Friday, January 16, 2009
The Children's Crusade
You know a book is good when you remember where you were when you first read it. Slaughter-House-Five I first read on November 22nd, 2007 in the detention room of the school's library. The book enthralled every part of me.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A Review Of Coldplay
Ah Coldplay, a band so many people just love to hate yet their success is overwhelming. Guitarist, lyricist, and vocalist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Johnny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and multi-instrumentist (though often seen on drums) Will Champion formed the London based band in 1997. They released the EP Safety EP in 1998 on an extremely small scale selling around fifty EPs total to the public. They then let loose with a three track project entitled Brothers and Sisters EP in February of ’99, and then the EP Blue Room in fall of ’99. These relatively meager efforts were finally followed by their successful debut album, Parachutes, in 2000.
Parachutes set the wheels in motion for the band’s ascension to international stardom. “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you/And all the things you do/Yeah, they were all yellow” are the opening words of Coldplay’s breakthrough hit, “Yellow”, and are a testament to Chris Martin’s talent to formulate empathy with in the listeners using beautiful melodies that his bohemian-styled lyrics just suckle to. The entire album is driven by Chris Martin’s emotionally charged lyrics, but it would be nothing without Guy Berryman’s heavy bass lines, Johnny Buckland’s stellar guitar rifts, and Will Champion’s distinctive drums as passengers.
In 2002 Coldplay released A Rush of Blood to the Head which essentially engrained them into the annals of alternative rock. The band retained old listeners with pop styled guitar pieces like “In My Place”, and “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” while the ballad “The Scientist”, and the acoustic piece “Green Eyes” weren’t that far from previous works to cause a stir. The rock epic beginning track “Politik”, their number one single so far, piano laded “Clocks”, and the fantastic guitar heard in “A Whisper” elevated the band’s musical range to a new height. A Rush of Blood to the Head is a perfect combination of familiarity, and innovation spewing another stunning creation by Coldplay.
X&Y yet again expanded Coldplay’s diverse boundaries implementing European electronic music. In place of the pensive lyrics that paint a picture of heartbreak heard in A Rush of Blood to the Head are more intense lyrics stuffed full of extreme somberness at one end and joyous ecstasy on the other. Lyric-wise the album is brilliant, but instrumentally, it sounds much like U2, and the lead single “Speed of Sound” is overwhelmingly like Coldplay’s previous albums lead single, “Clocks”. Minus this miniscule error the album is certainly up there with A Rush of Blood to the Head as one of the top albums of the new millennia.
Coldplay’s most recent excursion into music history, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is a step in another instrumental direction for them. They effectively use organs, sitars, and violins bringing a different sound to mainstream music while no alienating fans of previous albums. Chris Martin yet again demonstrates his ability to create fake love for his listeners, but this time around he does it in a much more upbeat way that while still leaving the listener with a tinge of melancholy, but overall composes a notion of appreciating the world around it for all its intrinsic tenderness. Viva La Vida usurps all of Coldplay’s previous albums, but hopefully it isn’t the pinnacle of their achievement.
Coldplay has invariably affected the modern music industry in a positive way that generations to come will not forget. They aren’t afraid to experiment with their sound, they aren’t afraid to show their fears and weaknesses which brings the audience to a realisation of their own fears and weaknesses.
Parachutes set the wheels in motion for the band’s ascension to international stardom. “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you/And all the things you do/Yeah, they were all yellow” are the opening words of Coldplay’s breakthrough hit, “Yellow”, and are a testament to Chris Martin’s talent to formulate empathy with in the listeners using beautiful melodies that his bohemian-styled lyrics just suckle to. The entire album is driven by Chris Martin’s emotionally charged lyrics, but it would be nothing without Guy Berryman’s heavy bass lines, Johnny Buckland’s stellar guitar rifts, and Will Champion’s distinctive drums as passengers.
In 2002 Coldplay released A Rush of Blood to the Head which essentially engrained them into the annals of alternative rock. The band retained old listeners with pop styled guitar pieces like “In My Place”, and “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” while the ballad “The Scientist”, and the acoustic piece “Green Eyes” weren’t that far from previous works to cause a stir. The rock epic beginning track “Politik”, their number one single so far, piano laded “Clocks”, and the fantastic guitar heard in “A Whisper” elevated the band’s musical range to a new height. A Rush of Blood to the Head is a perfect combination of familiarity, and innovation spewing another stunning creation by Coldplay.
X&Y yet again expanded Coldplay’s diverse boundaries implementing European electronic music. In place of the pensive lyrics that paint a picture of heartbreak heard in A Rush of Blood to the Head are more intense lyrics stuffed full of extreme somberness at one end and joyous ecstasy on the other. Lyric-wise the album is brilliant, but instrumentally, it sounds much like U2, and the lead single “Speed of Sound” is overwhelmingly like Coldplay’s previous albums lead single, “Clocks”. Minus this miniscule error the album is certainly up there with A Rush of Blood to the Head as one of the top albums of the new millennia.
Coldplay’s most recent excursion into music history, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is a step in another instrumental direction for them. They effectively use organs, sitars, and violins bringing a different sound to mainstream music while no alienating fans of previous albums. Chris Martin yet again demonstrates his ability to create fake love for his listeners, but this time around he does it in a much more upbeat way that while still leaving the listener with a tinge of melancholy, but overall composes a notion of appreciating the world around it for all its intrinsic tenderness. Viva La Vida usurps all of Coldplay’s previous albums, but hopefully it isn’t the pinnacle of their achievement.
Coldplay has invariably affected the modern music industry in a positive way that generations to come will not forget. They aren’t afraid to experiment with their sound, they aren’t afraid to show their fears and weaknesses which brings the audience to a realisation of their own fears and weaknesses.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Always said I'd write one of these
I always have these ideas floating around in my head short stories that are too short to be short stories, but are longer then one sentence. I suppose I might write down these thoughts here, just to clear my mind. I might just forget all about this for now I'm quite keen on doing this like I've always said to myself. I suppose time will tell.
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