The Kylie / Coldplay duet ‘Lhuna’, which Chris Martin has been raving about, finally saw its release, on World AIDS Day (1st December). The song was available via (RED)'s new digital music magazine, (RED)WIRE.

Rock guitarist Joe Satriani began legal proceedings against Coldplay, accusing the Grammy-nominated stars of plagiarizing one of his songs. Satriani's copyright infringement suit, filed early December in Los Angeles federal court, claimed the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" incorporates "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental "If I Could Fly." Coldplay responded Officially to Joe Satriani, saying: "With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations. If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write or have any influence upon the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours. Coldplay."

Coldplay formed a new supergroup at their three dates at the O2 Arena residency with comic actor Simon Pegg. Midway through the set, much to the sell-out crowd's surprise, the band walked into the first tier of the audience. With a solitary spotlight beaming on them, Chris Martin announced: “In homage to Robbie Williams rejoining Take That, we're going to form our own supergroup, ladies and gentlemen it's Simon Pegg!”

Read the full December 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

November saw Coldplay's music video in support of their new single 'Lovers in Japan' officially released worldwide via the Parlophone YouTube channel at midnight on Wednesday 4th November (GMT, EST-5). Because of its 'leak' on iTunes, many of you had already seen the video enough times to make a judgement on it, so you let us know what you thought of the video on our new poll and also the discussion thread (already 40 pages long by the time of the midnight release!). At around 3m45s in the video the letters EB., BA IN, and LL FO appeared... a secret message perhaps?

An alternative video of Lovers In Japan affiliated to Capitol records also emerged online. The video was shot by Matt Whitecross at the United Center in Chicago during the same show in which the official video of Lost! and Lost+ was from. The images of the video seem to be part of an alternative video of the fourth single taken from the album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, but it has since been rumoured that it could also be a footage of the eagerly-awaited Live DVD that Coldplay have been preparing during the shows in Chicago held on 22nd and 23rd of July.

Coldplayers Mel and Lori (Melanieau & KissesBirds] were met with a double Coldplay whammy at the November Detroit show as they were not only upgraded to front row courtesy of Chris Martin but were introduced to and photographed backstage with the Coldplay roadies. You can read their entire story from turning up at the venue, to their appearace backstage, at the messageboard discussion here onwards or via the shortened version at WikiColdplay.

Read the full November 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

October saw a letter from Chris Martin, which was posted from Rotterdam at coldplay.com, outlining the tracklisting for the forthcoming 'Prospekt's March' EP. Prospekt also delivered the exciting new news on Coldplay's forthcoming Prospekt's March EP, after a last minute extension of tracklisting.

Glass Of Water made its debut in Antwerp, and Roadie #42 mused: "So there we have it - Glass Of Water is now out in the wild. The footage on the site came from Andy Bramley, the tour's wonderful video director - the entire XL video department played a blinder, I think you'll agree."

Coldplay scooped two prizes at the Q Awards ceremony in London, including best album for Viva La Vida or Death To All Their Friends. Coldplay also won best act in the world today. Picking up the best album prize, Chris Martin warned the crowd he was going to bore them, before launching into a rambling acceptance speech. At one point, he declared Coldplay were “the greatest band in the world”, before adding bashfully: “U2 are on holiday”.

Read the full October 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

August started with several new interviews, and Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland appearing on Canadian TV programme eTalk and they confirmed that the band had finished working on some songs that would be released in EP format. Two new Coldplay interviews aired in the UK, the first one on BBC Radio 2 with Dermot O'Leary and the second on BBC6 Music. During the second one Chris Martin confirmed details of future Coldplay releases to a well respected Steve Lamacq. Here's what Steve's blog said:

So what we suspected - but weren't at liberty to confirm - turns out to be true. There will be another Coldplay album next year, currently set for release in December '09. Chris Martin broke the news during a convivial chat with REM's Michael Stipe and yours truly on BBC 6 Music on Saturday afternoon. What's more surprising is that there will be a new EP, Prospekt's March, released around Christmas... ("hopefully December 26th, something like that"). All of which seems to confirm earlier suspicions that the sessions with Brian Eno for the current album Viva La Vida were so productive that they had songs to spare - although the band still claim the next album is far from finished. In the meantime, we got to hear a laid-back Coldplay democratically choosing the title for the EP, live on air, with the added bonus of Stipe having the casting vote.

Read the full August 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

July started with a competition for aspiring bands. In association with Capital Records, Coldplay started the hunt for six bands to join them at the summer shows in the United States. Support roles are required for concerts in Chicago, San Jose, Philadelphia, DC, Boston and Hartford. Interested acts should visit coldplayontour.com and can apply using YouTube clips of their band at work.

Lucky KROQ listener, Jessica, won a competition and had Coldplay round to play in her backyard. If that wasn't enough, Jessica even got to choose the setlist. She chose Speed Of Sound, Don't Panic, Green Eyes, Lovers In Japan, Violet Hill and Yellow.

Viva La Vida continued to break records, and just kept on selling and selling and selling... in just two weeks, Viva La Vida has sold more downloads than any album in digital history. The old record was held by John Mayer's Continuum. Viva La Vida sold 66,000 downloads this week, bringing its two-week total to 354,000. Continuum has sold 353,000 downloads since its release in September 2006.

Read the full July 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

In June, Coldplay couldn't prevent a plague like the massive fire at Universal Studios -- the site of the MTV awards -- and the world appeared unchanged when lead singer Chris Martin sat at the end of the stage to herald the end of the 'Viva La Vida' Performance at the show.

Coldplay took an unusual iTunes record, with new album Viva La Vida set to become the best-selling album pre-sale ever released in the history of Apple's music store, Apple insiders informed us. Not just that, but Coldplay's new collection was also set to beat the best ever first week iTunes album sales record on a global basis, a record then held by Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static. And it was still over a week and a half until Coldplay's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, was scheduled for release, but the album leaked online through a torrent on 4th June. Coldplay and EMI took the next logical, and predictable, step to combat the online leak. NME reported that the album would be available for streaming from the band's MySpace page.

Chris Martin gave the Radio 4 interview a cold shoulder after continual negative questioning by DJ John Wilson about watermelons, 'morbid' music, and accused Chris Martin of telling a sexist joke about Frida Khalo. Will Champion continued questions on his own until Chris returned to answer the final question abruptly, at which point the interview ends. Coldplay were also due to appear on Radio 2 show the same afternoon but the airing of the interview was pulled at short notice.

Read the full June 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

In May, it was announced that 2 million people downloaded Coldplay’s new single ‘Violet Hill’ while it was available as a free download. The song, which was the first off the band’s new album ‘Viva La Vida’, was uploaded onto the band’s website on April 29th. Had the song been chart eligible it would have outsold last week’s Top-40 four times over.

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" went up from pre-order from Apple's iTunes store, and those who made the pledge for the album would get immediate access to the title track. Viva La Vida (individual track), was also available for purchase individually on iTunes at a price of €0.99. A new Apple iTunes ad featuring music from Coldplay’s forthcoming ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends’ aired on US TV. The 30-second spot was filmed by director Mark Romanek and was broadcast between segments of American Idol.

A website in the Netherlands was the first online to show the full exclusive video to Coldplay's new single, Violet Hill. Previously only a 40 second preview was aired. Coldplay also posted a satirical politically-charged video on their official YouTube channel, entitled Dancing Politicians. The video is directed by Mat Whitecross who also directed Bigger Stronger...

Read the full May 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

In April, the tracklisting to Coldplay's fourth album was officially announced. Interestingly, the album appeared to be called 'Viva La Vida' and had two interesting omissions - Chinese Sleep Chant and The Escapist. Coldplay also arrived in Sicily, Italy to shoot the video for the first single, Violet Hill, taken from Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.

Not only that, Coldplay also unveiled the album artwork to ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends.’ The band used a classic painting by French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix from 1830 called ‘Liberty Leading The People’ (La Liberté guidant le people). It depicts the a woman personifying Liberty in the French Revolution leading the army in their march over dead bodies holding the French tricolour flag aloft.

It was announced that Coldplay would premiere the first single from their fourth album, ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’, on Tuesday (29th April) on BBC Radios 1 and 6, which will then open the floodgates for thousands of other radio stations to be allowed to air the track. 'Violet Hill' was downloaded for free by over 600,000 people in the 24 hours since it was made available at 12.15pm on Tuesday (April 29). In the first 12 hours it was downloaded by 300,000. This figure doubled overnight as other countries logged on to Coldplay.com, the source of the free download.

Read the full April 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

In March we learned that Coldplay would headline the first-ever Pemberton Festival, set for July 25-27 in Pemberton, B.C., and also that the band were reportedly being paid a whopping £1.2million ($2.4million) to play the Summer Sonic festival in Japan later in the year. If they gigged for 75 minutes on both nights, they trousered a jaw-dropping £8,000 ($16,200) a minute. Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival bosses were rightly chuffed with themselves, calling Coldplay "the ultimate blue chip act of our generation."

New images of Coldplay's 'new website' surfaced via their official web designers, SlenderFungus.com. Could these screenshots have been a hoax? Were they meant to be visible on slenderfungus website? Did Coldplay find out or were they waiting for the screenshots to be 'discovered'? All your questions were answered... it turned out to be a design that wasn't used!

It was announced in March that Coldplay’s fourth album would be called 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' after a bout of ambiguity from Prospekt. Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means “long live life,” on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades. “She went through a lot of shit, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said ‘Viva la Vida,’” says Martin. “I just loved the boldness of it.”

Read the full March 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

February 2008 starts with an invitation for Chris Martin from Cradle of Filth's lead singer...

British rocker Dani Filth wanted to go head-to-head with Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin in a boxing match. The founding member of extreme metal band Cradle Of Filth branded indie frontman Martin a "sap" saying he would be his first choice to have a fight with. He says, "Probably that c**t Chris Martin from Coldplay. I wouldn't even wait for the bell. "Absolutely everything about him makes me want to puke. He's such a sap, and the way that he wrote that s**t about 'freedom' on his hand was pathetic. If you strongly believe in something you don't write it on your hand with a biro, you tattoo it across your f**king face."

There were no February Prospekt updates but Coldplay were putting the finishing touches on the fourth studio album, Dave Holmes confirmed. He said the as-yet-untitled project was set for an early summer release via Capitol. A summer tour of North America and Europe would follow. "We're just about finished," band manager Dave Holmes tells Billboard.com. "They're in the final mixing. They'll start mastering, and away we go." Typically light on hyperbole, Holmes is enthusiastic about the new project. "I think it's their best album," he says. "They've really delivered. It's a fantastic record. They've really put the work in. The guys are really eager to get back on the road. They're really looking forward to touring and getting back out there."

Read the full February 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

2008 starts with glossy Coldplay...

The Q Magazine article featuring Coldplay hit the shelves in early January and contained some more information on the new album that we didn't already know at the start of the year. The new release date was rumoured to be May/June 2008.

Stars continued to fall on Coldplay.com - particularly in the 2008 section where Coldplay turned 10 years old! Prospekt sneaked in a January entry, saying: Back home for a few days. A brief rest before the final push. Another four or five weeks and we should be home and dry: another ten mixes + re-recording one of the songs from scratch. In times gone by I would have set aside a month to re-record a track. However, the week before Christmas, we recorded two tracks in four days - Lovers In Japan and Strawberry Swing. On the fifth day (Friday), Chris put down new lyrics (and new melodies) on two other tracks. It was far and away the most productive and exciting week we've ever had in the studio. I was buzzing all through Christmas. Since then, mixing has been slow and painstaking but that's just the nature of the beast. So... give us another month or so and we might just have an album worthy of your patience.

Chris Martin is seen chasing down a photographer trying to get shots of his wife Gwyneth Paltrow as she left a New York hospital, and The Daily Star apologised for printing “a misleading story” that indicated that Coldplay would be leaving EMI, after they had delivered their fourth studio album.

Read the full January 2008 Coldplay review article in the Coldplay forum here

Coldplay's Jonny Buckland celebrates his 31st birthday travelling to Germany today.

Sept. 11: Actress Betsy Drake is 85. Actor Earl Holliman is 80. Movie director Brian De Palma is 68. Rock musician Mickey Hart (the Dead) is 65. Singer-musician Leo Kottke is 63. Rock singer-musician Tommy Shaw (Styx) is 55. Sports reporter Lesley Visser is 55. Actor Reed Birney is 54. Singer-songwriter Diane Warren is 52. Musician Jon Moss (Culture Club) is 51. Actor Scott Patterson is 50. Rock musician Mick Talbot (the Style Council) is 50. Actress Roxann Dawson is 50. Actress Virginia Madsen is 47. Actress Kristy McNichol is 46. Musician-composer Moby is 43. Business reporter Maria Bartiromo is 41. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 41. Rock musician Bart Van Der Zeeluw is 40. Actress Laura Wright is 38. Rock musician Jeremy Popoff (Lit) is 37. Singer Brad Fischetti (LFO) is 33. Rapper Mr. Black is 31. Rock musician Jon Buckland (Coldplay) is 31. Rapper Ludacris is 31. Actor Ryan Slattery is 30. Actor Tyler Hoechlin is 21.

More celebrations on Jonny's birthday here [thanks texasluvsjonny]

iUSED2RULEtheWORLD has posted some excellent Coldplay scans based on recent Viva La Vida photoshoots for the tour programme.

Some of the images are below, and you can

see all the pages from the Viva La Vida tour programme here [thanks iUSED2RULEtheWORLD]

The new album hits stores around the world from tomorrow, and here's what it looks like front and back. There are also lyrics in the Japanese version:

[Lyrics1] [Lyrics2] [Lyrics3] [Lyrics4] [Lyrics5]

More on this here (add your scans!) [thanks mynickismyname, Leche & othersongs]

It has become a Coldplaying tradition that every couple of months the World Of Music forum holds a mixtape exchange. Over previous years it has been run by Coldplayers 'Eglantine', 'Redgirl76' and 'The Escapist'. To start off the summer, 'Kite' has once again stepped up to the role of hosting the next, the 6th, mixtape exchange.

The idea is that you get together a mix of songs that people may not have heard, that you enjoy, and sound well together (or that were just pulled out of a hat - though this option is not particularly advised!). It is really up to your musical interpretation. Basically, if you love to listen to new music and discovering new artists and genres, this is for you. AND, you can influence others' music with your style too...

Here are the deadlines: Sign up here before 7.00pm on Saturday, 3rd July (GMT+1) and please submit your mixtapes by 7.00pm on Saturday, 10th July. Tapes will be sent out around the 11th July.

Here are the rules (as read by Kite) that have been copied from the efforts of RedGirl and The Escapist in previous Mixtape Exchanges and are still valid...

1. Sign up saying you want to participate - leave your name on the thread or PM me direct

2. When the deadline for signing up is over, you'll get a PM from me giving you the name of another participant in the Exchange. You will be making a mix for this person, whoever they may be

3. You mustn't reveal who you are making the mix for

4. Make your mix-tape (average length is around 50-70 minutes) and delete the info for each song.

5. Upload the mix-tape to something like rapidshare and send me the link and a tracklisting. I will then send it to person assigned to you, keeping your identity a secret of course!

6. When you receive a mix-tape, listen to it, write a review and post it in this thread.

7. The person who made the mix-tape will then post the track-list and the link so everybody can download it. Simple as that.

8. At the end, I will link all the tapes, tracklistings and reviews to the first page so everyone can download them.

In one of several end-of-the-decade mega polls underway at Coldplaying, we're asking you to choose between 20 and 100 of your favourite albums of the noughties in Coldplaying's Album Of The Decade poll.

It's been an action-packed ten years for the music industry and it's your opportunity to pinpoint your standout albums since 2000. For example, NME's top 50 albums of the decade list was topped by the Strokes album 'Is This It'. Meanwhile, Spinner honoured Amy Winehouse’s soulful 'Back To Black' as the top Album of the Decade. If you're a reader of the Observer Music Monthly you'll already know that their countdown was topped by The Streets - Original Pirate Material as the album that defined the noughties.

Compiling any top list is a tricky process. But how do you filter through the myriad musical delights of the past ten years to pick the defining sounds of the decade? When you think you've done it, please submit your ranked choices at the World Of Music forum. Please make a note of the rules before posting your lists...

Here are the current list of rules:

1. You must nominate in between 20 and 100 albums;

2. Your list must be ranked. UNRANKED LISTS WILL BE IGNORED;

3. The album's original release date must be between January 1st 2000 and December 31 2009;

4. Live Albums, EP's, Rereleases and Compilations are NOT ALLOWED;

5. Movie Soundtracks are allowed, as long as the majority of the tracks were original at the time;

6. Any questionable albums will be debated by a committee consisting of winigwl;

7. You can vote for in rainbows;

8. Nickelback albums are allowed, but looked down upon;

9. Any questions should be asked and your lists accepted in this thread up until February 28th, 2010.

[banner courtesy of the_gloaming09 and Space Cadet, organisation thanks to winigwl]

In one of several end-of-the-decade mega polls underway at Coldplaying, we're asking you to choose between 20 and 100 of your favourite albums of the noughties in Coldplaying's Album Of The Decade poll.

It's been an action-packed ten years for the music industry and it's your opportunity to pinpoint your standout albums since 2000. For example, NME's top 50 albums of the decade list was topped by the Strokes album 'Is This It'. Meanwhile, Spinner honoured Amy Winehouse’s soulful 'Back To Black' as the top Album of the Decade. If you're a reader of the Observer Music Monthly you'll already know that their countdown was topped by The Streets - Original Pirate Material as the album that defined the noughties.

Compiling any top list is a tricky process. But how do you filter through the myriad musical delights of the past ten years to pick the defining sounds of the decade? When you think you've done it, please submit your ranked choices at the World Of Music forum. Please make a note of the rules before posting your lists...

Here are the current list of rules:

1. You must nominate in between 20 and 100 albums;

2. Your list must be ranked. UNRANKED LISTS WILL BE IGNORED;

3. The album's original release date must be between January 1st 2000 and December 31 2009;

4. Live Albums, EP's, Rereleases and Compilations are NOT ALLOWED;

5. Movie Soundtracks are allowed, as long as the majority of the tracks were original at the time;

6. Any questionable albums will be debated by a committee consisting of winigwl;

7. You can vote for in rainbows;

8. Nickelback albums are allowed, but looked down upon;

9. Any questions should be asked and your lists accepted in this thread up until February 1st, 2010.

[banner courtesy of the_gloaming09 and Space Cadet, organisation thanks to winigwl]

It has become a Coldplaying tradition that every couple of months the World Of Music forum holds a mixtape exchange. Over previous years it has been run by Coldplayers 'Eglantine', 'Redgirl76' and 'Kite'. To start off the new year and the new decade, 'The Escapist' has stepped up to the role of hosting the next, the 5th, mixtape exchange.

The idea is that you get together a mix of songs that people may not have heard, that you enjoy, and sound well together (or that were just pulled out of a hat - though this option is not particularly advised!). It is really up to your musical interpretation. Basically, if you love to listen to new music and discovering new artists and genres, this is for you. AND, you can influence others' music with your style too...

Here are the deadlines: Sign up here before 7.00pm on Saturday, 23rd January (GMT) and please submit your mixtapes by 7.00pm on Saturday, 30th January. Tapes will be sent out on the 1st Feburary.

Here are the rules (as read by The Escapist) that have been copied from the efforts or RedGirl and Kite in previous Mixtape Exchanges and are still valid...

1. Sign up saying you want to participate - leave your name on the thread or PM me direct

2. When the deadline for signing up is over, you'll get a PM from me giving you the name of another participant in the Exchange. You will be making a mix for this person, whoever they may be

3. You mustn't reveal who you are making the mix for

4. Make your mix-tape (average length is around 50-70 minutes) and delete the info for each song.

5. Upload the mix-tape to something like rapidshare and send me the link and a tracklisting. I will then send it to person assigned to you, keeping your identity a secret of course!

6. When you receive a mix-tape, listen to it, write a review and post it in this thread.

7. The person who made the mix-tape will then post the track-list and the link so everybody can download it. Simple as that.

8. At the end, I will link all the tapes, tracklistings and reviews to the first page so everyone can download them.

Pictures of winning auction items in the Coldplay end of decade clearout sale (lo&loud):

The time has again come to have a good long look at the music world around us and ask ourselves: "What albums did we like this year?" [thanks Space Cadet]

We are now accepting your favourite albums from the past 12 months in preparation for the December countdown in the World Of Music forum at the Coldplaying messageboard. All you have to do is make a personal list of at least 5 and as many as 25 of your favorite original studio albums (no live albums, eps, compilations, or rereleases, sorry) released between December 2008 and December 2009. Eligibility is determined by the original release date. (Long list bonus: add 5 extra albums at 50 points each for a total of 30 albums.)

You can use this thread to sketch out some ideas, talk, or post your list. You can edit your list at any time up until the deadline. Also available at that thread are links to previous years' countdowns as well as explanation of how the ranking works. Please note that the deadline for entries is Sunday December 6th.

To help you make your choices, at Wikipedia there is a list of albums released this year (note the list is still being added to).

A reminder that Thursday is the hour-long live tracklist on Absolute Radio which features tracks chosen by you, the Coldplayers, as part of Coldplaying's victory in the final of the Live Stories competition. We beat several fan forums on our way to winning this competition, including representatives of Bowling For Soup, The Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs, Muse and U2.

You can listen to tonight's virtual festival through the Absolute Radio webstream at their website, or via the Coldplaying toolbar - which you can download online now. If you have any problems with the toolbar please log them here as soon as possible.

The playlist is currently a closely guarded secret but will include Coldplay and will be revealed on Ben Jones's evening show tonight - make sure you're tuning in at 11pm UK time to hear all the live tracks. The list will be published online at Coldplaying.com after the show. Join our listening party at the Coldplaying forums throughout the day today for full discussion before, during and after the exclusive airing.

Thankyou to everyone who voted for Chavi and Dave's live stories during the two stages of the competition, and for your submissions to our playlist. If you are listening to the show tonight we hope you enjoy the virtual festival!

Chris Martin at Absolute Radio studios, 30th January 2009

MusicOHM have a positive review of Jon Hopkins' new album, Insides, which features a track heard partially on Coldplay's Viva La Vida ending. Don't forget you can download those nine minutes of 'electro loveliness', as Anchorman put it, for free by clicking here. Here's the review:

Jon Hopkins is a busy enough man not to have bother with releasing solo albums, but we should be thankful that he finds the time to pop into the studio because Insides is another beautiful and fully realised work of art.

The former Royal College of Music piano student has worked with Coldplay, Massive Attack, Brian Eno and King Creosote to name a few, and has recently finished work on the soundtrack to Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lovely Bones. For all his classical credentials, Hopkins at heart is a creature of the studio. It is in this environment that he is able to experiment freely and produce his melodic electronica, although his classical training informs the structure and texture of the resulting music.

Insides is more immediate than last year's ambient single The Fourth State, fine piece of 'pure music' though that was. The album opens with the keening folk track The Wider Sun, which subverts any Celtic clichés by the subtle electronic touches rippling beneath the traditional instrumentation.

The Wider Sun segues into Vessel, a truly hypnotic piece of music that opens with found sounds and a simple piano refrain before layering on deep bass, synths and electronic glitches and crackles. Hopkins' piano is the key element here, and as the track progresses to pure ambience in the middle section its prominence becomes more apparent.

Insides, Wire and Colour Eye are closer to IDM than anything else on the album, although Hopkins love of ambient music never lets the tracks become too self-referential for their own good. These tracks work by building textural peaks and troughs, a compositional technique common in classical and electronic music.

Light Through The Veins is the album's centrepiece, a beautiful, inventive piece of music clocking in at nearly 10 minutes in length that showcases Hopkins's strengths as both composer and studio technician. Close in feel to the work of M83, the track also has uncanny overtones of early Mike Oldfield (not a damning indictment in this parish).

The final tracks on the album take their cue from Light Through The Veins and steer closer to ambient music than the dance floor. Hopkins's piano playing comes to the fore, guiding the listener through crystalline but sturdy melodies while discreet electronic crackles and scratches provide extra texture.

Autumn Hill completes the song cycle with its delicate piano gradually fading out into silence. It is one of several tracks that will doubtless find their way onto soundtracks (Hopkins's main source of revenue), but Insides deserves to be heard as a unique and complete work of art in its own right.

Source: MusicOHM

As previously reported, just days after their appearance at the Grammy Awards, the performances by Coldplay and Katy Perry are now available to buy. Coldplay performed ‘Lost’ with Jay-Z and ‘Viva La Vida’ and the performance is now available to download as an MP3 and/or a video (you can get both for $2.49) at the US store.

If you're impressed with that sound and you haven't yet purchased the Prospekt's March edition of Viva La Vida (ie, the one featuring all 19 tracks from thealbum and the EP), it is currently on special offer, reduced from £11.99 to £6.99 in the UK store.

You should now be able to buy the Life In Technicolor ii single and video from all iTunes stores around the world, with the exception of the US store (who'll be getting them before too long).

On the Grammy performances, Elio Leoni-Sceti, CEO of EMI Music, said: "What a truly exciting Grammy evening. Each and every one of our nominated artists has achievements to celebrate this evening, from making fantastic music to delivering stunning live performances on the show. It was, of course, wonderful to see artists from a range of genres take home big awards. I am very proud of these tremendous artists and all the EMI teams who support them."

More on this at the Coldplay forum Grammys thread here onwards.

Here is the piano sheet music for Coldplay's ‘Violet Hill’ and “Viva La Vida”. They’re in zip format, with pictures of the music to print out. Enjoy!

Coldplay “Violet Hill”

Coldplay “Viva La Vida”

also:

Coldplay “The Scientist” [pdf]

Coldplay “Speed of Sound” [pdf]

Coldplay “Trouble” [pdf]

Coldplay “Amsterdam” [pdf]

Via http://modernpianomusic.com/

Thanks to this week's release of the band's new album, 'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends', Coldplay are currently dominating the charts over at Last.fm.

You'll find them at the top of the Top Artists Charts and tracks from the new album take up 8 of the top 10 spots on the Top Track Charts. Radiohead is the only other band in the top ten, with 'Nude' and 'All I Need' coming in at spots #9 and #10, respectively.

Coldplay's Life in Technicolor however is missing from the charts, as is Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love. If you find them, let us know!

You can join the Coldplaying Last.fm group here

Who deserves the Album of the Year 2007? To find the best, worst and most inane of this past year, Coldplaying turns to you.

Put forward your list here. You can list 5 - 25 original albums, released in 2007. Rank determines the points an album gets. Deadline for submissions: December 15 10:00pm EST (3am GMT). [Thanks Erin]

Is your favourite album being ignored? Write a blurb about it!

To see last year’s thread go here.

To see last year's countdown go here.

For ideas, check out the mid year thread here.

For a list of albums released this year try here and here