Subject: Coldplay

• Fuck-off Friday: It’s Too Hot to Work Anyway

  August 10, 2007

• Drenched In Blog: Kanye vs. Fiddy vs. Black Lips

  September 11, 2007

• U23D Marq-E = OK

  February 11, 2008

• Test Your Musical Strength

  May 28, 2008

• Texans Electric Touch Top Amazon's MP3 Chart

  July 9, 2008

• Stageside Blogging: A Brief Interlude

  July 30, 2008

• XM Nation: Catching Up and Moving On

  September 8, 2008

• Stranded on Planet AC/DC... Don't Bother Sending Help

  October 6, 2008

• Fookin'-A

  Kasabian has its sights set on becoming the coolest -- and most stereotypical -- Brit-rock band around

  June 9, 2005

• Aftermath: Coldplay at Toyota Center

  Photos by Mark C. Austin The problem with Chris Martin isn’t the fact that the Coldplay frontman writes lyrics that resemble something that might come from the diary of a seventh grader who sniffs magic markers (snow, it turns out, is white after all). No, it’s the fact that he almost forces people to take him so goddamn seriously. And the reason is simple: He is a a) rock star; b) a celebrity (or at least married to one); and c) a social activist. People often compare Martin’s motiv

  November 19, 2008

• Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

  Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles saturated the Top 40 -- or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate -- while proving that accessibility doesn't necessarily preclude creativity.

  December 29, 2008

• Were These Really the Best Songs of 2008?

  The Gutter Twins Maybe Rocks Off spent a lot of 2008 with his head in the archives, but he was paying attention to new stuff too. Occasionally. It's as easy as satellite radio, channel 47's (Ethel/Alt Nation) weekly new-music hour Submission/Transmission. Monday night, S/T happened to be playing its picks for the past year. One thing is immediately apparent: the '90s are back, big time. The Black Keys' "Strange Times" is total Soundgarden, the Kills' "Tape Song" almost out-Breeders Kim Deal

  December 30, 2008

• Aftermath: DeVotchKa at Warehouse Live

  Photos by Mark C. AustinIt's always nice to see a band that respects its elders, and Denver's DeVotchKa has taken Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" promise "I wanna rock your gypsy soul" to heart. Finding the seam between Old World traveler tunes and contemporary indie-rock, the quartet (and a few friends) matched the energy of the full house in Warehouse Live's studio with nearly 90 minutes of full-tilt fiddling, plunking, blowing and strumming that barely stopped to catch its b

  February 10, 2009

• When Publicists Attack: Solarcaded

  Dana Boyce I had already drawn a bullseye on the side of my forehead and was just getting the gun out of the drawer. I'm normally not suicidal or, for that matter, the type to brood and get depressed. But as has been mentioned in these pages before, every so often a publicist just makes me want to blow my brains out. This week's culprit was a little lady from LaLaLand. I'd already sent her boss an email about Solarcade last week, politely telling her I thought she was mistargeting her ef

  March 11, 2009

• Gene Loves Jezebel

  February 26, 2009

• The Year in Albums

  December 25, 2008

• Celebrity Wedding Present

  Who has the upper hand in various musician-celebrity marriages?

  November 13, 2008

• Coldplay: Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

  July 3, 2008

• Houston Music Map

  Queen Norah reigns, Josh Groban pains, and lots of Natalie Maines

  June 5, 2003

• Hello, Houston!

  April 23, 2009

• Stars of Track and Field

  Stars of Track and Field perform Saturday, May 12, at the Engine Room, 1515 Pease, 713-654-7846. Joseph Arthur also performs.

  May 10, 2007

• Dark Star Rising

  Jenny Lewis primps for her big push

  October 19, 2006

• Hip-hop as She Is Rapped

  Translating the German Wikipedia entries of Houston's top MCs

  June 22, 2006

• Screw October

  June 1, 2006

• Jones Family Singers

  9 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899

  April 20, 2006

• Oasis

  Tuesday, March 28, Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas, 713-230-1666

  March 23, 2006

• Never Go to a Party in Friendswood

  Where does your town rank in the Houston-area good-taste stakes?

  February 2, 2006

• Year of the Concept

  Green Day opens the Idiot-ic floodgates

  January 12, 2006

• Pop Rocks

  Ten albums that'll snap and fizz in your ear buds all winter long

  December 8, 2005

• Teenage Fanclub

  Man-Made

  June 23, 2005

• Coldplay

  X&Y

  June 9, 2005

• Eisley, with Reggie and the Full Effect and New Found Glory

  Thursday, May 19, at Numbers, 300 Westheimer, 713-526-6551.

  May 19, 2005

• The Music, with Morningwood

  Friday, March 18, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717.

  March 17, 2005

• This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

  April 29, 2004

• Murs

  Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition (Def Jux)

  April 22, 2004

• Drat!

  Racket proposes a rock radio revolution. Clear Channel beats him to the punch.

  February 12, 2004

• F-Bomb Scare

  Travis starts cussing, but otherwise remains the same

  January 29, 2004

• Nada Surf, with Death Cab for Cutie

  Sunday, November 9

  November 6, 2003

• Hilary Duff

  Metamorphosis (Buena Vista/Hollywood)

  October 16, 2003

• Caged Angels

  Chart-toppers in the UK, Ash is happy on the American club circuit. But how long will it stay there?

  May 29, 2003

• Made With Love

  Rosanne Cash is the friend who will say, or sing, what you can't

  April 10, 2003

• Cold Relief

  Radio wild card Coldplay struts in from the UK with plenty of attitude

  January 23, 2003

• Coldplay

  Parachutes
  (Parlophone)

  February 22, 2001

• Cornbreadd Weighs In On 50 Cent/Rick Ross Feud

  How bad off is hip-hop right now? Sales are still in the toilet - only one rap record, Jadakiss' The Last Kiss, is in the current Billboard Top 20 - and even Kanye West shooting his mouth off isn't that interesting anymore. About the only thing with legs these days is the 50 Cent/Rick Ross feud, which started back in January and, despite being a blatant publicity grab on both sides, is still pretty damn entertaining - lots of name-calling, baby-mama drama and, best of all, cartoons. Most recent

  April 28, 2009

• Summer Sounds

  May 21, 2009

• Burnin' for You

  June 25, 2009

• Single-Album Sets We'd Like to See, Part 1: Bob Dylan, George Strait, The Pogues and More

  Initiated by indie-rockers like Sonic Youth, Slint and Built to Spill at mid-2000s festivals - UK/U.S. hopover All Tomorrow's Parties and its various tie-ins being the most prominent - playing a beloved LP front to back in concert is now the hottest thing going on the classic-rock circuit. Within the next month, Houstonians can see Aerosmith revisit 1976's Toys In the Attic (The Woodlands, July 17), Judas Priest do 1980's British Steel (Verizon, July 24) and Motley Crue gas up 1989's Dr. Feelgoo

  July 7, 2009

• Aftermath: Coldplay at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty Coldplay carries with them almost every major defect available to make it possible for someone like Aftermath to hate them. Bandleader Chris Martin prances on the stage like a marionette detached from his strings for one, his gee-whiz smile notwithstanding. Just like the its music, the band's audience is lily-white, well-scrubbed and safe as hell. Not to mention that their sweeping anthems seem to be catnip for couples, making them the international makeout 'n' cuddle ba

  July 23, 2009

• Bayou Beat: Cougars for a Cause at House of Blues, Mandy Moore Hearts Jandek, Bun B Orders Up Some PB&J, etc.

  ​Want to help fight breast cancer and possibly get pawed by some of Houston's hottest older ladies? Boy, is this the right weekend for you. Sugar Ray, pimping its new album Music for Cougars, headlines House of Blues' "Cougars for a Cause" show Saturday night with Austin power-pop heroes Fastball, Green River Ordinance, Aimee Allen and Kate Voegele in tow. Don't look at us - Rocks Off didn't come up with that name, but we do like it a lot better than Mix 96.5's "Bosom Bash." A portion of the p

  August 19, 2009

• Friday Night Noise: In the Land of Archers' Misanthropic Crud; Venison Whirled's Piercing Tonal Halos

  ​In The Land Of Archers "I Am The Monster That Walks On All Fours": Friday Night Noise is not even gonna try to decipher this Houston crew's web site - which suggests that they're still a going thing despite being entrenched in different projects - because we're way more interested in talking about the unhinged lunatic noise they're capable of making. (Hint: this is a prime opportunity for clued-in readers to get us - and everyone else - up to speed in the comments.) "I Am The Monster That Wal

  September 11, 2009