Elliott Smith

Justin Bieber's Believe: Dubstep, Dick Talk, Nicki Minaj & Exactly One Good Song

I listened to the new Justin Bieber album, Believe, twice this afternoon so I could write this. I am not looking for sympathy because I took it upon myself. I did this so you wouldn't have to, though if you are cool enough to read our blog, the thought of listening to Justin Bieber's Believe wasn't ... More >>

How Bizarre: How the Hell Are These Songs All 15 Years Old?

"Simple. Fifteen years have gone by." Nineteen ninety-seven may have been one of the most magical years in trash-pop history. You had the Spice Girls, Hanson, Shania Twain, Puff Daddy, Toni Braxton and Aqua burning up the radio as old-timers like David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and Elton John made retu ... More >>

Ten Albums That Should Be Grammy Nominated Over Linda Chorney's

Photo by Jason WolterJason Isbell (left) and Amanda Shires (right) are both more deserving than Chorney.​The small world of Americana music is all a-twitter over New Jersey woman Linda Chorney's nomination for a Grammy in the Americana category. In case you haven't been following the story, Ch ... More >>

Tumblrin' Dice: Clipart Covers Hurt Your Eyeballs

"Dazed and Confused" indeed...​Today I discovered Clipart Covers, a Tumblr site dedicated to remaking classic album covers with just clipart and comic sans, turning them into nightmarish, though amusing, affairs. Random urban-looking folks and what looks like a Wii avatar make up the cover of ... More >>

Weezer: The Good, The Bad & The Downright Ugly

​This Sunday night, Weezer headlines Free Press Summer Fest III, and the influential pop-rockers have been a part of indie lore for the past 17 years. With 1994's self-titled "Blue Album" and 1996's Pinkerton, the band created a cult following whom they would promptly weird the fuck out with s ... More >>

Marley's Ghost: Bob Lives In More Than Just Dorm Rooms

The Onion​Thirty years ago today, Bob Marley passed away from cancer at the young age of 36. According to one joke, it took three days to bury him because his coffin kept jammin'. Bada bum. That's not even our favorite. Earlier this year, Dan Turner, press secretary to Mississippi Governor an ... More >>

Punching a Wall

Jessica Lea Mayfield goes from a bluegrass childhood to buzzworthy "goth-blues drama queen."

Yonder Mountain String Band

Recasting MTV's Daria With Real-Life Musicians

​There was once a brighter time in the history of MTV when the network occasionally played interesting animated series and occasionally even music videos. Now, instead of Daria, there's Snooki; instead of Beavis and Butt-Head, there's The Situation and Pauly D. Growing up, Daria (1997-2002) w ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: Queens Of The Stone Age At La Zona Rosa

Craig Hlavaty​Rolling Stone magazine surely knows how to throw a showcase, bringing forth Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis, Mini Mansions, and Black Angels to open for a reinvigorated Queens Of The Stone Age on Wednesday night. Every band on the bill coalesced with each other beautifully and succinctl ... More >>

2011 South By Southwest Supplement

Buxton takes its bump to the roots-rock big leagues in stride.

Graphic: Top Five Rejected Girl Talk Mash-Ups

​Tonight is the big, wildly anticipated Girl Talk show at Verizon Wireless Theater. The show was originally slated for the House of Blues, but ticket sales and space dictated the gig move a few blocks away to capture the magic. Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, is notorious for his inventive mash ... More >>

11 Musical New Year's Resolutions For 2011

​Craig's Hlist stopped making New Year's Eve resolutions the older and more stubborn we got. We normally don't quit or change things forever unless we are forced to do so. ('Sup, ladies?) This makes it hard for us to keep any New Year's Eve resolutions. If anything, it's easier to change organ ... More >>

If Your Life Were A Movie, Which Song Would Be The Trailer?

​It started as a whim on Twitter, asking friends what songs would soundtrack the trailer of the movie of their life. Would their life's tale be a rollicking drug-fueled, love-filled adventure backed by the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash", or would it be a morose and somber drifting story ... More >>

Xmas Smackdown: "Born To Die" Vs. "Christmas Shoes"

The "Born to Die" in question is not on this album. Still a cool cover.​Christians love death at Christmas time. These two Christmas songs deal in the kind of mortality that is only hinted at in "Frosty The Snowman." He dies when the snow melts, but ominously proclaims that "he will be back so ... More >>

Frightened Rabbit: Not Scared At All, Actually

janeinma2003 via FlickrFrightened Rabbit in Cambridge, Mass., 2008​In the short course of three albums, lately last year's The Winter of Mixed Drinks, Frightened Rabbit has created a very distinct sound of Elliot Smith-like hyperrealism couched in the emotional alienation of 21st-century banal ... More >>

Summer Swoon

Proudly independent, recent Grammy nominees Silversun Pickups aren't ready to hit the "Panic Switch."

Summerfest Short Cuts: Mix Master Mike, Kid Sister, Miniature Tigers, Etc.

Marc BrubakerSpain Colored Orange​Spain Colored Orange: Although technical difficulties with one ticket scanner caused an enormous line of hot and restless festival-goers outside one gate, Spain Colored Orange started its set at 2:05 p.m. on the dot - before the gates had even opened. SCO informed ... More >>

Little Boy Blue

Ask Justin Furstenfeld if he's really mentally ill and be prepared to ride the whirlwind.

5 Rock Deaths That Shook Us Down

​It was sometime this past Saturday night that we first heard that Ronnie James Dio was dead. It was after midnight and we had just bellied up to the Mink's front bar when we checked our Twitter feed and saw that Dio had passed on. Our body froze every metal bone in our body ached for a few minute ... More >>

FAIL: The Temptations, Roger Waters, Fred Schneider

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

The Man Comes Around: Top Ten Big-Deal Musical Deaths of the Decade

​This past decade saw the passing of an innumerable amount of musical icons and pioneering giants. Not only did we lose the second coolest Beatle, but we lost two of the best dancers and performers the world will ever see. Punk rock and metal saw some of their best and brightest lights get snuffed ... More >>

Westheimer Block Party Listology: Fiskadoro Chooses Artists They'd Bring Back to Life

All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. It's not too late for your band to be up here; just email chris.gray@houstonpress.com by noon Thursday if you want ... More >>

He Said She Said: Breakup Songs to Help You Bawl

We've all been there, in the throes of a breakup so bad you fear you'll end up dying alone or in jail: Crying so hard your eyes are chapped and red, throat sore and aching from sobbing, hair matted from days without a shower and nails chewed to the quick. Your friends are tired of hearing you rehas ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Chase Hamblin

​Chase Hamblin's A Fine Time EP somehow bridges the gap between the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the late orchestral work of Elliott Smith, without all the suicidal tendencies. The five-song release really is a marvel to listen, sounding like George Martin or Jon Brion themse ... More >>

¡Ask a Mexican!

Make a mariachi's day this Cinco de Mayo.

Tonight: Peter and the Wolf and More at ArtStorm

Austin's Peter and The Wolf does road music. Not road music in the sense that Sammy Hagar did songs for the open road. Chief P&W songwriter Red Hunter's songs remind Rocks Off of walking down gravel roads, occasionally wiping sweat from our brow and meandering with no destination. Hu ... More >>

Four Lost Neil Diamond Covers

Barnstorming Georgia Trio The Whigs

Complete Control

Anyone Else But Kimya Dawson

Coming to terms with the Juno soundtrack star

Local Motion at Sound Exchange

Kevin Devine, the Jealous Girlfriends

The Art of Noise

Signal to Noise founder Pete Gershon turns his private collection into art

Local Motion

Elliott Smith

New Moon

Independence Day

What's indie rock? Who cares? Here's ten great CDs that will blow you away, no matter your definition

Dave Doobinin

Thursday, August 3, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh Drive, 713-521-0521

Primary Season

Check out some of the new candidates for this year's Houston Press Music Awards

Love, War and Leia

The circuitous path of UK balladeer heartthrob James Blunt

Drugged and Disorderly

The Hold Steady keeps it cinematic

The Hanukkah Songs

Wherein we find the coining of our new favorite word: Jewpergroup

Playbill

Playbill

Blackbird Fly

Jolie Holland returns to her old hometown with the Tom Waits seal of approval

Pop-Punk Penance

A cool kid seeks heavenly redemption

Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Trotting out the clichés for a year-ender piece

In the Company of Women

Neil LaBute's new movie turns the tables on which is the crueler sex

Brady Brock

Thursday, December 26

Miller's Crossing

Rhett Miller's Instigator isn't the wreck of the Old 97's. It's just what he does.

Brady Brock

Thursday, December 27