Indie Rock and Indie Pop

The Naked and Famous

Flaming Lips And Their Fwends Set To Weird Up Record Store Day

In a few weeks on April 21, Record Store Day is yet again set to obliterate the wallets of record collectors around the country, and the Flaming Lips will have quite a release for fans on that day. What would you think if I said that they have been recording with none other than Ke$ha, Bon Iver, Nic ... More >>

Put On A Happy Face: 6 Ex-Emos Who Found More Success By Being Happy

Emo. The word conjures so many images. For your average American, it will make them think of black eyeliner, wrist-cutting, and essentially hair metal for the '00s. For hardcore kids, they'll think of Jawbreaker. But either way you slice it, emo has had its ups and downs as a genre and has changed ... More >>

Idaho Gem

Built to Spill's Doug Martsch is the most laid-back guy around, except when talking about basketball.

Flaming Lips Return To Summer Fest With Avetts, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Descendents & Many More

Under cover of darkness, Free Press Summer Fest announced its 2012 lineup around 5 a.m. Monday morning. We'll get right to it: The Avett Brothers Snoop Dogg Willie Nelson Afrojack Primus The Flaming Lips (Performing Dark Side of the Moon)

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 >>

Sunday Night: Starfucker at Fitzgerald's

"We're sorry about your football team," said Starfucker* guitarist Ryan Biornstad to the packed crowd of college-age Houstonians at Fitz, just eight hours after the Houston Texans gracefully bowed out of its first ever playoff trip. Starfucker/STRFKR/Pyramid/Pyramidd may be from Portland but the f ... More >>

Free Download: "The Sun and Moon" from Cursive's New Album

Photo via cursivearmy.com​Via Rolling Stone, the Saddle Creek princes Cursive have released, for your free listening pleasure, the first single titled "The Sun and Moon" from their forthcoming seventh album I am Gemini out February 21. The concept album is described on the band's site as "th ... More >>

Friday Night: Yo Gabba Gabba Live! At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by James Bricker​Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Verizon Wireless Theater December 2, 2011 As a parent, Rocks Off can tell you firsthand about the sacrifices involved in child rearing. Most of us know going in that there are trade-offs for raising your own personal organ donors, from simple thing ... More >>

Grouplove

Photos by James Bricker​Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Verizon Wireless Theater December 2, 2011 As a parent, Rocks Off can tell you firsthand about the sacrifices involved in child rearing. Most of us know going in that there are trade-offs for raising your own personal organ donors, from simple thing ... More >>

NRBQ

Photos by James Bricker​Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Verizon Wireless Theater December 2, 2011 As a parent, Rocks Off can tell you firsthand about the sacrifices involved in child rearing. Most of us know going in that there are trade-offs for raising your own personal organ donors, from simple thing ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest Leaking 2011 Lineup On Turntable.fm

​After leaking artists including Okkervil River, Odd Future, X and - most people believe - Slayer, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest has officially begun announcing its 2011 lineup via the brand-new file-sharing/social-media hybrid Turntable FM. Fun Fun Fun began streaming songs from this year's arti ... More >>

Arctic Monkeys

​After leaking artists including Okkervil River, Odd Future, X and - most people believe - Slayer, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest has officially begun announcing its 2011 lineup via the brand-new file-sharing/social-media hybrid Turntable FM. Fun Fun Fun began streaming songs from this year's arti ... More >>

Your Favorite Bands: How To Correctly Pronounce Their Names

​Back in December 1998, when Eminem was just hitting MTV and rap radio, we remember people pronouncing his name as "Eee-mine-im," and not the candy-inflected way it actually was. We even made the mistake during our first viewing of "My Name Is" late at night on the video channel and calling a ... More >>

Ponderosa Gives House Of Blues A Mouthful

Photos by Jason Wolter​Rocks Off is usually ambivalent, at best, about restaurant shows. One of the few times we're not interested in live music at all is when we're eating, and we imagine we're hardly the only person who feels that way. Strolling violinists and mariachi groups especially get ... More >>

Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, And Kanye West Lead ACL 2011 Lineup

Marc BrubakerGoin' back to Zilker: Arcade Fire at The Woodlands, May 4​Moments ago, the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced its lineup for the 10th-anniversary weekend, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 in Zilker Park. Top names include Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Bright Eyes. P ... More >>

Beyond "Thriller": Top 10 Zombie Music Videos

​One of Rocks Off's choice ambient/shoegaze artists, Grouper, has just released visuals for her song "Alien Observer" and it's full of (almost) everything that we hold dear: Blood, zombies buried beneath foliage, and girl-on-girl action. Oh, and Liz Harris' haunting voice. It's beautiful; whi ... More >>

Freelance Whales

​One of Rocks Off's choice ambient/shoegaze artists, Grouper, has just released visuals for her song "Alien Observer" and it's full of (almost) everything that we hold dear: Blood, zombies buried beneath foliage, and girl-on-girl action. Oh, and Liz Harris' haunting voice. It's beautiful; whi ... More >>

KTRU Outdoor Show

​One of Rocks Off's choice ambient/shoegaze artists, Grouper, has just released visuals for her song "Alien Observer" and it's full of (almost) everything that we hold dear: Blood, zombies buried beneath foliage, and girl-on-girl action. Oh, and Liz Harris' haunting voice. It's beautiful; whi ... More >>

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

​One of Rocks Off's choice ambient/shoegaze artists, Grouper, has just released visuals for her song "Alien Observer" and it's full of (almost) everything that we hold dear: Blood, zombies buried beneath foliage, and girl-on-girl action. Oh, and Liz Harris' haunting voice. It's beautiful; whi ... More >>

Skip the Charades

Cold War Kids look to movie directors for guidance.

Summer Fest Adds Big Boi, Beirut, Girls, Killing Joke

Jermaine Rogers​Free Press Summer Fest has added four headliners to the two-day festival scheduled for June 4 and 5 in Eleanor Tinsley Park, organizers Free Press Houston and pegstar.net announced this morning. Atlanta rapper Big Boi (still one-half of OutKast, we think), Balkan-tinged indie- ... More >>

Portuguese Men of War

The Walkmen jump-start their momentum on Lisbon.

Last Night: Broken Social Scene At Warehouse Live

Photos by Jody Perry​Broken Social Scene, Zeus Warehouse Live February 17, 2011 Broken Social Scene's music is both simple and catchy and speckled with intricacies. It manages to be indie enough for even the hippest of hipsters to enjoy - at least we assume so; we haven't checked Pitchfork - ... More >>

Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones, Bun B Head Summer Fest Lineup

"I'm gonna pull out some shit on stage that will make the Flaming Lips cry and possibly retire in awe." - Hayes Carll, via @hprocksoff GroovehouseYeasayer at House of Blues, April 2010​Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Yeasayer and Houston rappers Z-Ro and Bun B head up the lineup ... More >>

Tokyo Police Club Enter Indie Big Leagues With Champ

Canvas Media​Though Ontario indie-rockers Tokyo Police Club might still technically be considered wet behind the ears in terms of age, their notable résumé and relentless work ethic speak a different story. Forming in 2005 after disbanding their previous group, Suburbia, the foursome, then b ... More >>

Old Familiar Friend

Brendan Benson relaxes after The Raconteurs.

I Put A Spell On You: The Vixens And Visuals Of Voodoo Fest

Photos by Mark C. AustinMGMT: "Ruh Roh! Better play something off the first album!"​Village Voice Media dispatched Houston photographer Mark C. Austin to New Orleans this past weekend for the Voodoo Music Experience, the Crescent City's annual three-day Halloween engorgement of live music and ... More >>

Jónsi

Photos by Mark C. AustinMGMT: "Ruh Roh! Better play something off the first album!"​Village Voice Media dispatched Houston photographer Mark C. Austin to New Orleans this past weekend for the Voodoo Music Experience, the Crescent City's annual three-day Halloween engorgement of live music and ... More >>

There Is No Enemy

Built to Spill regains 90s form on new album.

Cage Match: Steven Curtis Chapman Vs. Vampire Weekend Vs. Witness To The Fallen

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Leatherface

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Buxton, Small Sounds

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Minus the Bear

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Yeasayer

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Vivian Girls

No, this is not Vampire Weekend.​Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for your musical souls. Three opponents, each personifying an aspect of rock and roll - though for some that such a designation may be kindly inappropriate. In this corner, with his guitar and a somewhat pec ... More >>

Hlavaty On The Hloose At SXSW

Photos by Craig Hlavaty12:08 p.m.: "Apparently MGMT is playing in that white box tonight."​ While Rocks Off Sr. holds down the fort in Houston, we've dispatched Craig Hlavaty, the Riker to our Picard, as a one-man away team to SXSW, and he's already been a busy boy. Reinforcements will arrive in t ... More >>

Cymbals Eat Guitars

Photos by Craig Hlavaty12:08 p.m.: "Apparently MGMT is playing in that white box tonight."​ While Rocks Off Sr. holds down the fort in Houston, we've dispatched Craig Hlavaty, the Riker to our Picard, as a one-man away team to SXSW, and he's already been a busy boy. Reinforcements will arrive in t ... More >>

Thanks, But No Thanks: See What Dallas Has to Deal With All the Time?

We know, we know... it's just too easy.​ Rocks Off would like to thank Force Field PR and, we suppose, Neon Indian for sending the above picture to our email this morning. It nearly made us spray coffee all over our monitor. We don't quite know where to start, except to venture a guess that if you ... More >>

Houston 2020: The Future Is Unwritten

But hey, that's not stopping Noise.

Beyond Fake

Indie-rock scholars Yo La Tengo forge a unique sound through tireless study of others' music.

Fiery Furnaces

Indie-rock scholars Yo La Tengo forge a unique sound through tireless study of others' music.

In the Mix: DJ and Dance Music for the New Malaise, Part 1

​The past year brought the worst economy since the malaise of the 1970s, and like that era, it also saw dance music sweep the nation. Lady GaGa, the Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs all dabbled in the sound. Even Michael Jackson was said to be working on a dance album with the P ... More >>

The AP's Year-End Album List Proves What We Already Knew: Rock Critics Are Assholes

​Rocks Off has previously lamented the dearth of critically popular acts that truly rock many times. We just can't get over the fact that adding distortion to your guitar is a virtual guarantee you won't get scads of rock critics jizzing all over you with steamy loads of orgasmic praise (unless yo ... More >>

Aftermath: Surfer Blood, More Than the Poor Man's Vampire Weekend, at Mango's

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ One can sit around all day and wax faux intelligent about where a band gleams their influences from. It's armchair quarterbacking for the kind of folks who wake up in the middle of Sunday afternoon and could give a good goddamn about 100 yards and monied monoliths of bro. ... More >>

Aftermath: Free Press Summer Fest at Eleanor Tinsley Park

Photos by Amber Roussel/ Click here for slideshows from Day 1 and Day 2​ They said it couldn't be done, that no one in Houston would dream of spending two days in the punishing August heat at an outdoor music festival.An anonymous Of Montreal member shows off his tiger style.​Rightfully (somewha ... More >>

This Will Destroy You, Unwed Sailor

Ambient and/or progressive fans will find plenty to like with these two instrumental groups

Hearts of Animals

One-woman band mixes up for shoegazers

Tristero

School of hard rocks

On Your Top Eight?

School of hard rocks