Asli Omar

A Hell of a Weekend

SXSW Last Night: Coconut Coolouts, Black Angels, Young Mammals, Tontons, Studemont Project

Mp3: The Tontons, “Sea and Stars”

HPMA Showcase Preview: Videos from Wild Moccasins, Miss Leslie, Tontons, Southern Backtones, Hearts of Animals and Born Liars

HPMA Aftermath: D.R.U.M., Black Dog, Brian's Johnson, Mighty Orq, Tontons, Southern Backtones and Sharks and Sailors

Bayou City Buzz

Houston's SXSW class — and we mean class — of 2009

2008 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

A preview of the 60 bands and five DJs that are taking over downtown this weekend

The 2009 Houston Press Music Award Nominees

Here they are, folks. You nominated 'em, we mulled 'em over and sorted out the stuffers, and now the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is set. Normally Rocks Off would say something cute like read 'em and weep, but since we've been listening to almost nothing but '80s hard rock and new bands th ... More >>

Houston Press Music Awards: And The Nominees Are...

Here they are, folks. You nominated 'em, we mulled 'em over and sorted out the stuffers, and now the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is set. Normally Rocks Off would say something cute like read 'em and weep, but since we've been listening to almost nothing but '80s hard rock and new bands t ... More >>

Running the Numbers

Here they are, folks. You nominated 'em, we mulled 'em over and sorted out the stuffers, and now the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is set. Normally Rocks Off would say something cute like read 'em and weep, but since we've been listening to almost nothing but '80s hard rock and new bands t ... More >>

Hell on Earth

Long Island hardcore quartet This Is Hell thrashes till the sun goes down.

52 Pick-Up

Your guide to the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards showcase

Big Weekend for the Tontons

  This is a good time for local music. From a fan's vantage point, albums have been dropping left and right. It's hard to find artists willing to take the time to write a solid full-length album rather than have five great tracks and seven fillers. For local musicians, step your game up. You ma ... More >>

HPMA Bombshell: Kim Is NOT Asli

Craig Hlavaty ​During yesterday's HPMA festivities, our resident Rocks Off Wonder Woman Kim Douglass was mistaken for the Tontons' Asli Omar at least twice on the street. Here is definitive proof that they are two different people. Upon seeing this picture, both women looked at each other in a sor ... More >>

Artist of the Week: The Tontons

Each Wednesday, 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 introducingliston@gmail.com.​Each week when we write ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Tontons

Jessica Grieves​ One of the best things to happen to Houston so far this summer will take place over at Eleanor Tinsley park: Free Press Summer Fest. To get in the right mood, this week Rocks Off is featuring a different local Summer Fest artist each day. Today, fresh from the whirl of activity su ... More >>

Summer Stock

Jessica Grieves​ One of the best things to happen to Houston so far this summer will take place over at Eleanor Tinsley park: Free Press Summer Fest. To get in the right mood, this week Rocks Off is featuring a different local Summer Fest artist each day. Today, fresh from the whirl of activity su ... More >>

Houston Music Fight Club: Roky Moon vs. Joe Mathlete, Asli vs. Zahira, Hippie Mike vs. Little Joe

​Last week Rocks Off was mindlessly trolling the Interweb when we stumbled upon a site solely dedicated to animal fights. No, not the awful kind that say, Michael Vick would have been found at a couple of years ago. This site, Wild Animal Fight Club, trafficks in speculative death matches like kom ... More >>

Bayou Beat: A 15-Foot Sculpture of George Jones' Head, $10 House of Blues Tickets, Free Tontons Show, etc.

​Heavy metal comedy troupe Steel Panther has cancelled tonight's Warehouse Live show. What's on VH-1 Classic? Tennessee-born artist Wayne White is crafting a 15-foot puppet head in the likeness of Saratoga-born honky-tonk legend George Jones. Entitled "Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Last Chance to See the Tontons Until God Knows When - And It's Free

Mark C. Austin​Just a quick reminder that tonight is your last chance to see everybody's favorite Houston indie-rock/psych/jazz/blues/surf/spaghetti-Western quartet, the Tontons, who are going on hiatus until January. Unless you want to talk singer Asli Omar out of going to school in New York, tha ... More >>

Aftermath: Basses Loaded's Second Last Show Ever at Mango's

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ There are lots of awesome things about the beginning of the holiday season. Reconnecting with far-flung relatives, old friends coming home to visit their parents and intermittingly sneaking off with you to run up a bar tab in between family excursions, and ungodly amounts ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: The World Of Ghost Mountain

​Tomorrow night at Walter's On Washington, three Houston bands throw down their first gigs of 2010. For Roky Moon & Bolt they have a new album in the offing and the future seems pretty clear cut. They are riding into this new year with quite an amount of steam behind them from most all the mus ... More >>

Last Call Comes to Midtown Favorite Leon's Lounge... For Now, Anyway

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Rocks Off got word late Friday afternoon that McGowen Street's long-standing bastion of cool, Leon's Lounge, would be closing over the weekend. Not for good, but at least for a few months while new ownership overhauls and renovates the establishment, long a barfly favorite ... More >>

Last Night: B L A C K I E, Summer Blondes, The Tontons And Somosuno At Mango's

Photos by Marc BrubakerSomosuno​B L A C K I E, Summer Blondes, The Tontons, Somosuno Mango's July 29, 2010 Aftermath had an inkling that we'd wind up at Mango's on Thursday as soon as we heard about the so-called "surprise show." For one, our love of music perpetually drags us out of our home ... More >>

Houston Scenesters Sound Off On The Fitzgerald's Changeover

claren44 via Flickr​Nationally, the music buzz may be all about Kanye's somewhat belated discovery of Twitter, Justin Bieber on CSI and the "Teknoviking 2.0," but this week all anyone in Houston seems to be talking about is the impending Fitzgerald's takeover by Free Press Summer Fest partners ... More >>

Saturday Night: Roky Moon & BOLT At The Mink

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Roky Moon & BOLT The Backroom at the Mink November 27, 2010 When we were all little, we had a piles of shoes and clothes that we outgrew, or those little tics on the kitchen wall where mom or dad would mark off how big we were getting. The same thing happens to bands ... More >>

The Worst Local Crowds Of 2010

Jason Wolter​Editor's Pick: I am so sick of complaining about Houston crowds, ill-behaved as they are, but I will say to whoever decided it would be funny to take Bobby Bare Jr.'s glasses off the stage at Hayes Carll's Warehouse show Tuesday night and put them on: That was not cool. Neph Bas ... More >>

Five Reasons The Main Street Block Party Worked

Photos by Jim BrickerLady In Red: Tontons singer Asli Omar​ Were you there? You might want to look for yourself in this slideshow of crowd shots. Be sure to also check out the pics of the bands. Around 9 p.m. Saturday, Rocks Off was walking out of Tacos A Go-Go and ran into Main Street Block ... More >>

Last Night: Canned Acoustica II At Warehouse Live

Southern Backtones' Hank Schyma​Canned Acoustica II Warehouse Live March 3, 2011 Check out our photos of Canned Acoustica II: Acoutstic Boogaloo! It's awfully hard to dog a charity event, especially one donating to a cause as noble as the Houston Food Bank, so Aftermath won't even try. Besid ... More >>

Five Houston Supergroups We'd Like To See

Marc BrubakerThe Tontons​Houston has become a cornucopia of musical talent. With so much goodness going on, it would be selfish to wish for more. So here's us, being a selfish ass and daydreaming about what could be Houston's greatest supergroups. MR. X Surf/Spy The first group we imagine wo ... More >>

Last Night: The Tontons At Warehouse Live

Photos by Mark C. Austin​The Tontons, Sun Hotel, Ancient Cat Society Warehouse Live August 11, 2011 Thursday night, the Houston indie scene wished the Tontons a safe and successful journey on a one-month tour of the East Coast and South with a packed-ass show at Warehouse Live. As is the terr ... More >>

Friday Night: Sideshow Tramps CD Release At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jason WolterHayes Carll (left) and Craig Kinsey go down the road.​Sideshow Tramps Fitzgerald's September 9, 2011 If Aftermath doesn't have to be at the office first thing in the morning, sometimes we let our personal hygiene slide a little. Some days stretch well into the afternoon ... More >>

BestFest: Chamillionaire, Starmaker; The Tontons, New Stars

Marc BrubakerKing Koopa: Talent scout in his spare time.​God Almighty, that cool front did not last anywhere near long enough. The crowd seems to be in pretty good spirits, but it's just past the hottest part of the day right now and fatigue is starting to show. It's better now - ed. People a ... More >>

2011 Music Awards Showcase

Your guide to the bands and venues.

2011 HPMA Showcase: Orq, Scroggins, And Roky Moon Shine Bright

Checkout the slideshows of the bands and the crowd at the Houston Press Music Awards Showcase. Photo By Marco TorresRyan Scroggins onstage Saturday night at Warehouse Live. ​Saturday's Houston Press Music Awards Showcase was spread out over five areas and some eleven stages, which meant most ... More >>

Showcase Showdown

Fifty bands, 11 stages and three music writers talking HPMA highlights.

Locally Speaking

My Top Ten Local Albums of 2011

Friday Night: Tontons, Wild Moccasins, A Sea Es at Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim BrickerThe Tontons​Check out pics from the Tontons' tour kickoff in our slideshow. Friday night's wonderful assortment of tasty sweet indie pop was just that -- delicious! Now, you're probably wondering if you can you have some cheese with that opening description. Why yes, ... More >>