Local musician Robert Ellis, whose superb new album Photographs was recently released on New West Records, get the review treatment in the latest issue of SPIN magazine (with St. Vincent on the cover). Check it out online here. Ellis plays in Houston at Fitzgerald’s on 8.24.11 with Dawes.

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Earlier this year, Two Star Symphony–a band I had the privilege of seeing up close and personal a couple of years back on episode 8 of Live From Sugar Hill–asked its fans and well-wishers to help fund the recording of its new album, an original ballet score composed for the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre’s 2008 [...]

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You can read my review of Ellis’ new album, Photographs, here.

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Robert EllisPhotographsNew West Records Making him a name for himself with a stellar debut (2009′s The Great Rearranger) and a weekly residency playing old-school country covers at Houston clubs, Ellis’ latest release is full of snapshots of a man growing more mature. Some of the songs are actually downright cute, with Ellis singing about the [...]

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The thought of watching a cover band makes a lot of live music fans immediately cringe, and usually with good reason. For some, memories of sloppy college party bands come to mind (ever hear a drunken 20-year-old fumble though “Run Like Hell”?). For others, maybe it’s having to sit through a band crucify a Pearl [...]

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Check out various online coverage of Free Press Summer Fest on 29-95.com and Rocks Off. A big thank you and congrats to the Free Press and Summer Fest staff and volunteers for pulling this off yet again!  

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Co-Pilot is one of my favorite local bands so I am happy to see them on the list for this weekend’s Free Press Summer Fest, which is again held in Eleanor Tinsley Park on the edge of downtown Houston. Last year’s The Course Of Empire is a great album, which you can get from the [...]

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Japanese punk band Peelander Z has been added to the already impressive Free Press Summer Fest line-up. Get tickets to Summer Fest III–which is June 4-5, 2011, at Houston’s Eleanor Tinsley Park downtown–at www.freepresssummerfest.com. Also, Cut Copy will do a DJ set at Fitzgerald’s as part of the fest’s after-party festivities.

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MogwaiHardcore Will Never Die, But You WillSub Pop On its latest album, Scottish rockers Mogwai use the same sonic peaks and valleys formula for which the band is famous yet manages to sound as forward-thinking as always. The album is a wise progression for Mogwai, and the accessibility of “Mexico Grand Prix” and “Rano Pano” [...]

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PaleIn The Time Of Dangerous MenA Blake Records Last year, Pale released the single and video for “Catastrophic Skies.” While the song wasn’t exactly a stretch for the band, there were brief hints of a musical shift in focus. In The Time Of Dangerous Men finds the foursome interjecting rawer-edged garage and danceable 80′s New Wave [...]

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