Blog: Houstoned Rocks

Ray Manzarek, the Doors keyboardist who brought both a light jazz touch and some seriously heavy piano-pounding to one of the most influential American bands of the late '60s and early '70s, pass... Continue reading "RIP Ray Manzarek: Bespectacled Keyboardist of The Doors Was 74" >

King's X Scout Bar May 18, 2013 When I spotted a poster advertising Saturday's King's X gig at Scout Bar a few weeks back, it was kind of a relief. The news coming out of the celebrated Houston ... Continue reading "King's X at Scout Bar, 5/18/2013" >

Scott H. Biram Continental Club May 17, 2013 Fans of Scott H. Biram's brand of rusty yelpin' need not worry, because the Dirty Old One Man Band still sheltering us in a hefty dose of antiquated ... Continue reading "Scott H. Biram at the Continental Club, 5/17/13" >

Between his video premieres and SNL performances, Kanye West managed to confuse me in a good way all weekend. So it's Friday night in Chicago and I had planned my night of catching up on televis... Continue reading "Kanye's "New Slaves" Video Bomb: An Eyewitness Account" >

Dave Matthews Band Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion May 16, 2013 "It's the humidity that makes the funk more glorious," mused a certain Mr. Dave Matthews in his amused, half-mumbled manner as he ... Continue reading "Dave Matthews Band at Cynthia Woods Pavilion, 5/16/2013" >

Age gets us all eventually. I'm only in my early twenties and already I'm having to do stupid things like eating healthier, quitting the smokes, and watching my blood pressure. So it really shou... Continue reading "Seven Recent Albums By '60s Artists That Don't Suck " >

A couple of caveats to this list: first, it actually includes more than ten songs. Since one is sung primarily in English and another isn't technically a "foreign" language, they're considered h... Continue reading "Different Tongues: 10 Foreign Language Songs That Rule the World" >

Normally Rocks Off's first post of every week is our selections for the best shows happening in Houston for that given Monday through Thursday. This week we'd like to try something a little differ... Continue reading "Win Tickets to Scoremore's Jambalaya Festival Right Now" >

• Essential Mix - 02.03.2013
• g-eazy - Marilyn (ft. Dominique LeJeune)
• RL Grime - RL Grime Mix For Diplo And Friends * * *UNCENSORED* * *

All this week we're going to look back over albums from undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. I have a feeling this one is going to get me into trouble, but hear me out, OK? Both... Continue reading "The Five Most Disappointing Goth Albums: Sisters of Mercy, Vision Thing" >

Tera Melos, TTNG, LIMB Fitzgerald's May 16, 2013 It's unusual to walk into a show where majority of the crowd is under legal drinking age, and Thursday's Tera Melos show happened to be one of t... Continue reading "Tera Melos, TTNG and LIMB at Fitzgerald's, 5/16/2013" >

Kylesa, Blood Ceremony, White Hills, Lazer/Wulf Walters Houston May 16, 2013 Ever notice how some weeks just never seem to end? There's nothing worse. On those occasions when each and every wor... Continue reading "Kylesa and Blood Ceremony at Walters, 5/16/2013" >

Steve Aoki Stereo Live May 16, 2013 According to the World Black Belt Bureau, the term "Dim Mak", also called the "Touch of Death," is defined as "the ancient martial art of striking vital point... Continue reading "Steve Aoki at Stereo Live, 5/16/2013" >

Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran Toyota Center May 16, 2013 There was a moment about a minute and a half or so into Thursday night's concert where Taylor Swift stopped, looked straight into one of the m... Continue reading "Taylor Swift at Toyota Center, 5/16/13" >

Electronic dance music genre is corrupting trap music, and this trend is driving me bonkers. It's worse than any country/rap collaboration ever made. The mix of electronic and/or dubstep and Sout... Continue reading "Waka Flocka Flame Needs to Stay Away From EDM" >

Jeezy Arena Theatre, May 17 A self-proclaimed hustler on the mike, the Atlanta rapper known as Young Jeezy has grown up quite a bit since his 2001 debut album dropped under the name Lil J. Risi... Continue reading "The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Jeezy, CCA Conservation Concert, etc." >

Hard to believe it's already been almost two weeks since we put up the 2013 Houston Press Music Awards nomination ballot. This year has not been a slow one, that's for sure. But now there is off... Continue reading "HPMA Nomination Ballot Is Going, Going... Only One Week Left" >

All this week we're going to look back over albums from undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. In 1999, Trent Reznor released The Fragile, which if not his greatest album... nah, y... Continue reading "The 5 Most Disappointing Goth Albums: Nine Inch Nails, With Teeth" >

Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they'... Continue reading "UPDATED: The Rocks Off 100: Kimberly M'Carver, Missouri City's Nightingale" >

Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they'... Continue reading "The Rocks Off 100: Kimberly McCarver, Missouri City's Meadowlark" >

Smashing Pumpkins Bayou Music Center May 15, 2013 This is not a Smashing Pumpkins review. Sure, the title of this post hints otherwise, but I assure you -- the Smashing Pumpkins broke up in Ch... Continue reading "Smashing Pumpkins at Bayou Music Center, 5/15/2013" >