Belle and Sebastian

Last Night: Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Fitzgerald's

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Foxygen Fitzgerald's February 22, 2013 It took a good twenty minutes, but finally the lights went red (just like last time they were here) and Unknown Mortal Orchestra slithered to the stage. Frontman Ruban Nielson was ominous in a black leather skullcap and what I believe ... More >>

The Damn Quails & 10 Other Bird-Brained Bands

Tonight the Houston Press Concert Series resumes at Pub Fiction with Oklahoma duo the Damn Quails. The Quails' song "Fools Gold," from their 2011 album Down the Hatch, is tearing it up on Texas country and roots-rock radio right now, landing them three Lonestar Music Awards and airplay on BBC roots ... More >>

Wild Moccasins: What They Can't Live Without On Tour

Still younger than springtime, the Wild Moccasins are getting to be old hands at this touring thing. (If you missed their set at BestFest - it was way early - you missed something special.) Lately it seems like the sunny Houston five-piece is either just getting off the road or about to go back on. ... More >>

Midtown Throwdown

Your guide to our very first Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest.

Elaine Greer's Favorite Swimming-Pool Songs

Elaine Greer on Facebook​Homesick? Not Elaine Greer. Not anymore. The waifish singer-songwriter and 2009 Houston Press Music Award nominee for Best Female Vocals moved to Austin a couple of years back. After the usual adjustment period, she says she likes it "quite a bit." "When I first move ... More >>

Happy Hour Scene: Little Woodrow's

Photo by Craig Hlavaty​The Place: Little Woodrow's 2019 Walker 713-222-2224 www.littlewoodrows.com The Hours: 2 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The Deals: $.25 off domestics, plus much deeper discounts on daily specials. The Scene: "I wonder what Cradle of Filth is doing in there right n ... More >>

Top 10 Recent TV-Show Soundtracks

​A few choice adjectives come to mind when musing on bawdy Eastbound & Down character Kenny Powers. "Inspiring" is not one of them. However, as Rocks Off watched this week's season finale of the side-splitting HBO series, we were pleasantly surprised as we heard indie troubadour Kurt Vile's a ... More >>

The Way of The Vaselines

Indie-pop cult heroes never planned to reunite.

Aftermath: Camera Obscura Charms A Surprisingly Well-Mannered Audience

Photos by Marc Brubaker​ Aftermath is always interested in how the residents of Houston represent our fair city when a touring act with any sort of notoriety comes through town. Houstonians don't always have the best reputation as concert-goers, whether it's because we talk too much during any giv ... More >>

Aftermath: Wild Moccasins Hit The Highway At Full Speed At Walter's

Photos by Chris Gray​ It's no longer acceptable to call the Wild Moccasins "cute." The Houston quintet still does cute things, like toss wads of paper back and forth with the crowd and shower them with Silly String during their set, but they no longer have to get by on charm and enthusiasm alone ( ... More >>

Play Ball! Songs That Distract Us From The Astros' Impending Disappointment

​This week's He Said She Said is brought to you by the Houston Astros and the letter "D," which stands for disappointment. No other thing in He Said's life, other than a woman, has brought more sadness and dysfunction. But at least the Astros have never broken off an engagement with us or punched ... More >>

George Jones

What's Wrong with Wes Anderson?

A decade after Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, Generation Y's anointed auteur tries for a comeback with Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Next Time You're Bored at a Party, Amuse Yourself With Some "Musical Profiling"

​ Recently, Rocks Off found ourselves skulking around the edges of a birthday party wondering what the hell we were doing there. The week had brutally kicked our ass, and the only place we really wanted to be at that juncture was sitting on our couch watching the Syfy channel with a very strong dr ... More >>

Sorry Dave, We Had To: Top Ten Songs to Listen to While Having Sex With Co-Workers

If The Late Show with David Letterman hasn't seemed very funny lately, it's probably because Dave has been spending more time apologizing for banging his subordinates than he has making fun of Paul Shaffer. Admittedly, it was a bold move: coming forward and confessing his past missteps in order to ... More >>

Aftermath: Flight of the Conchords at Jones Hall

Photos by Craig HlavatyThe thing about musical comedians is that if the humor is there but the tuneage is not, you can pretty much cash your chips in and give up and steal some of Louis CK's jokes and start selling out basketball arenas. New Zealand's Flight of the Conchords almost has too much musi ... More >>

Aftermath: SXSW

The Best Christmas Album of 2008 is... Metal?

Tonight: Gentleman Auction House at Rudyard's

Lauren Winchester Within about 20 seconds of "A Banner Year," the opener of Gentleman Auction House's new Christmas In Love EP, the St. Louis indie-pop hydra has managed to recall Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire and another dozen or so boy-girl bands that are equally earnest and invigorating. I ... More >>

Think Buckcherry Has Mellowed? Crazy Bitch...

All Lit Up Again

Get Lit: The Pitchfork 500

Music to Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil

Is It True That Pandora Is Dying?

Jennifer "Miss Pop Rocks" Mathieu's Matagorda Island Discs

Anyone Else But Kimya Dawson

Coming to terms with the Juno soundtrack star

Local Motion at Sound Exchange

Various Artists: Juno: Music from the Motion Picture

Last Night: Dan Deacon at Walter's on Washington

Vinyl Heads

They're turning to needles, looking for purity

The Bards of Baytown

Scattered Pages' urban art-country music is as pretty as its hometown is ugly

Camera Obscura

Let's Get Out of This Country

Droning On

Pretty Girls Make Saves

As video games go indie, Wack imagines a few likely pairings

Clan Ferdinand

It takes a true Scotsman to get to the bottom of this whole Franz Ferdinand thing

South By Southwest

Belle & Sebastian

The Life Pursuit

If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap!

Wack puts this whole Franz Ferdinand thing into context

Guitar-Shredding on the High Seas

Built to Spill and the Decemberists offer alternate takes on alt-rock

Elf Rock

The Decemberists bring their magic-realist, Picaresque new album to town

Playbill

Boogie for Bush!

Dubya and Franz Ferdinand have made it okay for white guys to dance

Like a Prayer

FrenetiCore's latest production sings praise without being preachy

The Decemberists

Her Majesty (Kill Rock Stars)

H-Town Goes Cowtown

It's rodeo time in the city

Best Nightlife Trend

Bike rides

The Dollhouse Is Burning

Storytelling ups the ante on Solondz's bluster of sex, rage and insanity

Party of Helicopters

Friday, January 4

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