Westheimer Block Party

Cornbreadd Goes To Washington: Maurice Duhon Talks U.S. House Campaign

Cornbreadd - make that Maurice Duhon Jr. - is, to use a term of the trade, good copy. He's articulate, opinionated and effervescent, a tireless self-promoter with a genuine concern for and interest in the welfare of others - first his fans as the rapping front man of Houston Press Music Award winne ... More >>

Cheerleader

St. Vincent's Annie Clark went "off the grid" to craft new album Strange Mercy.

Four More Years

After 1,661 days (and counting) of immersion in the Houston music scene, a look back.

State Of The Scene Part 1: Growth, Splintering & Change

Fatal Flying Guilloteens, left, in 2007 and their descendents Weird Party (right) at Summer Fest 2011​Thursday is the fourth anniversary of the Live Earth concerts, which Rocks Off remembers today less for any of the music - Madonna and Gogol Bordello is the only thing that readily comes to mi ... More >>

Honky Tonk Blood A Macabrely Nice Surprise

Dawn McGee​See more photos from Thursday's premiere in our slideshow. Rocks Off will admit we were skeptical going into Thursday night's premiere of Honky Tonk Blood at the River Oaks Theatre. It's not so much that we thought the idea of a black comedy set in the Houston music scene was dubio ... More >>

The Main Event

Midwinter festival brings 12 hours of music to "The Island."

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 >>

Tax The Wolf Sets Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Marco TorresTax the Wolf at this month's Houston Press Music Awards ceremony​Tonight Tax the Wolf unleashes their new album, Hold The Sun, onto Houston audiences at Mango's. In the wake of the band's Best Progressive Rock win at this month's Houston Press Music Awards, they have a lot to prove ... More >>

Is The Westheimer Block Party Done For?

Bun B For Lafayette - ATLiens Freestyle from Decatur Dan on Vimeo. • Dave Bry at the witty pop-culture blog The Awl writes about rap music's eternal embrace of consumerism, using Bun B's most recent release, a rap written in honor of Japanese clothing company Lafayette, as an example. It's a great ... More >>

It's Not Easy Being Green: How Venues And Festivals Handle All That Garbage

Marco TorresSold-out Jay-Z crowd = A lot of trash at Toyota Center.​ On any given night, 18,000 to 25,000 people fill the Toyota Center, whether to watch the Rockets play or to see Lady Gaga in full regalia. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces more than ... More >>

Solid State: Houston's SXSW Class of '10

Houston's SXSW Class of '10 is as diverse as the Bayou City.

One to Grow On

What we'd like to see happen in Houston music this year.

Electric Warriors

Life's a gas for local glam-rock sensations Roky Moon & BOLT.

Our Texas High School Rock Off Preview, Part 2: The Handshake and Living Vicariously

This Friday, House of Blues hosts the first (and perhaps only) Texas High School Rock Off, co-sponsored by Fuse, Sonicbids and Rocks Off our own damn selves. See here for information on tickets, which start at the allowance-friendly price of $8. The winner receives $500, a trophy and an opening slot ... More >>

Previewing the Year Ahead In Local Releases

​ 2010 looks like it's going to be a banner year for music in general. We can look forward to a new Arcade Fire opus, another Spoon outing, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and a Beach House record that is already getting Animal Collective-like buzz. Rocks Off is chomping a ... More >>

Honky-Tonk Revival

Is Houston ready for country? Again?

Aftermath: A Weekend With the Magically Reappearing Ralf Armin (and Some Really Gross Portapotties) at Westheimer Block Party

Brittanie SheyDead Roses - that's the ubiquitous Ralf Armin in the hat at left - on the roof of La Strada​ You know how sometimes you'll learn a new word, and in the weeks that follow you'll realize you're hearing that word everywhere, eavesdropping it in conversations and reading it in the newspa ... More >>

See What You Missed (or Didn't) at Westheimer Block Party With These Lovely Videos

Video by Craig Hlavaty Right now Rocks Off HQ looks more like a MASH unit as we slowly recover from this weekend's Westheimer Block Party. We won't be on the shelf for long - not with the Marleys, Dwight Yoakam, Neko Case and lots more coming up soon - but while we take a day or two to recover, we ... More >>

One Final Word About the Westheimer Block Party, and the Rest In a Few Easy Clicks

Marc Brubaker​ Things could have gone smoother this past weekend on lower Westheimer. No one is denying that. Rocks Off has learned to live with the inevitable scheduling delays and interminable sound checks, as we're sure most Westheimer Block Party regulars have, but performers please take heed: ... More >>

The Lost Weekend?

Now expanded to two days, the Westheimer Block Party faces its steepest challenge yet.

Life on Mars

Grammy-winning prog-punks The Mars Volta mellow out on Octahedron.

Houston Music Fight Club: Michael Berry vs. Outlaw Dave, Don Walsh vs. Dirty Jeff Smith, Notsuoh vs. Mango's

​Another week and yet another clash of the sorta-titans, wherein we pit some of Houston's best and brightest music luminaries against each other in brutal mortal combat. This week we will briefly take a step away from the burgeoning Bayou City indie scene to spotlight two of the town's radio perso ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Catch Rocks Off on Inside the Scene Online, "Troubador Tuesdays" at House of Blues, Greg Ashley Returns, etc.

If you missed Channel 39's Inside the Scene documentary about this year's Houston Press Music Awards, you can now watch it online here. Rocks Off, who absent-mindedly forgot to set his DVR (mostly because we don't have one), hears he came off as remarkably well-spoken and erudite, so thanks to the ... More >>

Artist of the Week: 10th Grade Cutie

Each Wednesday, 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 awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.Courtesy 10th Grade CutieSm ... More >>

The Texas Traveler: San Antonio's Fiesta

(Note: We're starting a new occasional feature on travel suggestions within Texas for these economic times when you put off that two-week jaunt to Tahiti. Today: The Fiesta in San Antonio -- Not just a supermarket!)The economic downturn may have dented your vacation budget, but gas prices are below ... More >>

Morrissey Taps His Never-ending Reserve of Lyrical Bons Mots

Bigmouth strikes again.

Seattle's KEXP Loves Our Hungry Villagers

Photo by Craig Hlavaty The fruits of Hungry Villagers' labors have seemingly paid off. Today, while perusing the concert industry website livedaily.com, we saw the Houston indie-pop group has today's free download of the day, new track "Tree Full Of Ghosts." Further investigation led us to the music ... More >>

Skybar's Saturday-Night R&B "Party With A View"

Up, Up and Away

Hit the Evening Showcase and Keep Corporate Hands Off the Westheimer Block Party

Pony Up, Houston.

What Makes Cornbreadd Run

How the Houston rapper turned a near miss on MTV into a victory for himself — and his city

Tonight: Cornbreadd's Season Finale Watch Party at Boondocks

Courtesy MTV The Cast of Tha Money & Tha Power; Cornbredd is at far left Cornbredd rocks the Westheimer Block PartyHouston MC Cornbreadd, frontman for vicious rap-rockers Tha Fucking Transmissions, is one of those people you call with a couple of simple questions and wind up on t ... More >>

Congratulations to 2008's Sammy Award Winners

Favorite Live Act; Popsters; EP; 7" 2008: Wild Moccasins A bunch of local musicians' Christmases got a little merrier Saturday night. At the everybody-loves-it Big Star Bar (nice fire pit, adorable kitty cat), scenesters from all quadrants of the city gathered to learn who would be going ... More >>

This One Time at BandCamp

White Swan Runs Red

The Second Ward hardcore venue got a little too punk last month

Texans Electric Touch Top Amazon's MP3 Chart

Sitting Down with La Porte's Buxton

Houston Music Festivals

The last three weeks of this month promise to be hard on your wallet, eardrums and liver

You Should’ve Been There: Wild Moccasins and Sabra Laval at Boondocks

Good Budd

At Lawndale, it's popcorn, boogie boards and neuro-linguistic programming

Graffiti Artist Sues H.P.D.