We’re stepping forwards a bit in time for this installment of Live in Pictures, with pics from photographer Marshall Forse Walker of the relatively-recent show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion with Styx, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Tesla…
The backstage door opened, and a young woman wearing sunglasses peeked out. I thought to myself, “Perhaps the show is about to begin.” She wore a saxophone around her neck and took the stage alongside her bandmates, a blond, shaman-looking figure with a guitar and another mustachioed man on violin…
I know it’s been years in reality, but it seems like yesterday that we were treated to The Suffers and The Tontons on the same night together at the Houston Press Music Awards, and now we’re celebrating The Suffers’ second album, Everything Here, with two nights at The Heights Theater…
Back again with the Live in Pictures series we’ve been doing, this time with photographer Marshall Forse Walker’s photos from the reportedly-excellet Julien Baker show…
I’ve been eagerly waiting to see Caroline Rose live again since first seeing her at Stubb’s in March during SXSW. The act was by far my favorite takeaway from the festival, with such an impressive, energetic, bright, fun performance and no compromise in musicianship. These witty songs were well-put-together and enjoyable…
And here we go once more, with Marshall Forse Walker‘s pics from back in December when ZAO, Eyeagainst, and SLEEPERDRONE hit the now-shuttered Walter’s…
Hello, SCR friends! It took a little while to get beyond the allergies, but now I’m ready to get started with my field report on Houston’s newest “big field fest,” In Bloom Music Festival. I’ll begin with Day One and then cover Day Two soon, along with some random thoughts and hopes for the future…
Took a brief breath there in the post-Madness on Main, um, madness, but we’re back. Here’s the next in the “Live in Pictures” series, courtesy of Marshall Forse Walker, this time from last December’s Wye Oak show with Bayonne…
Digging back once again into late last year, here’s the next installment of SCR‘s “Live in Pictures” series, with photos by Marshall Forse Walker from the show at WHOM with Ministry and Death Grips…
Back with the second of our new “Live in Pictures” series, this time with murky British indie-rock guys alt-J, who played back in November of last year with Philadelphia duo Marian Hill. Here you go…
It’s been 12 years since singer/songwriter David Bazan has played under the band name Pedro The Lion. After a little over a decade as Pedro, Bazan split up the band to go solo, and since 2006, solo Bazan has made a bigger name for himself while also keeping his original devoted fanbase…
I am a big fan of Wolf Parade. As such, at this past weekend’s show, I was pleasantly surprised by the audience turn out — the crowd was large, warm, and loudly appreciative. White Oak Music Hall is a fantastic venue, making for a great-sounding, great-looking show in a great-sized room. Those few who came early were rewarded with fun NYC opener Charly Bliss…
Back in the chaos that was the latter half of 2017, our very own Marshall Forse Walker was able to get up to the WOMH and catch The Jesus & Mary Chain‘s triumphant return to Houston, alongside excellent rock dudes The Dig. No words to go with this one, just pictures — this is the first in a series of photos-only articles we’re calling “Live in Pictures”…
Now that the floodwaters have receded (mostly), and things have finally started to cool down (temporarily), we figured it was way past time to look backwards to happier days (again, mostly), namely to this past summer’s FPSF, back when we didn’t know who in the hell “Harvey” was, we weren’t all experts at ripping out drywall…
John Mayer, on tour to promote his new album The Search For Everything, with newest single “Still Feel Like Your Man” on the radio right now, performed this past Sunday in The Woodlands, Texas, out at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The multifaceted American singer songwriter, who’s best known for his Grammy Award-winning album…
It began with a screwup. On my part, mind you, nobody else’s. Before I get to that, though, there’re some things that need to be said about FPSF, aka The Festival Formerly Known As Free Press Summer Festival…
Top-heavy grays find me through a patchwork of dew and concrete, waiting for the bus to school. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but anxiousness, the feeling that the weight of the world was always coming down to me, was real. Like a lot of kids (maybe?) growing up around my age, I found a special comfort in The Pixies‘ Surfer Rosa…
The Deerhunter concert was one I had been looking forward to since the last time I was able to see them in concert, which, unfortunately, was several years ago at SXSW — far too long. The evening began with Jock Gang, a band from Atlanta that I wasn’t familiar with, but their pounding noise-rock-meets-Velvet Underground sound grew on me as they played…
In an effort to get out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons (not to mention an effort to return to going to more shows, after a long break), when I received an email asking to review Syracuse, New York’s Ra Ra Riot…
First Thing #1: Apologies for my slowness in getting this online; as happens with the whole having-kids thing, summertime means not only Free Press Summer Festival, but also Vacation Time…
First off, I’m very saddened to learn of FPSF attendee Megan Tilton‘s death. It makes reviews like this seem very trivial. I am praying for her family and hope they get to the bottom of the story of how she passed on…
The mesmerizing, hypnotizing, beautiful Angel Olsen and her four-piece band came to Houston for a show at Fitzgerald’s a little while back, bringing with them the opening band, Lionlimb, who happened to be Ms. Olsen’s guitarist Stewart Bronaugh and drummer Josh Jaeger‘s band. Lionlimb were an easy-going, light surf-rock-meets-Pink Floyd affair…
Shovels and Rope have played Houston before, but it must have been a while ago, because it seems like I’ve been waiting forever to see them live since I learned about them, thanks to them winning the Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist of 2013 over my beloved Milk Carton Kids. “Who are these guys that beat my favorite act?,” I thought…
With the majority of Houston’s social circles out and about, seeing and being seen wearing white at White Linen Night in The Heights, it wasn’t a huge surprise that REI Summer Fest became the ultimate (nearly-) private party of the weekend. For a little background, “REI” stands for “Real Estate Investing.” During the day, the attendees went to what I assume was…
Once upon a time, I was not a jaded 44-year-old hipster doofus. I was a 12-year-old kid who loved The Beatles, a band which belonged to the generation before me, and the progressive supergroup Asia, who I thought completely belonged to me…
Every January, I start the new year by trying to find my new favorite bands that will be playing at South by Southwest. This year brought me several candidates, but in the end a UK band named Temples won the crown. I saw them the first night of SXSW at a free unofficial show, then again at a day party the next day…
Back in the spring, I was pretty swamped, but I made a concerted effort to get out and see some very good shows, like this one, where Band of Skulls and opener SACCO made a great to of it up at Warehouse Live. I have a good friend named Sacco — Chris Sacco, from the Houston band dUNE.TX, to be specific — so when I first saw the name…
Ten years is a long time to be in a band. It’s like dog years. I’ve never been in a band for ten years — the band I’m in now has had the name for that long, but only one of the guys has been in the band the whole time… So like I said, ten years is a long time, and that’s something to celebrate…
Yes! It was a Monday night at a packed House of Blues with one of my favorite bands of the last five years, Manchester Orchestra. It was a great start to an incredible fortnight of music that would include HAIM and Mogwai later in the week and a long list of bands…
HAIM finally made their first trip to Houston, and after seeing them at Austin City Limits Festival in October, I had the date marked on my calendar months in advance. I’ve been a fan since early 2013 when I heard them by chance on satellite radio and I’ve been kicking myself ever since…
Last week at the Woodlands Pavilion was, for me at least, a tale of two bands. It was the best of bands, it was the worst of bands. Well, maybe that’s harsh, but I did come away from the show scratching my head…
This is a tough review to write, because the performance left me absolutely speechless. For the unknowing, Sharon Jones spent most of 2013 fighting cancer. Therefore, I’d expected that her high-energy shows of the past would remain in the past, but this night proved me so wrong…
I should know to always leave a little extra time between getting to a show and actually expecting to get in, but as usual, I was running on time instead of early. That nearly made me late — there was quite a line forming at about 4:30…
The dreaded common cold. It came out of nowhere, only two weeks after I endured the flu and one day into my Thanksgiving vacation. But it didn’t stop me from heading out to a sold-out House of Blues to see one of 2013’s feverish break-out synthpop bands, CHVRCHES…
My reason for going to Buzzfest, aside from photography, stems from an interesting summer I had this year learning Stone Temple Pilots basslines. I became a Rob DeLeo (bassist of STP) fanatic during this time, getting down about 18 songs of theirs note-by-note. I briefly joined a Stone Temple Pilots tribute band…
Sometimes a show is just a show. That sounds sad, but it’s the truth; not every show is mindblowingly awesome, and even the good ones are just “hey, that was cool”-level good, most of the time. Call me a cynic if you want, but I’ve been to a ton of shows…
I’m supposed to be on vacation! And here it is July, and I’m finally finding time to write about my Free Press Summer Festival experience. Right after FPSF I headed out on an incredible California and Oregon trip to surprise my sister for her birthday, as well as see…
If there’s anything I’ve learned in all the years I’ve spent doing critical writing, both in college and after, it’s that you can make anything have a theme. Not that everything actually has a theme, mind you, but rather that if you read…
What was I, a person who considers Jeff Buckley’s Grace to be the pinnacle of modern musicianship, doing at a black metal concert? A person whose only real venture into harder music consists of ownership of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s…
When Gary P. Nunn began to play “What I Like About Texas,” I said to Dosey Doe Music Cafe house photographer Dave Clements, “It reminds me of when Ray Wylie plays ‘Redneck Mother’.” “Ray Wylie hates playing ‘Redneck Mother’,” Dave said…
