Mark McGuire

A Young Person's Guide to Mark McGuire

BY Brock ThiessenPublished May 10, 2011

Much has been made of Mark McGuire's prolific nature, and for good reason. Since launching his solo career in 2007, the kosmische-minded guitar virtuoso has birthed a countless array of limited tapes, CD-Rs and LPs, with the 24-year-old quickly amassing well over 30 releases ― and that's not even counting those by his multiple side-projects and his work with his day job, Emeralds. It's enough to do any fan's head in, making A Young Person's Guide welcome relief. Culled from recordings made between 2007 and 2010, the compilation comes packing two CDs, 20 tracks and nearly two-and-a-half hours of transcendental, head-trippin' music. Unlike McGuire's Emeralds work, the comp focuses squarely on looped, layered and intricately played guitar-scapes, which, despite their wordless nature, pack some of the most beautiful melodies around. Factor in the comp's mammoth nature and it's easy to get lost in McGuire's guitar epics; then again, that's the point. Essential for McGuire heads old and new, A Young Person's Guide serves as one stunning document of one of the most inventive and skilled American experimentalists going.
(Editions Mego)

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