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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Who? Shane Tuttle discovered a talent for graphic design while working on his high-school newspaper and yearbook, and was sent, almost against his will, to the Al Collins School of Graphic Design. Now he runs his own T-shirt print shop, Updog, out of his home. He's specialized in direct-to-garment technology that allows artists to get small numbers of shirts printed without all that screen-printing hassle. From their, he'll either send you the shirts of sell them for you on his site.

But his other talent has been designing album covers. He's done covers for Dog Fashion Disco, Polkadot Cadaver, El Creepo, Salting Jobe, and Vampire Moose. His simple, eye-catching style tends towards street art mixed with early-'00s Cartoon Network. If you want someone to craft you a swift elbow to the eye-sockets, Tuttle is your man.

More »

Photo courtesy of Electric Attitude

Who? Sitting at The Harp on Richmond with Jordan Bell, Kwesi Sackey and Blake Shepard, founding members of funk/soul group Electric Attitude, it's easy to understand why Electric is so eclectic. Of the three, Shepard is the more straightforward, serious one. Sackey, on the other hand, gives off a more personable, relaxed vibe, while Bell is all smiles. This difference in personalities translates to the band's music, which they say is a collaborative effort between all seven group members.

"When we write, we try to incorporate some of everyone," says Shepard.

Electric Attitude also incorporates various genres into the group's music, adding elements of jazz and disco to their funky sound.

More »

Sama'an Ashrawi with Mayor Annise Parker at FPSF 2013

Who? Sama'an Ashrawi is a filmmaker, a documentarian of almost everything UGK and easily one of the few men Bun B trusts more than anything other than his shoe collection and family. Actually, Ashrawi is like family after the two befriended one another. Last fall, Ashrawi released his All Star Tribute to UGK documentary that brought Bun to tears.

"He reminds me of a young me," Bun says of the Houstonian and University of Texas graduate. Ashrawi is easily one of the more recognizable Trill Gladiators, thanks to his trusty camera and Trill Gladiators jacket. That, and when asked about himself for a change -- as opposed to asking questions to the likes of hip-hop super producers 9th Wonder and Just Blaze -- he's an open book.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Who? I've got to admit, the only reason I, also known as Jef With One F and No Idea What He's Talking About When It Comes To Rap, got interested in Renazons and their main boy Recon Naissance was because their Facebook was covered in a wonderful set of murky, mysterious live videos that made me think of a good David Lynch musical scene. Aside from that, though, Recon's skills are impressive and you'll be glad you stumbled across him and his group.

Recon started rapping the moment he first heard the genre, having grown up in a household that listened to country and oldies. He started out with a song about a Wookie, and while that sort of thing can conquer a niche market it's not the work of the elite. His mature compositions are almost anti-gangsta in their approach, deploring greed and upholding strong monogamous love. He's looking to be a poet, not a pop star, and to really say something from his soapbox.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

KlinchTheWorld.com

Who? DJ Klinch of "The Almighty Kracker Nuttz" introduces himself as "a Houston native who developed the itch to DJ while frequenting many of the big' parties' of the late '90s and Early 2000s." A 2002 move to San Diego set him about being submerged in DJ culture, where he says he decided to start DJing. Since Klinch moved back to Houston in early 2006, he says, "I have been trying the lace the people with 'That GOOD GOOD' every since.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

photo by Marco Torres

One of the city's hardest-working musicians is a percussionist known simply as "Chapy." Whether sitting behind the drum set for Los Skarnales or on the congas with The Suffers, this beat keeper interjects an unmatched energy and soul into every project he produces.

Who?"My name is Chapy, also known as Jose Luna," says Chapy. "I'm 24 years young. I come from a family of musicians, my entire childhood revolved around music. I have memories of my cousins and I dressing up as KISS and putting on concerts with buckets and cardboard guitars in my grandma's garage when I was about five years old.

"The best shows we ever put on were always during the holiday season, because we got to use fireworks," he adds. "One time we even had to cancel a show because we used an atomic smoke bomb in a closed garage and almost suffocated."

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Photo courtesy of Love Dominique

At first glance, you may notice Love Dominique as a svelte stunner with a wide-eyed gaze, a smile that can light up a room and a body that won't quit. Listen to her latest EP, Wicked Heart, however, and you find that she is also a talented R&B artist and songwriter who has been working professionally since 2009.

"My music has been considered sultry, seductive etc... and I agree," Dominique says. "I've created this sound for myself that blends some of the amazing things that I take away from my biggest influences, like the raspiness of Tina's [Turner] voice, the jazz phrasing in Billie Holiday's voice and the sultry low tone of Toni Braxton's voice."

True. Her Wicked Heart trailer, uploaded to YouTube, showcases a singer who has perfected the art of the siren song with a husky alto that plays off of provocative lyrics and a come-hither attitude that belies her short time in the industry. By the looks (and sound) of it, it won't be long before Dominique is purring on a national stage.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Photos courtesy of Giant Battle Monster

Who? Giant Battle Monster, we're fairly certain, is the first Rocks Off 100 inductee to have recruited someone to deliver aborted chicken meat from under his dress live onstage. Delightfully weird, a little disturbing, GMB's aggressive math-rock veers from raunchy death-metal to trippy prog-rock to outre sci-fi sountrack stuff in the course of the group's most recent album, February's Giant Battle Monster Vs. the Subterranean Antler Man.

The four-piece Houston band is the brainchild of possible evil genius Chris Gerhardt, who founded GBM at age 19. "I prefer not to sit still, focus on a single thing or sleep, really," he says.

Gerhart has a music degree and has also trained as an electrical engineer, and says today he works with small radio transmitters ("and pretty soon I'm gonna quit"). With GBM, he's recorded two albums he didn't have to pay for and once covered 25 percent of the country on a 32-date tour with local instro-metal group Cavernous and the now-defunct Barkus, Sly and the Golden Egg.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Who? "Y'all ready?" asks Casey Royer, lead singer to the men who join him in Houston's The Jobe Wilson Band. They nod, so he begins: "1-2-3-4." Uploaded as a grainy video to YouTube on August 22, 2011, The Jobe Wilson Band -- then a trio; now a quintet -- begins "Like the Rain," a slow and melancholy tune guided by Royer's rugged tenor.

A year later, the band, now with five members, performs a growling stand-up performance at the Dirty Bay Beer Company. This sound is less emotional and instead, more metallic and closer to the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound they are compared to. Today The Jobe Wilson Band is an Americana/Southern rock band consisting of Royer on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ryan Dickson on guitar, Lee Nuckols on guitar, Kevin Choate on bass and Anthony Comeaux on drums.

"We've been peddling our music around the great state of Texas for about five years or so, give or take," Royer tells us.

More »

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're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Photos courtesy of Kimberly M'Carver

UPDATED (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.) Corrects the spelling M'Carver's last name and the songbird she was compared to by Jimmy LaFave. Our apologies to Ms. M'Carver.

Who? Sometimes a hunch will pay off. Kimberly M'Carver's -- not McCarver -- latest CD, Hard Waltz, showed up in the mail here at the Press a week or two ago. Rocks Off did not recognize her name (forgive us), but knew enough names on the one-sheet bio to raise an eyebrow. The muscians who appear on Hard Waltz have also worked with Little Big Town, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and Austin acoustic sprites the Greencards, among others.

Once we had a listen to Hard Waltz, those names made a little more sense. M'Carver's fourth album, it's a no-frills, perfectly produced, largely acoustic set that should fit comfortably on your trad-country shelf next to the Dolly Parton, Kendalls and Sweethearts of the Rodeo records. Absent of any pickup trucks, shotguns, or crossover-pop ambitions, Hard Waltz requires little more than M'Carver's pristine soprano to carry it home. (Veteran Austin folksinger Jimmy LaFave once likened her voice to a meadowlark nightingale, which fits pretty well.)

More »