coldplay are better and way less overrated than animal collective

Not a fan of either but I just realized this today while listening to the new Coldplay cd in a friend's car, and I thought about how many people I've encountered who will get bent out of shape over boring overrated music like Coldplay but not boring overrated music like Animal Collective. This perplexes me because I would totally take Viva La Vida over Strawberry Jam (horrible) or Merriweather Post Pavilion anyday.

(Panda Bear solo is better than either tho)

http://gammablog.com/gammablablog/images/3-04/3-20/speak-truth.jpg

you were otm until you repped for panda bear

*newsflash* indie kids AND your mom have bad taste in music.

pretty sure this is all just because Coldplay actually sell a lot of records

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q188/anjoderapina/0000048.gif

i have not heard viva la vida, but in terms of that ac, yeah considering the hype its major whatevz. couple tracks are cool, everything else on that record leaves me cold. as far as coldplay being better or delivering MORE idk about that. or what sseward said

*newsflash* indie kids AND your mom have bad taste in music.

― scott seward, Saturday, May 16, 2009 2:41 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.ontopmarketing.com/images/web_graphics/OTM%20logo%20(darker).gif

i've tried to avoid the MPP and animal collective threads as much as possible but if this is the designated animal collective/MPP diss thread then i'm in

There's nothing wrong with Coldplay, except that the compositions are boring and they're just spinning their wheels at this point. Animal Collective still hold lots of excitement to me (even though when I don't like their stuff I hate their stuff).

coldplay is boring. even their name is boring. it sounds like globs of wet clay being dropped on the sidewalk. plop, gluh.

i've never heard anything by animal collective

standard indie backlash. would rather listen to Animal Collective than Coldplay any fucking day of the week and i'm not even much of a fan.

"i've tried to avoid the MPP and animal collective threads as much as possible but if this is the designated animal collective/MPP diss thread then i'm in"

i'm in if we get to include the new tortoise album too.

I liked Coldplay's first big single (Yellow, I think). I thought their sound progressed and developed on their big full-length album (the one with Clocks). But then they just stopped developing; the next songs went nowhere new, and returning to the same sound was just a dead-end (that's not always the case with a band, but Coldplay doesn't have a sound I want to hear regergitated over-and-over in new songs, without development).

And they seem like tools.

ive had my fun tormenting the animal collective fanboys on ilx def but fuk nothing is worse than coldplay

"high speed" is a very good song

There's nothing wrong with Coldplay, except that the compositions are boring and they're just spinning their wheels at this point.

^^ I'd say such holds true moreso for Animal Collective.

both bands are fond of funny little costumes.

Wow. I'd say the full, rolling-downhill sound of MPP sounds very little like the acid-folk of Sung Tongs.

(xp)

Yeah, that's true about the fuzzy costumes. Grow up, Coldplay and Animal Collective!

both bands got 3 and a half stars for their most recent albums in rolling stone.

both albums were reviewed by will hermes.

coldplay have a roadie named lincoln. animal collective have a roadie named kennedy.

Coldplay=great and terribly underrated
Animal Collective: OK and maybe slightly overrated.

So.... Yes....

Viva La Vida Loca or Ricky Martin and All His Friends

Coldplay have the potential to be great, but they'll never fulfill it.

Chris Martin was extraordinary on that Faultline track.

They need to sound less like Coldplay, and not ballad it up in the club.

this video is cuter than animal collective:

a thing i like is way better and way less overrated by someone somewhere i'm talking about than a thing i don't like

I sort of wish it was Coldplay who'd made an entire album with JLC rather than The Killers/Keane. "Viva La Vida" is my favourite thing of theirs, I think (though it's faux-JLC rather than real-JLC).

I think Coldplay were worth hating circa "Yellow" when they seemed like part of a bloated movement of overly earnest mopey UK rock with occasional falsetto vocals. The more this movement has fallen away (starting from "Rock is Back!" in 2001) the less hateable they've seemed (though the self-parodying nadir early singles from X&Y obscured this fact for a while).

Comparing the two bands doesn't make an awful amount of sense to me. They appeal to (largely) different audiences, and the trajectory Animal Collective have taken has been markedly different.

It makes more sense to compare Animal Collective to Flaming Lips and MPP to The Soft Bulletin. Which undermines Animal Collective's rep for edginess as much as comparing them to Coldplay does.

animal collective - mildly interesting with hints of potential
coldplay - incredibly boring with hints of not-completely-sucking

^^^sound about right to me

i'm with the original poster for what it's worth - i neither hate nor love coldplay but some of there stuff is decent-to-good, and the eno-produced viva actually got several plays out of me (a rare feat for almost anything but 5 star/mic classics) while i just don't see why anyone likes animal collective at all.

actually they both have this sort of inoffensive edge to them that makes them sound sort of similar somehow...

And they [Coldplay] seem like tools

Er, yeh, think this is actually the crux, innit? If Chris Martin wasn't such a tool, I'd feel a lot happier about saying stuff like "there are tracks on that last Coldplay album that are fucking awesome". It's not even like I can explain what's so toolish about him -- there are plenty of bigger bell-ends in music, after all. I think it's the unappetising mix of earnestness, egotism and petulance ...

... pretty sure this is all just because Coldplay actually sell a lot of records ...

er, and this.

animal collective have always been massively polarizing. now they've reached a certain level of recognition, the rising number of people who hate them now are getting annoyed by the equal increase in people that are stanning for them.

I suspect it's a little fallacious to talk about AC and CP as if they exist in totally different spheres of existence. I bet their fanbases crossover way more than you'd expect - if only because Coldplay's fanbase is just so fucking BIG. I know a handful of people, professional, well-paid people in responsible jobs, generally, who are now in their late 30s / 40s / even early 50s, who consider themselves educated and cultured and aware, who like both. And I laugh at all of them for having fucked-up shit-sensors. Both bands suck.

you were otm until you repped for panda bear

― autobahn mi (The Reverend), Saturday, May 16, 2009 9:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^

find it v difficult to get annoyed by coldplay. they're tolerable at their best and barely existent at their worst, even chris martin's wet blanket voice is ignorable. he doesn't seem that annoying to me, there are worse. animal collective, otoh, are so bad that i would find it difficult to take the opinions about music of anyone repping for them seriously. really have rarely heard music that bad before - and it's all musical cuz i know nothing about their personalities, my out-and-out loathing of most acts tends to have that personal element to it but w/animal collective it's purely musical. there is nothing good about what they do and i have no idea what people get out of it.

yeah the thread is a weird comparison and probably just any old excuse to hate on AC but i am all for more of those, tbh.

or to put it another way, when we say of a piece of music that it makes us feel sick, that's generally hyperbole; but animal collective's music actually does make me feel genuinely physically ill and nauseous, it's like being seasick. v unpleasant.

Aye, I'm with lex on the physical reaction; I find listening to AC very physiologically uncomfortable it gives me an instant headache.

Panda Bear's massively preferable to AC, but still not someone I'd choose to listen to of my own accord.

*cue soaring falsetto WAAAAAAAAAAAAA and sparkles*

Aye, I'm with lex on the physical reaction; I find listening to AC very physiologically uncomfortable it gives me an instant headache.

― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 17 May 2009 08:54

To me that's pretty much the point of Animal Collective at their best - to be psychedelic in the true sense of the word, rather than psychedelic in the 'sound a bit like the fucking Beatles in '67' regular sense. But it's understandable that this makes them a love/hate kind of band.

I have trouble kicking up any emotions / feeling either way about either of these bands. Liked some of AC's earlier "freak" stuff enough, haven't fucked w' em since '04 or '05. Coldplay are pleasant enough.

i dunno if i can take seriously the opinions about music of anyone who hates either of these bands that much. my coldplay dislike is more frustration at the level of their success against the sheer mediocrity and general dreariness of their sound. but it's a consistent effect whereas with AC they've done some stuff i don't like at all but musically, artistically, whatever...MPP has qualities i like (but is marred by other things) and they do a lot of different things. as a piece of relatively inventive pop music 'My Girls' would be in my year top 20 (but may drop because the lyrics and lyrical repetition annoy me more as time goes by).

I don't think psychedelic music should be a painful experience.

"I know a handful of people, professional, well-paid people in responsible jobs, generally, who are now in their late 30s / 40s / even early 50s, who consider themselves educated and cultured and aware, who like both. And I laugh at all of them for having fucked-up shit-sensors."

hey, know any unemployed people? lower class? don't expect them to have good music taste? fucking weirdo.

and "shit sensors", really. You like Super Furry Animals.

If you were a friend I could overlook taste differences but as this is the internet I'll just be all contemptuous towards you instead like a shitty little teenager would. You're in your 30's?

or to put it another way, when we say of a piece of music that it makes us feel sick, that's generally hyperbole; but animal collective's music actually does make me feel genuinely physically ill and nauseous, it's like being seasick. v unpleasant.

― lex pretend, Sunday, May 17, 2009 8:53 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Aye, I'm with lex on the physical reaction; I find listening to AC very physiologically uncomfortable it gives me an instant headache.

― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, May 17, 2009 8:54 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Whoa. And Animal Collective of all bands, reading these posts you'd think we were talking about Pruriant or something. I can't think of anything that does that to me, except for that time my friend made his stereo generate these subhuman bass notes we couldn't hear and I got a stomach ache. It was weird, you could see the speakers going totally crazy but could hear nothing...ohh but then my stomach!

chill, dawg

Aye, I'm with lex on the physical reaction; I find listening to AC very physiologically uncomfortable it gives me an instant headache.

― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, May 17, 2009 1:54 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Panda Bear's massively preferable to AC, but still not someone I'd choose to listen to of my own accord.

― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, May 17, 2009 1:55 AM Bookmark

I have even more problem with Panda Bear than the band proper as far as physical discomfort goes.

now curtis did u really have to start a whole thread for this challop

sorry, "chill, dawg" was directed at fandango

i like coldplay ok, as radio-fare. sort of like the 21st century supertramp. naturally I've never heard animal collective.

so shoot me now.

http://static.flickr.com/102/311520176_15cc62df6e.jpg

I guess one fun thing about being an Animal Collective hater would be that they offer so many different types of thing to hate.

Coldplay are consistent enough that they wear you down, hating on the same thing for years starts to seem boring and pointless after a while.

The first things I read about Animal Collective definitely made me want to hate them. I think Andy Battaglia stanning for them all the time prevented this from happening, he's one of those people I just expect to be right about things.

Of course the stuff that gets written nowadays is mostly pretty painful too.

"I know a handful of people, professional, well-paid people in responsible jobs, generally, who are now in their late 30s / 40s / even early 50s, who consider themselves educated and cultured and aware, who like both. And I laugh at all of them for having fucked-up shit-sensors."

hey, know any unemployed people? lower class? don't expect them to have good music taste? fucking weirdo.

and "shit sensors", really. You like Super Furry Animals.

If you were a friend I could overlook taste differences but as this is the internet I'll just be all contemptuous towards you instead like a shitty little teenager would. You're in your 30's?

hahahahaha

I'm in my 30s by two days.

I'm not implying that "professional, well-paid people in responsible jobs, generally, who are now in their late 30s / 40s / even early 50s, who consider themselves educated and cultured and aware" should have good music taste - far fucking from it in fact; I'm implying that they're too old and busy and out of touch to have good taste and that AC are their current token nod towards keeping up with the hipsters and that I find it super funny when they say "are you going to see The Hold Steady?!" to my girlfriend.

(I don't know many unemployed people actually, no; but the ones I do generally listen to a load of hippy shit and spend all their time at free festivals.)

If you really think SFA are shitty and AC are great, well, bully for you. But I think you're loony.

So glad I persevered with MPP. This thread may be a little tense at times but it did a great job of pushing me to try again. I pretty much flat-out love this record now. Still occasional headache issues but lessening, and there's a sense that it's worth it now.

next stop - get lex to like it ;)

hell now i feel confused

It feels like a salad of elation and embarrassment.

Dare I ask what the appropriate dressing would be.

I think my objections stand; Scik has a way of liking anything if it sounds good, and no man can have that much stereo hardware and not find a means of making pretty much anything into a cavern of aural bliss

;)

Also time of year was probably important here too; this came out in january, having leaked in November; it's a summer album, it needs the windows open.

Mouthy, thanks for the "conversion" report, very interesting stuff. And I'll second the comment above, which is very OTM. I need to pull Merriweather out again, it's been a couple months since I've played it.

I realize I still owe you that Cluster record and will have it to you shortly.

Not wanting to sound like Geir, but a big pull here is the melodies, actually; they're just, like, sung backwards, and buried underwater. But when they get in your head... If people covered these songs in bog standard indie pop fashion with a touch of synth this'd be Geir's favorite record ever. Or not.

i'm no coldplay fan, but MPP is try-too-hard-y. A couple songs work, but these dudes need to reign their shit in a bit more and stop being so annoying in that look-how-goddamn-clever-I-am sort of way.

sometimes that's true. but it's also true that coldplay should press outward a bit more and stop being so boring in that we're-writing-comfortable-MOR-songs-in-the-prime-of-our-career sort of way.

haha i had this thread bookmarked for some reason

trying too hard vs. not trying hard enough

yep. i'd say that's actually the debate in a nutshell.

i think you guys are trying too hard on this thread, whereas i'm all chris martin just chilling out thinking about poverty and watching my wife blog

chris martin, you need better hobbies.

i also write songs

the indie band trying to be coldplay is grizzly bear.

i also write songs

really? that's exciting. can you share the lyrics of one of your "song compositions"?

i'm writing a song discouraging ppl from eating burgers due to the carbon footprint. i've got my researchers looking up cattle farming in south america but its a bit of a ballache tbh, might just let my wife sing one of the songs she's written, she's got a new perspective on things

'sing' = intone, 'songs' = blog entries

i think the proposition in the thread title stands a very good chance of being true. i won't wager on it for a few years, though.

Coldplay are trying perfectly as hard as they should. Trying to be as creative as possible without ever losing sight of the catchy singalong choruses that should always be the essence of quality pop music.

otm

Someone needs to take over the songwriting duties from Mr Martin. That would be the first step.

these dudes need to reign their shit in a bit more

Really? To those who've heard Here Comes the Indian, Danse Manatee, etc., I'd wager that MPP is pretty reigned in already!

I will gain an appreciation for Anco by listening to the live audience recordings available for free on archive.org, y/n?

doubtful, somewhat dependant on the era of the recording.

Trying to be as creative as possible without ever losing sight of the catchy singalong choruses that should always be the essence of quality pop music

coldplay, the latest in a long line of acts carefully crafting catchy singalong choruses.

I GET KNOCKED DOWN BUT I GET UP AGAIN THEY AIN'T NEVER GONNA LET ME DOWN.

or GET ME DOWN or whatever chumbawumbawumba says in that stupid, catchy singalong chorus.

if you asked me to list defining characteristics of Coldplay's music, "catchy singalong choruses" would appear somewhere after "can act as a substitute for fire"

Trying to be as creative as possible without ever losing sight of the catchy singalong choruses that should always be the essence of quality pop music

UNIIITED UNIIITED UNIIITED WE STAND

So you're saying that Chris Martin is smokin' hot, right?

xpost

coldplay only started learning to write catchy singalong choruses on Viva La Vida and they still aren't that catchy or singalong

I'm saying you haven't had steak until you've had one charbroiled using "Clocks"

coldplay only started learning to write catchy singalong choruses on Viva La Vida

Um...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAME8GDRTfI

said "catchy singalong choruses", not "catchy singalong verses"

yeah - "Yellow" does not have a chorus per se

? Of course it does, the completely indecipherable bit starting at 1:30 is the chorus

the completely indecipherable bit starting at 1:30 is the chorus

This sounds like something people would say about AnCo!

Maybe the two bands have waaaaaayy more in common that we're willing to admit?

no. they have less.

BOTH SHIT

TRUE

in fairness, the only ppl who don't shit are folks with colostomy bags

THEY STILL SHIT, HI DERE, THE SHIT IS JUST IN A DIFFERENT PLACE

why am i yelling about shit

why am i yelling about shit

New ILM board description?

"Yellow" is a pretty MPP song really.

MPP is saved by its wacky sonics not because they're wacky (or "clever") but perhaps because it prevents them from seeming so obviously recuperable for marketing purposes, which I think is what haunted pretty much all of Coldplay's catchier songs until "Vida La Vida". I'm not quite sure why "Vida La Vida" escapes this and is so obviously good - I suspect it's because for once the verses feel really... what's that word when you're simultaneously poised/tense/bouyant like a diver about to jump? Anyway that rather than simply stomping the pre-chorus-build into you.

Sounding like an ad campaign doesn't upset me because of lol advertising per se. It's more that sense that the song feels depersonalised even before it is depersonalised (see also Travis's "Why Does It Always Rain On Me", which I've always thought is even worse in this regard; typical chart-pop doesn't suffer this problem for reasons that should be obv to all by now). In the case of "Yellow" the very first time I heard it I immediately imagined how I would feel when hearing it soundtrack an ad campaign for some charity appeal in five years time, which meant any reaction to the song had to pass through an unpleasant time/space continuum.

AnCo will fall into this trap as soon as someone learns how to use "My Girls" to soundtrack ads for milk supplements for babies.

suppliments obv.

pedantry here ok but: if it were "Vida La Vida" it might be excusable. It's "Viva La Vida," though, which makes Coldplay the English Lenny Kravitz.