Nick Cave

Reverberations: The Rippers, Thee Exciters and Brimstone Howl

Ted Nugent Reloads, and Lots of Gun Songs

Pop Moment

Touring Songs

Sound Check

Rotation

Five Tweeting Musicians Worth Following

The Style Scout Lily AllenBoy oh boy, Rocks Off is getting carried away with this Twitter business. As addictive as it is, though, it's not without its disappointments. We were amazed and flattered when Bjork decided to follow us, and then just a little heartbroken when a quick glance at her ... More >>

The Mighty Stef

The Style Scout Lily AllenBoy oh boy, Rocks Off is getting carried away with this Twitter business. As addictive as it is, though, it's not without its disappointments. We were amazed and flattered when Bjork decided to follow us, and then just a little heartbroken when a quick glance at her ... More >>

Oz the Great and Terrible

Happy Australia Day, everybody

The Year in Albums

Happy Australia Day, everybody

Thunder from Down Under

Powderfinger has conquered the Fatal Shore. Is America next?

Murder by Death creates stunning, dark works that transcend the provocative name

Swan Songs

Nick Cave

CD Review

Favourite Sons

Down Beside Your Beauty

Poetry and Puncture Wounds

Down Beside Your Beauty

The Black Heart Procession, with The Castanets and Devics

Tuesday, July 25, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington, 713-862-2513

Scott Faingold Listens to Everything

The man continues to randomly listen to every promo CD sent his way, regardless

The Bad Seeds

Nick Cave pens a new breed of revisionist western

Neko Case

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Rotation

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Lhasa

The Living Road (Nettwerk)

Made With Love

Rosanne Cash is the friend who will say, or sing, what you can't

New Bands from Old

Or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore Audioslave"

Nightmare Before Christmas

The Voodoo Organist brings his Beelzebub blues to town

Bertrand Burgalat

The Sssound of Mmmusic (Tricatel/Emperor Norton)

New Blues

Alternative rock robs pop's cradle

Dexter Romweber Duo

Alternative rock robs pop's cradle

True Blood, Episode 10: Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Frenzy" and a Naked Crazy Town In Peril

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. Though we're picking up midway through Season 2, from here on out as ... More >>

Westheimer Block Party Listology: Flowers to Hide Chooses the Saddest Songs In the World

All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. Next up, Jesus and Mary Chain-y alt-rockers Flowers to Hide tell us the saddest songs in the world. claudiabelle†... More >>

Listology: The American Heist Soundtracks Their Funerals

​ ​Of all the bands to emerge out of the Houston music puppy mill this year, none has been as steadfastly working class and punk rock as the American Heist. Rocks Off first spied the band opening up for Florida's Fake Problems in May. At the time they were still called Born Anchor, but a Seattle ... More >>

The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.10: Cowboy Junkies and a Brief Lesson In Murder Balladry

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. With Season 2 just completed, Rocks Off is now working our way backw ... More >>

Freak Flags Fly At Art Car Ball

Photo by P3t3rT​The best thing about Art Car Weekend is it's the one weekend in Houston where everybody can let their freak flag fly. Last night at the Art Car Ball, Rocks Off saw a woman wearing nothing but Koosh Balls on her tatas and a dude who was way more excited than necessary to be wear ... More >>

"Rap Song Or Murder Ballad" Revealed

​ Rocks Off is really enjoying these little quizzes we've concocted, because it gives us a chance to revisit some of our favorite rap tunes and bask in the comforting knowledge that, whatever their time, place and circumstance of origin, songs about killing are pretty much all the same. We only wi ... More >>

Messer Chups' Important Lessons From The Vincent Price Bible

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. ​The perfect man, the man all other men should aspire to be, is Gomez Adams. Rich, passionate, kind, athl ... More >>

Nick Cave: Yes, He's Still A Creepy Weirdo (NSFW... Sort Of)

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. ​OK, Your daily VJ has brought some rather impressive bits of WTF over the course of this column and not ... More >>

The 11 Best Internet-Only Radio Stations

​Should Rice University's pending sale of KTRU to the University of Houston for use as a classical sister station to KUHF go through, Houston would lose one of its oldest sources of independent, over-the-air music programming. Having sat in KTRU's studio many times as a local artist telling th ... More >>

Seven Songs To Mourn A Beloved Pet

R.I.P. Cholula​The Craig's Hlist family had an emotional time this past week, to say the least. We had to say goodbye to our chihuahua Cholula after 11 years of bright-eyed yapping and begging for scraps and cookies. She had a bad back, which basically rendered her hind legs paralyzed the last ... More >>

Friday Night: Nitzer Ebb At Numbers

Photos by Groovehouse​Nitzer Ebb Numbers November 29, 2010 It was an odd feeling, watching Nitzer Ebb at Numbers Friday night. It was an odd feeling, because of the déjà vu. Nitzer Ebb was the first band Aftermath ever saw live - ever - opening Depeche Mode's Violator tour at the Woodlands ... More >>

The 10 Best Music Videos Of 2010

​The following should be heard in Ray Liotta's voice for maximum effect: As far back as we can remember, we always wanted to be a VJ. We grew up with MTV, and until we had to break it off after we found the channel hoing around with a pack of syphilitic realitysauruses, we never missed a cha ... More >>

Music's Five Most Notorious Killers, Besides The Band

​On St. Patrick's Day 1985, serial killer Richard Ramirez (right) murdered two women in Los Angeles, beginning a killing spree that would eventually tally over 14 people and leave him with the nickname "The Night Stalker." From a young age, Ramirez was fascinated and inspired by the occult and ... 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 >>

Out Today: Danger Mouse In Rome, Nick Cave & Queen Reissued

​It's back to the usual grind for Rocks Off after last night's late-night Austin City Limits Festival lineup announcement. Sadly, we will not be seeing the Foo Fighters play songs from Wasting Light in Austin come September. And yes, still playing it, along with a steady diet of Guns N' Roses. ... 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 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 >>

True Blood: Jinx Titanic & Super 8 Cum Shot for Dinner

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. ​The title of this week's column maybe one of the grossest th ... 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 >>

O'Death: Our Hope for a New Goth Sound

​A little while back, Rocks Off's editor hauled Gothtopia into his office and demanded that we lay out the 7 Ages of Goth, which we did to universal criticism. Some of that criticism had to do with the murky way we entered the modern era, in which we basically stated that goth as a musical mov ... More >>

Pop Rocks: The "Mane" Course -- Eight Famous Horses We'd Like To Eat

​Were you thinking horse meat was going to stay off the menu in American restaurants indefinitely? Neigh: Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could ... More >>

Our Top 10 Music Videos of 2011

​Our obsession with the medium of music videos remains as strong as its ever been, and we've done our best to bring as many of the best of the newest releases to you in the digital pages of Rocks Off over the course of the year. We're pleased to round up the cream of the crop as we did this ti ... More >>

'90s Soundtrack Battle: Angus & Batman Forever Duke It Out

​The movies couldn't be any more different. One is about an obese, kindly high school guy with a heart of gold. The other is about an crime-fighting millionaire orphan inside a cartoonish world full of super-villains, cringe-worthy puns, and Jim Carrey at his muggiest. Obvious Angus is a bette ... More >>