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Staff
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Last Active 01-03-23 11:21 pm
Joined 06-03-16
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| Neek's 1st Listen: Coldplay's "Everyday Life"
here we goooooooo | | 1 |  | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Sunrise:
Opening with big orchestral swells, this’ll probably cut really well into the closer/single t/t they released earlier when put on a loop. Not sure if this counts more as like an interlude/overture track, but it’s certainly setting up a pretty melancholic mood for what I think is to be the experimental side? Oh wait, now it’s bringing some hope into the mix but it’s still very bittersweet. This might not be the most original orchestral opening number I’ve ever heard, but it’s a damn good one at that.
8-/10 | | 2 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Church:
Oh shit what’s going on here? Definitely some poppy sounds, but it’s a funky drum loop, some plucking guitars, and a super spacey sound… was that a loon? The vocals here are pretty traditional Coldplay, but they glide so lovely above the music here. This is like if Viva was smoothed over with a dreamy side of AHFOD. This isn’t doing any particularly new for the band, but it is a unique sound in how it feels like its bringing all of their sounds from the past together into one buoyant track that feels both happy and sad. Nice little guitar riff here—its a wonder they didn’t make this the lead single over Orphans kinda. Oh nice arab-esque vocalist coming in to round the track out. Yeah this thing is gorgeous af I’m won over.
8.5+/10 | | 3 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Trouble in Town:
Okay yeah I’m not gonna lie I’ve already heard this one a few times due to the leak (I’ve never really gotten past it because of how good it is), but yeah this song is near-fucking-perfect. I love the Sting-like “Englishman in New York” verses with a simple piano/drum pairing, and the song just blooms into a beautiful chorus, adding new layers with each section, backing vocals, guitars, ambience. The spoken word thing is a bit weird tho,acting as a radio play of like a dude getting pulled over by a cop, highlighting the “Trouble in Town” the title alludes to as the music goes ballistic over it. It’s an insane climax and very unlike anything the band has done before, and the instrumental choices in this part are just phenomenal. I love this song, the beat, the sound, everything tbh. It’s a great example of Coldplay pushing themselves as they do best.
EDIT: I found out the "spoken word" part was actually taken from a viral video of a police incident.
9.5+/10 | | 4 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
BrokEn:
Opening with a backing gospel choir while Chris Martin does his thing over them and handclaps is a cool little interlude, but it’s a bit distracting given how tight the last two tracks are, and this foray into gospel is far less convincing than, say, Paramore’s “Ain’t it Fun.” This is definitely the weakest track so far, but again it’s fun to see Coldplay jumping out of their comfort zone, especially for such a quick little one-off.
7.5-/10 | | 5 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Daddy:
Alright this is a more straightfoward piano ballad it sounds like so far. These lyrics are a bit worrying tbh, I guess it’s a bit of an inversion of Pink Floyd’s “Mother,” it’s just a bit less convincing. It’s really hard to ignore how heartfelt Chris’s vocal performance is. As blunt as his lyrics can be at times, I’ve never been able to cast them aside as if he didn’t mean then in his heart thanks to his delivery, and that’s honestly what saves songs like this for me. His vocal melodies here are pretty solid here too outside of the verses, and damn the piano is really nice. Man the choruses are so lovely, I like this a lot more than I want too but we’ll see how the last moment goes. Oh yeah this build up is really simple and natural, it’s like candy to me. A bit cheesy of a track but still, it’s really pretty.
8-/10 | | 6 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
WOTW/POTP:
Okay shortest track of the album, sounds like they just recorded this outside with one mic with Chris and his guitar while birds were singing, which is actually more charming than it sounds. Oh man I didn’t like that little “ooh-ooh” at the end, but as an interlude, this track works pretty well.
7+/10 | | 7 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Arabesque:
Yeah okay so you all know this song is fucking awesome, with purposeful strumming and a absolutely captivating guitar line hiding beneath it. The horns overpower everything else here in a fantastic way, and Chris gives one of his weirder vocal performances this side of Viva la Vida. The way this song erupts is just breathtaking, and I love the gritty sound it takes on as it gets going. It’s very unlike Coldplay in an exciting and unexpected way, and it’s one of the best tracks they’ve ever put out. And that saxophone solo though.
9.5/10 | | 8 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
When I Need a Friend:
This is surreal. It’s like a church hymn, Chris is almost undetectable among the chorus. They’re really trying everything on this damn album, which is definitely a good thing after they stagnated a bit creatively with AHFOD. Still, I can’t say this is particularly listenable, but I could see this track being a serious experience when listened to at the right time or mood. And what the heck is this spoken word thing?
7.5+/10 | | 9 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Guns:
Woah okay, a bit of a classic western guitar sound on this one. This is for sure the more poppy side of the album right? Pretty on the nose anti-gun lyrics here, but combined with the passionate vocals and runaway acoustic guitar performance it creates an adequate sense of hysteria that works far better than I might’ve expected.
8+/10 | | 10 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Orphans:
Alright, I know you guys don’t like this one much but I think it’s an excellent distillation of what the band were trying to do with AHFOD and the Los Unidades EP, i.e. making a globalist pop record that brings a shit tons of styles of music together in a way that’s catchy and accessible and brings people together. I think that this song does it much better than either of those works do, and this is about as good as this kind of pop music can get. And admit it, it’s catchy as hell. And it’s pretty goddamned creative.
8.5/10 | | 11 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Eko:
Another gentle acoustic ditty, this has a really bright sound that wouldn’t sound out of place as a quieter track on Mylo or something. The guitarwork here is absolutely lovely and Chris’s voice is playing with a really nice falsetto. The backing vocals work really well here too. If the rest of this disc is more chill acoustic stuff, I won’t mind much if it’s as good as this.
8+/10 | | 12 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Cry Cry Cry:
Yo wtf was that? That vocal opening was real weird, actually the vocal effects on this whole thing are a bit weird. Is that him harmonizing with himself in a different pitch? I’m a bit disappointed this isn’t a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Try Try Try.” Oh man, this is a fun one. The old-timey piano mashes weirdly well with the wonky backing vocals here for something really fun. Yeah I’m really on board with this one.
8.5-/10 | | 13 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Old Friends:
More chill acoustic stuff, yas. Man this is just such a pretty sound, its almost like that Harrod and Funck album I keep trying to get you guys to listen to. Chris’s vocals have been really up to the task on this album, I was worried they were gonna tied the more eclectic sound down too much, but it’s actually pretty all over the place too. This is really, really pared down musically wow. It’s a bit like “See You Soon” or their pre-Parachutes releases. Old Coldplay fans are probably gonna be all over this one, wow.
8.5+/10 | | 14 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Bani Adam:
Alright this piano sound feels strangely familiar, I wonder if it’s sampled or inspired by something? I really like it though, I wonder if the rest of the song is gonna be like this or if it’s just some drawn out intro. Either way I’m pretty happy with it as long as it changes up a bit. Holy hell yeah this is beautiful. Oh my that’s a hell of a switch up okay. It’s a bit like one of their split songs on Viva la Vida I suppose? God the second half of this is just gorgeous too. Oh fuck okay I’m not super into the spoken word vocal now. Idk what language it is but it’s kinda fuckin up the chill atmosphere here, I think I got what it was going for without these here. Oh man, more sampled vocals? Still, this is a much better vocal-sampled interlude than say “Color Spectrum.”
8+/10 | | 15 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Champion of the World:
Okay interesting start we got here coming straight in from the last track. This guitar riff and these vocals make it sound dangerously like a generic Coldplay track, but we’ll see how it goes into the chorus. Also the title is a bit cringe. Yeah this lead riff is quite a bit unimaginative, this is significantly less impressive than the rest of this album wow. Ugh this is what I was worried his vocals would do to this album, they aren’t gelling for me. The backing vocals on this bridge-thing are kinda interesting though. Again the vocals are a bit Sting-like as it goes on. Okay, this build up is pretty good, I do actually dig the general sound of the song too. We’ll see how the last minute does for it. Yeah this outro is super mellow, I’ll say the song’s redeemed itself quite a bit in the end but it’s still the weakest for me so far.
7-/10 | | 16 | | Coldplay
Everyday Life
Everyday Life:
Yeah okay this was the last single I heard from this and I remember loving it—that hasn’t changed. God fuck the way this piano is building off of the string backing is just heavenly. This has the makings of a classic Coldplay piano riff. Man I only heard this once but the vocal melody has already stuck with me, and MAN the STRINGS here are something else, never heard them used like this in a Coldplay track before. This is some transcendental shit tbh, like Viva la Vida bittersweet levels. Okay, a bit of a drumbeat here. This is definitely a “Coldplay closer” in the vein of “Up&Up” or “Amsterdam” but very much in the vein of this album’s sound. God this thing is beautiful. Okay, he’s just singing “hallelujah” and it’s somehow just totally working so there’s that. Fuck I was not expecting that cutout even tho I’ve heard it before. Fuck it, this is a great one too:
9-/10 | |
neekafat
11.23.19 | I don't get the hate in the slightest tbh | ramon.
11.23.19 | Do people hate it or just find it ok though | neekafat
11.23.19 | for me that is hatred | wutang4ever
11.23.19 | ...and THAT was 5 hours wasted on a band who cerated their identity on TMZ.
Hey Neeka, did you know Josh Homme was on JRE? fyi.
(yeah its good) | wutang4ever
11.23.19 | https://youtu.be/XPf0swdYOxI | unclereich
11.23.19 | Medium taste. | JohnnyoftheWell
11.23.19 | This is wholesome but Champion of the World being the lowest rated confuses the hell outta me
Also my first-jam notes on Eko read as follows
"ok this exists and is somewhat pretty
IT HAS CAT NIOSES?"
can you clarify this lol I'm confused
| neekafat
11.23.19 | I didn't hear those | neekafat
11.23.19 | Oh I gotta watch that wutang | Sowing
11.23.19 | I approve of the Coldplay love please accept this feature | JohnnyoftheWell
11.23.19 | Bye bye luci's songs of 2019 | neekafat
11.23.19 | Thamk u :3 | Uzumaki
11.23.19 | See, I like(d) Coldplay, and never really got why people shat on them for being Coldplay; their first 3-4 albums are legit good stuff. | Doibhin69
11.24.19 | first four coldplay is best coldplay. | Doibhin69
11.24.19 | b-sides from first three albums are great as well | furyroad97
11.24.19 | It’s pretty good, def their best one since Viva La Vida | Rowan5215
11.24.19 | u really rated Champion of the World lower than Cry Cry Cry huh
wild | neekafat
11.24.19 | Champion of the World is really lame | Rowan5215
11.24.19 | bad take |
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