The Dust Lounge

Tag: Grind Spark

  • Grind Spark Earworm #10 – Two Fingers

    Two Fingers Vengeance Rhythm

    It’s time for the next instalment of the Grind Spark playlist.

    Last week we took in the jittering pulses of Radiohead’s Feral. If you were busy drowning in hot cross buns and chocolate, then listen to it now.

    This week I’ve been suffering from toothache.

    An insistent, persistent fire in the side of my face that sprouts periodically from a bored wisdom tooth. The sort of toothache that leaves you constantly checking your chin for dribble while clutching at your cheek as if your head might completely fall off. Or explode.

    It’s not that I ate lots of chocolate over Easter… no… definitely not…

    *Hides wrappers and empty boxes*

    No siree.

    *Ahem*

    So, this Sunday, we’re taking the Grind Spark playlist not just into a club filled with latent dance-hidden rage that spills out when everything is pointless and everything is going to end.

    Not just into a place where the lights are out and the dry ice is thick and the people are horny.

    It’s also a place that will cover up the constant drilling pain that threatens to consume my entire jaw.

    This is Vengeance Rhythm by Two Fingers.

    Listen to it while I knock back aspirin and hold an ice pack to my face.

  • Where is all the writerly wisdom?

    Writing Advice
    Image by Christian Gonzalez

    Well, Easter’s been a darn fine time. There’s been chocolate, there’s been tea cakes, and the cat has been in a spectacularly epic bad mood which culminated in savaging the mother in law (but at least it didn’t require a trip to the Emergency Room… let’s not talk about the last time that happened…)

    And, what’s more, there’s been extra days off from the daily grind, like the weekend just decided that enough was finally enough and went on a bender with Friday and Monday, only to be discovered a few days later handcuffed to a lamppost and talking to goats.

    So between stuffing my face to the point of no return, I’ve been on a writing stint – with Grind Spark out being copyedited and the new work in progress hitting the 10k word count mark – and all in all it’s coming together better than two lovelorn horny pelicans (yeah, man, they are beasts).

    And in my trawls of the internet, I’ve been coming across a lot of writing advice that tells me all about how to

    WRITE A BESTSELLER IN 30 SECONDS

    or

    10 WAYS TO COMPLETELY OWN THE AMAZON KINDLE CHARTS WITH YOUR AMAZING NOVEL

    or

    WRITE YOUR BOOK USING THIS TEHNIQUE OR YOU ARE BEING A COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT

    And it got me to thinking about what advice I’ve had that was worth more than a pinch of salt, that was worth a shit-tonne of fucking gold.

    And here would be the highlights:

    1. Chuck Wendig, author of many fantastic books including Blackbirds, wearer of phenomenal beard, and wise, swearing soothsayer. He runs a blog at www.terribleminds.com, including news, writerly advice, and, well, bloody damn fine interesting snippets. If you are an aspiring writer you could do well to check out his blog and associated works.
    2. Stephen King’s book On Writing. Not just a book full of useful tips and techniques, but a fascinating insight into the man himself.
    3. I’ve recently been reading a lot of stuff from www.LitReactor.com. One of my favourite articles is on knowing the rules and breaking them, and it’s well worth a read. Check out the Ten Worst Pieces of Writing Advice here.
    4. My mum. Yeah, I know, you have complete permission to barf up the entire contents of your stomach sack – all I’m saying is I’ve only got the one bucket so pass it around, you’ll just have to try and avoid too much acid carrot splashback. But yeah, she’s an author who’s been published in L Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future and she’s ruthless to the core in her editing and critique. She’ll read everything I write if I ask her to, and she’ll rip it apart and dig it a grave if it needs doing. And she’ll still ask for more. So, thanks ma. (And no, she’s busy right now writing and working through a stack of my writing so you’ll have to join the queue).

    But for all of that, the best advice I’ve had so far, is to READ HARD and WRITE HARD.

    And, in the words of the eminent Chuck Wendig, to finish your shit.

    If you want to write, and you want to write well, there really ain’t no other way.

    But what advice have you had? Have you got an internet writing guru? Where do you get your writerly words of wisdom?

    Hit me up in the comments below – we all need a few tips and technique kicks to the ribs at some point, right?

    In other, non-related news: The Dust Lounge now has it’s own Facebook page. Just sayin’ *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

  • Grind Spark Earworm #9 – Radiohead

    Radiohead Feral

    Last week the Grind Spark playlist took us somewhere dark and unsettling from the ’70s – the years when Ball Buster seemed like a good idea at the time. And the music was from the genius mind of UNKLE – go and disturb yourself now.

    So right now I imagine you’re soaking up the daytime beer with a steaming hot roast, and the kids are eyeing the Easter egg boxes on the shelf but they don’t know that you ate three of them last night so they’re just going to have to share what’s left… they won’t notice that the chocolate bunny is missing a head… right?

    *Passes a tissue*

    There’s chocolate on your chin.

    Or perhaps you’ve gone away for the long weekend? Hightailed it out of the city and the smog and now you’re sitting in the Grandparent’s house and wondering when Jason and the Argonauts is going to be on, and when gran is going to pass out on sherry, and why she still makes you wear the Easter bonnet you made at school all those years ago.

    And this song is for the journey there.

    This song is for the hours on the train.

    It’s the ratcheting rhythm of the wheels and hiss of the carriages as the train slides through the landscape.

    It’s the inevitable arrival at your destination.

    And it’s too late to get off now.

    This song is Feral, by Radiohead.

    Listen in transit.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #8 – UNKLE

    UNKLE Psyence Fiction

    Last week the Grind Spark earworm took us to the epic soundscapes of Sigur Ros – listen to it and get lost in mountains here.

    This week, well, this week it’s time for something completely different.

    It’s time for something that I didn’t even realise came from an advert before I searched YouTube for a clip of the song.

    It’s time for something that probably seemed like a good idea at the time (well, it was the 1970s).

    This week, we’re listening to UNKLE‘s Getting ahead in the lucrative field of artist management.

    Which also happens to belong to the following advert.

    Watch it, and, erm, just remember, it’s “fun for children. And for adults, it’s exciting.”

    Oh, yes.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #7 – Sigur Ros

    Brennisteinn Sigur Ros

    Last week we took a break from the Grind Spark playlist to hear the sounds that whip your creative muse into action. Thought of some more? Then get yerself over there and add em in.

    But now we’re back, spiralling down into the dirty ribcage of the Grind Spark earworm.

    And this week it’s gone a bit epic.

    This week we’re taking in vast sounds and sucking up the power of nature.

    And it’s piping direct into our brain tubes, and there’s no escape.

    And it’s so much bigger than us.

    And the mountain doesn’t care if you’re beneath it when it crumbles.

    And the rain in the sky isn’t tears.

    This is Brennisteinn by Sigur Ros.

    Listen to it and let the world smother you.

  • Interval time at the Dust Lounge – what’s your earworm?

    Gramophone
    Image by Leontine Greenberg

    It’s interval time for the Grind Spark playlist this week.

    We’ve had six fine noise noodlers to tickle your phono-holes, and there will be more to come.

    But this week, the earworm tables are turning.

    This week the dog with the gramophone is handing over the crank stick.

    This week, I’m asking you – what’s on your playlist?

    What tunes get your creative head buzzing and your inspiration screaming at you that you should be making something, be creating something. AND IT SHOULD BE THIS, OR THIS, OR THIS. But whatever it is, put this song on and just bloody well go and do it.

    What songs make your muse bossy?

    Whack your earworms in the comments section – and if it’s one that you listen to when you’re making some specific style of creative thing (I don’t know, photographing seascapes, painting visions of hell, writing about hairy naked hedgehogs high on acid) then we won’t call that oversharing.

    Now – music, please, maestro…

    *Leans back, awaits songspiration, eats popcorn*

  • Grind Spark Earworm #6 – Boards of Canada

    How’s the Sunday roast going today? Chicken? Pork? Bean-based baked snack?

    Well there’s more Grind Spark earworm to help you through the over-cooked broccoli and the burnt potatoes.

    Last week we were up in the fields with Aphex Twin’s Avril 14th. Listen to it now or forever lose the secret ballerina within your soul.

    And you shouldn’t lose the ballerina. Too many are lost to the wind already.

    This week we’re meeting up with the masters of the underhand marketing tactics.

    They released their album in the middle of the Nevada desert.

    They left clues as to the location on LPs planted around the country.

    They are just pretty damn cool.

    And this song is for the scientists.

    This song is for the people that aren’t in Grind Spark. The one’s that are trying to save the world. The one’s that already know that they’re going to lose.

    This is the song that plays behind the news telling us that the world is fucked, but please donate anything you can.

    This is the song that tells you that it doesn’t matter how many helicopters are in the sky, you’re still gonna die.

    This song is White Cyclosa by Boards of Canada.

    Listen while watching clouds.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #5 – Aphex Twin

    It’s that time again.

    Time for the Sunday roast and your weekly hit from the Grind Spark playlist. The next Grind Spark earworm. The EARWORM OF THE WEEK.

    Somehow, that sounds like something we should get checked out at the doctors.

    Anyway.

    Back to business.

    Last week, it was all about Radiohead, which I’m sure by now you’ve heard but if not then get your crazy dancing ready and listen to it now.

    And now take your dancing shoes off. Take them off, leave them by the door.

    Unless you’re a plastic ballerina.

    Because this song goes with the music box.

    This song is for when everything’s empty and nobody’s about and that’s how you want it.

    This song is for when you’re alone and when you’re happy.

    This song is Avril 14th by Aphex Twin.

    Listen from the top of a hill.

  • A postcard from writing hell

    Hell's Post Office
    Image by Eoin McNamee

    I am still in recovery.

    *Peeks out from beneath mountain of blankets*

    It’s taken me two weeks before I could even talk about it.

    *Stares at pile of screwed up paper barricading the door*

    Two weeks ago, I wrote a synopsis for Grind Spark.

    *Gnaws knuckles to the bone*

    Now, I’ve seen the warning signs.

    I’ve seen the deathly pale faces of other writers whenever they speak of the synopsis. How they look around, all shifty, whisper the word and then run away, swearing into cravats and reaching for the nearest pull of whisky.

    Because, well, how the hell do we refine our darling, baby novels into just one page of writing?

    All the words… ALL THE WORDS… and I need to filter it down to nothing.

    Only, it’s not nothing. It’s everything. Summarise the book. Summarise it in no words.

    Where are those goddamn monkeys with their typewriter when you need them, I bet they could do it.

    But they’re on holiday (cruise deal down the Nile), supping champagne and smoking cigars and they’ve switched their phones off so we’re on our own.

    Now, I don’t know yet whether what I’ve ended up with is a bona fide award winning page of synopsis joy, or something that a blob fish would be embarrased by. But after some googleage I at least kept the word count down and revealed the ending. Revealed the ending?! *Suppresses nervous tic*

    But what I found, by about the tenth time I’d hit delete and started again from scratch, was that eventually it all started to come together. It made me look at Grind Spark from a different angle. It made me analyse the story threads in a different way. It made me really think about what genre the book is. And at the moment, it’s chilling out in the bar with the other transgressive/science-fiction pages.

    And don’t tell anyone but in the end it was ok. In the end, maybe, it was even a little bit fun.

    *Shhhh*

    But how do you pull a synopsis together? Does it fill you with dread? Does it make your skin crawl and your manuscript cower behind the sofa?

    Share your tales of woe, or survival, or your special synopsis-slaying tips in the word space below. I want to know ALL YOUR SYNOPSIS FIENDISHNESS.

    And if anyone sees those monkeys tell ’em I want a postcard, too.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #4 – Radiohead

    Last week Grind Spark’s earworm gave us Liz Hodson and Josiah Wolf’s god darnit awesome cover of Ain’t No Sunshine. It’s amazing, no two way’s about it.

    This week we’re moving into Radiohead territory.

    If I’ve ever had a band obsession they’re probably it (or, at least, the first) – got all their albums, practice Thom Yorke-esque dancing, faint at their gigs…

    So there’s no surprise that they’ve found their way into the playlist.

    And this is a song for the nightclub.

    A song that burns through the base of your skull as you’re tripping through corridors.

    As lights cut blurred lines across your brain.

    As faces spin.

    This is Idioteque, listen with flashing lights.