Anti-Climacus

LINK: Pointed out to me by a fellow grad-student and political theorist, this NYT article on Coldplay. Oh my:

"Unfortunately, all that sonic splendor orchestrates Mr. Martin's voice and lyrics. He places his melodies near the top of his range to sound more fragile, so the tunes straddle the break between his radiant tenor voice and his falsetto. As he hops between them - in what may be Coldplay's most annoying tic - he makes a sound somewhere between a yodel and a hiccup. And the lyrics can make me wish I didn't understand English. Coldplay's countless fans seem to take comfort when Mr. Martin sings lines like, "Is there anybody out there who / Is lost and hurt and lonely too," while a strummed acoustic guitar telegraphs his aching sincerity. Me, I hear a passive-aggressive blowhard, immoderately proud as he flaunts humility. "I feel low," he announces in the chorus of "Low," belied by the peak of a crescendo that couldn't be more triumphant about it."

As the kids say, "Snap!"

Also, one additional note about the article: they refer to the band Travis as being "influenced by" Coldplay, which seems chronologically dubious*, as I believe Travis were releasing albums several years before Coldplay (1997-ish, as memory serves, but late period Britpop gets a little fuzzy for me after Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space). So, basically, Travis were ripping off "Fake Plastic Trees"-era Radiohead before doing that was cool.

UPDATE: TMFTML notes the same phenomenon:

"Coldplay's powers of suck are so all-encompassing that they extend out backwards through time, influencing bands that actually predate them."

*My other favorite example of this is in the liner notes of Gang of Four's Entertainment, where Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is talking about the influence of GoF on RHCP, and mentions that he saw a TV program with The Edge (of U2) talking about guitarists who influenced him, and mentioning a bunch of old blues guys, and Flea wanted to know why Andy Gil (GoF's guitarist, which is stretching the term somewhat, I'll admit) wasn't on that list. Possibly because by the time Entertainment came out (1979) U2 was already a band, and The Edge probably beyond the influence-having stage (besides, early Edge totally rips of Tom Verlaine, which he will fess up to in his more honest moments)