James Murphy

"New" Albums Composed of Old Music: Good or Bad?

It's 2013, and we've all pretty much finished our end-of-the-year lists. Now we look to the future. What albums are we looking forward to this year? If I had to guess, at least some of the best releases of the year will consist of music out of a vault or reissues of old albums. But is that a good th ... More >>

On the S.S. Coachella, a Wine-Tasting With LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy

Note: Liz Tracy, Music Editor of our sister paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times, is aboard the S.S. Coachella cruise this week while Houston continues waiting around for winter. Old punk guys and fancy wines: Two things that make sense together only now, mere days before the end of the world. Nothi ... More >>

Aboard the S.S. Coachella, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker Is a Popular Bloke

Note: Liz Tracy, Music Editor of our sister paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times, is aboard the S.S. Coachella cruise this week while Houston continues waiting around for winter. No one's really interested in reading about the actual performances taking place on this musical ship of contradictions, t ... More >>

Squared Circle: Top 5 Songs About Pro Wrestling

Although the wrestling boom of the late '90s is a fading memory, the absurd mix of sport and theater continues on in bingo halls and arenas across the country. Every night, under the bright lights, someone is trying to avoid being hit with a steel chair. It should come as no surprise that there are ... More >>

2011 Music Awards Showcase

Your guide to the bands and venues.

HPMA Preview: Get This Party Started Edition

Courtesy of GenesAddiction.net.Gene's Addiction (rock and roll all night and party...you know)​Music is primal. Sure, it can be intellectual, make you think and even change perspectives. But, at it's heart, music is about making you want to shake what your momma gave you. After all, rock and r ... More >>

The 2011 Houston Press Music Award Nominees

​Took us long enough, right? It's been so long since we've had the Houston Press Music Awards, which were last handed out the evening of August 11, 2010, that we almost forgot we were having them. Not really. How could we? If our numbers are correct, in the two weeks this year's nomination b ... More >>

The Best & Weirdest Pictures Of Prince 4 U

The symbol for "scrumptious"...​Today is Prince's 53rd birthday, making him just 4 days older than Rocks Off's dad, which puts things in perspective. When Prince was wearing an assless catsuit on televsion and writing "slave" on his face, Craig Sr. was teaching his son how 2 throw a baseball. ... More >>

Last Night: Donald Glover & Childish Gambino At Warehouse Live

Photos by Allison Wagoner​Donald Glover/Childish Gambino Warehouse Live May 3, 2011 WTF is "nerdcore"? That's what we went out to discover last night at Warehouse Live at the combination comedy and rap show performed by the same dude, Donald Glover, whose rap style as Childish Gambino has bee ... More >>

Houston Needs An Urban Cowboy Statue, Y'all

​For the past month, you have no doubt been reading about a group in Detroit lobbying for a Robocop statue in their city to commemorate the fictional (we believe) robotic law enforcement titan created by the evil corporate goons of OCP, using deceased Detroit officer James Murphy. Detroit may ... More >>

Last Night: Free Energy At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Free Energy Fitzgerald's February 3, 2011 See pics from last night's set in our slideshow. "This cold does some crazy shit to Houston," remarked Free Energy front man Paul Sprangers to his sparse but devotedly enthusiastic Fitzgerald's crowd Thursday. The band played ... More >>

Free Energy

Rocks Off's Favorite Albums Of 2010

​Editor's Picks: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mojo: Big surprise, I know. But not only did "I Should Have Known It" vault into my Top 5 Heartbreakers songs the first time I heard it - and make me a bigger Led Zeppelin fan in the process - but others like "Candy" and "Good Enough" also held ... More >>

Karina Longworth's Top Ten Movies of 2010

Capital Steps

Dispatches from ACL 2010

Friday Night: LCD Soundsystem At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Marc Brubaker​LCD Soundsystem Verizon Wireless Theater October 8, 2010 With Papa Rocks Off watching The National and Big Brother Rocks Off in Austin enjoying Day 1 of the 2010 Austin City Limits Festival, the introverted, nerdy member of the Aftermath team ventured out of our cave t ... More >>

ACL Day 2 Recap: M.I.A., Gogol Bordello, Deadmau5, Mouse Masks

credReturn of the Bamboo Banger: M.I.A.​Aftermath was eager to catch Gogol Bordello, only because our companion had missed their last Houston show at Meridian in 2008. We were convinced he'd get a kick out of them so we dragged him over to the AMD stage early in order to get a good view. One ... More >>

ACL Fest Recap, Day 2: LCD Soundsytem And Bachelorette Cops

Photos by Marco Torres​ For more LCD photos and lots more besides, see our slideshow here. LCD Soundsystem is not a band. It's a six-headed snake, that glides and slithers. It's as if when they perform live they are all mentally tethered into a computer. Saturday night's Budweiser stage show ... More >>

This Is Happening

Is LCD Soundsystem's party over on its latest — and perhaps last — album?

Rocks Off Explains Austin City Limits' "Survival Guide"

Mark C. AustinOne day Austin City Limits will live down last year's "Dillo Dirt" debacle. That day is not today.​This year marks the fourth year that Craig's Hlist will be covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival for the Houston Press and Rocks Off. Each year we get more acclimated to th ... More >>

Last Night: Mates Of State And Free Energy At Warehouse Live

Photos by Marc Brubaker / Click here for a slideshowFree Energy​Mates of State, Free Energy Warehouse Live July 8, 2010 There's nothing like getting ripped from your lemon grass tofu because there's a magician opening a Mates of State show. Aftermath was sitting down like a real, live human b ... More >>

Which ACL Headliners Will Play Houston?

www.eaglesband.comWho knew the Eagles shot their publicity stills for The Long Road Out of Eden at ACL 2005?​When the Austin City Limits festival lineup is released every spring, one of Rocks Off's favorite parlor games besides wondering what sort of Biblical weather-related calamity God will visi ... More >>

Top Ten Dance Collections of 2008, Both Mixed and Unmixed

Any knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry ... More >>

Do See Headlights at SXSW, Don't See YACHT

Drenched in Blog: Top Ten Albums of 2007

LCD Soundsystem, Reverend Horton Heat, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Muse, Wilco and Ghostland Observatory: Chris Gray Closes the Notebook on ACL

Drenched In Blog: Day One Da Nang

LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver

Anti-Rock

LCD Soundsystem's brain trust happily loses his edge

Return to Metal

Testament recruits heavy talent for new record