We haven’t posted articles about Susan Boyle yet because why would we? Of course she is a very talented singer. But then there are many of you guys out there. And yea she has a story that all aspiring singers want to call their own (maybe we should have done an article on her!). Just recently her 1st album “I Dreamed a Dream” sold 2.46 million in 4 weeks which is close to making it the best selling if it can overtake Taylor Swift’s “Fearless”.

What caught our eye was the fact that Susan Boyle is being tapped (meaning in the short list of choices) to take on the Iconic role of singing a James Bond Theme. This is actually a great opportunity for her. Some of the alumni singers that have gone before are Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, a duet between Jack White and Alicia Keyes, Gladys Knight and Duran Duran. However the artist that has clocked the most themes sung would be the Excellent Dame Shirley Bassey. Can Susan be the next Shirley? Could being “damed” be far off? We guess only time will tell.

Here is “Diamonds are for ever” one of Shirley Bassey iconic performances

We all knew this was coming, and we all were waiting with baited breath, turning blue, to hear when and to start speculating on who will be performing. Needless to say, part of that waiting is now over as we now know the dates are April 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2010. This is a great time of the year to be in the desert. It won’t be too hot not will it be too cold. The only real question will be will we be able to London by the 30th for the Deadmau5 performance we told you about last post.

For those that don’t know, Coachella is a massive music-in-the-desert concert that usually features many, many bands. Many bands are well known and lots of times there are bands that aren’t so well known too. Not all can be seen because they are on different stages at the same time. If you want to check out this year’s line up, check out this link–> Coachella 2010 Line up. AND all of this fun and excitement lasts for 3 full days straight.

Some of the bands that we here at Music-Is-Life are looking forward to are Fri.-Ghostland Observatory, The Crystal Method and Morrissey, Sat.- M.I.A, SuperChunk, The Chemical Brothers (DJ Set), Tv On The Radio and Joss Stone and Sun.- Groove Armada (DJ Set), My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy, The Horrors, The Orb, and Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. Whew! That in itself is a line up. So realize that there are 10 times as many bands as that performing. Expect to see many of these featured artist’s videos posted here for everyone enjoyment!

Pre-sale and layaway plan tickets went on sale yesterday morning at 10:00

In preparation for the new Sade CD that will be arriving next year, we at Music-Is-Life wanted to treat you to not only a new song that is off the new album but also one of the classics for those that don’t know her and why she is supreme. The New CD will be called “Solider of Love” and we know what its like to be one of those!

Ok that was good right? Come on how many of us has felt like this:

So if you have or even if you haven’t felt like a Soldier Of Love, you can appreciate the emotion in this song. If not, and to beat you over the head with more of Sade’s greatness, here is one of her all time greats, a classic even. Yea that’s right, it’s “Smooth Operator” the extended version. Enjoi!

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest (more specifically Seattle) and if you were in the right place at the right place at the right time, you were treated to a stirring rendition of Modest Mouse’s” “3rd Planet”. Well here’s the scoop kiddies and this is taken directly from someone who knows Christopher Frizzelle at the … yep Seattle Stranger. Leave it to Music-Is-Life to bring you all the new you want to know.

“She was shouting out the lyrics to Modest Mouse’s“3rd Planet” as loudly as possible—really shouting—while playing an invisible electric guitar and invisible drums. The lyrics are extra creepy when they’re being sung so emphatically.”

Can you imagine these lyrics sung at a high octave and in a booming voice?? We can and we love it. We all need spiked eggnog or what ever else to bring this wonderfulness to the world.

Call us wrong but this would have been definitely a video worth seeing. What we mean to say is not that it would have been interesting to see someone making a fool of themselves, but more so someone so in love with a band and a specific song, that we all know what its like to express ourselves that way. However, since we couldn’t find that video, here’s the the original. Enjoi!

If we take a look at this website Vye Music, we can see it looks like it’s a rushed attempt to make some quick dough. Do you see all those ads on the side? Personally we looked into what all the hub-bub is about and most articles are talking about it being a Napster or Kazaa Clone and has a very similar business model. BUT NOT SO FAST SHERLOCK, could what this kid (and his backers) actually be doing is racking in the bills from the ads?

Kazaa and Napster back in the day were made to share music. They believed in the concept of a free space where people could share music that had been bought with others with similar tastes. Their business model wasn’t to rake in the cash through millions of webpage ads. Napster even went so far as to fight in court for the free sharing of music. Of course they lost, as we all remember. What Vye is appearing to do though is not develop a community of sharing music. It looks like they know that the courts will chase them down. Come on!! how could they do a website that is so similar to ones that were already shut down unless their motives are something different?!

We think that Vye Music is cashing in while they can on a promising concept from our pasts. Not working for the artist, nor for the music community as a whole but milking everyone that believes in the united world of sound. Shame on them.

The first thought that came into our mind when we heard that someone has slapped Leona Lewis was “Really?? Like WTF!!” For one thing, Leona is a beautiful woman so why would any guy in their right mind want to slap a beautiful woman, that’s just wrong! And second she is also very talented, whether or not you like her style of music, she still does have a wonderful voice. So now we hear and see that he WAS actually crazy and in Music-Is–Life’s opinion, should be committed so that he doesn’t either 1 go after her again or 2 attempts to do this to someone else in the future.

Here is an excerpt from the article posted at Telegraph.co.uk
“After a short hearing of legal argument, District Judge Daphne Wickham adjourned the case until November 23 at the same court.

Kowalczyk did not appear in the dock and remains in secure accommodation at Lambeth Hospital in south London.

Kowalczyk’s solicitor, Mark Fidler, said the results of the psychiatric tests would dictate what approach is taken to the case.

The court heard Kowalczyk is on unconditional bail but is unable to leave hospital because of an order under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act.

Kowalczyk, of Waterloo, south London, was arrested at Waterstone’s book shop in Piccadilly on October 14.”

Malicious Violence of any kind really shouldn’t be tolerated. And being crazy is no excuse really. Realistically speaking, it would be best if he got some help. Obliviously he has major issues as can be seen in this and previous acts. We hope for the best for everyone and that even goes for the crazies who need help. Now this could turn into a conversation about how the governments of the world should take better care of mentally ill patients but instead we will have some positive music, and send positive vibes out to everyone.

Leona sing us out!!

Whoa! Wait a minute! We’ve been getting lots of messages and emails asking why we haven’t tackled the Kanye West douchebag moment at MTV’s VMAs. It’s News right? Come on Music-Is-Life, why are you ignoring this great music related story, are you guys in league with him? Are you guys showing favoritism? (these are some of the emails we got)… Well the reason were not posting about this is because it was something that we do not feel embraces what Music-Is-Life is all about. Not to mention that every other new media outlet from RollingStone to Billboard to even the CNN have covered the blow up. We want to help the underdog excel. I mean where else will you get a post about where to record a demo, or which mixing software is good. Well definitely not on Rollingstone Magazine, Billboard.com or even CNN.com.

We believe in the music revolution and we believed in Kayne back in the day when he was the new artist trying to mix of the current music scene, but we don’t believe in someone now that will diss other artists nor speak when they only want to hear their own mouth move. In a way he has become irrelevant to the cause. The sad thing is that we all know that Kanye has a problem speaking his mind before he thinks right? And with that being known, is it really a surprise that Kanye did what he did? We don’t think so. In his growing irrelevancy, he has become bitter at the machine, the same machine that he wanted to be part of so that he could become successful. Whateva.

For those that just need another dose of this video, here you have it. We wont be posting about this again.

[OOPS looks like they are claiming copyright infringement of the video so you wont see it here]

Guess who is back after a long (we say too long) hiatus? Living Colour that’s who! For those of you that don’t know, Living Colour was one of the premier Black Rock bands to grace us with their music. I mean even Rolling Stone Magazine honored them with the title of Black-Funk-Metal Pioneers”. Can we all say “Cult of Personality? Well we can after we view this video!

Living Colour will be performing one of their new songs at an up coming show in Seattle. More than likely they will play many songs from their new album “The Chair in the Doorway” which is to be released on September 15, 2009. We are also hoping that anyone that goes to the show also gets to hear some of their older works too. Not that the new stuff wont rock, but song like Cult of Personality and Love Rears Its Ugly Head both still rock. Living Colour will be playing Studio Seven which “is one of Seattle’s premiere rock clubs” as self described on their website. As a positive side note for those up and coming artists in the Seattle area,
Studio Seven also provides services to local musicians, including:
• Practice studios at low, monthly rates
• Recording facilities
• Highly skilled and reputable instrument technician

But back to Living Colour…They started out back in 1984 in New York. Spent some ups and downs doing the band thing and then like all bands, ended up on the break up to make up crazy train. For about 5 years they were separated and then back in 2000 they became officially “reunited” And we here at Music-Is-Life are actually happy. They were always a bit political and that revolution spirit is what makes them different from their peers. Not that we are condoning a revolution but… hey yea we are…a music revolution!

Before you get your knickers in a bunch and decide that we have lost all cred, what we are saying is that we respect the artist that comes from nothing, Kelly as a waitress, takes on the world and wins. Music-Is-Life is all about the underdog. So here is the WTF moment. Ellen DeGeneres is to be the Judge replacing Paula on A.I.

Take a look here at her video posting

We LOVE Ellen but as a music judge? And we loved loopy Paula too. But if you think about it, Paula did have a music and dancing background. We aren’t too sure that Ellen has that. Of course it will be entertaining to see Ellen give critiques, but really?? Ellen as a Music judge? Ellen could be doing one of her crazy funny jokes on all for us and not really gonna be the new judge or A.I. might just be crazy enough to hire a comedienne as a music judge. We guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Hmm that’s why we’ll file this under WTF

Echo and the Bunnyman- Jake Brockman

Jake was a keyboardist of the post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen. There initially started out in 1978 from Liverpool. I mean so many great bands have come from Liverpool, right??!! And like most bands, you have the break up to make up stories of the past. However, Jake wasn’t there from the start officially, until 1987 when his predecessor Pete De Freitas died in a motorcycle accident. Horribly enough, the same fate took Jake’s life as well. Jake, who was 53, was riding on the Isle Of Man when he was in a collision with a converted ambulance. Jake is survived by his wife, Sally Mundy, and their family. Think back to this song –> I mean takes you back right?
We will miss you Man!

Here is a video featuring Jake with the band on the Craig Ferguson show back in 2006.
Here is a video featuring Jake with the band on the Craig Ferguson show back in 2006.

Supa DJ AM

Back in the day, Adam Goldstein was born. And a new revolution of sound was created. Not only was he known as DJ AM and one of the best DJ’s around, he was also participant of the ground breaking band Blink-182, and before that some of us even remember Crazy Town. But most notably speaking, DJ AM shot to stardom in working with his good friend Travis Barker of Blink-182 Fame. In what could be described as a precursor to his recent demise, the 2008 plane crash with Travis has been said to have started DJ AM on this course. DJ AM himself said “There’s no reason why I lived and they didn’t,” DJ AM said last month at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, referring to the others who died in the crash.”It’s something that I struggle with every day, you know, kind of wondering”

DJ AM was in recovery for addictions and speculation is that he relapsed and had an overdose. We, here at Music-Is-Life, don’t want to focus on the drama or the suspicion surrounding his death. We want to celebrate his life. We want to show that even though there were issues after that plane crash, physical and mental, we should do right by remembering that DJ AM stood for great music, great beats, and a helluva lota kick ass fun times. He would want us continue the party, listening to him spin.

So Continue on Playa! Rock The Crowd! We won’t stop the booty shaking.