Hello and welcome back to Radar Eyes. I've been away for the last three weeks...
Our Focus = Underground/ Unreleased/ Underexposed/ Misunderstood/ Unappreciated/ Etc., etc.
I am Chemical Mange.
R.I.P. Sandor Benczedi.
Rosa GuerreroWelcome Beau Beasley of Homopolice, Heavy Leather Records, etc.
Radar Eyes: You are a Houston music institution and an ultra fan of Leather Ways... State your name and purpose!
Beau Beasley: My name is Beau Beasley. I am fan of leather and terrible music. The on
Photos by Craig HlavatyIt's official: This author loves absinthe. Or whatever it was
that they were serving at the Music Gym off 6th
Street that they were calling absinthe. Who
the hell cares? It was free and it opened our SXSW 2009 with a strange and
weird sensation in the facial area. Plus, it made spotting Joseph
Gordon-Levitt from Angels In The Outfield (left) all the more shocking.
Our night began in earnest at Mohawk, where we saw Houston's
own resident soul spinner DJ Brett Kosh
Up until about three or four months ago, Black Congress had been rather reclusive. The veritable indie supergroup, made up of scene vets Roy Mata, Chris Ryan and Bret Shirley, with Dann Miller and singer Bryan Jackson from the Jonbenet, had only played a handful of shows since Black Congress's inception early last summer.
The group released a split-tape with Muhammad Ali early this year that blew Rocks Off's black socks off and made us have to drive back to Mom's house to dig out our old Walkm
Craig HlavatyWallet, keys, lighter, cellphone, camera(s). We had it all last night as we walked into the arty confines of the East End's Super Happy Fun Land. But one thing we didn't have was a pair of earplugs, and right about now we feel kinda silly not dishing out the extra buck for the ones sitting right behind the counter.
Two of Houston's loudest bands, Muhammad Ali and Black Congress, brought forth a hellacious ferocity last night that grinded down the eardrums with the equally decibeli
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 and Prince Paul headlining the weekend.
After a national mini-summer tour this past June and July, Houston's own prize-fighting Muhammidali (one name intact) came home to lay down a few demo tracks wh
So this past week, Houston Music Fight Club began getting solicitations from various local musicians to be matched against other strummers and pickers around town in their cage matches. Rocks Off looks around. We see a lot of new faces. This means a lot of you have (happily for us) been breaking the first two rules of Houston Music Fight Club. Forwarding the blogs to your friends and actually reading them!
This week and the next are the last two weeks before the HMFC goes into its next round
Photos by Craig HlavatyAll my friends know the Low Rider: Black CongressIt's getting harder and harder every day here in Houston to find bands who know how to rock the ever-loving fuck out. Sure some of you do a good job at riding straight grooves and crafting shit-hot slabs of indie swoon. We appreciate the hell out of that smack, but some nights we want liberation, pain, and torture to soundtrack those hours of darkness. We dig love, but sometimes we have a bloodlust that needs an overture.
Marc Brubaker
Saturday's Westheimer Block Party began on a wobbly note, as most music festivals do with fans and staff still trying to find their bearings, aided by alcohol or otherwise. The scene on the ground seemed chaotic just an hour into the first day of the event. Organizer and Free Press Houston editor Omar Afra walked from venue making sure everything was going off without a proverbial hitch.
The first thing we saw on Saturday was renaissance rapper Nosaprise on the Helios outdoor st
