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Take art and sound, combine them together, and remove any musical formats or trappings: that’s noise music.

As its name suggests, the Springboard West Music Festival aims to catapult emerging talents to the next level of music-making when it comes to town Jan. 12-13, but it is not for the casual player.

By Margie M. Palmer

When Mission Valley resident DJ James decided to debut his music, he knew he’d have to go big or go home.

His newly released song, “Christmas on our Own,” not only flips the script of traditional holiday music – it also gives the catchiness of Mariah Carey’s popular hit “All I Want for Christmas is You” a solid run for its money.

By Jeff Clemetson | Editor

There was a moment during the Aug. 6 Metallica concert at Petco Park where singer James Hetfield explained the uninitiated, new fans of the band that “Metallica is heavy.”

It was a perfect, if unneeded, description of the group’s sound, which has gone through a lot in its 36-year career — an early lineup shakeup at lead guitar; the tragic death of original bassist Cliff Burton; a public meltdown following the departure of Burton’s replacement Jason Newsted that was captured in the documentary “Some Kind of Monster”; and a public relations disaster when drummer Lars Ulrich waged war against fans who illegally download music off the internet. Through all of that, Metallica remains the most successful band in history to give fans “heavy” music — especially when they do it live like they did at Petco.

By Jeff Clemetson

A list of San Diego’s successful music clubs would include places like The Casbah, The Observatory North Park, The Music Box, Soda Bar, Winston’s and many other hotspots located in Uptown, Downtown or the beach areas. But there is also one surprising addition to that list that has been successful for jazz music in Mission Valley — The Handlery Hotel.

For the past two and half years, jazz fans have packed the Handlery Hotel’s 950 Lounge every Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to hear their favorite local and occasional touring jazz players.

By Jen Lothspeich

He can be heard on local radio airwaves, he can be seen Saturday nights on television, and he can be encountered at rock venues nearly every night of the week; and he is arguably, the most interesting man in San Diego.

Local music guru Tim Pyles is essentially a native, having lived in San Diego since age 4 and growing up as what he calls a “Mod Ska kid” of the ’80s and a raver in the ’90s. He said his love of live music reignited in the late ’90s while his radio career began in 1997.