Broken Social Scene

Hipster Garbage: The Indie Band Drinking Challenge, Round 2

It's no longer a secret that I hold a deep disdain for most of the hipster music that runs across my desk. I try to give it a fair shot, but I just can't get into it. And a ton of it has come across my desk as of late, further igniting that fire of dislike while leaving me to wonder just what my pro ... More >>

Five Bands Who Could Replace The Roots On Late Night

This past Sunday, NBC announced that Seth Meyers will officially take over as the host of Late Night, when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in early 2014. But with Meyers set to inherit a show with a tradition of turning talk-show hosts into late-night greats (David Letterm ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: October 15-18

Metric House of Blues, October 15 Along with future members of Stars and Broken Social Scene, Metric front woman Emily Haines went to an arts high school in Toronto, and started the group with guitarist James Shaw after returning from college in Montreal and Vancouver. Metric has found it difficult ... More >>

5 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: October 12-14

Stars Fitzgerald's, October 12 Even if they hadn't released an album called North, which they did this year on Dave Matthews-founded ATO Records, Stars would be difficult to mistake for as anything but Canadian. There's something both distant and friendly in their appealing blend of indie-rock and ... More >>

Stars

Metric

Oh My, A List!: 7 Tips For Free Press Summer Fest Newbs

This will be the Rocks Off team's fourth Free Press Summer Fest outing since the festival began that summer of 2009. I remember it well: The small stages, the blistering August heat, The Sword, rolling in the grass with Hippie Mike, all of it. The main stage headliners were Of Montreal, Explosions ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

Canada Day: Top 10 Artists From Way Up Yonder

​Hello? Is this thing on? Rocks Off has a feeling that a lot of folks are nowhere near their computers today. Must be some sort of holiday. It is, actually. Today, not Monday. It's Canada Day, or as it's known in the U.S., "What Is Princess Kate Wearing?" Day. (Also, Friday.) Honestly, Rocks ... More >>

A Dream Austin City Limits Weekend For Houston

Craig HlavatyColdplay at The Woodlands, July 2009​Summer is creeping in, which means the fall concert calendars are filling up fast, and we should know which Austin City Limits Music Festival artists will book side dates in our area sooner rather than later. The standard disclaimer: Rocks Off ... More >>

Summer Fest Critic's Guide: Who We're Seeing At Tinsley

Jermaine Rogers​In three very short years, Free Press Summer Fest has gone from an experiment most people thought would fail to destination music festival most people wouldn't dare miss even if it is going to be 105 degrees outside. Rocks Off has seen quite a bit of online chatter from people ... More >>

Warm And Scratchy: A Definitive [adult swim] Discography

​The masterminds behind Aqua Teen Hunger Force have relocated the fast-food crew to Seattle and changed not only the name, but also the structure of the show after deciding that they were unhappy with the pilot. They even made a new theme song, recruiting Queen of the Stone Age Josh Homme and ... More >>

Last Night: Tapes 'n Tapes At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​Tapes 'n Tapes Fitzgerald's February 17, 2011 Thursday night, music fans of Houston faced a tough decision: We had to decide between shows by two stellar bands that infiltrated our fare city on the very same night. While we headed to Fitzgerald's to see Minneapolis indie ... More >>

Last Night: Broken Social Scene At Warehouse Live

Photos by Jody Perry​Broken Social Scene, Zeus Warehouse Live February 17, 2011 Broken Social Scene's music is both simple and catchy and speckled with intricacies. It manages to be indie enough for even the hippest of hipsters to enjoy - at least we assume so; we haven't checked Pitchfork - ... More >>

Safety in Numbers

Broken Social Scene's quirky pop songs go a long way.

Remember Simple Success' Smash and Dash EP?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Photos by Sarah Levit​Simple Success opens up for Mac Miller tonight at Warehouse Live. They p ... More >>

Upcoming: Avett Brothers, David Allan Coe, Moody Blues, Etc.

​Adema: Wed., Jan. 12. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Against Me!, Cheap Girls, Fences: Tue., Jan. 25. Warehouse Live. Andy Bell (DJ Set): Sat., Jan. 15. Numbers. Avett Brothers: Thu., April 14. Verizon Wireless Theater. Big Freedia: Fri., Feb. 11. Fitzgerald's. Brent Nettles & The Texas Tea Part ... More >>

Cuckoo Chic

It's Kind of a Funny Story imagines the mental ward as a hipster's paradise.

Twilight: Eclipse And Other Promising Summer Soundtracks

​Summer isn't just the time to look forward to astronomically budgeted, noisy, overproduced blockbuster films, it's also the time to look forward to astronomically budgeted, noisy, overproduced blockbuster soundtracks. Is Graeme Revell still dicking around with ProTools? He is? Oh, super! Anyway, ... 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 >>

Still Not Sold On SXSW? How About Smokey Robinson, High On Fire, She & Him, Band Of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Anya Marina, Black Angels, Major Lazer...

Today the organizers of the SXSW Music Festival announced their showcase schedule for the music portion of the industry fest starting on March 17. This is the news Rocks Off has been looking for, so let's get it on. We are now one month away from Sixth Street and one of the world's biggest conglome ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, February: Killers Kill, Annuals Amuse, Hammered at Hank III, Spewing Slipknot and More

Mark C. Austin​ The Killers, Verizon Wireless Theater, February 2: "The general knock on the Killers is that they've achieved their relatively lofty position by standing on the shoulders of giants, which may well be true. But Monday night they showed that in reaching for the stars, they have yet t ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: Video Killed the Radio Star

Although audio-visual equipment isn't technically allowed inside the festival, that doesn't prevent kids armed with iPhones and Flip cams from capturing their favorite shows from the crowd. Below are some of our favorite crowd-captured videos from ACL so far. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Aftermath: Even More Summer Fest at Eleanor Tinsley Park

Photos (except where specified) by Adam P. NewtonHipster... or hippie?​ Let's get the obligatory Summer Fest comments, critiques and criticisms out of the way first: yes, it was hot; yes, unfortunately, there was limited water available; and yes, there was a glaring lack of box-office infrastructu ... More >>

Aftermath: Still More Summer Fest at Eleanor Tinsley Park

Photos by Amber RousselDevin the Dude, retinue in tow​​Summer Fest paid out much more than necessary over its two-day span, offering local artists the chance to take the same stage as major artist and, rather than be treated like small opening acts by an unknowing crowd, some audience members kn ... More >>

Free Press Summer Fest

MP3 of the Day: Muhammidali

​ All this week, Rocks Off's daily MP3 will spotlight the best and brightest of the local bands gracing this weekend's two-day Free Press Summer Fest indie blowout at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Free Press Houston has assembled quite the lineup, with out-of-towners like Of Montreal, Broken Social Scene ... More >>

Pump Up the Volume

St. Louis post-punks So Many Dynamos are ready for battle with The Loud Wars.

Girl Star, Grown Up

Still proud of her family band, Susan Cowsill does her own thing now.

Before We Go: House of Blues' "Rock & Roll" Night, Tontons, Gallant Knight, a Willie D Tribute, Britney Returns and More

Tonight, see how - or where, anyway - the beautiful people kick back at House of Blues' new weekly "Rock & Roll" night in the venue's ultra-plush and oddly brothel-like Foundation Room (entrance on Dallas Street), with no cover, $3 beer and whiskey, tunes curated by Metropol/Stuka/Mink veteran T ... More >>

Free Press Houston Announces "Summer Fest" Line-Up

The chill dudes across town at Free Press Houston dropped an awesome bomb this afternoon, announcing their two-day "Summer Fest" shindig, set to go down August 8 and 9 at Eleanor Tinsley Park. Tickets are at $7 for each day, with the line-up spread out over those two days. The headliners that Edit ... More >>

The Dears

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 >>

Aftermath: Broken Social Scene at Numbers

Photos by Mark C. AustinOn the one hand you have your "scene," you know the one. With the super-skinny jeans, the ambivalently knotted skinny ties, the American Spirits blown carefully through the nose, the ironic hair. And on the other, you have your Broken Social Scene. With the music. And t ... More >>

Tonight: Broken Social Scene at Numbers

Poster by Mr. CastilloSince 1999, Canadian indie rockers Broken Social Scene have made consistently brilliant and always original experimental baroque-pop music, enlisting the help of a myriad of artists along the way: Metric's Emily Haines, Leslie "1,2,3,4" Feist, Jason Collett, Am ... More >>

Los Campesinos!

Tickets for Los Campesinos, Broken Social Scene, Appleseed Cast, Monotonix On Sale Now

Local promoter Pegstar has just put tickets on sale for the following shows: Los Campesinos (with Titus Andronicus), January 29, Walter's on Washington Broken Social Scene (with the Lymbic System), February 2, Numbers

Aftermath: Deerhunter at Warehouse Live

Photos courtesy of Liz Countryman You know the feeling of putting on a homemade scarf just woven by your 90-year old great-grandma? That scarf is Deerhunter; only now two of your seventh-grade bullies are standing on either side of you pulling it as tightly as they can if only to choke you out. D ... More >>

Elf Power, with Lazy Horse and the Missing Files

Proletariat’s Denise Ramos: “It Just Didn’t Make Sense for Me to Keep Dealing with This”

Win Butler with the Swish!!

Headlights

Kill Them With Kindness

Band of Horses

Saturday, June 24, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513

Hello, Moon

Indie-rock artists spin straw into gold � for the children

Told You So

Racket gets his gloat on

Let There Be Rock

Ten albums that make it easy to avoid fretting about your old-fashioned, Rockist ways

Stars, with the Jim Yoshii Pile-Up

Thursday, November 3, at the Proletariat, 903 Richmond, 713-523-1199.

Need New Bodywith Make Believe and Hella

Wednesday, May 19

Broken Social Scene

Saturday, March 20

Canadian Invasion

SXSW heaps sloppy seconds on Houston