The Black Keys

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

25 Gorgeous GIFs From Lollapalooza 2012

Another Lollapalooza blog by our friends at City Pages -- ed. Lollapalooza 2012: The People BY REED FISCHER Ready for some GIFs? To quote Ozzy Osbourne, "I can't fucking hear you!" I said, ARE YOU READY FOR SOME GIFS?! This past weekend's running of Lollapalooza in Chicago was intense. The hea ... More >>

ZZ Top Returns to Espanol for September's LA FUTURA

Moments ago, ZZ Top's publicist Bob Merlis officially announced the title and release date of the trio's first studio album since 2003's Mescalero, a record even many diehard fans were starting to doubt was real. LA FUTURA will be released September 11 on American Recordings, the recently rebooted l ... More >>

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 5 Restaurant Playlists

The only times I notice the music in a restaurant is when it's really bad (Christmas music playing year round at Sichuan Cuisine), really out of place (Nine Inch Nails blaring out of the speakers at now-closed Tony Vallone joint Ciao Bello or Cannibal Corpse washing over the line of patrons at Amy's ... More >>

National Punch A Hipster Day: Are You A Music Hipster?

Today, June 1, has been declared National Punch a Hipster Day. First off, who the hell comes up with these random-ass holidays? As someone who gets called a hipster at times, I don't think I am. Maybe I'm a music hipster, in a sense. Most would say repeating this quote -- "I was listening to [bla ... More >>

Last Night: The Black Keys & Arctic Monkeys at the Woodlands

The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion April 24, 2012 It's hard to find an honest-to-Jesus, meat-and-potatoes (and possibly bourbon-soaked) rock show in 2012. Enter the Black Keys and the Arctic Monkeys last night at that lil' ol' shed in The Woodlands, who delivered nearly ... More >>

The Black Keys

Bonna-What?: How 7 U.S. Music Festivals Got Their Names

This whole week, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, featuring the Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Pulp, At the Drive-In, the Shins, AVICII, David Guetta and maybe one or two others, will be all anyone who follows music these days will be talking about. Then early next week, it' ... More >>

Heartless Bastards

Via The Great Eatlon, The Handshake Arrives

Each Wednesday (or Thursday, if the guy that was supposed to be interviewed disappears like a gypsy), 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 awf ... More >>

The Top 10 Laziest Music Videos Ever

We're obsessed with music videos lately, and have spent almost the whole of the weekend seeking new and brilliant ones in order to feature in our weekly column. We're just so impressed with the capabilities open to modern artists at all strata of stardom, and how brilliant a piece of work can come o ... More >>

Low Down: Do Bands Need Bass Players Any More?

Growing up in the '80s, there was a concern on the part of drummers that they would be replaced by drum machines. No one thought that every drummer in every band would be swapped out with a box, but spots in all sorts of projects normally reserved for a guy with sticks were being handed over to prog ... More >>

Commercial Break

103.7 is winning fans with its "adult alternative" format.

Black Keys Driving Their El Camino To Houston On April 24

Photos By Craig HlavatyThe Black Keys ​The Black Keys, who are currently riding a wave of adulation in the wake of this month's brand new release El Camino, are set to hit Houston on April 24. This Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion date will be the group's second at the venue, the first being an ... More >>

Black Keys Not Licensing New Record to Streaming Services

​There's been a furor brewing among people who love streaming music services like Spotify and Rdio over bands like Coldplay denying licensing to those services for new releases. Older albums are available, but bands have essentially delayed the release to streaming services. That was all well ... More >>

From Hayes Carll To Cults: Rocks Off's Top 50 Albums Of The Year

It's that time of year again when we add our two cents to the cyber-orgy that are year-end best-of lists. Music blog Paste and British mag Q threw down with their top 50 earlier this week, so why not Rocks Off? These things just keep starting earlier and earlier each year, like the holiday shopping ... More >>

Five ACL '11 Bands That Could Headline In 2012

Jim BrickerSmith Westerns at Fitz in February​This Thursday night, Rocks Off leaves for the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival at Austin's Zilker Park. This year promises to be a hot one, from the killer temperatures, the constant wildfires just miles from the venue, and the mouth of Frida ... More >>

Black Pistol Fire: The Austin Blues Duo's Favorite Bands

Black Pistol Fire whipping it on live​This week we talked to Black Pistol Fire, who headline tonight at Warehouse Live in the studio with Animal Farmacy. The Austin duo and proud transplants from Toronto are loud, aggressive and bluesy. Though they get comparisons to the Black Keys, they don't ... More >>

On The Road Again: Bikinis And Bands At The Hangout Festival

Photos by Craig Hlavaty Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, duh.​See the bands and bikinis of the Hangout Festival in our slideshows. Imagine the Austin City Limits Music Festival or even the rapidly approaching Free Press Summer Fest on pure, white sand just feet away from a (variably) blue ocea ... More >>

Punching a Wall

Jessica Lea Mayfield goes from a bluegrass childhood to buzzworthy "goth-blues drama queen."

Six Things The White Stripes Leave In Their Wake

​In the wake of the White Stripes' official breakup last week, the music world reeled with the loss of one of the defining bands of the past decade. Some applauded the end of a band they saw as too simplistic, buoyed by a sub-par drummer and warbling attention-addict. Different strokes, y'all. ... More >>

Two Timing: The 11 Best Rock Duos

Todd Cole​Wednesday night, noisy indie duo No Age (above) pulls into Fitzgerald's. The two-piece of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer Dean Allen Spunt, starting making waves in 2007 with their debut Weirdo Rippers. 2008's Nouns brought them even more acclaim, and along the way they gained fo ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Albums Of 2010

​Editor's Picks: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mojo: Big surprise, I know. But not only did "I Should Have Known It" vault into my Top 5 Heartbreakers songs the first time I heard it - and make me a bigger Led Zeppelin fan in the process - but others like "Candy" and "Good Enough" also held ... More >>

Music's Top Five Hottest Trends For 2011

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Every year-end Rocks Off prognosticates the likeliest trends in music for the upcoming year. So far, we've got a 100 percent success rate, although since the FBI made us take down all of our previous predictions, we have no way to prove it. So you'll j ... More >>

The Galleria Is Hardly A Winter Wonderland

confarta.com​Rocks Off, like the rest of you, hasn't finished all of our holiday shopping. Every Christmas, we tell ourselves that we'll begin earlier next year, but it never quite pans out the way we want it to. Ain't that feeling all too familiar? While we braved the crowds at the Galleria ... More >>

Katy Perry? For Album Of The Year? Seriously?

​Don't get Craig's Hlist wrong, we think that Katy Perry is extremely attractive. In fact, if we think about her long enough, it makes us want to cry and punch a wall. She's a buxom, bubbly, raven-haired pop star who dresses like she's expensive grandma candy. We even interviewed her last ye ... More >>

Music We're Thankful For This Year

​After the turkey comas subside and Black Friday opens the holiday retail floodgates, this year in music will be all but over. Yes, there's another month until the calendar flips over, but from here until early January, the only "new" music coming out will be the tide of reissues, box sets and ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 1

Brittanie SheyThe Ettes​Brittanie Shey: Things seem incredibly crowded, and hotter than Houston, if that's even possible. The dust is already flying. Some of us here braved the bro-crowd at the Black Keys (see jump) but some of us, seeing the mile of bodies wobbling before the stage, decided t ... More >>

Last Night: The Black Keys At The Woodlands

Photos by Marc Brubaker​The Black Keys Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 20, 2010 "Howlin' at midnight, winter creepin' in/ Feel like I've gone and lost my best friend" - Lucinda Williams, "Howlin' At Midnight" Did you see the moon Wednesday night? The "Super Harvest Moon" that, acco ... More >>

Austin City Limits Festival Releases Preshow, Aftershow Lineups

​This morning C3 Concerts, the folks behind the Austin City Limits Music Festival, announced the schedule for the pre- and after-show gigs surrounding the festival. As with this past March's SXSW, those without official credentials aren't totally being shut out of the fun. Starting Wednesday ... More >>

2010 ACL Line-Up Goes Live And (Early) By Surprise

The line-up for the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival went live at the fest's website at midnight this morning while the rest of the world was snoozing. Luckily we are up and stirring to bring it to you. No Pavement and no Soundgarden, but we do have the Strokes down. More commentary coming in ... More >>

Twilight: Eclipse And Other Promising Summer Soundtracks

​Summer isn't just the time to look forward to astronomically budgeted, noisy, overproduced blockbuster films, it's also the time to look forward to astronomically budgeted, noisy, overproduced blockbuster soundtracks. Is Graeme Revell still dicking around with ProTools? He is? Oh, super! Anyway, ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Alex Chilton Haunts A Festival Full Of His Musical Children

Dan OkoThe line for the Black Keys outside the Mohawk Saturday afternoon... we have no idea about the pinata truck, either​ After the mega-shows last SXSW with Metallica and Kanye West, the 2010 version of SXSW launched struck your humble badgeholder as busier than last year, just on a smaller ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs That Make Us Feel Like a Man, Baby!

Mad Men's Christina Hendricks makes us feel like a man in the best possible way...​He Said's view of manhood wasn't built on sweat and labor the way most guys would probably say. Early on in our musical journey, we always equated music to being sleazy and slithery, or just dancing. It makes sense ... More >>

Annuals, Jessica Lea Mayfield

The Magpies

Aftermath: The Black Keys at Meridian

Spiritualized at ACL Fest

The Black Keys Doggy-Paddle from Akron to Stardom

Rubber City Roots

XM Nation: Catching Up and Moving On

Who Stole the Roll?

SXSW: Health, The Cribs, The Black Keys, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

SXSW: Stomping my feet to British Sea Power

MySpaced Out: Fortress Europe

The Black Keys

The Black Keys perform Sunday, December 10, at Numbers, 300 Westheimer, 713-629-3700. Dr. Dog also performs.

Various Artists

Uptight Tonight! The Ultimate '60s Garage Collection

Heartless Bastards

Thursday, June 30, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh Drive, 713-521-0521.

Rust Belt Blues

The Black Keys bounce their Rubber Factory out of Akron, Ohio

Deep in The Throes

Tired of guitar-and-drums blues duos? You haven't heard Two Gallants yet.

Roll Over, Eric Clapton. And Tell Stevie Ray the News.

The blues is back -- rawer and louder (and punker) than ever