Pixies

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 >>

Transcribing Is a Bitch: The Collected Craig Hlavaty Interviews

My last official day at the Houston Press is tomorrow, so these past two weeks I have been sifting through my body of work here at Rocks Off, almost seven years of words. I've been gleefully overdosing on nostalgia here at my desk, and I have (almost) no regrets. I'll have some more words on my depa ... More >>

Omotai's Terrestrial Grief Shows Daring Steps Towards Masterpiece.

Even though Omotai is always on the list of Houston's top metal acts, this is the first time I've really had the opportunity to check them out. Seeing as how their live prowess is always shouted from the rooftops, I was curious how that energy translated into their first full-length and oft-delayed ... More >>

Squeezing the Lemon: Led Zeppelin & the 10 Most Shocking Rock and Roll Reunions

Five years ago this week, Led Zeppelin fans young and old squeezed their pants full of lemon juice when the band's three surviving golden gods -- Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones - announced that they'd be reuniting for a one-off concert in London. John Bonham's son Jason would man the s ... More >>

Why Shouldn't the Zombie Apocalypse Have a Playlist?

Yeah, yeah, we all know it's 2012. Apparently the end of the world is near. The apocalypse is coming. Or better yet, a zombie apocalypse is coming. If you aren't so in touch as to what the hell a zombie even is, it's the living dead, and they are scary as can be. I have my roommate and good friend ... More >>

How Far Can We Get From the Velvet Underground?

Since Rocks Off bought a smartphone this past January, we have downloaded almost 400 songs from iTunes. We know, we need help. But we have become fascinated with the damn thing. One of the features we like the best is "Listeners Also Bought" at the bottom of each album's page, which we assume ranks ... More >>

They're Ba-a-ack!: The Six Best Coachella Reunion Performances

Over the weekend, we experienced one of the most exciting musical events of the year: The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. One of the main features of the festival is the reunion aspect. For most of Coachella's lifespan, it has featured at least one classic band back together for the first ti ... More >>

Readers Poll: The Most Underrated Rock Albums Of The '90s

For this week's readers poll, I asked our Facebook and Twitter chums their choices for the most underrated and unsung albums of the '90s. We all agree on things like Nevermind, Harvest Moon, Mezzanine, The Soft Bulletin, Odelay and OK Computer, but what about albums that fall through the cracks of ... More >>

Verizon Wireless Theater Now Known As Bayou Music Center

Verizon Wireless Theater will no longer be known under that name, because owner Live Nation's sponsorship deal with the communication provider has expired. The venue, which holds about 3,000 people within downtown entertainment complex Bayou Place, will now be known as Bayou Music Center. Rocks Off ... More >>

The Jesus & Mary Chain

R&Grunge: Four Grunge Covers We'd Like To See (& One Actual One)

The '80s and '90s will never die as long as young artists continue to keep their influencers alive in song. When news broke earlier this week that D'Angelo of all people have decided to cover Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", it marked one of the few times that R&B, a genre which now sadly revolves ar ... More >>

Trampled by Turtles

The 11 Best Female Rock Bassists of All Time

seanyseult.com​While there are and have been so many notable women in rock-and-roll, and we'd like to honor them all, we've chosen the specific starting point of recognizing rock's best female bassists. As a bassist, I looked up to nearly each and every one of these women as I learned the bass ... More >>

Grouplove

Four Musicians Roth Vs. U.S. Would Have Jailed (NSFW)

AP/Life.comSamuel Roth​Standing up for the First Amendement is a hard row to hoe sometimes. Sure, it's fun when you can defend someone like Marilyn Manson, but it's a lot less fun when you realize you also have to defend people like the Westboro Baptist Church. Thems the breaks, though. If you ... More >>

Bluefinger

Catastrophic Theatre stages a rock opera redemption.

Last Night: The Pixies At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Groovehouse​The Pixies Verizon Wireless Theater September 20, 2010 For more images from Monday's show, see our slideshow here. The Pixies are Costanza. In one episode of Seinfeld, a woman who had recently made George Costanza's acquaintance remarks to Jerry Seinfeld that there mus ... More >>

Will Concert Craziness Continue At Smashing Pumpkins?

Sunday night we watched a rambling and, supposedly, elegantly wasted Scott Weiland confound a packed crowd of Stone Temple Pilots fans at the Woodlands. The comments are blowing up left and right, and even industry blog Pollstar took to quoting us on the occasion. Somehow even Rocks Off got accuse ... More >>

This Week In Set Lists: Pixies, Kings Of Leon, Tom Petty, Rush, Etc.

GroovehouseKings of Leon, Toyota Center, October 2009​Rocks Off has been both eagerly anticipating and dreading this week for months now. Anticipating because several of our all-time favorite bands are playing within the span of a few days, as are a couple of our favorite newer bands (though n ... More >>

Doolittle

The Pixies la la love you.

Rocks Off Seeking Local Bands For New Covers Night

​It's been a while since Rocks Off has put on our promoter hat because, well, we've been kind of busy around here, but also because we've been cooking up an idea we think you're all going to like. We hope so, anyway. As you may have noticed, it's not that easy for artists to sell tickets thes ... More >>

He Said She Said: Fire In The Earhole!

thestarceleb.com​He Said began his week by watching a Houston landmark and one of his favorite restaurants of all-time go up in flames. We covered the Mai's fire most of Monday morning for Hair Balls, taking pictures of the smoke and flames as they got progressively worse and began engulfing the s ... More >>

He Said She Said: Fire In The Earhole!, Part 2

​To be honest, She Said can't really remember the last time she stepped foot inside Mai's. It was definitely several years ago, before she left Houston and then came back again, and it was probably with this guy, probably after a show. She Said probably had some Thai curry and hot tea, but she can ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

Oregon Trail

Art Brut taps ex-Pixie Black Francis for the down-and-dirty Art Brut vs. Satan.

MUGSY'S JUICE BOX

Stirred and Shaken: Mugsy's Juice Box

Photo by Troy FieldsThe new Mugsy's (2239 Richmond, 713-522-7118) is in the building formerly occupied by LZ Pub (RIP). If I had a dime for every night I spent posted up at the corner of the bar at LZ's, I'd have a shitload of dimes. Circa 2002-2003, no weekend bender was complete without at least o ... More >>

Michael Berry vs. Bill White

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Working With A God: How That New Musical By Pixies' Frontman Came About

Photo by Keith PlocekWe told you yesterday about how Pixies founder Black Francis is collaborating with Houston's Catastrophic Theatre on a new musical play. Now we have the details of how the seemingly improbable event came about.Jason Nodler, formerly of Infernal Bridegroom but now the heart (or, ... More >>

Working With A God: How That New Musical By Pixies' Frontman Came About

Photo by Keith PlocekWe told you yesterday about how Pixies founder Black Francis is collaborating with Houston's Catastrophic Theatre on a new musical play. Now we have the details of how the seemingly improbable event came about.Jason Nodler, formerly of Infernal Bridegroom but now the heart (or, ... More >>

Tomorrow Night: The Paper Chase at Walter's on Washington

Much like their associates in Houston's own Bring Back the Guns, the Paper Chase (a.k.a. the pAper chAse) combine the infectious weirdness of the Pixies with the wry self-consciousness of the Dismemberment Plan and the menace of Drive Like Jehu. The Dallas quartet is led by acclaimed independent ... More >>

The Deal sisters bring back the Breeders

Role Playing

Local Motion at Sound Exchange

Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is

Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.

Black Math Experiment, La Sed, MK Ultra

Live Shots: Kings of Leon

Frank Black

Frank Black appears Wednesday, October 11, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres. Call 713-225-1717 for more info.

Another Look at a Legend

Oasis

Don't Believe the Truth

Trend-Spotting

In a scandal-ridden election year, the year's top ten music stories were all about winning the popular vote

Trend-Spotting

In a scandal-ridden election year, the year's top ten music stories were all about winning the popular vote

Remaking the Band

Will the Pixies 2.0 thrive like Mission of Burma, or stumble like Urge Overkill?

The Pixies

Pixies (Spinart)

Flogging Molly

Friday, March 29

Sad Like Crazy

Love Songs to Death (Ojet)

Back in Black

Hail to the '80s

A rash of new compilations makes a case for the Me Decade's place in rock history

Rotation

Mom Muse

Rotation