The Afghan Whigs

The 10 Worst Rock Singers of the '90s

In about 12 hours or so, the editor of Rocks Off expects to be a very happy man. One of our favorite bands of all time, and one that we haven't seen live in almost 17 years, is playing tonight at Bayou Music Center: Soundgarden. Certainly Soundgarden has a lot to recommend them. Guitarist Kim Thayi ... More >>

The Best Hip-Hop at SXSW 2013

I remember going to SXSW a few years ago without a place to sleep, less than $100 to spend, no agenda, badge, wristband, or RSVP. I bar-hopped up and down Red River, made friends, snuck into Stubb's, ate cheese pizza and drank Lone Star. After years of busting my ass as a music photographer and wri ... More >>

ACL Last Night: Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Zilker Park

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Bud Light Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park October 13, 2012 Rewind: SLIDESHOW: Neil Young, Jack White, The Roots: ACL 2012 Saturday Bands SLIDESHOW: Rainy Saturday at ACL 2012: Crowd Shots ACL 2012: Friday's 12 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker With ... More >>

ACL Last Night: Avicii at Zilker Park

See Avicii, Afghan Whigs, Florence the Machine, M83, Esperanza Spalding and more in our slideshow of Friday's ACL performers Avicii AMD Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park October 12, 2012 While the rest of the Rocks Off staff has fully immersed itself in EDM, I sorta took a res ... More >>

ACL 2012: Friday's 12 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker

Check out our slideshow of the crowds at Day 1 of Austin City Limits. In the interest of being tidy and not boring you with minute details of the three-day exercise in sweaty and human endurance underway in Zilker Park this weekend, Rocks Off is giving you a break. Our team on the ground at the Aus ... More >>

5 Bands to Avoid & 5 Bands to See at This Year's ACL

If you are lucky enough to be going to ACL this weekend, you have no doubt been sitting in front of your concert schedule plotting your movements for this coming weekend. Alternately if you are missing out on ACL, a lot of the bands playing have been through Houston lately, or will be in town this ... More >>

Dust Off Your Flannel

Does the looming '90s revival presage a Nirvana-style breakthrough?

Web Extra: The Rebirth of Underground Rock

I remember the first big boom in underground rock, because I was definitely not part of it. Instead, I was one of those kids for whom Nirvana's Nevermind (and their January 1992 Saturday Night Live appearance, in my case) kicked open the door to a much cooler musical world than the one I had been li ... More >>

Rocks Off's 2012 ACL Festival Houston Spillover Sweepstakes

This week has seen a temporary lull in festival season, after Bonnaroo and Electric Daisy Carnival this past weekend. Wait. Never mind. According to musicfestivaljunkies.com (who are these people?), three of them start today: BamaJam in Enterprise, Ala.; The Friendly Gathering in Windham, Vt.; and ... More >>

Top 10 Things to Expect at ACL Fest This Year

The Austin City Limits Music Festival burned the midnight oil overnight, announcing the 2012 lineup at precisely 12:01 a.m. Mercifully, all the rumor-spreading and speculation is now at an end and people can either go about the business of buying $200 three-day passes or shutting the hell up about R ... 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 >>

A Scorching Playlist For This Massive Heat Wave

Oh God... Will it ever end?​This morning a childhood friend of Rocks Off's who happens to be moving back to Houston texted us to say "64 degrees as I leave LA this morning. Better relish this moment 'cause I won't be experiencing this again for a while." To which we replied "Fuck no you won't ... More >>

Dazed And Confused 2: A Rock Of Ages For The '90s

​Broadway loves nostalgia, and they also love a sure thing. That's why most of the biggest hit musicals on Broadway right now are jukebox musicals that string together narratives out of popular songs. Musicals like Movin' Out, Jersey Boys, and especially Rock of Ages utilize hits from the past ... More >>

Last Night: Twilight Singers At Warehouse Live

Photos by Jason Wolter​Twilight Singers Warehouse Live Studio June 1, 2011 The Afghan Whigs are probably one of the most underrated acts to come from the grunge period, but they had all the best lines, a dynamic musical presence, plus one of the most delightfully rusty and eloquent voices in ... More >>

Twilight Singers

Happy Anniversary, Nirvana's Nevermind

​This past Friday, a significant musical anniversary came and went with barely a peep. It was only 19 years to the day the last album to cause a legitimate sea change in popular music - both the industry and the art - was released. Rocks Off knows that was a few days ago, but hey, we had a bus ... More >>

Five Memorable Artist-Audience Altercations

Chris GrayWilco's Jeff Tweedy in a much better mood, March 2008There may be a very good reason Van Morrison said practically nothing from the stage Saturday night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Judging from the plentiful comments here, here and over at the Chronicle's review, it would have ... More >>

Magnolia City Mixtape: Buxton, Wild Moccasins, Fight Pretty, Fat Tony, Fiskadoro And Still More SXSW Stuff

MCM doesn't really understand this Ford Fiesta Movement clown-car nonsense, but we do know Buxton - as lensed by sometime Rocks Off shutterbug Mark C. Austin - manages to sound awesome even packed into the back of a tiny sedan. The Wild Moccasins' tour kickoff will be April Fool's Day at Walte ... More >>

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

Noise goes whistling through the scenester artery's music venue graveyard.

Album of the Week: Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm

As much as he deserves one - make that several - Doug Sahm is a tricky subject for a tribute album. The late San Antonio native known as "Sir Doug" was a true musical polymath, a master of just about every form of post-WWII popular music, both the big ones - country, blues, rock ... More >>

Doug Sahm Tribute Album Due March 24

Vanguard Records (Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters, Kim Richey, the Watson Twins) announced today it will release Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm, a 14-song disc honoring the late musican known as Sir Doug, March 24. Artists include Delbert McClinton, Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo, Da ... More >>

Life in a Hurricane

The New Orleans sound of The Morning 40 Federation

The Voodoo Chile's Slight Return

Greg Ashley resurrects the Mirrors for a summer tour; also: beware of Zipperneck

The Return of the Last DJ

Former Lunar Rotation host David Sadof could be back regularly on the FM dial after a seven-year hiatus

Murderers in the Dark

The abrupt life and times of DJ Cuba Gooding Jr. come to an end this Saturday

Dutch Treat

Twice shy and dog-tired, the New Amsterdams keep turning heads

Whiggin' Out

Avant-rock takes shape in the Afghan Whigs and its wild front man

Commercial Potential

Rotation

Beyond the Stars

Debonair Whigs

Blues Kudos & Burb Buzz

Handy Houston bluespeople, and the next great wave from -- Katy