Welcome to the pond

Ok, here's the non-meme post that I promised earlier.

I'm listening to the new White Stripes album "Get Behind Me Satan" on Winamp right now. It's OK. It's definitely a departure from their usual garage rock stuff. There's a lot of piano and other interesting sounds. A few of the songs so far are rockers, and that makes me happy. You know, Jack White is actually a pretty good singer. I like the uniqueness of his voice. The first single, "Blue Orchid," is a really loud rock song but it's very formulaic and gets old after a few listens. Maybe Jack could have done a killer solo or something to break the monotony in the chords. It really sounds a lot like "Seven Nation Army" without the bass sound and with more of Jack's falsetto. Overall thoughts on the White Stripes from me - I like their determination to bring back the lo-fi, basic rock and roll blues sound. I also appreciate the occasional slower piano or acoustic ballad they do once in a while. Jack has a different singing voice for the slower songs, it seems. As much as I appreciate their sound, I've never been sufficiently impressed enough to buy an entire album. If I ever do, I think I'll start with "White Blood Cells" and go from there. Lastly, say what you will about Jack White but he at least puts a lot of passion into his work and tries to preserve older styles of music.

My second topic for the post is the new Coldplay single "Speed of Sound." I am so in love with this song! It's a piano-driven mid tempo song like "Clocks." In fact, the piano at the start of the song may remind you a lot of "Clocks." Although it resembles that earlier single very closely, Chris Martin has managed to concoct a very catchy and gorgeous melody for the verses. I had it in my head after just a few viewings of the music video (which is a very cool production in its own right). The choruses and bridge aren't quite as catchy, but they definitely continue the anthemic feel of the verses. In all, this song is beautiful and crafty and certainly deserved to be the first single from "X & Y." Another thing I must say about this song is that I can envision it performed by U2. Maybe the music itself would have to be The Edge-ified, but Chris' vocals are eeirily similar to how Bono sounds. I've read that Coldplay used U2 as an inspiration for making their latest album, so maybe this is not so much a coincidence. I don't know if this is good or bad, but if Coldplay learns a few things from U2 then I think we'll all benefit.

Sorry that was so long and rambling. Get used to it, because that's how I write when I have something to say.