Oh the wrecking ball of nightmares is on its way to me (Mark McGuire, an appreciation)

Tweet You know that cliché, the one that goes "maybe, I'll finally get to work on that novel"? That's me. I sometimes say that, and sometimes think I mean it too. My novel, if I ever write it, will be pitched at teenagers, and will feature evil birds (the ones that walk, such as magpies and crows), good birds (the ones that hop, such as thrushes and wagtails), an ancient Irish supernatural force, the trapped faces of people knotted into a tree trunk, and two teens who spend a wet November in Bundoran during the nineties.

Pretty sweet sounding synopsis isn't it? It'll have to sit in the brain cupboard until I learn to write convincing characters and dialogue though. I was talking to my friend Karl about this particular problem over the weekend and he suggested I just start writing blind, allowing the characters to generate themselves and develop as the project progresses. It's a nice idea, but I worry that I'm too solipsistic and any lengthy story I might write would be populated Being John Malkovitch-style by multiple replicas of me. That's the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is a collection of teenager-shaped wooden clichés that wouldn't make it past the first storyboard for Skins.

we dare you to fall asleep. we just dare you

Enough frustrated writer speak, it's MP3 time.

I got an email during the week asking me if the 'heap was going to focus only on techno from now on. This touched me, because it meant that people are actually reading the blog. To the anonymous emailer - don't worry, it's not. Things ebb and flow around here, and my tastes remain the same as they ever were. Sure look, I'll even prove it:

MP3: Mark McGuire-Brain Storm (For Erin)

Mark McGuire is the guitarist from Emeralds, a band whose album 'Does it Look Like I'm Here' was my favourite of last year (something I didn't get around to cataloging as I was focusing on songs). He seems to shit music - solo albums, CD-R releases, label retrospectives, collaborations, you name it. And impressively, considering the proliferation of stuff bearing his name, it is all good. His guitar work is unmistakable: clean trebly notes tumbling over themselves in slowly changing cylindrical patterns, punctuated by cathartic moments of feedback on a loose leash (but a leash all the same - the lad has a deceptively controlled style). All the while, whether working solo, with Emeralds, or with collaborators, his guitar communicates an intoxicating and youthful worldview. His music may be mostly composed alone, but it is the opposite of introspective (something borne out by the fact that a few of his solo recordings are named after or dedicated to other people, not to mention his love of collaboration). You get the feeling that Mark McGuire is the sort of chap who sits on a porch, looks up at the sky, and, like our own Richie Egan, thinks "look. at. the. fucking. moon".

MP3: Trouble Books and Mark McGuire-The Golden Waste

How excellent is Mark McGuire? I can answer that. Mark McGuire is so excellent that he collaborated with one of the most nondescript bands you could ever imagine (if you don't believe me check out anything Trouble Books recorded prior to his input), ignited some sort of spark, and helped them create an utterly fantastic album. Morto for Trouble Books though, because it really does just sound like an Emeralds album with vocals. Ah no, I'm being sly. They peddle a fairly decent Phil Elverum style of song that was just perfect for a McGuire impregnation.

MP3: Emeralds-Alive in the Sea of Information

The Source. I could try to add to this track with words in some way, but it would be feeble and redundant at best.

Emeralds are playing Whelans on the 24th of September. I'll be living in England then :(