PREMIERE: Radiohead's new 12'' remixes

Happy July everyone! On this start of the month, alternative masterminds Radiohead have streamed remixes of the two tracks "Little By Little" and "Lotus Flower" from their 2011 effort, The King of Limbs. The remixes feature Canadian recording artists Caribou and Jacques Greene, respectively. The two tracks are just the start of a series of intended 12'' releases of remixes from the album, available on the Ticker Tape record label. This particular release won't be made available until Monday, July 4th (or Tuesday, July 5th in the U.S. and Canada), but you can hear both tracks now thanks to Dead Air Space. Listen to them down below and tell us what you think!

NEWS: Arcade Fire's "Scenes From The Suburbs" is now available!

Arcade Fire is an indie band no more. The band broke the mold when last year's The Suburbs won the well-deserved Grammy for Album of the Year. With their newfound success, Merge Records is intending on rereleasing a one-year anniversary deluxe edition of The Suburbs on August 2nd with two additional tracks (one featuring David Byrne), an 80-page booklet and the Spike Jonze-directed short film, "Scenes From The Suburbs," inspired by the album.

For those of you like me who either loved the album and/or already own it, you must be pretty psyched, but you'd have to be a pretty major fan to dish out again for practically the same disc. The two tracks will most likely be available for download, and thankfully, MUBI.com has made the 28-minute "Scenes From The Suburbs" available to stream online. If you enjoy Spike Jonze and his off-beat cinematic style mesh together with the music and themes of The Suburbs, then you're in for a treat. Check out the Spike-Jonze directed music video of the song "The Suburbs" below, taken from the film, and the actual film here.

Review: Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall EP

Genre: Post-Britpop
Origin: London, England

If you've been to the site before, you'll know that I once reviewed a B-side to Coldplay's single "The Scientist" from A Rush of Blood to the Head and very much enjoyed it. It maintained the impressive hooks and somber vibe the album itself purported without clawing away to grab your attention. Part of what makes Coldplay's studio records even appealing to me is the way they don't try to be epic or shoot for beauty - they just are that way. Oh where has that appeal gone?

In revisiting the supposed single from Coldplay's fifth studio record after countless listens from radio and internet radio stations, I have yet to find anything really redeeming about it. With its grand-scale pop monotony and happy-go-lucky lyrical approach, it plays like the perfect song to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas, which is fine if you have very little expectations. The repetitive synth pads and drum beat feel outdated against Chris Martin's sing-songy approach and it doesn't celebrate so much as it drain you from the sheer amount of more-is-better attitude.

In other words, it works as a pop song without the craft that we're so used to experiencing listening to Coldplay. Or maybe it's just disappointing to know these are the same guys that produced "Yellow" and "Warning Sign," aimed to those looking for answers to questions no one asked of them, and now it's come to simplistic drivel now that they're be-all, end-all in the vein of U2's current pop status. They shine for the face of current pop culture instead of defining it, and it's way too glaring.

B-side "Major Minus" only does slightly better. It has Chris Martin singing through what sounds like a megaphone, but at least it has a better pop sensibility. His singing style, along with the guitar riff and brighter chorus is unmistakably a Dave Matthews Band construction, another band whose current pop status has arena rock on its heels. It's simple, but it knows that it's a pop record without trying.

"Moving to Mars" could have very well been a B-side to any track from Viva la Vida and is really the only track to come back to on this EP. A very jazz-lounge piano opening solidifies into a soft rock hook, as Jonny Buckland's airy sustained notes and Will Champion's mellow drumming ease the tone. This feels more like a Coldplay track than the other Coldplay tracks here just by having core values, looking through me rather than showering me with gloss.

Coldplay is back with a new spray-painted look with "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall." What are they trying to cover up? In trying to attempt other pop artist's success at the world stage, they've more or less lost themselves here in their own music. Maybe I'm being way too harsh on a couple of songs, but their past four records have been exponentially more colorful than what we have here. Considering that you have a choice on iTunes to purchase individual songs, I suggest you buy "Moving to Mars" and call it a day. There are fans looking to obtain the latest Coldplay tracks to add to their library of studios albums, B-sides and live recordings, but two of the three songs don't exactly cut it. If "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" is what we plan to expect on their fifth studio album, I can only try to embrace what they may try to do on their sixth. Until then...

2/5

Coldplay - "Moving to Mars"


Coldplay's Every Teardrop is a Waterfall EP is available from Parlophone Records via iTunes.