Welp, it's been a year to say the least. There has been so much great music, amazing shows, new discoveries, many sad and happy milestones, and Rocks Off tried to cover all of it these past 12 months.

Next year will be even more awesome, for so many reasons, which we will get into the next two weeks. Which local rapper is about to sign a big record deal? Which local rock act is set to set SXSW on fire in March? Where will we be seeing shows in 2012? Will 2012 end in a great ball of fire and madness as the Mayan calendar predicted? There is no way to know, but we're sure Rocks Off will be there to make a Top 10 list about.

"Top 10 Songs To Listen To As The World Falls Down Around You!"

We have partnered with some of yours and our favorite locals to give you some free music this weekend. Some donated whole albums, while others are giving you select songs. Most of the links go to these artist's Bandcamp or Soundcloud pages that allow you to hear even more music from them. If you are into that.

Oh, and sorry-slash-you-are-welcome for that Christmas art above. A happy Whoop Whoop to you and yours this holiday season.

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​At 4:30 p.m. on Rocks Off's Facebook page, we will be throwing out five pairs of tickets to the much-anticipated Guns N' Roses show tomorrow night at the Toyota Center. That means you must "like" the page to have a chance to win. In order to win, be one of the first five people to correctly answer the one GNR trivia question we will load up.

If we were you, we would start looking back at Rocks Off's past GNR coverage, because this year there have been more than a few blogs about the boys. They are on the ballot for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year after all.

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​Now that the 2011 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is up and running, Rocks Off would like to offer you a little more incentive to attend the HPMA showcase on Saturday, November 12. Head over to the showcase's Facebook page, click "I'm attending" and you will be automatically eligible to win a two-night stay at South Shore Harbour in League City, that you have to use before Halloween. Rocks Off had our prom - or some high-school function - there a long time ago, and it's very nice.

But besides clicking that you're attending on Facebook, Rocks Off encourages you to actually attend the showcase as well; tickets are $10 and available at HPMusicAwards.com. The winner of the South Shore stay, which also includes a breakfast buffet for two, will be chosen Friday, so don't mess around.

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PB&J: Live from the ribeye.

​If there's anything Houston is known for more than live music, it's food trucks. So leave it to Swedish trio Peter, Bjorn & John to combine the two. What else would you expect from a band named after a popular sandwich?

Seriously, it's hard to find decent food on tour. If Rocks Off came all the way from Sweden to play a show, we'd want something besides a deli tray from Kroger. As part of PB&J's "All You Can Eat Tour" - in which, as you can see above, they have thoughtfully depicted Texas as a big juicy raw steak - they're teaming up with Oh My! Pocket Pies to give away some filled pastries and stuff 4 p.m. this afternoon at Warehouse Live. (Burgers, fries and desserts are also available.)

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Marc Brubaker (Little Joe Washington)/Courtesy photo (Cake)/Marco Torres (Slim Thug)/Mark C. Austin (Tontons)

​That's a neat collage of some of the folks playing this weekend's Best of Houston® BestFest, huh? We thought so. But we have a hunch some of you would rather see them in person.

Well, you're in luck. The rest of this week, Rocks Off is giving away what the U.S. Bureau of Weights & Measures officially calls a "shitload" of BestFest passes, both general-admission and VIP.

Intrigued?

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​Walter Peck: Because I'm curious. I wanna know more about what you do here! Frankly, I've heard a lot of wild stories in the media and we want to assess any possibility of dangerous and possibly hazardous waste chemicals in your basement.

Rocks Off can promise you we are not harboring any hazardous waste in our office - although it certainly looks like we might be - but since today is the last day our readers can sign up to ride shotgun with Rocks Off Sr. at Kings of Leon and Band of Horses Saturday, we thought it would be a good opportunity for us to illuminate the day-to-day reality of what it really means to be a music critic. The contest runs until 5 p.m. on our poll page.

There have been a lot of wild stories in the media, so Rocks Off Sr. and Jr. have been emailing back and forth the past couple of days in the hopes of shedding some light on a profession that is often envied and just as often misunderstood, even by our fellow journalists. Rest assured, it's not all backstage passes and free CDs.

Chris Gray: Whenever I meet someone and tell them what my job is, they almost always say some variation of, "That sounds like a cool job." I tell them it is, but it's also a lot of work. What about you?

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Gabriel Jones/Merge Records

​Rocks Off recently reached a pretty cool milestone, and we're about to hit another. So we'd like to say thanks.

Last week we got our 3,000th Twitter follower on @hprocksoff, and we are a handful of folks away from our 2,000th Facebook "liker." What are you waiting for?

In related news, Rocks Off Sr. has a pair of Arcade Fire tickets for the ex-Woodlanders' "homecoming" show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion next Wednesday somewhere in our office. But they're not staying there for long, because we want to give them to you.

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Also, Posies tickets half-price all day...

​Just thought we'd remind you one more time. Doors open at 8.

See another special offer from your friends at the Houston Press and Rocks Off after the jump.

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Michelle Tovar/ Tax the Wolf on Facebook

​For the night before Thanksgiving, there is a lot going on in Houston tomorrow. But with all due respect to Robert Ellis & the Boys at Fitzgerald's and the LAX/Young Girls show at Groundhall - not to mention, on an entirely different scale, both Bruno Mars and Devin the Dude at Warehouse Live - we think the return of our Reduxion series has got the drop.

For one thing, it's free. OK, so is Ellis, but ours is early; doors open at 8 p.m. And we've got this year's Houston Press Music Award winners for Best Progressive Rock, Tax the Wolf, doing the Velvet Underground's Loaded - that's the one with "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll" and "Head Held High" - plus a set of their own stuff (lots from this year's lauded debut Hold the Sun, we imagine), and a collaboration with equally progressive local rap duo JUZCOZ. And, to round it out, DJ Dirty Feet on the in-betweens.

But don't let Rocks Off tell you why you should come to Walter's on Washington tomorrow. We're kind of biased anyway. We'll let Tax the Wolf do that instead.

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Michelle Tovar/ Tax the Wolf on Facebook

​We're baaaaaaack!

After a couple of months off - hey, things happen - Reduxion, Rocks Off's monthly series of local bands covering their biggest influences, returns just in time to get you nice and hung over for Thanksgiving dinner. (Kidding... we think.)

This month we're proud to welcome the reigning Houston Press Music Award winners for Best Progressive Rock, Tax the Wolf. After some early talk of Radiohead, Tax the Wolf - who released their trippy psych-rock palette of a full-length debut, Hold the Sun, this summer - surprised us a little when they announced their intention to cover the Velvet Underground's Loaded.

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