Grammy Awards

The Best of iFest's Second Weekend: Aaron Neville, Sergent Garcia, Grupo Fantasma, etc.

Aaron Neville After four certified platinum albums and a few Grammys, Aaron Neville -- now 72 -- would have had every right to hang it all up years ago. Instead, to the delight of fans, the New Orleans soul singer found himself performing at iFest this weekend in support of his fourteenth studio alb ... More >>

10 Fun Facts Only Floyd Freaks Know About Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd's rock and roll masterpiece, The Dark Side of the Moon, turned 40 years old this weekend. If you don't already own a copy or three, consider checking it out. It's the best album by one of history's best bands, and you can find as easily in any record store in Phuket as you can in Philadel ... More >>

Mumford & Sons Strum Into Woodlands Pavilion June 12

This afternoon Live Nation announced that Mumford & Sons, the UK acoustic-rock quartet that has already, um, borrowed more than one page from U2's playbook -- the anthemic songs, Old Testament imagery, missionary zeal and sometimes overwhelming earnestness -- will make its Houston-area debut somewhe ... More >>

Top 10 Soul-Destroying No. 1 Hits

I don't like these songs. I feel it's ridiculous that hundreds of thousands of people actually paid out money and drove them to the top of the Billboard charts. While they might not necessarily be the absolute worst examples of the lowest common denominator's purchasing power, they quickly came to m ... More >>

Last Night: fun. at Bayou Music Center

fun. Bayou Music Center February 13, 2013 How long has it been since America's young people have had something to be optimistic about besides the music on the radio? The '80s? That must be the guiding principle behind newly crowned Grammy Best New Artist winners fun., who played to a full Bayou M ... More >>

Alicia Keys, Miguel Hit Toyota Center March 18

The R&B show of 2013 thus far. This makes a certain member of the Rocks Off crew even happier he's sitting out SXSW than he already was. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. next Friday through houstontoyotacenter.com, and Citi Private Pass has the pre-sale exclusive honors.

5 Folk Acts Who Wandered Down the Synth Road

Mandolin enthusiasts Mumford and Sons have been on top of the world the past couple of years, dominating rock-driven radio with a folk sound that apparently touches the hearts of hard-rock bros around the world. Given that they have an apparently winning formula, one wouldn't expect them to change i ... More >>

Radioactive Duo

Classic-rock station 93.7 The Arrow yanks controversial morning DJs Walton and Johnson off the air.

Kinky

Meet the 2012 HPMA Showcase Nominees: Tianna Hall

Rocks Off reached out to the artists playing this year's Houston Press Music Awards showcase Sunday, August 5, and asked them to introduce themselves. Here's what they sent back. Catch up with the other showcase nominees and see the rest of our HPMA coverage Rocks Off: When and where was your firs ... More >>

Saturday Night: Nicki Minaj at Bayou Music Center

Nicki Minaj Bayou Music Center July 28, 2012 I am told by countless bloggers that Nicki Minaj is a "polarizing." Her Grammy performance, her lyrical abilities, whether she's a rapper or pop star, the quality of "Starships"; all have been debated endlessly on this here World Wide Web. Because the I ... More >>

Me Gustan Los Estudiantes: The Music of "Yo Soy 132"

Mexican musicians and artists have helped lead the "Yo Soy 132" movement into the final week before the July 1 presidential election, and the protestors show no sign of stopping even if the frontrunner they're fighting against is elected. Young Mexican voters began the "Yo Soy 132" movement in Ma ... More >>

22nd Annual Houston International Jazz Fest

The Chucho Valdés Quintet

Top 5 Ways EDM Is Now Mainstream

1997 provides us with an interesting cautionary tale about the pursuit of the next big thing and how it doesn't always play out the way we expect. From MTV's Year In Rock: Music fans were restless, record sales were stagant... Then, a new music emerged... one that captivated listeners, created new ... More >>

Esperanza Spalding

Saturday: iFest In Downtown Houston -- Los Lonely Boys, Los Amigos Invisibles, Etc.

Houston International Festival Downtown Houston April 21, 2012 There's something beautifully eclectic about Houston's iFest. Only there can you drink a beer as you stuff your face with curry, shoulder to shoulder with a Buddhist, while listening to Hare Krishnas sing their hearts out. Ok, maybe it' ... More >>

Who The Eff Is The Ron River?: A Journey Into The Heart Of The Two Americas Of Bon Iver

"Who the fuck is Bon Iver" went the story last night on Twitter as indie musician and soft-spoken beardo Justin Vernon's Bon Iver project won a Best New Artist Grammy. Never mind that the man has been on the scene since 2008's For Emma, Forever Ago, but it still seemed to be deserved. Last year's se ... More >>

Know Your Subgenre: The Bros(tep)

Photo by Matthew KeeverThe Doom That Came To Dubstep?​Subgenre: Brostep Parent Genre: Dubstep Imagine that you're a genre of music. You've been on the underground for a few years taking the sounds of your parents and evolving in to something new. For a long time few noticed but the last fe ... More >>

5 Most Needless Song Updates

We got into rock journalism from being a local musician, so we understand both sides of the industry pretty well. We've recorded songs that later-on we wish we'd done very differently, and the temptation to go back and re-try for perfection can be very overpowering. Take it from us, though, do not f ... 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 >>

Classic Christmas: George Winston's December

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, a record or artist outside the mainstream will make a blip on the pop culture radar, like Norah Jones' sudden ascendance ... More >>

Ledisi Finds Success and Confidence in Pieces of Me

​Grammy-nominated singer Ledisi is currently on her first nationwide tour in support of her sixth album Pieces of Me. The tour has already sold out venues in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.; and she pulls into Houston Thursday. "I feel great about this tour we have been selling out ... More >>

10 Rappers In The Guinness Book Of World Records*

*At one point or another Marco TorresComing in at No. 10...​The Guinness Book of World Records has always been a fascinating and somewhat random thing to be a part of. Some people strive to be in the book to get noticed, while others get in the book completely by accident for good and bad th ... More >>

Mana

Miranda Lambert

Superstar? Jesus Christ...

Sorry, but no.​There's a scene in Penelope Spheeris's excellent documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, Part 2: The Metal Years where she interviews a number of struggling musicians about their career prospects and their fallback options should they fail. Almost to a man* (and woman), ... More >>

The Woodlands, Arcade Fire Win Album Of The Year Grammy

city-data.com​ Congratulations to The Woodlands, that emotionally icy burb up I-45, for helping Arcade Fire when this year's Album Of The Year Grammy at Sunday night's awards show for their sprawling The Suburbs LP. The band, led by former Woodlands residents Win and William Butler, won over a hi ... More >>

The Oak Ridge Boys

Pickin' on Nashville

Vince Gill centers himself through bluegrass and digs Miranda Lambert.

10th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival

The Mayor’s 2010 Holiday Celebration

Music's Top 10 Messed-Up Mouths

​Rocks Off went to the dentist this morning for the first time in... well, a long time. The importance of taking care of your choppers is thus fresh in our minds - especially since we have to go back tomorrow, this time to a "specialist." So... yeah. This would probably be a good time to mention t ... More >>

Is VH1's Hip Hop Honors Insulting Southern Rappers?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday (that isn't a national holiday) Rocks Off will have some of them hear discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Chalie Boy, Hima Sn ... More >>

Kyle Beltran Drops Shakespeare For Rap In The Infectious In The Heights

Photo copyright (C) Joan Marcus 2009Daniel Bolero, Natalie Toro and Kyle Beltran ​Kyle Beltran, who plays the lead role of Usnavi in the Broadway Across America version of the Tony Award and Grammy Award winning In the Heights, now showing at the Hobby Center, credits the musical for bringing "hip ... More >>

Booker T

Self-Admitted Wanker John Mayer Is Far From Alone at the Musical Spank Bank

​ Photo illustration by John Seaborn GrayThe chicken is Photoshopped. The swimsuit, sadly, isn't.​Guess what you're missing if you haven't picked up the latest copy of Rolling Stone? Go on, guess. All right, we'll tell you: according to their website, you're missing the lowdown on John Mayer's " ... More >>

Magnolia City Mixtape: Be Hollywood F.L.O.S.S.'s Pen Pal, Roky Erickson Okkervil River, New Something Fierce 7" and Dave Wrangler Mashup

​ Ever wish you had a pen pal like Hollywood F.L.O.S.S. when you were a kid? He's been sending out a mixtape called Art-or-Fiscal Intelligence to various bloggers around the U.S. You can listen online or download here, and read some of the props he's been getting. Austinites Okkervil River re ... More >>

"Quieres Bailar?" Cafe Tacuba Packs 'Em In at House of Blues

Photos by Liana Lopez​ Save a performance at last year's Latin Grammys, Mexican rock superstars Café Tacuba finally made their way back to Houston after a two-year absence with Grammy-winning tunes from their most recent album, Sino, and the light show to match. The band's show at the sold-out Ho ... More >>

Defending the Polka

Dafnis Prieto

Web exclusive!

Sailing with Captain Jack

Texas Filmmaker Showcase

Films about families dominate a film series at the MFAH

That's a Lot of Levi's

Wheel Good Time

Sitar Star

Anoushka Shankar may soon be as famous as her dad -- but don't tell her that

Grammy Shammy

Sugar Bayou's bad review spotlights a shady Houston trend

Phunk Junkeez, with Saint Dawg and Property 6

Monday, June 30

Age-Old Axiom

The Axiom can't seem to shake its past

Jazz It Up