Gorillaz

Del The Funkee Homosapien: 11th Hour

Indie Rock Rediscovers the Motherland

Kinky Afro

Miho Hatori

Mix it up with a friend of the Gorillaz and Beastie Boys

Pretty Girls Make Saves

As video games go indie, Wack imagines a few likely pairings

Our top DVD picks for the week of April 4

As video games go indie, Wack imagines a few likely pairings

Stapp Infection

Sanctimonious hypocrites need love, too

Gorillaz

Demon Days

Rotation

Handsome Boy Modeling School, Molotov and Rufus Wainwright

Caged Angels

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

Spacemonkeyz vs. Gorillaz

Laika Come Home (Astralwerks)

Aftermath: De La Soul at House of Blues

Photos by Kim Douglass​ "Hey, how you doin'? Sorry you can't get through. But leave your name, and your number, and I'll get back to you." If you know where that came from, you might be worth your weight in hip-hop. In Aftermath's mind, De La Soul is made up of three killers. Posdnuos, Trugoy the ... More >>

A Rocks Off Playlist: Halloween Songs That Don't Suck

Yeah... screw this thing.​Let's face it: the Monster Mash blows. So do many of the songs we're forced to suffer through every Halloweentide. A couple of years ago, Rocks Off heard "One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater" on XM Radio's Halloween-themed channel, and wanted to sneak into a ha ... More >>

Aftermath: We Do Not Choke Other People, Even at a Dethklok/ Mastodon/ Converge/ High on Fire Metalocalypse

Photos by Marc BrubakerDethklok​ If you were to tell any random music fan on the street that a tour with the four bands on the "Adult Swim Presents" would be happening, they would say "Oh sure, fuck it. Why not? It's all loud." But that's sort of where the tour planners alternately went wrong and ... More >>

DJ Hero: A Review

​The geniuses that first let you rock 'n' roll with guitar legends in Guitar Hero decided to bring out a new instrument for gamers to party on. This time, Activision brought out the turntables for their newest title, DJ Hero. Available for the Playstations 2 & 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, DJ ... More >>

Turning The Screw: Guerilla Foco Clan, Z-Ro, Devin, Lots Of Bun, Kid Cudi, Juvenile And More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Reflection," Guerilla Foco Clan Wire to Wire Of course, the universe spun out of control this week. De ... More >>

Dark Tower

Shooter Jennings enlists the occult and Stephen King on ­ambitious, eerie new album Black Ribbons.

Dennis Hopper, Tell Us A Tale Before You Go

King Koopa has gone where Mario and Luigi cannot follow. Dennis Hopper, the Academy Award-nominated actor from films like Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider and yes, Super Mario Bros., passed away Saturday after a long fight with prostate cancer. While Hollywood mourns the death of one of its ... More >>

FAIL: Courtney Love, KeSha, Beta Band, Rock And Roll Lawyers

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Courtney Love Melts Down Onstage... No, We Mean More Than Usual: We're hoping our Rocks Off counterpart Craig Hlavaty gets to witness his fantasy Hole show next week, but judging from the performance Courtney Love put on last Sunday night at Washington ... More >>

FAIL: Prince, Johnny Rotten, Too Short, Auto-Tune

Photos by John Seaborn Gray​Internet Not As "Over" As Prince Had Hoped: Remember last week when Prince said the Internet was "over," and that was why he's now giving copies of his new CD away for free whenever you buy a copy of that thriving and relevant medium, a British newspaper? Well, ent ... More >>

Cartoon Band To Play Toyota Center

My my, we're busy today. Rocks Off this sent this into the Twitterverse earlier, but for all you non-tweeters, Gorillaz, the UK hip-hop/electronica/rock band composed of Murdoc Niccals, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs - the cartoon avatars of Blur's Damon Albarn and his pal Jamie Hewlett - are pencile ... More >>

Upcoming: D.R.I., Neon Indian, LCD Soundsystem, Texas Tornados, Etc.

​The American Heist, Hell City Kings, Blackmarket Syndicate, All At Sea: Sat., Sept. 4. Walter's on Washington. Atlanta Rhythm Section: Sun., Nov. 14. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Best Coast: Sat., Nov. 6. Fitzgerald's. Blitzen Trapper: Tue., Oct. 12. House of Blues. Bring Me The Horizon, Au ... More >>

Tax The Wolf Sets Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Marco TorresTax the Wolf at this month's Houston Press Music Awards ceremony​Tonight Tax the Wolf unleashes their new album, Hold The Sun, onto Houston audiences at Mango's. In the wake of the band's Best Progressive Rock win at this month's Houston Press Music Awards, they have a lot to prove ... More >>

First Play: E. Wood's "Dirty Harry" Vs. Coast's "Tonight You're A Star"

Houston exists largely as its own market. As such, rappers here tend to not like to -on the record, anyway- rank themselves or their albums or songs against each other or each other's. So we'll do it for them. Email sheaserrano (at) gmail (dot) com. ​The Songs: This week, we've got relative n ... More >>

The Top 15 Cartoon Bands (Sorry, Gorillaz)

​Gorillaz makes a stop in Houston tonight (Toyota Center, 7:30 p.m.) on their "Escape to Plastic Beach" world tour. Damon Albarn's "virtual band" is by now far better-known on this side of the pond than his original group, Blur, and is as famous for its inventive music videos as for the songs ... More >>

Bankrobbers: The Clash Family Tree

​Rocks Off cried the night he heard Joe Strummer died. It was December 2002, and we sat on our family couch and let it all out. That fabled Clash reunion that seemed just months away would never happen. Strummer died of a heart attack at 50, just three days before Christmas, leaving behind a w ... More >>

Is Ex-Velvet Moe Tucker A Tea Partier Or Not?

​The Velvet Underground has certainly had an interesting second act. After Andy Warhol's favorite NYC "party" band soundtracked countless narcotic jags and laid the foundation for everything from punk rock to shoegaze, its members went on to very different lives: Lou Reed to street-life classi ... More >>

Last Night: Gorillaz At Toyota Center

Photos by Jim Bricker​ Gorillaz Toyota Center October 19, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Gorillaz may have overspent on their first-ever extended tour. True, the entire concept is that the group is officially made up of four cartoon characters, so there kind of ... More >>

Six Songs That Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

​If there's one musician whose advice is worth heeding, it ought to be Johnny Cash. But when the Man in Black sang "Don't Take Your Guns To Town," a whole lot of musicians must not have been listening. Perhaps they were tuning in one of Cash's other songs that takes a different point of view - ... More >>

Katy Perry? For Album Of The Year? Seriously?

​Don't get Craig's Hlist wrong, we think that Katy Perry is extremely attractive. In fact, if we think about her long enough, it makes us want to cry and punch a wall. She's a buxom, bubbly, raven-haired pop star who dresses like she's expensive grandma candy. We even interviewed her last ye ... More >>

New Dynamo Stadium May Not Change Concert Climate Much

Marco TorresLady Gaga at Toyota Center, July 25​Conceivably, today's announcement that the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority has agreed to act as landlord for the proposed Houston Dynamo stadium in downtown's East End could present a serious challenge to the Houston area's reigning concer ... More >>

Top Five Christmas Movies From Alternate Realities

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn GrayChristmas in an alternate dimension has the potential to be significantly more badass.​If, as so many quantum physicists and dubious science-fiction shows suggest, there are infinite alternate dimensions, then of course that means there are infinite poss ... More >>

Gorillaz's New Album Includes Song About Houston

​ Christmas morning, Rocks Off got to hear the new Gorillaz album, The Fall, recorded entirely on an iPad by leader Damon Albarn as the super-group made their way through the States on tour this past October. Most every city on the run got a song dedicated to it, including Texas towns Ho ... More >>

Joe Ely, Bobby Womack Top Early 2011 Concert Picks

Jason WolterJoe Ely (left) and David Grissom at iFest 2010​Lonesome Onry and Mean got a Facebook event invitation Monday that caused us to panic and pull our credit card out so we could be sure we had a ticket. And in doing so, we realized that 2011 is upon us and we have some planning ahead t ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Songs Of 2010

​Editor's Picks: Jamey Johnson, "Lonely at the Top": Ouch. Merle Haggard, "I've Seen It": Double ouch. Patty Griffin, "Move On Up": Help me, Jesus. Please.

Future Elvis: What If The King Had Lived?

​Do you realize that Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, the dude who was in the Darth Vader suit, and Ron Paul are all the same age as Elvis Presley would be on Saturday? Look at Woody Allen next time you see him on TMZ and just think, he's as old as Elvis. In order to get in the frame of mind to t ... More >>

William Shatner's Greatest Hits: The Man Transformed

​Rocks Off would like to wish a very happy 80th birthday to the one and only Mr. William Shatner. He may not be the best actor out there, or the best singer, but he is without a doubt the best William Shatner there ever was or ever will be. The way he has totally erased the line between sincer ... More >>

Out Today: Paul Simon Resurgent, Foos Get Loud, Isbell Kills

​It's New Release Tuesday, and this week's is one of the biggest days of the year, with new discs by the Foo Fighters, a reinvigorated Paul Simon and TV On The Radio leading the pack, plus a few other artists returning to the scene after a few years away from the limelight. Next week (April ... More >>

Out Today: Glee Warbles, Gorillaz Fall, Kinks Ride Again

​It's been a week since the Foo Fighters' album, Wasting Light, hit the stores, and Rocks Off has probably averaged at least one or two spins of the solid disc per day. Right now, we are actually on track four. Will anything top Light this week? That remains to be seen. Next week will bring ... More >>

Dead People We Wish We'd Seen

​Regrets, sang Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Sid Vicious, I've had a few. (Or, for Sid, a feee-yooouuu.) So have we all. But if you review concerts for a living, there's nothing worse than someone you like dying before you get the chance to see them live. So for this week's Round Table, Rocks Off ... More >>

Erland And The Carnival Map Modern Man In New Video

Vanessa Galvin​When Rocks Off wants the lowest of the lowdown on good new music that isn't centered here in the Lone Star State, we always turn to Mick Cullen at Subterranean Radio. His three hour program has become a Thursday night ritual with us as he guides us through some of the most excit ... More >>

Before Harry Potter, There Was Dr. John Dee...

​History is full of mysterious magicians. The modern world gives us Anton LaVey, Gerald Gardner and Aleister Crowley. In the ancient world you had Edward Kelley, Nicolas Flamel, and the Count of St. Germain. Of all those illustrious names, however, the name of Dr. John Dee stands out from the ... More >>

25 Essential Eponymous Albums

​Eponymous: (of a literary work, film, etc) named after its central character or creator: The Stooges' eponymous debut album. On this day in 1983, a young woman from Michigan who had recently given up on a career as a hard-rock singer released her first album of electronic dance-pop, an album ... More >>

Top Five Best & Worst Songs About 9/11

​This Sunday will be 10 years since America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. In that time, a lot of musical ground has been covered. Some artists mention that day only in passing, as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys do in "Empire State of Mind," but some have crafted songs about 9/11 itself. Some of thes ... More >>

The 11 Best Female Rock Bassists of All Time

seanyseult.com​While there are and have been so many notable women in rock-and-roll, and we'd like to honor them all, we've chosen the specific starting point of recognizing rock's best female bassists. As a bassist, I looked up to nearly each and every one of these women as I learned the bass ... More >>

10 Bands We'd Rather See in 3D Than Metallica

Kreepin Deth​Metallica recently announced that they would be releasing a film in 3D. Whether or not we're talking a concert film, something more along the lines of Some Kind of Monster, or a different approach entirely they haven't confirmed. Still, it seems most likely that they will follow i ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Social Distortion, Gary Clark Jr., Melvins, Girls, Maná, De La Soul

Photo By Jim BrickerBobby Womack onstage with Gorillaz in October 2010 at Toyota Center​2 Chainz, Paul Wall, Propain: Thu., March 1. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Anvil, Rotting Corpse, Metavenge, Fallacy: Thu., Feb. 9. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Asleep At The Whee ... More >>

You Bettah Work: 10 Rock/Pop Musicians Who Could Take Up Modeling

​Lucky for Lana Del Rey -- whose awkward-at-best Saturday Night Live performance last weekend left indie critics second-guessing her skill -- she has a backup career on which to fall, if needed. Last week, days before becoming a poor bundle of nerves on SNL, the up-and-(maybe)-coming songstres ... More >>

Bang Bangz: Tax the Wolf Offshoot Sets A Pretty High Bar

​Houstonians are more than likely familiar with Mario Rodriguez for his work with Tax the Wolf. The experimental powerhouse has been winning awards and critical acclaim for his experimental and cutting edge music for some time. Now, he's teamed with Elizabeth Salazar and Vik Montemayor on a ne ... More >>