Foster the People

Has Tyler, the Creator Finally Gone Too Far?

Tyler, the Creator has never been known for being a sensitive man. Quite the opposite, he's known for unambiguous lyrics about controversial and disturbing subjects such as rape, murder, homophobia, and infanticide. One of his most infamous lyrics is from the song "Tron Cat," where he promises to "r ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend

What Made Milwaukee Famous Fitzgerald's, January 25 What Made Milwaukee Famous have been plying their melodic, emotionally fraught brand of indie-rock for a decade now, appearing on Austin City Limits (the festival and the TV show) and releasing a pair of albums on Seattle indie Barsuk. The brand-n ... More >>

Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids

This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year old son. The child didn't know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. "When the Beatles record ... More >>

Pack It In Rappers: Jaden Smith Is Here!

Mark it down folks, August 7, 2012 is the day that the rap game was sealed up by Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the brother of Willow Smith. You won't do much better than "Pumped Up Kicks (Like Me)," his just-released single which of course samples Foster the People's ... More >>

Friday Night: "Last Summer on Earth" Tour at The Woodlands

"Last Summer on Earth" Tour Feat. Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Cracker Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 20, 2012 As Nathan Smith said a few hours ago, his partial '90s nostalgia show at House of Blues Friday was more than a sight harder than the throwback bill ... More >>

Dave Wrangler: Web Awards DJ Spills a Few Trade Secrets

Recently Toronto producer/DJ Deadmau5 rode the massive surge in electronic dance music's popularity all the way to the cover of the current Rolling Stone. Wearing a giant mouse head all the time doesn't hurt, but in the story he set tongues wagging even further by criticizing many of his fellow EDM ... More >>

When The Beach Boys Went To The Movies

The Beach Boys have embarked on a 50th-anniversary reunion tour this year, kicking off the media blitz with a Grammy performance featuring everybody from Maroon 5 to Foster the People. As one of the pioneering rock bands of their era, the Beach Boys made a return to the spotlight that was met with ... More >>

The Beach Boys' Endless Summer

Surviving bandmates reunite for a 50th-anniversary tour.

Last Night: fun. At Warehouse Live

fun. Warehouse Live March 20, 2012 "Sing it at the top of your lungs," fun. front man and vocalist Nate Ruess told the crowd Tuesday night, "Like it means something." As the crowd chanted "Na-na-na" over and over, Ruess sang, "Carry me home tonight" repeatedly while fans hands reached high, waving ... More >>

Beach Boys Reunion Tour Hits Woodlands June 8

Dave Matthews Band opens new tour at Pavilion May 18 The Beach Boys, one of the most popular and celebrated bands to come out of America in the past century, announced a reunion tour this week, with Houston getting a set from Brian Wilson and the gang Friday, June 8 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pa ... More >>

The Beats Go On As Grammys Take Care Of Their Own

Hands up, everyone who is surprised.​The Grammy Awards on CBS Sunday night could have easily turned into a wake - or worse, a funeral. After Whitney Houston's death Saturday, the mood was appropriately somber until a dance party broke out, or perhaps a coming-out party for dance music. Foreve ... More >>

We Tell You Who Will Win Grammys So You Don't Have To Watch Them

SPOILER ALERT​The best thing about the annual Grammy nominations and awards shows is the clamor of anger that rises up when the mere mention of the event even comes up. Immediately people begin calling it a travesty, trotting out all the people who have been snubbed -- Jethro Tull beats Metall ... More >>

Summer Fest Promises 2012 Lineup "Soon"

Rocks Off was setting our house in order after our long absence, when at some point we realized that while we were away, we had barely heard anything about this year's Free Press Summer Fest at all. We vaguely remembered the festival leaking electro DJ duo Major Lazer a while back, but that's about ... More >>

The 39th Pazz And Jop Poll Features Quite A Few Surprises

​And by surprises, I mean that I didn't like most of the albums in the top ten. Usually I fall lock-step in with the crowd, but this year not so much, with my love for arena-rock and Americana dominating my list. Pazz And Jop is the Village Voice's annual critics' poll, with critics from music ... More >>

Merry Christmas From The Houston Music Scene: Free Music Downloads (UPDATED)

Welp, it's been a year to say the least. There has been so much great music, amazing shows, new discoveries, many sad and happy milestones, and Rocks Off tried to cover all of it these past 12 months. Next year will be even more awesome, for so many reasons, which we will get into the next two wee ... More >>

Yo Gabba Gabba's Creator Talks Bands and Stage Diving Kids

What do you do when you have kids but you can't stand any of the TV programming geared toward them? Get together with a long-time buddy and make a low-budget version of what you'd like to see on television. That's how Christian Jacobs, lead singer of the punk band The Aquabats, and friend Scott Sch ... More >>

Christian Jacobs on Yo Gabba Gabba, Stage-Diving Kids and Biz Markie

What do you do when you have kids but you can't stand any of the TV programming geared toward them? Get together with a longtime buddy and make a low-budget version of what you'd like to see on television. That's how Christian Jacobs, lead singer of the punk band The Aquabats, and friend Scott Schu ... More >>

French Onion Soup & Deathbugs: Our Nine Musical Turkeys Of 2011

Danzig Shame on us for thinking that a Danzig show would go off without a hitch, and infinite shame on Glenn Danzig for the debacle that was his "appearance" at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. We will never look at French onion soup ever again without bellowing "Mother". Lulu We're not mad at Metall ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

Saturday Night: Foster The People At House Of Blues

Photos by Matthew Keever​Foster the People, Cults, Reptar House of Blues September 16, 2011 "When you've played something like 100 shows in a year, you learn to tell during the first song whether it's going to be a good show," said Foster the People vocalist Mark Foster from the stage during ... More >>

ACL: Molly's Revenge & Other Encounters

Jim BrickerColdplay: Also with the pretty lights.​A Zilker field. As Friday's shadows lengthened, a young woman - tall, pale, boots - approached Rocks Off. "Are you going to Pretty Lights?" "I don't think so." "Why not?" "I don't know." "Do you know where I can get some Molly?" "Uhhh... ... More >>

ACL Find: The Cave Singers At The Vista Equity Tent

Craig Hlavaty​ We found ourselves in front the Cave Singers on Friday afternoon with a few hundred folks, escaping the Sun and the cheerfulness and pomp of the other bands going at the same time (Big Boi, Foster The People) for some dark art at the Vista Equity Tent. About halfway through t ... More >>

10 Things We're Probably Doing At ACL This Year

villagevoice.comBjork at ACL '07, when part of her staging caught fire.​This is the Rocks Off team's (well, Craig Hlavaty and Chris Gray) fifth year covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The first year this smart guy wore black jeans and a black shirt to try to look cool, which made ... More >>

Five Can't-Miss Acts At ACL Fest This Year

Craig HlavatyWe're running this picture of My Morning Jacket's Jim James now because this will be the last we see of him all weekend.​For weeks after we skipped last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival to man the controls in Houston, Rocks Off found ourselves thinking, "Man, I wish I woul ... More >>

Five ACL '11 Bands That Could Headline In 2012

Jim BrickerSmith Westerns at Fitz in February​This Thursday night, Rocks Off leaves for the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival at Austin's Zilker Park. This year promises to be a hot one, from the killer temperatures, the constant wildfires just miles from the venue, and the mouth of Frida ... 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 >>

Upcoming: CSS, Dark Dark Dark, The Judds, Etc.

​Against All Will: Fri., Aug. 12. Warehouse Live. Andrew Karnavas, Clory Martin: Sat., July 23. Khon's. CSS: Sat., Oct. 29. House of Blues. Dark Dark Dark: Mon., Oct. 10. Warehouse Live. Devildriver, Skeletonwitch: Sat., Sept. 3. Scout Bar Clear Lake. DJ Sasha Grey: Fri., July 29. Stereo ... More >>

Out Today: New West Strikes Gold On Robert Ellis, Old 97's Discs

​It's a light batch this week as far as new releases go, with the Independence Day holiday cutting into the label's schedules. As it stands now, Rocks Off is holding a jug of coffee in our hands to try to wake up from the food and chill-time coma we embarked on last Friday. We are surely not in th ... More >>

Foster the People

Upcoming: The Blow, Incubus, Kyuss Lives, Opeth, Etc.

​The Blow: Fri., July 8. Fitzgerald's. Bury Your Dead, Evergreen Terrace: Sun., July 10. Warehouse Live. CJ Ramone: Sun., July 17. Warehouse Live. The Dear Hunter, Wild Orchid Children: Mon., Aug. 22. Warehouse Live. Dwight Yoakam: Fri., July 8. Arena Theatre. Filter, Saliva: Wed., Aug. ... More >>

Out Today: Other Things Besides Born This Way... Seriously

​This past weekend was magical, what with Rocks Off finally getting to see Foo Fighters play songs from Wasting Light and all. You may remember that we have been wanking over Light since it came out in April, but it's really good. Best rock album of the year? Maybe, unless Jack White or Josh H ... More >>