Mali

Tinariwen

The 2011 Houston Underground Rap Awards, Part 1

The Houston underground rap scene is Delo's for the taking... for now.​Going in, everybody understood that, regarding underground rap in Houston, 2011 was going to be all sorts of reckless. There were just too many people doing interesting things for it not to be mayhem. And thus far, it's mos ... More >>

Comic-Book Alter Egos For Top Houston Rappers

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email introducingliston@gmail.com ... More >>

Killa Kyleon's Epic T-Shirt, Mixtape & Video Party: A Report

Photos by Larami Culbertson​Saturday afternoon, Authentik Music Group's most OMG figure hosted a release party for his new "Don't Mess With Killa" T-shirt that turned into a mixtape listening party that turned into a video shoot at Check Other Outfitters. Rocks Off went, hung out for some ti ... More >>

Saturday Night: Space City Beat Battle At Warehouse Live

Photos by Jae Tovar/The Hive SocietyBlack Keys (left) and Space City Beat Battle organizer T. Piper​Space City Beat Battle Warehouse Live Green Room February 26, 2011 7:36 p.m.: Earlier this morning, our sons played their very first t-ball game. T-ball teams for 3-year-olds are six kids deep, ... More >>

The Dark Side of Chocolate

Photos by Jae Tovar/The Hive SocietyBlack Keys (left) and Space City Beat Battle organizer T. Piper​Space City Beat Battle Warehouse Live Green Room February 26, 2011 7:36 p.m.: Earlier this morning, our sons played their very first t-ball game. T-ball teams for 3-year-olds are six kids deep, ... More >>

Buena Vista Social Club Screens At Domy Tonight

Greetings from Florida. By the time you read this, Hollywood Shuffle will be well entrenched in the Sunshine State on our annual pilgrimage to visit family, douse ourselves in cuba libres and eat our body weight in Cuban pulled-pork sandwiched and plantains. It's long been a dream of HWS's to visit ... More >>

iFest Aftermath: Not Bad For a Non-Music Festival

Breaking iFest news: Nigeria's King Sunny Ade & his African Beats have been forced to cancel their entire U.S. tour, including a scheduled appearance Saturday at iFest. According to a press release from the group's PR firm, Rock Paper Scissors, the U.S. Embassy has refused to grant visas to two ... More >>

iFest Aftermath: A Sensory Smorgasbord And Spontaneous Reggae Dance Party

GroovehouseNew Orleans Hustlers Brass Band​ The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley when it comes to Houston weather. That's how Aftermath found ourselves obsessively refreshing the iFest Twitter page around noon yesterday for some sign that the show would go on in spite of the stormy ... More >>

Houston International Festival

GroovehouseNew Orleans Hustlers Brass Band​ The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley when it comes to Houston weather. That's how Aftermath found ourselves obsessively refreshing the iFest Twitter page around noon yesterday for some sign that the show would go on in spite of the stormy ... More >>

World Music At iFest, From Galveston To Colombia, West Africa And Oklahoma(?!)

Over the next two weeks, Rocks Off will be previewing acts performing at this year's Houston International Festival Saturday and Sunday and April 24-25 broken down by genre (loosely, anyway) and with a guest pick from a true insider: iFest Director of Performing Arts Rick Mitchell. We begin with tha ... More >>

ACL Day Two: Deadheads Rejoice!

Photos by Mark C. Austin​An unexpected guest showed up yesterday afternoon at the Austin Ventures Stage with Austin-by-way-of-Louisiana slide guitar hotshot Papa Mali. The Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzman was backing up the dreadlocked Mali on drums.

Throw Down Your Heart

Web exclusive!

The Whole Wide World: Toubab Krewe's Live at the Orange Peel

Toubab Krewe Live at the Orange Peel (Upstream) www.toubabkrewe.com Listening to Toubab Krewe, you'd never guess that all its members hail not from the Western African nation of Mali, but from Asheville, N.C., where the band recorded its latest disc at the Orange Peel - the same venue where ... More >>

Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa

This group mixes Congolese traditions with bits of styles from around the world

Houston Music Festivals

The last three weeks of this month promise to be hard on your wallet, eardrums and liver

Indie Rock Rediscovers the Motherland

Kinky Afro

This Just In: Get Ready for iFest

Kinky Afro

Houston International Fest 2007

The Bayou City's biggest festival continues making strides toward total recovery

AFRICAN SOUNDS TAPES, CDS AND VIDEOS

Other record stores have bitten the dust, but not this one

Irie iFest

Finding the coolest runnings at this year's Jamaica-themed Houston International Festival

Get Back, Honky Cat

Barry Manilow whites the songs. Is that so wrong?

Jazz Show

David McGee's works riff on one another, like a certain musical genre

Papa Mali and the Instagators, with Hi Ficus and Brother Luck

Friday, November 29

Rocksteady Ska-lawags

Austin's Stingers put the buzz back in a tired genre by revisiting its roots

The Rage of Lee

Raj Pickens hips Houston to his "acoustic Gap Band" sounds

Emerald Bayou

The Irish take center stage at the 2001 Houston International Fest

Shelf Life

Long after Britney Oops her way to obscurity, these releases will continue to sing

Still Howlin'

Omar Dykes keeps finding ways to push the blues out there

Artsy Activist

Slinging a guitar and the New Testament, Bruce Cockburn preaches the gospel of progressive politics

St. Boss

Slinging a guitar and the New Testament, Bruce Cockburn preaches the gospel of progressive politics

Press Picks

Slinging a guitar and the New Testament, Bruce Cockburn preaches the gospel of progressive politics