This past weekend I saw Midlake at this newish venue in Chicago called Lincoln Hall. I went with two old (in stature and in age) friends from 2 entirely different circles. My friend Bob and I used to hang out near Lincoln Hall back when it was the 3-Penny Theatre. Across the…
I was listening to this Flaming Lips, Stardeath, White Dwarves, Henry Rollins, Peaches cover album of Darkside of the Moon this morning; and I realized why I hated it. Well maybe HATE is a strong word. I guess I have to listen to it again — maybe at least 10-20 times…
The HotRats is a side-project by one-half (or I guess a little more) of the excellent and underrated band Supergrass. This album is a series of covers similar to Bowie’s Pin Ups album. The covers are not ironic by any stretch. You can tell these guys love the originals. In…
This is really a fascinating book about how Robert Redford started Sundance and how the Weinstein brothers founded Miramax. Along the way we meet familiar directors and one-hit-wonders. They all struggle for power and control for the final cut. I couldn’t imagine a rougher industry…
The debut album of my favorite jazz artist, Blossom Dearie. She was sweet, she was cute, she played a mean piano. Impeccable timing and true jazz instinct sets this record apart from from the common chanteuses of the same era (mid-50s). Blossom always picked numbers that suited her voice and her style. She had…
I was watching Avatar this weekend and you know what? I had to turn that shit off. I liked it in the theatres alright. The 3-D was pretty amazing. But you know what? Visually it just doesn’t have a great point of view. The colors seemed flat to me. Right after I turned…
Mew is an alternative Danish band that is quite successful in the Nordic region. But weirdly, not so famous in any of the English speaking countries considering all Mew songs are in English and not Danish! I wouldn’t call them an Indie band as they’re signed with Sony, but they surely…
This is my favorite Bowie album of all time. A collaboration with Brian Eno gave birth to such amazing soundscapes for the time. This album was originally intended to be the soundtrack to his film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Have you ever seen that one? It’s pretty weird. The only thing I really…
“The world has lost one of the best MCs and hip-hop icons of all-time—my loyal best friend, partner, and brother, Guru,” reads the statement. “Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until…
I loved watching these as a kid and I love watching these now with my kids. Yeah yeah sometimes they are politically incorrect and violent and old-fashioned in scary ways. But this is just absolute genius cartoon making. Tex Avery is one of the greats. They don’t make them…
I was listening to a random 60s album on spotify and suddenly an acoustic rock n’ roll tune grabbed my attention – felt like it didn’t belong to the 60s. And that’s how I found out about The Shadows. Looking them up further, it was surprising to find out they had over 50 singles…
Sunny yet chilly Sunday afternoon. Chicago in April. I was burning the branches of our dead Christmas tree in the backyard. It’s funny how quickly pine needles flare up. The sun hanging 3/4 down. It’ll set in a few hours. I threw in a bunch of pine branches and our wood fence…
I am talking about ninjas here without any shred of irony. I love ninjas. When I was a boy I would look in the backs of Martial Arts magazines at the corner store. There I would find little black and white ads selling everything from shuriken (Chinese Stars) to nunchucks. You could even…
Could the situation in Iceland be any worse? First the country enduring a financial meltdown. I believe Iceland was the first country to declare bankruptcy this past Autumn (BusinessWeek). Now there’s this volcanic eruption (BBC) happening. Really just terrible.
I dreamed of going to Reykjavik once. It seems like a cool place.…
When this album came out I was a junior in high school. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is one of those albums that transports me back to a carefree time. Throughout the years I’ve had this as a casette, a compact disc, and now as digital tracks. It still sounds fresh to…
It’s been several years since I’ve been blogging. I thought it’d be fun to relaunch the AsianMack Super Filter. If you’re just joining us, this used to be a super famous music blog. We got mentioned in the New York Times and were called one of the best music blogs by Forbes magazine.
A couple things are different with this new site. We’re featuring links to Amazon for any music, movies, or…
