Wayne Coyne

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 >>

The Flaming Lips Keep Right On Terrorizing Mainstream Rock

Next Tuesday, Flaming Lips will release their long-awaited new album, The Terror. Though the band has been constantly busy with side-projects over the last several years to tide their freaky fans over, The Terror marks their first "official" entry into their primary discography since 2009's Embryoni ... More >>

The 10 Worst Things at SXSW This Year

This year Rocks Off and DC-9 at Night, the music blog at our sister paper Dallas Observer, teamed up to bring you only the most unfortunate moments from last week's SXSW madness. Security and Cops Gettin' Wild: Look, I get it. Every drunken dickhead in town "knows someone" or thinks he has pull at ... More >>

Top 20 Things We Need to See at SXSW Next Week

Next week the Rocks Off Action Team goes to Austin for Ess Ex Ess Dubya for another four days of fun, sun, eavesdropping, and live music. And swag, of the free kind, not the kind that Justin Bieber is still trying to make happen. This year at SXSW we're looking forward to many, many things, includ ... More >>

Skirting Visual Controversy: 4 Musicians Who Have Pulled Their Own Videos

Recently No Doubt pulled the video for their song "Looking Hot" in response to criticism that it was discriminatory against Native Americans -- ironic, considering November is Native American Heritage Month. Smooth one, Stefani. Still, the revived '90s ska band shouldn't feel too bad. They're in so ... More >>

Last Night: The Flaming Lips at Free Press Summer Fest

See Rocks Off's complete Free Press Summer Fest coverage. Be sure to also check out our slideshows: the sexy, sweaty Summer Fest crowds and the bands of Summer Fest 2012. The Flaming Lips Free Press Summer Fest, Eleanor Tinsley Park June 2, 2012 It's the fashion these days for artists to revisit t ... More >>

At War with the Mystics

Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne talks Summer Fest, new music and Dark Side of the Moon.

Erykah Badu's Adventure Time: "We Just Freak It"

Songstress Erykah Badu first brought her own brand of spirituality, sensuality, and street smarts into the R&B/hip hop charts over a decade ago with her debut album Baduizm. Her sound, managing to speak to both the worlds of hip-hop and soul, as then predicted has proven to be something of long-term ... More >>

Missed Connections: 5 Summer Fest Weekend Team-Ups We'd Like To See

In terms of pure variety, the weekend of June 1-3 may be the most stacked weekend of music Houston will see this year, and that's not just because of Summer Fest. In addition to the wide variety of acts playing Eleanor Tinsley Park there's the regular weekend mass of shows taking place across the ci ... More >>

Summer Fest Round Table: Guilty Pleasures & Geeking Out

Today Rocks Off our writers covering Free Press Summer Fest this weekend, "which artist playing the festival is your guilty pleasure or makes you geek out the most?" We're glad to see we have so many Morris Day fans in our midst. Neph Basedow: My Summer Fest guilty pleasure will be the Flaming Lips ... More >>

Oh My, A List!: 7 Tips For Free Press Summer Fest Newbs

This will be the Rocks Off team's fourth Free Press Summer Fest outing since the festival began that summer of 2009. I remember it well: The small stages, the blistering August heat, The Sword, rolling in the grass with Hippie Mike, all of it. The main stage headliners were Of Montreal, Explosions ... More >>

Vinyl Gets Another Spin

Showing it has more lives than a cockroach, vinyl has been reborn, resulting in some beautiful music. But sometimes production values in records and turntables are lacking.

Dig This: Back To Back, Black Congress, dUNETX, Frants, and Ghost Mountain

The current volume of local music is staggering. New Houston bands are born daily, and all too often pass away just as quickly. Rocks Off wants to help you (and ourselves) keep up. Houston may have gotten colder, but that's just an excuse to hunker down with those headphones, discover some local m ... More >>

RIP Ryan Dunn: 15 Car Crash Songs

film.com​Rocks Off has always been a Jackass fan. The exploits of Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O and the recently deceased Ryan Dunn may not be for everyone, but we've always maintained it's better to be a willing participant in mayhem and physical abuse than not (*cough* America's Fun ... More >>

Happy Birthday Brian Wilson: His Modern Indie-Rock Offspring

Brian Wilson in watery repose​Today, ace pop-music architect and Beach Boys talisman Brian Wilson turns 69. In his nearly 50-year (!) wake of music he has helped give rise to generations of shameless copycats and other reverent rockers who find inspiration in his musical style. Obviously, th ... More >>

Last Night: Weezer At Free Press Summer Fest

Ed. Note: Much more on Summer Fest to come throughout the day. Jim Bricker​Weezer Free Press Summer Fest Eleanor Tinsley Park June 5, 2011 For almost two hours on Sunday night, Weezer led a sea of thousands through some of the saddest and happiest times of their lives an their 18-song set of ... More >>

Top 10 Musician Tweets About Bin Laden's Death

​Last night, this member of Rocks Off was sitting at a pizza parlor off Ella when he found out that our military killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. It was a monumental moment in time, as we sat back and looked at the past decade and half of our lives, since we learned his name in 1998 with th ... More >>

"Auld Lang Syne," In All Its Many Colors

​Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don't know what this song means. "Should old acquaintance be forgot" - does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or if we happen to forget them, that we should remember them, which is not possible because we've already forgotten them? ... More >>

Top 10 Non-Traditional Christmas Songs

"Baby Jesus, born to rock..." ​Amidst the time of year when we're bombarded with cliché holiday tunes and trite Christmas-carol covers, Rocks Off will now take time to appreciate a few original nontraditional takes on festive songs. Whether they're dismal adaptations of holiday malaise, tale ... More >>

5 Ways To Make Twitter Really, Really Awkward For Your Friends

Twitter: Five ways to fail​Twitter is a fun thing. We can keep up with our wittier friends, pry into the lives of our favorite celebrities, and know instantly when our favorite websites put up new content. People love to shit on Twitter, but how else would you see pictures of Piccadilly Circus ... More >>

Last Night: Of Montreal And Janelle Monae At Numbers

Photos by Marco Torres​Of Montreal, Janelle Monae Numbers November 4, 2010 At ACL we lamented that The Flaming Lips performances have evolved to be less about the music and more about the floor show. You know what you're getting when you pay for a Lips concert ticket - Wayne Coyne will get in ... More >>

Our Readers Go Loco for Zelko Bistro.

ACL Day 3 Recap: Eagles, Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne's Diet

Ed. Note: Updated at 1:42 p.m. to include information on Don Henley's medical condition we received from Eagles manager Irving Azoff. Photos by Marco Torres​It's just a few hours after the Eagles left the stage at this year's Austin City Limits Festival, closing out the weekend. Rocks Off mad ... More >>

ACL Day 3 Recap: Flaming Lips, The National, And We're Out!

Photos by Marco Torres​If there was one band this member of Aftermath was most looking forward to seeing at ACL this weekend, it was the Flaming Lips. But explaining why requires a bit of a backstory. From 1980 to 2003 (the first 23 years of our life) we lived in Oklahoma City. In the early-' ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 3

Marco TorresTrombone Shorty​Craig Hlavaty: News coming out of the media tent: Don Henley of the Eagles had a stent put in his heart this past week. He will be singing and possibly playing guitar, but not exerting himself on drums. This could very well be the last Eagles show for a while - if e ... More >>

Last Night: Neon Indian At Groundhall

Photos by Jim Bricker​Neon Indian Groundhall October 6, 2010 For more images from Wednesday's show, see our slideshow here. In-the-know scenesters amassed Wednesday night as Texas' indie darling Alan Palomo performed to a half-full Groundhall, although many local vets still refer to the ware ... More >>

ACL: What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Last Year's Mudbath?

Mark C. AustinCan't WAIT to go back!​In exactly one week, Rocks Off will be broadcasting live from the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin's Zilker Park. This will be our fourth spin around the grounds since 2007, and every year we swear we won't fall in love with a bartender in the me ... More >>

Devo, MGMT, Mastodon, Devin, Black Congress Head Fun Fun Fun Lineup

GroovehouseMGMT at House of Blues in June​The official lineup for this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest, set for November 5-7 at Waterloo Park in the heart of downtown Austin, was released moments ago. In terms of firepower, this year's Fun Fun Fun roster arguably brings the festival within striking di ... More >>

Blogging Bonnaroo: Meghan Hendley's Top 5 Festival Memories

Photo by Amber Roussell/See the slideshowTyagaraja performs at the Bonnaroo Music Festival​Houston artist Tyagaraja recently won the Ford Fiesta Team Houston Battle of The Bands, the grand prize of which was a trip to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Meghan Hendley, keyboar ... More >>

Blogging From Bonnaroo: The Flaming Lips, Star Death and White Dwarf Do Dark Side of the Moon

Photo by Mark C. Austin/See the slideshowFlaming Lips play Dark Side Of The Moon at the Bonnaroo Music Festival​Houston artist Tyagaraja recently won the Ford Fiesta Team Houston Battle of The Bands, the grand prize of which was a trip to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Me ... More >>

Blogging from Bonnaroo: Meghan Hendley of Tyagaraja Checks In

Wayne Coyne with Meghan Hendley/Click here for a slideshow​Houston artist Tyagaraja recently won the Ford Fiesta Team Houston Battle of The Bands, the grand prize of which was a trip to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Quite the opportunity for exposure, no? Meghan Hendley ... More >>

Adios Summerfest, Until Next Year

Marc Brubaker Black Congress​Sophomore slumps apparently don't apply to Summerfest, seeing that Saturday and Sunday they came out swinging all over Eleanor Tinsley Park and Allen Parkway with Girl Talk, Slim Thug and Bun B, and the Flaming Lips, alongside dozens of Houston's best local band ... More >>

Flaming Lips Close Summerfest With Love And Lasers

Marco Torres​ Houston, you don't get a spectacle like this but maybe once a year. Last October we had U2 with the Claw inside Reliant Stadium, putting on a show that literally had the building shaking with spirit and goodwill. Sunday night at Eleanor Tinsley Park, the Flaming Lips closed the secon ... More >>

Mud And Dreams At Summerfest: A Personal Reflection

Jen Dulisse​ Due to a previous commitment to my Houston 48 Hour Film Project team, I missed Summerfest on Saturday, so it was with eager anticipation that I got into my car and started on the trip from my home in Friendswood to Eleanor Tinsley Park. And that was how I found myself thinking "I hope ... More >>

Rocks Off's Handy Summerfest Survival Guide

Shelby Hohl​There's a slim chance you may have already heard that our distinguished competition, Free Press Houston, is throwing a little shindig this weekend, which they have for some reason chosen to call Summerfest. We understand it's some kind of outdoor festival and a couple of bands fr ... More >>

Stardeath & the White Dwarfs

Wowee Zowee! Summerfest and Pegstar Do It Again!

​ Since the Summerfest 2010 announcement in February, Houston has been abuzz about the festival's line-up, heading up the Flaming Lips and Girl Talk. Word came down last night that another name has been added to the list of headliners. Let's just say that you summer babes may have to cut your hair ... More >>

Aftermath: More Free Press Summer Fest at Eleanor Tinsley Park

Photos (except where indicated) by Craig HlavatyB L A C K I E and friends​ "How is this Houston?" "How the hell is this Houston?" Aftermath couldn't stop saying that phrase over and over again to whoever we found ourselves walking with the past two days all over Eleanor Tinsley Park at the inaugur ... More >>

This Weekend: The Flaming Lips' Christmas on Mars at the Alamo Drafthouse

Hmm, the science-fiction film Christmas on Mars bills itself as "a fantastical film freak-out featuring the Flaming Lips." Considering the Lips are one of the country's wildest psychedelic bands, this ought to be interesting. The cast features ex-Houstonian and Lips drummer Steven Drozd, ... More >>

Christmas on Mars

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SXSW Last Night: Coconut Coolouts, Black Angels, Young Mammals, Tontons, Studemont Project

What's in Your Favorite Singer's Backseat?

John Popper, Chingo Bling and John Mayer

The Flaming Lips

At War with the Mystics

Dizzy Does It

Earlimart, with Okkervil River

Saturday, April 30, at Mary Jane's Fat Cat, 4216 Washington Avenue, 713-869-5263.

The Face of Rock and Roll

A new coffee table book spotlights a vital, neglected art genre and gives a few Houston poster artists their due

The Flaming Lips

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.)

Rotation

Quadruple Weird

"Experimental" doesn't quite describe Flaming Lips' Zaireeka