Neko Case

Depeche Mode, The Cure, Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Lionel Richie Head 2013 ACL Fest Lineup

Moments ago, Depeche Mode, The Cure, MUSE, Kings of Leon, Atoms For Peace (featuring Thom Yorke and Flea), Lionel Richie, Phoenix, Wilco, Vampire Weekend, The National, and Eric Church were announced as the headliners of the 2013 Austin City Limits Music Festival, which plans to expand to identical ... More >>

Black Dahlia: 5 Songs for a Famous Murder Victim

Sometime between this day and January 15 in 1947, a young woman named Elizabeth Short was brutally murdered in Hollywood. She was nicknamed The Black Dahlia in the papers, who portrayed the 23-year-old aspiring actress as a midnight-party prowler who brought about her own demise through her wanton w ... More >>

Friday Night: Andrew Bird at House of Blues

Andrew Bird House of Blues October 12, 2012 Once in a while, I think it's healthy for critics to step outside of their comfort zone and challenge themselves by tackling an assignment that is foreign to them, to test their powers of observation and analysis in a neutral environment. It's easy to rev ... More >>

Saturday Night: Florence The Machine at The Woodlands

Florence and the Machine Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 29, 2012 Was it really a mere five months ago that local girl Florence Welch and her band were playing the (then) Verizon Wireless Center? Life moves pretty fast, as Ferris Bueller once said, and F tM's rise has been meteoric indeed ... More >>

Shot In The Dark: Angels & A-Holes

When you're in the photo pit taking pictures for a publication such as Rocks Off, you can become the unwanted center of attention from both the audience and especially the artists. Most of the time you are only a few feet away from the performer, and often in their direct line of sight. They can and ... More >>

Ask Me Anything: What Would You Ask Your Favorite Artist?

"What do you love about music?" ​Part of the job here at Rocks Off - this daily Make-A-Wish kid circus - is talking to musicians and people in the musical know. One of the most fun parts of the job is booking an interview with an artist coming to town and cramming for a few days into the nook ... More >>

True Blood: Over The Moon For Neko Case

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​It seems so rare that in the world of True Blood we get to f ... More >>

True Blood: Nick Cave & Neko Case Ditch Faeries For Zombies

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Expectation. That's the word of the day, gentle readers, of ... More >>

Get Ready: True Blood Report Returns Monday

​Rocks Off is super-excited that we'll once again be bringing you coverage of the music featured in Season 4 of Alan Ball's HBO adaptation of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels. The fourth book is our favorite in the series, and as each season sequentially corresponds with the books ( ... More >>

True Blood: Nick Cave, Neko Case Open Season 4

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​We're a little more than a month away from the fourth seaso ... More >>

Top 10 Hottest Jewish Musicians

​The Festival of Lights is upon us, as the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah officially kicks off at sundown tonight. Some of music's leading bigwigs will likely be sparking up the menorah, among them Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Leonard Cohen, Diamond David Lee Roth, Perry Farrell an ... More >>

Aftermath: Camera Obscura Charms A Surprisingly Well-Mannered Audience

Photos by Marc Brubaker​ Aftermath is always interested in how the residents of Houston represent our fair city when a touring act with any sort of notoriety comes through town. Houstonians don't always have the best reputation as concert-goers, whether it's because we talk too much during any giv ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Rachael Ray's Party Pics

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttRachael Ray and husband John Cusimano, lead singer of The Cringe.​John Popper of Blues Traveler (although our favorite Popper role is as himself on the HBO series Z Rock) livened up The Cringe's otherwise banal set at the Rachael Ray party on a cold, gloomy Saturday ... More >>

How Far Did We Have to Scroll Down In the 2010 Pazz & Jop Poll to Find a Houstonian?

Congratulations, Slim Thug! Your album was Houston's biggest critical success last year... sort of.​Our sister paper in NYC's Cooper Square, the Village Voice, released its Pazz & Jop poll Thursday. The annual coast-to-coast survey of music critics ranks the previous year's best (according to ... More >>

Previewing the Year Ahead In Local Releases

​ 2010 looks like it's going to be a banner year for music in general. We can look forward to a new Arcade Fire opus, another Spoon outing, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and a Beach House record that is already getting Animal Collective-like buzz. Rocks Off is chomping a ... More >>

Curse Your Branches: The Top College-Rockish Records of 2009, Part 1

​Yeah, pal, that's "college rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "indie," "alternative," "hipster," etc., etc. Let's not overthink this: Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock 'n' roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experim ... More >>

In the Pit

It's easier than ever to take pictures at concerts. Unless that's your job.

Aftermath: Metric's New Wave Coming-Out Party at Warehouse Live

[Ed note: Yes, we stayed for the entire show this time, but then... oh, never mind.] Photos by Marc Brubaker​ When Aftermath first walked into Warehouse Live Monday night, we figured there must be some sort of secret Canada-to-Houston information pipeline we'd never heard about. We didn't think To ... More >>

Aftermath: Deer Tick Remembers Lightnin' Hopkins - Do You? - at Warehouse Live

Photos by Eggs/ breakfastontour.com​ Deer Tick's set Sunday night at Warehouse Live, opening for the lovely and photo-shy Neko Case, was the perfect capper to a weekend that saw us become sleep-challenged conspiracy hounds and road-weary travelers all within the span of a day. Too bad that the ban ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Deer Tick's Front Man Goes for That Chased-by-Alligators Sound

Providence, R.I., band Deer Tick may hail from "Up North" but their sound is purely steeped in grungey folk and rockabilly yelp. They, in fact, hear this description so much that the band has started to rebel against it by in fact upping the dosage on their new More Fuel For The Fire EP, which just ... More >>

Neko Case

See What You Missed (or Didn't) at Westheimer Block Party With These Lovely Videos

Video by Craig Hlavaty Right now Rocks Off HQ looks more like a MASH unit as we slowly recover from this weekend's Westheimer Block Party. We won't be on the shelf for long - not with the Marleys, Dwight Yoakam, Neko Case and lots more coming up soon - but while we take a day or two to recover, we ... More >>

Fall In

He Said She Said: Our Top Ten Girl-Crushes

Ask any musician: there is something basically and viscerally masculine about the industry itself, and that masculinity can seep into the most feminine of rocker chicks and indie music queens. That swagger, that attitude, that confidence coupled with soft hair, a pair of soft lips and a softly lilti ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Alice Cooper, BT, Drive-By Truckers, Neko Case, Skinny Puppy, Wanda Jackson, etc.

​Alice Cooper: Sun., Oct. 11. Verizon Wireless Theater. Bamboo: Fri., Oct. 2. Arena Theatre. Billy Joe Shaver: Sat., Nov. 28. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. BT: Fri., Sept. 4. Rich's Houston. Colin Hay: Sat., Oct. 17. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Dave Seaman: Fri., Nov. 27. Rich's Houston. Drive-By Truck ... More >>

John Mayer Is Full of Crap

​Something about John Mayer just gets under Rocks Off's skin. We'll admit there was a time he made us believe our body was a wonderland, and yes, we've even wanted to "run through the halls of our high school and scream at the top of our lungs." But no more. The quiet little guitar player we once ... More >>

Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

Morrissey Taps His Never-ending Reserve of Lyrical Bons Mots

Bigmouth strikes again.

Artist of the Week: Small Sounds

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. It seems contradictory, ... More >>

The Best of ACL Fest

Thrift Store Cowboys

Lubbock sextet stays true to country, bluegrass and blues

Howe Gelb

Mr. Unpredictable visits the Orange Show

Jolie Holland

Springtime Can Kill You

Neko Case

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Let There Be Rock

Ten albums that make it easy to avoid fretting about your old-fashioned, Rockist ways

New Pornographers

Twin Cinema

Band of Easy Virtue

Meet the New Pornographers, who change genres as often as porn stars change partners

Show Cased

The good, the bad and the Mogwai highlight SXSW

Crap Shoot

Nothing's guaranteed at SXSW - not even a seat to Dee Dee Ramone's show