Muse (Band)

David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: The Soundtrack (With Endnotes)

One of Time magazine's Top 100 English-language novels of the last century, the late David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is a gargantuan book. Its cutting, comedic views cover a broad swath of American life, but focus on family dysfunction, chemical dependency, depression, entertainment saturation ... More >>

Rating 5 2012 EDM Crossover Attempts, Best to Worst

As 2012 comes to a close, it's time for all of us to take a look in the mirror and accept the truth: Whether we like it or not, EDM is a major force in music and is here to stay. We all knew it was coming; anyone who has spent time listening to mainstream radio has heard how house music has become ... More >>

Remembering Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie With Fondness and Weariness

Seventeen years and change on, opinions on the Smashing Pumpkins' sprawling 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness differ vastly from one fan to the other. Most everyone agrees it's bloated, and some even call it the beginning of the end for the band, the point when Pumpkins leader ... More >>

ACL 2013: What's Next For Texas' Other Big Music Festival?

As we close the books on ACL's 2012 festivities, full of mud -- but not too much mud, Iggy Pop's elastic skin, Neil Young's reverb, and light shows aplenty, we look forward to the 2013 edition of the Austin megafest. Rewind: ACL Festival Expanding to 2 Weekends in 2013 Rocks Off's Complete ACL 2 ... More >>

UME's Lauren Larson: "Summer Fest Will Always Be Special To Us"

Not until I conversed with UME frontwoman Lauren Larson did I realize that 2009's Summer Fest was the band's first real festival, and afterwards they would find themselves on even bigger stages than the one at Eleanor Tinsley Park. The Austin-based band plays this year's fest at 6 p.m. on Sunday eve ... More >>

Is Houston Goth Turning Towards Deathrock?

Traditionally, Houston's contribution to the world of goth music has been primarily electronic-based. During the '90s and early 21st century, bands like Bamboo Crisis, M87 and Asmodeus X helped the city gain a reputation as a hot spot of dark EBM and techno-industrial all across the country. Even t ... More >>

The 10 Greatest Rock Bassists of All Time

Me (right), God help me, and Billy Sheehan circa 1990.​Last week, Neph Basedow wrote her list of the 11 greatest female rock bass players and she took a little heat for it, including some from me. But, she also got a lot right. At the very least, she highlighted the most under-appreciated musi ... More >>

2011 Music Awards Showcase

Your guide to the bands and venues.

Saturday Night: Stage Frights & Ending the Vicious Cycle At Numbers

Photos by Jef With One F​The Stage Frights, Ending the VIcious Cycle Numbers September 24, 2011 The Stage Frights are only on their fourth show, but between the husband and wife team of Larry Rainwater and Spleen there are decades of experience in goth musical excellence. Previously they've b ... More >>

Happy Birthday Butch Vig: A Quick Discography

Butch Vig making the donuts.​Today is Butch Vig's 55th birthday. The acclaimed record producer and sometime musician has been at the helm of some of the best grunge and indie records of the past 25 years, and his production style has made him one of the most sought-after sound architects in t ... More >>

Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx: The Rocks Off Interview

"I'm dying for rock and roll to become exciting again" ​Tonight, the grand rock and roll triumvirate of Motley Crue, Poison, and the New York Dolls pulls into the Toyota Center. Each band comes armed with decades of experience, great songs, and a boatload of modern influence, including the Do ... More >>

The 25 Most Influential Bands Of The '90s

Trent Reznor, you know, before the Oscar and all the weightlifting. ​As a music writer, we are asked constantly to compare the new with the old, to decipher the periphery where modern bands' influences come from to understand where we are going and what we are seeing. We can hear everything Ke ... More >>

Dangerous Men

Atmospheric rockers Pale leave L.A. for Houston - and a record deal.

Tweens Shrug Off Influence Of So-Called Slutwave Singers

Purple Apple's Olivia, age 13, prefers Joan Jett to Katy Perry.​Earlier this year, Rocks Off took a curious delve into the bewildering appeal of today's successful female pop singers. When such artists are aptly and comfortably categorized into a subgenre called "Slutwave," it makes us wonder ... 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 Seven Ages Of Goth

​This is not meant as a complete history of goth, as that would be a huge book. Instead, we're aiming to give a simple overview of the musicians, songs and albums that have most defined the genre. Many deserving artists have been left out, and some that we're sure some people feel are not wor ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Shows Of 2010

Marco Torres​Editor's Picks: Mary J. Blige, Reliant Stadium (RodeoHouston), March: Exquisite. Beach House, Walter's on Washington, April: Can't hate on this one either. Magical. Wu-Tang Clan, Numbers, December: Against all odds, they brought the motherfuckin' ruckus.

Castle Lights' Paint the Stars Outshines The Sky

​Almost the first story that Rocks Off did here was music that had its inception at Red Tree Recording Studio. Since then, the studio has sent us solid gold album after solid gold album, and their latest release is no exception. Meet Castle Lights, formerly Light Parade. Jeremiah Wood began t ... More >>

Last Night: Blitzen Trapper At House Of Blues

Photos by Jason Wolter​Blitzen Trapper House of Blues October 12, 2010 Because Aftermath only found out former KLOL morning DJ Mark Stevens had died a few hours before Blitzen Trapper went onstage at House of Blues Tuesday night, we couldn't help thinking about that while the Portland six-pie ... More >>

Ten Rejected Glee Episodes

Fox​It seems like Glee can make any song, no matter how trite, terrible, or just inappropriate for singing by high-school-age children into a runaway smash pop hit. However, Rocks Off would like to hypothesize that there are artists that are beyond even Fox's ability to mold into mainstream. ... More >>

Red Tree: A Modern-Day Motown Quietly Emerges In The Woodlands

Photos by Jef With One FIn the Pines: Red Tree Studios from the street​Having been a recording artist, Rocks Off can tell you that we would rather peel potatoes than go into a recording studio. What you see as the acme of artistic self-expression is often painstakingly and painfully taken apar ... More >>

How Is Houston Doing ACL-Wise?

Marco TorresThe Eagles have flown, at least as far as Houston is concerned.​If you have even bothered to venture out of doors during these days of 105-degree heat indices and "Unhealthy" air-quality advisories, you may have noticed that things have been a little light on the roadshow front lat ... 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 >>

Rocks Off Blogger Writes Book. Seriously. For Real.

​From the sometimes (check that - always) demented mind of Jef with One F, Rocks Off blogger and co-lead vocalist of "Houston's most notorious band" Black Math Experiment, comes The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change The Fact That You Cannot Kill David Arquette - a book at once musical me ... More >>

The Expat

Steve Steele finds a harder-edged sound on his debut album.

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 >>

Why Is The Buzz Still So Popular?

​The only other concert in recent months to sell out at a Gaga-like pace has been the perennial Buzzfest, the semi-annual schlock-rock festival organized since 1995 by Houston's "new rock alternative," 94.5 The Buzz. The concert sells out almost every time - like it is Saturday, but you can probab ... More >>

Lotus Effect Channel Soul Asylum, Shakespeare On Rabbits And Royalties EP

Elise Blog​ OK, in your head, we want you to picture Soul Asylum. No, not "Runaway Train." We mean the energy, angsty effervescence of something like "Somebody to Shove." Wed that haunting voice and throbbing guitars to a mild prog-rock sensibility and you have Lotus Effect's EP, Rabbits and Royal ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Get In The Groove

South by Scorsese: The festival in a single 6th St. tracking shot. Video by Craig Hlavaty It didn't take long for Aftermath to remember you don't have to look very hard at all for music at SXSW; in fact, we were barely even awake when it happened. After arriving in Austin late, late Thursday night, ... More >>

Music Cities

Texas has its own brand of March Madness

Season of the Witch

U2's awe-inspiring Reliant Stadium show prompts a search for the unknown — and unknowable — in music.

Aftermath: U2 at Reliant Stadium - One Love, We Get to Share It

Photos by Groovehouse/ Click here for a slideshow​A day or two before U2 (and love) came to town, a friend emailed us a joke. At least we think it's a joke. It really doesn't have anything to do with U2, except that it has everything to do with U2. "I was so depressed last night thinking about the ... More >>

U2 and Muse Set Lists from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington Monday

Pete Freedman/ DC-9 at NightIndependence Day in Arlington? Nah, just U2's ginormous 360 "Claw" stage.​ It's a little less than 36 hours and counting until U2's 360 Tour stops at Reliant Stadium, and Rocks Off is starting to get excited. Really excited. Bono and the boys were in Arlington at Cowboy ... More >>

Vinyl Heads

They're turning to needles, looking for purity

32 Jazz: Where To Start

1998 Houston Press Music Awards Nominees

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Going Public

Tanya Donelly fights her shyness to strike out on her own

Houston Press 1997 Music Awards Preview

A guide to who's who in the Press Music Awards ballot. Plus, the where and when of the Press Music Awards Showcase!

Press Picks

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Press Picks