Music

Normally, I’m not a big fan of Christmas albums. I get stacks of them every year, and less than half of them actually make it into my CD player (really, I don’t need to hear Josh Groban’s take on “Little Drummer Boy” or James Taylor doing the umpteenth-thousandth cover of “Jingle Bells”).

But this year, I received A Taste of Christmas Pudding, an annual holiday compilation that features Phoenix artists doing their renditions of Christmas classics. There are two things that make this album stand apart from the seasonal stacks of wax for me. One is the sheer diversity of musical styles on the compilation. We open with a heavy metal cover of the creepiest Christmas song ever, “Carol of the Bells” by Karnage, before gliding into the soulful acoustic sounds of Haven James doing “Please Come Home for Christmas.” Ultimately, the 12-track CD wraps up with a raucous rendition of “Feliz Navida” by Kraised, with some garage-country (“Blue Christmas” by Juicy Newt), some funk (“Funky Desert Land” by Isle of Essence), and some frat boy rap-rock (“The Night Before Christmas” by Zoom & the Sporty Forties) in-between.

How does music engage and touch us so deeply? Why is its presence so intrinsic to what we do? It’s everywhere, from stereos and headphones to movie soundtracks and commercials. Even our voices possess a unique musicality. It’s hardly essential to life, yet music’s been a part of every human…

Every year around the office, it’s the same old pickle: What do you buy for the Secret Santa gift exchange? You don’t want to go super-cheap, because somehow everyone always figures out you were the jackass who bought the stupid Bush-isms desk calendar, but you also don’t want to spend…

How is it that two of 2007’s top sellers — Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears — sold more than a million records in the U.S. without touring the U.S. this year? It’s because pity has become the new indispensable promotional tool. See how your faves have already maxed out the…

Music DVDs are typically used as stopgaps between CD releases or to drum up support for some other project an artist is promoting. Most amount to little more than music-video compilations, hastily shot concert films, or the latest chapters in continuing sagas about horny midgets and one very crowded closet…

Out of Sync, the new memoir from former ‘N Sync member, failed cosmonaut and gay American Lance Bass, came out on October 23. (It’s surprisingly good.) Over the phone from New York – where he’s living while starring in the Broadway musical Hairspray as Corny Collins — and speaking in a slight Southern twang, he was very congenial. We talked about his critical words for Justin Timberlake in the book (he felt “completely betrayed” when JT broke up the band for a solo career), coming out, and dating the actress who played Topanga in Boy Meets World.

Every obit, blog post, and newscast will not fail to mention his despicable treatment of his ex-wife Tina Turner — so consider it mentioned.

What those voices will not tell you is what you can only hear and feel in the urgency and ambition of his music. From his rock & roll-christening fuzzed guitar on “Rocket 88” to his psychedelic gospel funk; from his unvarnished tremolo on uncountable electric blues singles to the black-power groove of the instrumentals he recorded with another St. Louis master, Oliver Sain; from his transformation of rhythm & blues into rock into soul (and then back again), to his electrification of the wildest stage spectacles that pop music had ever seen, Ike Turner deserves the appellation visionary — and can hold his own with touchstone figures such as Scott Joplin, Chuck Berry and Miles Davis.

Because kids in 2007 aren’t buying CDs like kids of yesteryear did, retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target are threatening to scale back their shelf space to stock only new releases from artists with proven sales. Not a big deal if you buy CDs on Amazon or iTunes, but…

After more than a year of nonstop touring behind their latest album, Sacrament, Virginia thrashers Lamb of God are out on the road for one last leg before taking a much-needed break in 2008. But before the band closes the book on Sacrament, we caught up with ultra-friendly powerhouse drummer…