Coldplay have come quite a way from their Parachutes days, yet I would trade Parachutes, one of my favorite albums of all time, and Rush of Blood to the Head for any album any day.
A minimalistic sounding band has evolved into a stadium filling electronic/hip-hop/synth popular power group. Gone is the genius of Politik and Don't Panic, the beautiful genuine sentimentality of Amsterdam and Trouble. At the very least, Viva la Vida could boast the clean yet powerful sounds of Violet Hill and the wonderful guitar playing of Johnny Buckland on Strawberry Swing, which by the way is my favorite track of that album.
As I listen to Mylo Xyloto, their latest album, I can't help but think that the heavily produced, creatively layered and synthed music is a bit too much. It just seems too constructed to please critics and prove that, in fact, coldplay are not repetitive and unoriginal. I can honestly see Every Teardrop is a Waterfall fit quite comfortably in any hiphop album, which not necessarily a bad thing. They are just so obviously trying to incorporate hiphop, lady Gaga pop, electronic, and synth sounds to their music, while, mind you, still trying to remain a genuine rock band playing music on real instruments, that they end up with an unfortunate muddle of sound that's neither here nor there.
My main gripe with this album is that much of the music is actually good. There's just too much of it. All in the same track, layered, Chris Martin's autotuned voice, echoing voices in the background, the synth, the drums, electronic sounds, guitars, hiphop beats, and a zillion other "quaint and cultural" instruments all playing at once. The music just gets buried amidst all of it, and once the poppy sounding track is done, I have no idea what I just listened to, and no real desire to hear it again. And it's even not the good Radiohead kind of I've no idea what I just heard, but it sounded like it might be great. Let me listen again to make sure.
There's no doubt that this, like their other albums, will be a hit and many people will love their songs. However, I first found my way to Coldplay with Trouble, and they hooked me with High Speed. With that first album, it was simple yet creative beauty.
Had this been their first album, I would have given it a cursory listen, nodded at some overdone potential, and moved along with a second glance.
A minimalistic sounding band has evolved into a stadium filling electronic/hip-hop/synth popular power group. Gone is the genius of Politik and Don't Panic, the beautiful genuine sentimentality of Amsterdam and Trouble. At the very least, Viva la Vida could boast the clean yet powerful sounds of Violet Hill and the wonderful guitar playing of Johnny Buckland on Strawberry Swing, which by the way is my favorite track of that album.
As I listen to Mylo Xyloto, their latest album, I can't help but think that the heavily produced, creatively layered and synthed music is a bit too much. It just seems too constructed to please critics and prove that, in fact, coldplay are not repetitive and unoriginal. I can honestly see Every Teardrop is a Waterfall fit quite comfortably in any hiphop album, which not necessarily a bad thing. They are just so obviously trying to incorporate hiphop, lady Gaga pop, electronic, and synth sounds to their music, while, mind you, still trying to remain a genuine rock band playing music on real instruments, that they end up with an unfortunate muddle of sound that's neither here nor there.
My main gripe with this album is that much of the music is actually good. There's just too much of it. All in the same track, layered, Chris Martin's autotuned voice, echoing voices in the background, the synth, the drums, electronic sounds, guitars, hiphop beats, and a zillion other "quaint and cultural" instruments all playing at once. The music just gets buried amidst all of it, and once the poppy sounding track is done, I have no idea what I just listened to, and no real desire to hear it again. And it's even not the good Radiohead kind of I've no idea what I just heard, but it sounded like it might be great. Let me listen again to make sure.
There's no doubt that this, like their other albums, will be a hit and many people will love their songs. However, I first found my way to Coldplay with Trouble, and they hooked me with High Speed. With that first album, it was simple yet creative beauty.
Had this been their first album, I would have given it a cursory listen, nodded at some overdone potential, and moved along with a second glance.
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