Showing posts with label Mark McGuire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark McGuire. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

So Destroyed (Mark McGuire Remix)


I'm not much into Prince Rama. Essentially they sound like every other overhyped psychedelic chillwave beachfuzz band: their vocals and musicianship aren't strong enough to stand alone, so they fill in the cracks with a heaping scoop of impenetrable reverb, all the while promoting a public image that pits them as "unorthodox" or "enigmatic." They irk me in the way Lady Gaga irks me, in that it seems that they try to be weird solely for the sake of being weird. The thing is, at the end of the day it just looks like they're trying too hard. Ok Prince Rama, so your parents moved you to a Hare Krishna commune when you were in high school…do we really need to hear about it in every interview? I think we get it - the rest of us have daddy issues too.

But enough about that. I shouldn't give them too much grief seeing as I've been playing one of their songs on repeat all day. It's not exactly a cut off their album -rather Mark McGuire swooped in to save the day. Mark McGuire is quite the super[music]man - every bit of musicianship and integrity the Larson sisters lack McGuire embodies tenfold. He's put his magic touch to their single So Destroyed, in which they channeled some sort of post-apocalyptic post-punk band (which I guess would actually make them post-post-punk and thus of the most elite genre the universe has ever seen), by adding swirling synths and a deep-space bass to take the song to cosmic, truly far-out heights.

Emeralds, the excellent band for which McGuire plays guitar, put out an album in early November. The holidays are coming: buy it now.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Get Lost

Photo by Jeff Luker

I'm not usually one to post something after hearing it only once. Actually, I can't think of a single time I've done it. But I've got to make an exception with the latest output from Mark McGuire, the Cleveland based guitarist better known as one-third of the ambient rock trio Emeralds. He's preparing a new solo LP to be released September 27th, and the first excerpt from it, the title track Get Lost is as perfect as I could have hoped. A trepidatious start gives way to a swarm of fuzzy loops that swirl around each other until pointed strumming grabs the ambience by its shoulders and pulls it to standing attention, building to a swelling, swirling, resonating head before settling down to a twinkling end. If this is what getting lost feels like, I don't want to be found.

Get Lost - Mark McGuire

[via Pitchfork]

Previously: Mark McGuire's Brain Storm

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Comedown Sunday: Brain Storm (For Erin)

Photo Credit Neil Krug

Today’s Comedown Sunday song comes from Mark McGuire, guitarist for Cleveland’s ambient/progressive rock trio Emeralds. This 6-minute masterpiece was created using only an electric guitar and a delay pedal. These minimalist tools nonetheless manage to craft a complex, twisting soundscape marked by urgent melancholy. The song is intricate yet intimate, soaring yet constricted, and entirely beautiful.

Right Click to Download: Brain Storm (For Erin)--Mark McGuire