Amazon.com Inc.

Google Play Music All Access Is The Goofiest-Sound Spotify Competitor Ever

There's a new Spotify competitor in town, and its name is--take a breath here, if you're reading out loud--Google Play Music All Access. What separates it from Spotify, besides the increased time it will take to type (or speak into your Google Glass)? It always costs money--$9.99 a month, after a 30 ... More >>

Will Pandora and Spotify and the Internet Ever Figure Out How to Pay Artists?

Music-discovery apps like Spotify and Pandora are free, but they have social costs. Among them: Every six months or so, we get an open letter from an artist who is being cut comically tiny checks for thousands of plays on one service or another. This week, it's musician and label-owner Blake Morgan, ... More >>

Ask a Mexican on Ranchera Music and 1950s Insults

By Gustavo Arellano

Semenology Is The Art of Bartending with Man Sauce -- And There's A Cookbook.

You might have already heard about Natural Harvest, a cookbook that features all sorts of sweet and savory recipes all of which feature one quite special ingredient, sperm. The book was released in 2011 and caused, as you can imagine, quite a fuss. But it seems author Paul "Fotie" Photenhauer had a ... More >>

Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer Super Review Is Slightly Insane

The Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer, which does exactly what it says it does and little else, is widely regarded as one of the most useless kitchen instruments ever invented. So why then has it been reviewed more than 3,000 times on Amazon.com? See Also: --Monti Carlo Makes Banana Bread Muffins --Conside ... More >>

Amazon AutoRip: Is There Any Point To Trying to Prolong the Life of the CD?

So this one time, my college roommate was gonna buy this album. It came in two formats: CD and MP3. The CD version was a few bucks cheaper. I argued with my roommate that a CD was a better deal because you also got a physical copy of something, but he went for the MP3 download anyway because he didn ... More >>

Your Holiday Heavy Metal Gift Guide

What's the most metal gift you've ever received? I can think of several that stick out: Led Zeppelin vinyl, a miniature model of Dimebag Darrell's Razorback lightning bolt guitar, spike-bedecked high heels that would make a dominatrix envious, a stripper pole paired with a handle of whiskey. But I ... More >>

Amazon.com Will Start Selling Wine

The internet's monolithic online retailer, Amazon.com, is poised to begin selling wine through their Marketplace sometime later this month. See Also: --Pavle Milic's Wine-Making Adventure --5 Ways to Open a Bottle of Wine (Without a Corkscrew) We can only imagine how handy Amazon.com's customer r ... More >>

To Decant or Not To Decant

Welcome to Vine Geeks, where Brian Reeder and Pavle Milic of AZ Wine Merchants take the drinking game quite seriously. Pay attention -- you might just learn something. You may have heard of this 'decanting' business. In fact, you may have seen it at a restaurant and wondered why someone was pourin ... More >>

Help Bad Lucy Choose Their Album's Cover Art

Making a record is an involved, laboring process. There's writing, recording, mixing and mastering. Sometimes it can be the little things that vex an independent band. Currently, alt pop-rockers Bad Lucy find themselves mulling over the artwork for their upcoming EP. The guys held a cover shoot wi ... More >>

Celtic Punk Band Bollox (Featuring Members of Authority Zero and Sister Cities) Re-Release Debut Album

Just in case Flogging Molly's annual St. Paddy's Day stop in Tempe doesn't make it abundantly clear to you, the Phoenix metro area loves Irish stuff, and it loves its Celtic punk. In 2009, Authority Zero frontman Jason Devore (who headlines the New Times Soundcheck festival this weekend) formed The ... More >>

Seven Ways to Eat Prickly Pear Fruit

​​Lately, we've been a little obsessed with this whole state food question. We've asked readers (who've already narrowed it down) to tell us which they'd choose: Sonoran hot dogs or prickly pear fruit.We're not going to lie, we are pulling for the prickly pear. By way of convincing you, we now p ... More >>

Five Holiday Gifts for Your Metal-Loving Uncle

​Alright, slacker. There's no more denying it: the holidays are here, and you need to get on that shopping list. Luckily, Up on the Sun has caught gift guide-fever, and over the course of this week we'll be offering you suggestions for the entire family. It's hard to forget your metal-loving ... More >>

Morning Poll: Should Amazon.Com and Other Online Retailers Pay Sales Tax?

​ Online bookselling giant Amazon.com has three distribution facilities in Phoenix and is planning a fourth. Despite the massive movement of sold books through Arizona, Amazon -- like most other online retailers -- neither collects from its customers nor pays, according to the state, any state ... More >>

Amazon.com Plans for Fourth Facility Touted by Governor Brewer, State Revenue Department Says Company Cheats Tax Laws

​ Governor Jan Brewer today celebrates the arrival of Amazon.com's fourth major facility in Arizona today, yet the state's revenue department calls the company a tax cheat.Brewer and the online bookseller's representatives are touting the estimated 3,000 jobs created by the company's other thr ... More >>

Bristol Palin's New Book: Calls Out McCain Family for Being Too Bourgeois, Ex-Fiancée for Adultery

amazon.comBriston Palin coddles baby Tripp on the cover ​Short-lived Arizona resident, Bristol Palin puts her baby daddy, Levi Johnston, and the family of her mother's one-time running mate, Senator John McCain, on blast in her new memoir Not Afraid Of Life: My Journey So Far. The book, set to c ... More >>

The New U2 Album Will Not Be Coming Out Today

Wikimedia CommonsU2 has no Songs of Ascent for you right now.​Fans of Irish rockers U2 who are eagerly anticipating the band's next album, tentatively titled Songs of Ascent, will have to wait a while longer. The record was first expected in 2010, and in January of this year, the Germany branch o ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, April 14, 2011

Young the Giant @ The Rhythm Room

Three Suicides in Peoria in 24 Hours Prompts Police to Remind Residents Not to Kill Themselves

www.amazon.comA message from the Peoria Police Department.​The Peoria Police Department has a message for residents: don't kill yourself.In a 24-hour period starting at about 5 p.m. last Friday, three people in Peoria committed suicide. That, the Peoria PD says, is a lot. "This is a time of the ye ... More >>

Knox Discusses His New Album, His Influences and the Local Hip-Hop Scene

Knox​Phoenix rapper Knox is the hip-hop equivalent of a throwback jersey.His new album, From the Ashes, came out last Tuesday, September 14, but with its old-school beats and Knox's retro flow, it sounds like it could have come straight out of hip-hop's "golden era" of the early '90s.The album is ... More >>

Tokio Hotel: Are the Fans More Crazy Than the Band Is Lame? Or Vice-Versa?

What the fuck?​Perhaps it's not that evident for a casual observer, but this week is painfully slow for new music releases. It is my job to select one album that comes out every Tuesday and find some reviews of said album to post on Up On The Sun for my Review Roundup. Some weeks it's difficult to ... More >>

American Gods Show Their Love for Hamsters, and Other Local Music News

American Gods​Local metal band American Gods has a thing for hamsters. That's right--hamsters. The group has a song called "Hamster Stomp" on their current album, Ec-10, but don't think the group is serious about crushing those cute little furry animals--a bad-arse pic of one of the rodents graces ... More >>

May 5 In Blogs: Danny Glover, Scarlett Johansson, Boa Bistro, and Steve Miller Band

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Feathered Bastard: Danny Glover Visits Phoenix to Oppose Arizona Immigration Law; Could Carlos Santan ... More >>

No Place Like Tome

Old-school book hunt at the Heard

Dookie and the Peak of Profitable Cheap Plastic, Not Music or Culture

One of the things I like most about New Times Music Editor Martin Cizmar is disagreeing with him. We've had some fun arguments and discussions on music, culture, the role of the press and even Eazy E. Which is why I felt compelled to write this post completely and unequivocally disagreeing with his ... More >>

Silver Medallion Holds Album Release Party Poolside at W Scottsdale on Sunday

Silver Medallion's Oren J. (left) and Carnegie.​In case you missed their performance last Saturday during our Summer of Sound hip-hop showcase, local electro/hip-hop duo Silver Medallion will be hanging out poolside this Sunday at the W Scottsdale Hotel for a Skyy Vodka event. The swanky shi ... More >>

Lawsuit Roundup: Bank Sues Goodyear for $15M Over Failed Ballpark Deal; Blind Students, ASU and Kindle; Ballplayer Ordered to Pay Child Support

Image: www.goodyearaz.gov A trio of Valley stories this morning from Courthouse News Service: * The failed deal to build a fancier spring-training ballpark in Goodyear has blossomed into a lawsuit. The moneybag behind the deal, M&I Marshall Ilsley Bank, wants Goodyear to get the ballpark up and run ... More >>

Kyrsten Sinema's Guide to Delusional Democratic Thought, In Bookstores Soon

Could this be a joke from the wags at Sonoran Alliance? Alas, no... Would you take financial advice from a homeless man? Lessons in humility from Simon Cowell? Follow Kirstie Alley's diet regimen? Look for WMD's with a map drawn by Dick Cheney? Or take an anger management class taught by Russe ... More >>

Amazon Trots out Their "100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time"

Amazon takes their shot at indie rock's 100 greatest albumsThe fine folks over at amazon.com decided that the time was ripe to assemble a list of the best indie rock albums of all time. Indie rock is a genre either really easy to define or kind of confusing to define, but that sentiment did not hol ... More >>

New Release Tuesday: The Bird and The Bee

Ray guns are not just the future, but this album sure isAs the new year heats up and more new releases come out, it may get more confusing and overwhelming to wade through the many new albums that are released. I am here, however, to take your hand and guide you through the albums that may not get a ... More >>

Best Banjo Album of 2009 by Steve Martin (yes that Steve Martin)

First off this may not be the best Banjo album of 2009, but since it is the only one anyone has heard of I will just go ahead and say it is. And yes it is by the comedian Steve Martin. You can download a free mp3 from The Crow New Songs for the 5-String Banjo at Amazon.com. The free song is the alb ... More >>

How to Survive an Economic Crisis Without Sacrificing Your Love of Music

Bounty Hunter: Trolling for holiday booty in Tempe

By Wynter HoldenWe're down to the wire now, kids. Yes, there's just 6 more shopping days left until Christmas, and if you're shopping for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa gifts, you're similarly screwed. Hopefully, you've already bought your niece or nephew the "It" toy they've been coveting and purchased your ... More >>

Weezer Releases Holiday Songs

Today Weezer digitally released six Christmas songs originally recorded for the recently released iPhone app "Tap Tap Revenge Christmas With Weezer.""For the first time ever a band recorded music for an app but demand was so great from non-iPhone users that the band decided to make the songs availab ... More >>

On Counting Illegal Immigrants and a Thanksgiving Reading List

Home is Where the Art is

Repatriate your uterus at Lisa Sette

More than mariachi: Yes, Mexicans dig your rock 'n' roll. So why can't you listen to some Café Tacuba?

Cyberspace Invaders

County law enforcement's seeking more and more Web site information to mount investigations against private citizens

Book 'Em, Tavo

Getting between the covers with the Mexican

Why Darrell Ankarlo's an idiot, reason #137: The Gangsta Rap Coloring Book

Popular Mechanics

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter

A powerful addiction

The Great Indoors

If you can't stand the heat, stay in the kitchen -- all summer

BEST BOOKSTORE

Changing Hands Bookstore

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Best Place To Buy New CDs

Tower Records at Desert Ridge

Music From the Masses

Sweden's (International) Noise Conspiracy has more than a few things they'd like to talk about

Hotwired

11 great records paid for with your soul

Lamb of Garth, Have Mercy on Us!

Everyone has his crossovers to bear, but doesn't rock have enough problems without Garth Brooks signing up for membership?