrown content, before it was invaded by brands and big networks. Each video upload is an act of solidarity, as Dereck processes, and thereby helps us process, this ongoing trainwreck that we’re living through. Sadness, anger, strength, and compassion—almost every video ends with affirmations and a warm smile.
