Video: Coldplay and Jay-Z - "Lost +"

I post this not because that I'm a huge Coldplay fan, but because I wonder how this new collaboration between Chris Martin's brit-pop stalwarts and Jigga fits into the discussion at large of Coldplay as a whole. Former MFR writer David Brusie and fellow critic Geoff Cannon have an interesting debate about the merits of Coldplay over at Vita.MN, and you can read that here.

Here's my simple-minded take. As the band started to wander from Jeff Buckley territory over to ground covered on later-day U2 albums, they started to lose me, as what began as simple and sweet pleasures on Parachutes became something more bombastic--in a bad way. Still, I've been intrigued by what I've heard from Viva La Vida, which is admittedly not a whole lot. I've yet to buy Vida because I can haz poor haus!?, but I think that I might pick it up used somewhere down the line.

What say you, readers?

Download: Coldplay and Jay-Z - "Lost +" (via)

Video: Coldplay: Live on "The Daily Show"

Joining rare company as R.E.M on "The Colbert Report", and The White Stripes on "The Daily Show", Coldplay, whose Viva La Vida topped the charts pretty much everywhere it could (Frontman Chris Martin jokes about the band being popular in "The Axis of Evil"), performed not one, but two tracks from the aforementioned record on the Comedy Central poli-humor institution. Pleasantly, the songs performed are "42" and "Lost", which means that, between the free release of "Violet Hill", the ubiquitous ad campaigns for Apple, and these performances, fans have a good idea of what the album sounds like; if they didn't already, what with the leak, and buying the album in droves this past week.

The first video is pure performance, while the second video contains a brief interview, where Stewart asks the band that, since the band has played the show, "Are there any more mountains to climb"?

Viva La Vida is out now.

Coldplay MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

New Coldplay - "Violet Hill" (Plus: Album Artwork Info)

Judging by the striking cover work from their upcoming fourth record), Viva La Vida: Or, Death and All His Friends (perhaps somebody in the band is taking a cue from either Roman Polanski or Stanley Kubrick?), British quartet Coldplay have got the struggles of wars and battles on their mind. No idea as to why that's the case. However, it's no surprise, then, that when the Chris Martin-led group's first single begins with the singer stating plainly that "It was a long and dark December" over a glacier-slow crescendo of ambient synthesizer, he's referring to a romance gone awry. This is, after all, a Coldplay song were talking about here.

However, after about 30 seconds or so, "Violet Hill" starts to resemble one of the group's more well-known anthemic numbers, but with a few key differences. Martin's voice now sounds almost Dylan-esque, the guitars are fuzzier, and the mood is the most apocalyptic sounding the group has ever been. Despite the sonic re-decorations, the group still maintains a workman-like dedication to song form; choruses are epic as ever, Not only that, but the closing lament of "If you love me, why won't you let me know" has a populist bent. Overall, "Violet Hill" is a reasonably successful change of pace for the band. The track won't make you want to recite Coldplay lyrics as gospel. But it also won't make you thumb your nose at the church as you pass it, either.

Viva La Vida is out in June.

Coldplay MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)