Arcade Fire

Top 5 Weirdest & Worst Musical Collaborations

In the history of music, there have been many meetings of the mind between people with similar attitudes, styles, and ideas. Some of these just felt right from the very beginning and you knew they were destined to produce greatness. That's what happened when Brian Eno met David Bowie and later when ... More >>

Freezepop Raises the Bar on Internet Music Videos

I lost my virginity to a girl obsessed with light-hearted, quirky electronica. She could sing "99 Luftballoons" in the original German and had "Bring Me Edelweiss" on vinyl. Ever since then I've been a sucker for electropop rife with irreverence, and modern acts like Hyperbubble and Freezepop prove ... More >>

Sing Me a Story: Five Rockers Whose Work We'd Like To See On Broadway

Rocks Off has had musicals on the brain lately. Between Once, featuring music by The Swell Season, dominating the Tony Awards and Rock of Ages, featuring music by the cream of the '80s hair-metal crop, hitting theaters tomorrow it's been a pretty good week for musicals that aren't cut from the tradi ... More >>

Record Store Day: 8 Ways To Annoy A Record-Store Worker

Tomorrow is Record Store Day, which is a little bit like the Super Bowl of music shopping: People who have no interest in the sport the rest of the year will be front and center. Rocks Off would never, ever tell anyone not to go to a record store, but people not already planning to make a beeline fo ... More >>

The Sound of Flight: 6 Local Musicians That Could Announce Flights at Houston Airports

On Tuesday, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport announced that they will be launching a new program to promote awareness of music native to their region, wherein famous musicians from the area will announce safety procedures and give informational speeches on the airport. In return, the airport wil ... More >>

Chafing 101: Rocks Off's 2011 Music Festival Odyssey

Music festivals are now a part of our lives, just like deadlines, angry commenters, lack of sleep, and eye fatigue. And eating at our desk. That sucks. But at least we have food and a desk, right? Rocks Off ventured all over the state -- OK, really mostly Austin -- to cover festivals for the blog. ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Harts Of Oak

Each Wednesday (almost), Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Photo by Tim ThumbR ... More >>

Grouplove

ACL: Arcade Fire, Big As The Great Outdoors

Photos by Jim Bricker​Check out all our ACL 2011 coverage, including our hottest crowd shots and slideshow from Sunday featuring Randy Newman, Arcade Fire and The Walkmen. Arcade Fire Bud Light Stage, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park September 18, 2011 Sunday night in a serene ... More >>

More Local Music News Than Flying Elbow Drops

We may have lost Macho Man Randy Savage this morning, but MCM is still alive and dropping that flying elbow full of local music news. Snap into the latest installment of our Magnolia City Mixtape. Ooooohhh Yeeaaahhh! ​Before we dive in, don't forget that the poster show for Free Press Summer ... More >>

An Offender List Offends

Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, And Kanye West Lead ACL 2011 Lineup

Marc BrubakerGoin' back to Zilker: Arcade Fire at The Woodlands, May 4​Moments ago, the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced its lineup for the 10th-anniversary weekend, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 in Zilker Park. Top names include Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Bright Eyes. P ... More >>

Born This Way: The Ultimate Soundalike Playlist

​When Lady Gaga released her new single, "Born This Way," in February, it took less than a minute of the title track from her upcoming disc for fans and detractors alike to scream "Express Yourself!" in unison. Yes, it does sound like an amped-up version of the 1989 Madonna track. A lot. Thi ... More >>

Last Night: Arcade Fire At Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Arcade Fire, Explosions In the Sky Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion May 4, 2011 It was a sort of homecoming for titanic indie-rockers Arcade Fire Wednesday night in the Woodlands, as the band returned to Houston after five momentous years to play songs from The Suburbs, ... More >>

Never Mind Arcade Fire: Bands Who Fit Other Houston 'Burbs

Gabriel Jones/Merge Records​Tonight's the night. Win and Will Butler of conquering indie heroes Arcade Fire finally return to the town that indirectly won them a Grammy, The Woodlands. On last year's The Suburbs, the Butlers and their Canadian compatriots reflected on the brothers' restless M ... More >>

Arcade Fire Headed To Houston May 4 For Pavilion Date

cnn.com​Arcade Fire is finally heading to Houston on May 4 for a date up at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, in the Woodlands. Last Sunday the band played upsetters at the Grammys winning the award for Album Of The Year for their album The Suburbs which was based on frontman Win Butler's childhood ... More >>

The Woodlands, Arcade Fire Win Album Of The Year Grammy

city-data.com​ Congratulations to The Woodlands, that emotionally icy burb up I-45, for helping Arcade Fire when this year's Album Of The Year Grammy at Sunday night's awards show for their sprawling The Suburbs LP. The band, led by former Woodlands residents Win and William Butler, won over a hi ... More >>

Balaclavas, Moccs, Fat Tony Place In Pazz & Jop Poll

Show of hands, everyone who is surprised this is No. 1.​Music writers all know that once they get their Village Voice Pazz & Jop ballot in their e-mail inbox, that it's time to tally their loves from the last year. It's sort of like the leaves changing or the first freeze of winter coming. You ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Songs Of 2010

​Editor's Picks: Jamey Johnson, "Lonely at the Top": Ouch. Merle Haggard, "I've Seen It": Double ouch. Patty Griffin, "Move On Up": Help me, Jesus. Please.

Texans Have Down Year In Grammy Nominations

​Texas artists, or artists with Texas roots, scored fewer nominations than usual when the Recording Academy announced its choices for the 53rd annual Grammy Awards Wednesday night. Perpetual nominees Beyonce and George Strait were nominated for residual tracks from I Am... Sasha Fierce and Twa ... More >>

Katy Perry? For Album Of The Year? Seriously?

​Don't get Craig's Hlist wrong, we think that Katy Perry is extremely attractive. In fact, if we think about her long enough, it makes us want to cry and punch a wall. She's a buxom, bubbly, raven-haired pop star who dresses like she's expensive grandma candy. We even interviewed her last ye ... More >>

Music We're Thankful For This Year

​After the turkey comas subside and Black Friday opens the holiday retail floodgates, this year in music will be all but over. Yes, there's another month until the calendar flips over, but from here until early January, the only "new" music coming out will be the tide of reissues, box sets and ... More >>

Top Eight Notorious Concert Disasters

Daniel R. Davidson via WikipediaThe Station fire in West Warwick, R.I., 40 seconds in​Recently, indie-rock juggernauts Arcade Fire were prevented from playing a gig in Portugal by NATO, which is having a summit on the same date. Arcade Fire offered to play a day ahead of time, but NATO decided ... More >>

Springsteen 2.0: Can Baby Bosses Cruise The Backstreets?

Daniel Kramer​This fall, Houstonians salivating for another touring run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to search to hard to find bands heavily influenced by the man's sound and work ethic. Even though Springsteen and his merry band of musicians may be cooling their road ... More >>

Happy National Taco Day From ZZ Top, Moby, Arcade Fire...

​Today, October 4, is National Taco Day, and no doubt our friend Jay is somewhere bathing in tacos. Dude has made a healthy sideline just tweeting about tacos. Tacos don't have much to do with music in our minds, unless you count the inside sleeve to ZZ Top's Tres Hombres and its Leo's Mexican ... More >>

Arcade Fire Still Can't Shake Houston

Merge Records/Nasty Little Man PR​ Symphonic Canadian indie-rockers Arcade Fire announced the title and release date of their third full-length album this morning. The Suburbs is due August 3 on Merge Records, and a limited-edition vinyl 12" featuring the title track and "Month of May" should be i ... More >>

Flashbulb Fires

Rocks Off's 2010 Predictions: The Fate of Owl City, Chingo Bling vs. Chamillionaire, the Next Twilight Soundtrack and Madchester In Katy

www.flickr.com/photos/dherholz/​ Adam Young of Owl City will mystify the scientific community, yet surprise no one in the music community, when he is hacked in half in a freak sawmill accident, and it's discovered he is filled with gummi bears. The Arcade Fire/Flaming Lips feud is resolved when ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

How Classic Is Classic Rock?

Seattle's KEXP Loves Our Hungry Villagers

Photo by Craig Hlavaty The fruits of Hungry Villagers' labors have seemingly paid off. Today, while perusing the concert industry website livedaily.com, we saw the Houston indie-pop group has today's free download of the day, new track "Tree Full Of Ghosts." Further investigation led us to the music ... More >>

Aftermath: Annuals at Walter's On Washington

Photos by Liz Countryman If you could squeeze music from the udders of a cow, pour it a cup, mix in equal parts chocolate sauce and broken up pieces of stained glass stolen from the Vatican, drink it while on the down-slope of a roller-coaster, go home and sit on the back-porch and listen to your gr ... More >>

The Best Videos of 2008, Part 1

10. TV on the Radio, "The Golden Age" 9. Arcade Fire, "Black Mirror" 8. The Kills, "U R A Fever"

British Sea Power: Do You Like Rock Music?

Drenched in Blog: Night Terrors and "Black Mirror"

Drenched in Blog II: Arcade Fire Super Bowl Update

Our Favorite Albums of 2007

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

Weekend Music: Beyond the Garage

2007 Music Year in Review

LCD Soundsystem, Reverend Horton Heat, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Muse, Wilco and Ghostland Observatory: Chris Gray Closes the Notebook on ACL

Drenched In Blog: Arcade Fire, Back Door Slam and Butch Walker Rule ACL Fest on Saturday

From Britney to U2: The 2007 NFL Preview

Win Butler with the Swish!!

Hot Sounds, Summer in the City

A few local discs to sizzle with

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible

Comeback Clips

A music-video renaissance is afoot -- but it's strictly on the download

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey! Bands, Bands, Bands!

A South By Southwest diary

En Fuego

The Arcade Fire burns Mary Jane's Fat Cat down to the ground; also: Scarface/Geto Boys news and the fate of Mary Jane's

Great Balls of Fire

The Arcade Fire's vast, spastic music will have you confused, thrilled and begging for more

Arcade Fire

Funeral (Merge)