Tag Archives: sound

#1259: Coldplay – Speed of Sound

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Hey there, everyone. Guess who’s turned 30? This guy right here. Incredible stuff. It really creeps up on you, honestly. I’m gonna hope this next decade brings nothing but happiness and good fortune. The 20s were fine. Thirties are the new 20s. That’s what they say, right? Anyway, thanks for reading. This has gone on for a good 12 years now, and it’ll be a while until it finishes. But we’re getting there every two days at a time. And we continue with Coldplay’s ‘Speed of Sound’, released 20 years ago, the big first single to announce their comeback in anticipation to what was the band’s upcoming third album X&Y. I’ve come to think of that particular record as their ‘biggest band in the world’ statement. It’s not my favourite. And funnily enough, the band don’t look too fondly on that era either. What can you do?

And I kind of remember ‘Speed of Sound’ being the new song. If I recall correctly, its music video made its premiere in the UK on Channel 4. I didn’t care all that much for Coldplay then. Green Day was more my thing in 2005. And the premiere was at a really late time too. So, I figured I wasn’t missing out on anything much if I went to bed instead. I more remember the discussion around the song that was happening at the time. Mostly that it sounded too similar to ‘Clocks’, which I didn’t get initially. Speeding up ‘Speed of Sound’ (hardy-har-har) makes the similarity a little clearer. Then, to rub more salt in the wound, this track by what was supposedly the biggest band in the world made it to number two in the singles chart, beaten by the annoying, novelty ringtone era kingpin Crazy Frog with (its?) cover of ‘Axel F’. And at a time when it felt like Coldplay hate was at its highest, some people took great pleasure in that happening.

Fast-forward some years later, and I ended up asking for X&Y as a gift for one of those yearly occasions. Mainly because I just wanted access to the singles from it. I listened through it I think the one time, and it felt like it went on for ages. But before then I don’t think I’d properly listened to ‘Speed of Sound’ and given it full attention. It was through the full album listen where I sort of realised the song wasn’t half bad. A song about feeling insignificant and needing a sense of direction in this big, overwhelming world that still has so many questions left unanswered as to its origins. Not a bad topic. “All those places I got found” is a phrase that’s never sounded right to me, but that’s a little nitpick I have. But I really enjoy the way Chris Martin sings the whole thing, even though he apparently can’t stand it now. There’s an actual groovy bassline that you don’t find in a lot of Coldplay songs that begins at the “Look up, I look up at night” verse. And everything’s all tied together by the far out synths and reverbed guitar work that aid in giving the song this spacey atmosphere. One of these days I’ll maybe listen to X&Y again. ‘Least I know this one will always be in there.

#1252: Gorillaz – Sound Check (Gravity)

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‘Sound Check (Gravity)’ is another song from Gorillaz’s 2001 debut album. I say ‘another’ because it doesn’t feel so long ago that I was writing about the last one to appear on here. I’ll try my best not to repeat anything, but don’t hold it against me if I do. Just a coincidence that two of the songs I like on the LP begin with the letter ‘S’. Being the 16-track record Gorillaz is, with ‘Sound Check’ being the eighth on there, I think the song’s placement and general tone is meant to make it out as the epic closer of the album’s first half. Got these heavy dub-record scratch breakdowns and (synthesized) violins. Meant to really heighten the dramatic atmosphere of it all, even though the song isn’t arguably about anything much at all.

If you look at ‘Sound Check’ in a structural sense, which I guess I do sometimes on here, you can say it’s split into three different sections. You firstly get the “Graviteh-eh-eh-eh” verses, the instrumental breaks where the dubby bass guitar comes in with the record scratching, and the “ah don’t ‘pon me down” verses. Some websites list the latter part as the choruses. They seem like the least chorus-like parts of the song. Damon Albarn’s doing a thing that he does throughout the album, which is switching up his vocal style, really exploring parts of his voice that he never would with Blur and singing actual words mixed with a bit of gibberish which have some meaning and sort of don’t. There’s always a very fine melody associated with them all, though.

The main puzzle I’d always had with the track was regarding the sample that’s used during the instrumental breaks. Once I read that the person in that sample was saying “I’m gonna rock this rigging”. And it sounds like that, thought it was a pretty valid deduction, so I’ve been singing it that way for all this time. But before writing this, I just did a little check to see how the lyrics are noted on various websites. One of the first few results that came up was a Reddit post asking about that sample lyric, and someone straight up posted the actual source. You hear it about 27 seconds in. So it’s actually just “I’m gonna rock this pla-ace”. It’ll take me some time to get used to that. But that’s one question solved that I don’t have to think about anymore.

My iPod #204: Feeder – Comfort in Sound

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The title track from Feeder’s fourth album is one that has an ambiguous effect on me. Sometimes, it fails to raise a positive emotion in me. Sometimes I hear the song and I feel sad for no reason and quite dispirited. Other times it’s a song I would play when I’m with my friends or family and think “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than where I am right now, at this point in time.”

I told you the context of the album already with “Come Back Around”. Whilst that song (although having somewhat of a similar message to this) excites me with its pace and forceful instrumentation, “Comfort in Sound” stops me where I am and makes me think about life… about what I’m doing presently, about making most of the time I have.

I do love the song. Lazily looking upon the lyrics now, it has a positive and heartwarming aura. It is about finding solace in the things that surround you. Mostly in the things you hear. Its mid-tempo pace and the key(which was altered for the single release, and is the version I have) make me feel at home… and really warm inside.