Death and all of his friends

Coldplay has done it! Their new album Viva La Vida is pure gold. I was pretty skeptical about it when they first released "Violet Hill" for free download. It was different, for sure, but I didn't think it was very good. The song was definitely a grower, but it didn't do very well to get me excited for their new album. It wasn't until I saw the new iTunes commercial featuring Coldplay's later released single and theme song "Viva La Vida" that got me more interested and anxious to buy the record.

When I finally got around to purchasing Viva La Vida at Fry's and slipping it into my CD player, I was stunned at how well this record was made. It is just...good! It's definitely a new Coldplay in almost every respect, and I'm really glad that they've taken their music beyond their comfort zone. Their first two albums (Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head) were awesome because of their sound, but by the time their third album X&Y came around, it got pretty repetitive. It was just more of the same old Coldplay, though I can understand that it's hard to follow up an album that came out with songs like "God Put a Smile on My Face," "Clocks," "In My Place," "The Scientist," and every other song that was on A Rush of Blood to the Head. It's a pretty flawless record!

Though X&Y had some great songs, it just didn't have longevity to it. I ended up not playing songs from that album in my iTunes for a long time, and I didn't really miss it either. However, Viva La Vida is different. It is totally new, and the band took their music in a drastically different direction. Instead of Chris Martin's vocals carrying the music through the album, it was all about the music this time. You don't hear a lot of Martin going into falsetto in this one, which I think is very good. It just got old after a while. In fact, in one song ("Yes") he goes lower than I've heard his voice go in any song I can remember from Coldplay. There are a lot of instrumentals going through the whole album. So much other instrumentals, in fact, that there are songs in there where I'm wondering what the guitarists are doing to contribute.

And it all works! I feel the whole theme of this album is the celebration of life and of music. Afterall, this album is titled "Viva La Vida," so lyrically and musically, each song takes you through one aspect of seeing life and then turns you around to see it in a different way - mostly starting about a struggle of some part of life, and then ending by bringing you up to see the joy of living. It's sort of an emotional rollercoaster in that sense, but it's done very well. You will just have to pick up a copy to know what I mean.

But you won't be disappointed. I imagine that Coldplay really pushed themselves to make something completely different and to make it as good as it is, and I'm grateful that they did. By the last song, I ended up saying to myself, "Yeah, this one is a keeper."

Is it better than A Rush of Blood to the Head? It's debatable. I will have to get back to you on that for my opinion.

Turn around...

...bright eyes...

Phoenix, Afterwords

I finally sold my social life out (or what was left of it) and went out to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by myself. Oh, well. It was still quite enjoyable being in an almost empty theater since it's been out for months now. Anyway, the movie was pretty good. I heard a lot of flaws about it that I came in with low expectations, and that only leaves room for satisfaction and none for disappointment. I can see why people wouldn't enjoy this movie as much. It was all over the place, and there were definite references with no explanations. "Yup, you know this makes sense in the book."

Overall, though, I enjoyed it. Considering the heavy amount of content that was in the book, there's gotta be room for forgiveness. Movie adaptations are very difficult, especially for progressing stories like Harry Potter. However, this movie may have pushed me over the edge to start reading the books because there's just too much that doesn't make sense now without proper explanation. And asking people who've read the books to explain it to me just doesn't cut it for me. But anyway, I enjoyed the last part of the movie with all the cool special effects and seeing some real magic users. Not enough romance and drama, though. More Dawson's Creek-esque stories, please.

Collective Soul's new album Afterwords is also pretty enjoyable. It doesn't compete in energy with their previous Youth, except maybe their first track. It's quite mellow with more soft/pop rock, but like all CS music it grows on you. I already loved it by the second listen, which I can't say with a lot of other artist's new albums (ahem...Coldplay...Switchfoot...). If there is something you can count on, it's Collective Soul progressively making good music with unique sound and compelling lyrics. As Luke said, "There is a lot of variety on the album and it is easy to sense how they sort-of sampled different popular (current) styles of music and incorporated that into this album."

One more thing: Harry Potter is the man!

One week left

Oh yes...

Valuable routine | Not X-men | Matchbox return

Now that all my traveling has sort of settled down, I've been trying to get back into routine. A couple of those things is going to church and Bible study. Not that I didn't go to church at all the past two months, but going to one church to another in different cities (and countries), it's just not the same. No connection with the community. I've been able to get back into the young adult Friday night Bible study at one church, and even though I've still have yet to pick a church around here in San Jose, it's nice to go to church closer to home.

And it's paying off. Being around other Christians discussing passages from the Bible is putting me back in a place where I'm more..."spiritually aware," I guess you can say. Even praying with others feels great and not socially awkward. Thinking on the Word and knowing it excites you is an encouraging thing.

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I finished "Heroes" today, the hit new series of last season. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and probably a better take on the story of "mutants rising" that the first "X-men" movie tried to do. But that's not being fair because "X-men" had only three 2-2.5 hour movies to tell the story, and "Heroes" had 23 forty-minute episodes to tell theirs. Even if the battles weren't as fantastical as "X-men," all the government conspiracy, character conflicts, and plot twists made "Heroes" much more complex.

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Matchbox Twenty is coming out with a new album about a month and a half. It's about freakin' time. Their new released single is kind of weird sounding, and I mean that in a "it doesn't sound like Matchbox Twenty" sense. Maybe it's because we've been hearing so much Rob Thomas on the radio lately that it just suffers from that. Pretty poppy, if you ask me. Great drum-work, though.

"Light Gives Heat"; Cowart

"Catch the rain empty hands
Save the children from their lands
Wash the darkness from their skin
Heroes from the west
We don't know you, we know best
This is not a test

You treat me like I'm blind
Setting fires around houses on the hill
But light gives heat
You segregate my mind
Burning crosses from your fears
The light gives heat"

-Jars of Clay's "Light Gives Heat" from Good Monsters

I was researching on the web for some good African music to back the video, and I gave Jars of Clay's song "Light Gives Heat" a look. It has been on the back of my mind, but I haven't given it much thought because I don't think it'd really fit the footage. I came across an article from JOC's organization Blood: Water Mission that talks about the explanation of the song's lyrics and origin. It was really fascinating to hear Dan Haseltine's view of humanitarian causes for the issues in Africa, and I thought you guys would like to give it a read.

"Light Gives Heat" by Dave Palmer from the Sept. 2006 issue of CCM Magazine

"'Light Gives Heat' is really one of those 'in the moment' songs. This is how we really see the Western world approaching Africa--feeling in this day and age that we know better than Africans how to build their communities, how to heal their wounds, how to serve their sick. But the Western ideas aren't really the better ones; and it really takes Africans owning their place and their community to speak and to serve and to love people well. So that song is part critique of the way the Western world has approached Africa; and, then, the other side is our confessional, trying to be repentant of what we have done to perpetuate some of those bad forms of seeking justice." -Dan Haseltine

Also, Kuya showed me a photographer's website the other day because of its artistic and simplistic design (which totally inspired me, but that's a different topic). The site has an amazing essay on Africa, and the photographer Jeremy Cowart did a great job presenting his photographs.

Jeremy Cowart Photography | Africa

Take a look. He also has studio work with a lot of celebrities that's fun to look at as well.

Respect the Old Ones.

You begin to realize the impact one artist has in the music industry - in this case, the Christian music industry - when he can bring five major artists or groups together to sing one of the most well-known songs in its genre. Now that's a powerful song!

Friends 2003

This version of "Friends" is like revisiting those first five years when I was beginning to define my musical taste for the very first time (and yes, Kuya, I owe you for bringing me into CCM as it began to boom). Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Avalon, Point of Grace, and Mac Powell, the lead singer of Third Day...simply amazing.

Michael W. Smith, I salute you.

Could have most definitely done without Avalon, though. Yeah, most definitely...

Another song that brought together an ensemble of amazing musical artists is "All for Love." Man, you can't go wrong with Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, and Sting singing together as one. Yeah!

With all my love,
Lem

P.S. It's been quite busy around here with my job. I'll have to write about it in my blog sometime. Stay tuned.