The music video for "Talk" was helmed by director/photographer Anton Corbijn. Corbijn had previously directed the video for "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.

Filming took place on November 5 and November 6 at Ealing Studios, London, just before the band began an European leg on the Twisted Logic Tour. The black-and-white clip invokes a B-movie science fiction theme, with imagery ranging from a flying saucer to 3D glasses.

It seems the entire video can in fact be viewed in three dimensions using Anaglyphic 3D glasses like the ones worn by the band. Due to the red (left eye) and blue (right eye) edges that define a stereoscopic image. However the effect is subtle and best appreciated with a high resolution version.

See the making of the 'Talk' video here

When, last Saturday, a Coldplay "torrent" appeared on the Bittorrent network, it was instantly picked up by any and all who had the good fortune in seeing it.

The torrent - those who don't know about Bittorrent, can read up on it here - was labelled as "After After Before," an unknown name to all. So it was quickly grabbed by everyone who had some previous affiliation with the band, instantly thinking it was the greatly anticipated follow-up to 2005's "X&Y." Unfortunately, unbeknownst to many who were caught up in the furore of it all, Coldplay hinted that the new album would be released in 2007 if not later. While an advance copy of an album is not unusual on Bittorrent, a full year before is quite extroardinary, even for the multi-talented pirates of abroad.

Read at WikiColdplay how an unofficial fan-made collection of B-sides and rare tracks from Coldplay since their first LP, 'Parachutes', got pulses racing, here

Meanwhile, On June 18, 2007, the official site was relaunched with a new design that resembles a journal timeline with hand written excerpts, pictures, and videos. As of June 19, 2007, the website does not contain any new official information on the new album such as release date and album title, but content found on the band's new site (found in an April studio diary) hints at the new album title being called "Prospekt".

More on this "prospekt" here [thanks lostsides]

More content has been added to the new Coldplay.com site today.

Clues to find out what you're looking for are here [thanks lolalola1]

RECORD OUTFIT EMI is reporting that the sales results for its DRM-free music are better than those with protection.

Since EMI ditched the DRM on iTunes it has seen sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon increase by between 272 and 350 percent. It is too early to tell if this is just a temporary rise as punters replace their old DRM infected tracks with those which are protection free.

However it does look like punters have given the record labels the thumbs up for DRM free music. According to Bloomberg, digital sales for other DRM free music increased by between 17 to 24 per cent. OK Go's Oh No increased 77 per cent. Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head jumped 115 per cent. Sadly CD sales still are dropping down the toilet.

More on this story here

Entry from Prospekt:

The control room is tiny. Literally smaller than my bedroom. The live room isn’t much bigger. About the size of the rehearsal room we used to have pre-record deal.

Brian Eno sits behind his laptop towards the back of the control room. A benevolent schoolmaster with the unquestioning respect of his charges. When he speaks, we listen. Markus Dravg [sp] prowls around the room like a big cat in a zoo. A heavyweight boxer with a paintbrush.

Two very different people, both equally formidable. Together Brian and Markus have introduced a sense of discipline that never existed in previous album sessions. The atmosphere is tense and urgent.

I’ve never seen the band so willing to be led, to be pushed. Chris just burst into my little room upstairs at the studio. He’s been working on lyrics. Much more abstract, much more visual than before. This is reflected in the music too: less straightforward, more oblique.

There’s a long way to go, but the initial auspices are good. [thanks Cris_Santos]

Prospekt

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has delighted his army of fans by confirming he is to write a song all about tits.

The internet has been buzzing with rumours of a Coldplay tits anthem after Martin's brief holiday with David Coverdale from Whitesnake. Seasoned Coldplay observers were last night speculating on the lyrical content of the new song.

Jeremiah Johnson, Coldplay editor of the Sunday Telegraph, said: "He'll probably call it 'Tits' or, if he's feeling playful, 'Titties'. There is absolutely no chance that he would call it 'Knockers'. That's just not Chris Martin."

More on this satirical story here

With Glastonbury Festival coming up this weekend, the BBC have posted some footage of festival highlights up on their website.

Click here to check out Coldplay's mighty performance of 'Politik' from Glastonbury 2002.

Source: Coldplay MySpace

An extract of the song 'So Sad' has been uncovered, the first song even written and performed by Coldplay, even before the demo 'Ode To Deodorant'.

Relating to a 1998 official video, Debs Wild, editor for coldplay.com said that the song that follows 'So Sad' is 'Panic' divided into 2 different parts (the last one is the last line of the song).

You can download it here [thanks coldpatrix & Debs Wild]

Celebrated singer Annie Lennox has signed up to the Peace One Day Gig to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 21st September 2007.

Supported by Coldplay's Chris Martin, Pop Idol's Simon Fuller and Virgin boss Richard Branson, the Peace One Day Gig aims to promote world peace as part of a wider initiative. The organisation was founded in 1999 by British film-maker Jeremy Gilley and has resulted in September 21st being designated World Peace Day.

Talking to the BBC, Lennox said; 'I'm thrilled and delighted to be part of it, and to contribute to making Peace One Day a reality. Without peace we cannot survive.'

Others acts set to play at the concert include James Morrison, Corinne Bailey Rae, Beth Orton, Marc Almond and more. Tickets are on sale now and are available through the Peace One Day website, where more information about the organisation can also be found.

Head over to coldplay.com to check out the brand new Coldplay website, which went live this morning.

Based around a timeline of the band’s history, the site is designed to keep you entertained until they return with their next album.

All four members of Coldplay have been heavily involved in the re-design of the site. Their hand-written accounts will accompany each of the entries on the constantly-expanding timeline, for which the band have opened up their extensive archive of flyers, pictures, videos and audio recordings.

Tell us what you think of the new site here and here [thanks maricircus]

Rumours have been flying about recently regarding the release date for Coldplay's follow up album to X&Y.

A source close to EMI, Coldplay's record company, said the fourth album will in all probability be on the shelves around February to March 2008.

In addition, while as yet unconfirmed, a special DVD containing extracts of the recent Latin America Tour of early 2007, which included Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, may be released simultaneously. This would explain the 'Part I' unreleased material from Toronto in March 2006, which was only previously available as TV footage. Part II perhaps?

You can discuss this news in the Coldplay forums.

Meanwhile, Coldplay fans have been petitioning in their droves for Coldplaying.com's petition to revive the Toronto DVD from the EMI grave.

You have given your thoughts on how it has been revealed that the already planned and scheduled Coldplay live in Toronto Twisted Logic Tour DVD won't be released after all. Almost 2,500 (and counting) signatures and comments have been registered.

You can sign the petition anonymously. Every signature helps - add to the petition here.

Maybe all you want is an explanation? Did a televised event do for you? Maybe you'd prefer a DVD from the Latin America tour in early 2007? Discuss your choices here

This is such a let down to me. Me and my friend worked all summer to make enough money to get scalper tickets for this show. But she ended up not being able to go because a family member died. I promised her that I would get her this DVD to show her what she missed. You don't even know how much I wish I could've given this to her. [thanks Christian Fedele]

I had the opportunity to go to the coldplay concert performed at Lyon (France) in november 2005. I was impatient to buy the "twisted logic tour" DVD recorded at Toronto to relive the wonderfull atmosphere of a Coldplay performance, and now I hear it won't be in stores. What the hell is this !!!! [anonymous]

I saw Coldplay In concert last October. The concert was so amazing, and the song selection was wonderful. This tour was meant to be filmed. The video graphics behind them on the bigscreen were just unbelievable, not to mention the fact that you can see how well this band has evolved into a defining band for this generation since the last DVD release.......there is no reason this shouldn't be released. [anonymous]

My son attended this concert and still talks about it. I was so looking forward to purchasing the DVD of the Toronto tour as a special Christmas gift and am deeply disappointed that this will not be made available. [thanks Wendy S.

Yeah, really bad move guys. [thanks Tim]

Or is it simply a question of timing – that glorious, unplannable collision of time and place, when a band catches a wave of mainstream exposure, and find themselves playing for a 50,000-strong crowd on the very day their album rockets to Number One? Whatever it is, some tracks never fail to spark utter mayhem when unleashed at festivals.

See Q's top five, including Coldplay's 'The Scientist', here

Coldplay, with 'X&Y' topping the charts in at least 28 countries including Japan, launched their third album to the world in 2005.

During the album's promotion, Coldplay performed four songs for a Japanese acoustic session - "Swallowed In The Sea", "Til Kingdom Come", "A Message", and "Warning Sign".

A year after the session was filmed Coldplay made it once again to Japan, this time in concert, performing four nights in July 2006 in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo (twice).

Watch the acoustic session here [thanks eola]

Lisbon, PORTUGAL: Pop musician Will Champion (L) vies with Polish Kazmierczak ® during their charity football match at Alvalade XXI Stadium in Lisbon, 09 June 2007. FRANCISCO LEONG/AFP/Getty Images

More on this match here

In addition to Amazon, the new Coldplay album is now available for pre-order on HMV's website.

Meanwhile, Debs Wild, editor of Coldplay.com confirmed earlier this week that the 3rd September date is premature. She said: "Nope, this isn't true. It's way too soon. Maybe the record label pencilled it in but as far as I know it's not out this year and was never planned to be. I can't see that decision changing to be honest but as always, we would announce the true facts on the official site (whether that be the new site or myspace).

In addition to this, AlbumVote are reporting too that top online retailer Amazon has a September 3 release date for the fourth studio from Coldplay although earlier this year the band told Billboard that the follow up to 2005's X&Y would not be released this year.

More on this at the Coldplaying messageboard here

UK's Channel 4 will be showing Coldplay performing Clocks at last years festival on television tonight.

The five minute show, will air on Channel 4 at 12.10am.

For those who can't wait (or will be tucked up in bed) here is the performance online

“ ‘People ask me, ‘What do you think of Coldplay?’ I have no opinion of Coldplay. I’m 50. I didn’t ask my dad what he thought of Roxy Music.’ ” His opinion should be “The cover of X&Y is a direct copy of my style.” Even Adrian Shaughnessy agrees….

At a time when invisible data streams of binary information fed straight to our desktops are doing away with the need for album covers, it’s odd to find a record sleeve as the subject of media comment and speculation. Odder still that the album cover in question — Coldplay’s X&Y — should contain binary data as its central motif. Prophetic or what?

The Coldplay sleeve has been designed by hot new graphics duo Tappin Gofton. They have good pedigrees: Mark Tappin was at Blue Source, Simon Gofton at Tom Hingston Studio, both important studios in the UK music design scene. Until the appearance of their Coldplay sleeve, Tappin Gofton were best known for their 1960s-style “agit-prop” cover for The Chemical Brothers album Push the Button. Their work for Coldplay’s third album establishes them as a new force in contemporary music design.

With the record industry’s habitual love of hyperbole, Coldplay are being touted as the “world’s biggest band”. They certainly sell records. Earlier this year, their British record label EMI was forced to issue a profits warning to its shareholders when the band delayed the release of X&Y. Lead singer Chris Martin (referred to in the UK tabloid press as Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow) responded by announcing: “I don’t really care about EMI. I’m not really concerned about that. I think shareholders are the greatest evil of this modern world.” Martin is an unlikely candidate to announce the end of capitalism. Middle class, privately educated and married to Hollywood royalty, he and his band generate enough income to equal the earnings of a small corporation. Their last album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, sold 11 million copies and it’s easy to imagine EMI’s shareholders forgiving Martin’s lippiness if sales of X&Y exceed that figure.

The X&Y cover is agreeably eye-catching. You wouldn’t call it a classic, but it has an unexpected severity that lifts it above the anodyne and cosmeticised design currently favoured by multi-platinum selling artists. It has dark echoes of Peter Saville’s epochal Factory covers. To render the Coldplay name and album title, Tappin Gofton use Albertus, a typeface Saville deployed to memorable effect on the cover of New Order’s single “Ceremony” in 1981. And just as Saville did on his notorious floppy disk sleeve for New Order’s 12-inch single “Blue Monday” and his album cover for the same band’s Power, Corruption and Lies, both from 1983, Tappin Gofton use an enigmatic colour code and invite the viewer to decipher its meaning. It’s this graphic puzzle — rather than the “design” — that is causing the sleeve to be subjected to the sort of scrutiny not normally given to contemporary album covers, or graphic design in general, for that matter.

Blue Monday by New Order, designed by Peter Saville, Factory, 1983.

As early as April, Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones noted: “The designers, Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton, have created a digital logo which echoes every modernist school of painting from suprematism to De Stijl. They themselves cite 1940s mathematical abstraction. To the NME and the websites apparently obsessed with this image, it is, however, a cross between the Da Vinci Code and Fermat’s last theorem: the great brain-teaser of our time. Is it phallic? Is it a coded celebrity portrait? Guys, guys — have you thought of asking: is it art?”

More recently, in the same newspaper’s weekly science supplement, Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at Oxford, wrote gleefully: “If you don’t want me to spoil the excitement of working out Coldplay’s new album cover, look away now. First, the colours are irrelevant. The cover translates the album title into a binary code where each block of colour represents a 1 and a gap 0.”

Du Sautoy proceeds to decode the symbol. He identifies it as an example of a system devised in 1870 by Emile Baudot for telegraphists, where each letter of the alphabet is represented by a series of five 0s or 1s. The letter X, for example, is represented by 10111, and Y by 10101. Referring to the Coldplay graphic, he states: “The first column of colours on the cover shows a black and grey block representing a 1, followed by a gap representing a zero, then three more blocks of colour giving three 1s. The first letter in Coldplay’s title is the letter X. The last column gives us 10101 or the letter Y.”

On its website, the NME, the last of Britain’s weekly pop music journals, takes a less highbrow view and likens the design to the 1990s computer game Tetris.

So: no oblique message announcing the overthrow of western governments and no coded references to the home addresses of EMI shareholders. Instead, a striking cover that has succeeded in exciting widespread comment — something that hasn’t happened much since David Bowie donned a dress for the original cover of The Man Who Sold the World and McCartney-is-dead theorists subjected the Beatles’ Abbey Road sleeve to forensic examination in the late 1960s.

Yet for graphic designers, two factors stand out amid this flurry of interest. The first is the continuing power of album cover art to provoke emotional responses from people normally unmoved by graphic design and visual culture. The melding of image and sound is a potent mix, perhaps unrivalled anywhere else in graphic design. The second is the perhaps unintentionally prophetic nature of Tappin Gofton’s sleeve. It can be read as an oblique commentary on the state of the music industry at a crucial moment in its short history. Digital downloading means that the record business is about to go supernova. It may be that Apple’s iTunes will become the world’s largest record company. Who knows? The one thing we can be sure of is that downloading music will increase and that, as a consequence, the album cover will disappear, or at least shape-shift into something more discarnate and less tangible.

The demise of the record cover has been under way since the arrival of the music video, followed by the shrunken canvas of the CD. Today, the album cover is just one of a dozen requirements for the successful marketing of music. The most important activity for the modern record company is getting artists onto magazine covers or into hit TV shows: the album cover is just one of many surfaces to be filled, no less or no more important than any other. Cover art will survive, encouraged by small independent labels and bands who crave a visual expression of their music. But as far as the major labels are concerned, if they could avoid spending money on record sleeves they would do it tomorrow.

The Coldplay cover, with its intriguing puzzle and uncommercial design, is an almost nostalgic statement of graphic simplicity. It can be viewed as a neat commentary on the death of the old record industry, but in the future it is more likely to be seen as a last hurrah for sleeve design and the notion of record covers as shared generational artifacts.

Adrian Shaughnessy is an art director, writer and consultant based in London. He contributes to Eye, Design Week, Creative Review, Grafik and the AIGA’s Voice website, and is editor of the Sampler series of books about music graphics. He is creative director of This is Real Art.

SuperSport 5 SA and TVi Portugal will be broadcasting the All Stars '07 football match on June 9th at 22:15 (CET). It is also now available on ART Sport 3 (Arabic channel). Good news for supporters in France... TPS Foot will also be broadcasting the All Stars match (22:15 CET). This channel, which probably seems to be a pay-tv station in France, will also repeat this game on Sunday at 20:25 CET. More channels to follow...

Luís Figo Foundation is promoting the game in Alvalade Stadium (Lisbon, Portugal) and Coldplay's drummer, Will Champion, will be one of the players. According to 'Mais Futebol', Will Champion, who is a personal friend of Luís Figo, said he's very excited and obviously happy about the invitation.

More on this here [thanks Larry]

Coldplay Plates available for pre-order now! Matches the charity mug previously sold. Proceeds go to 21st Century Leaders and WaterAid and Oxfam.

Each plate is 8" / 20.5cm in diameter and the stock is expected 21st July 2007.

Price: £9.99 (approx. €14.77). Order it here [thanks airieslady]

Coldplay's fourth album is already listed on Amazon and is available for pre-order. The release date is September 3rd, 2007 under the EMI label.

Both cover and album title are as yet unconfirmed.

More on this here [thanks PlayingCold]

Also read: Coldplay's 'experimental' new album

The music video for "Yellow" was filmed at Studland Bay, near Swanage, England. The area is known for its beautiful beaches and is a National Trust location. The video is very minimalistic and simple, featuring only lead singer Chris Martin singing the song as he walks along the beach. He is wearing a raincoat with his hair wet, suggesting that it had just rained. The video is one continuous shot with no cuts. Also, the entire sequence is in slow motion.

Originally it had been intended for the whole band to appear in the video, in a sunny setting. However, band member Will Champion's mother's funeral was held on the day of the recording, so it was decided that only Martin would appear in the video. The weather also opposed the original plan, with harsh winds and rain instead of the sunny day that had been envisioned. It had also been originally intended for there to be moving stars in the sky, as if in a time-lapse. The directors however agreed that this would have been too distracting for the focus of the video, which was Martin.

The video was directed by James & Alex of The Artists Company. The video was shot at 50 frames per second, twice the regular speed. At the shoot, Chris Martin had to sing the song at double speed so that the audio and visual content would sync up. The final product is slowed to 25 frames per second, giving the slow motion effect of the video. The transition of the video from night to day was achieved through telecine. During the transfer from film to videotape, an operator manually adjusted the amount of lighting for blue in the beginning, red in the middle, and yellow at the end of the video. Shooting was completed in a single day, with five takes for the video.

Yellow is the track that propelled Coldplay onto the commercial airwaves and into the headphones of millions.

Watch the videos on the Coldplaying forums here

Coldplay are reportedly heading in a new direction with their fourth album - with a rocky edge to their music.

It seems frontman Chris Martin was so excited by their new sound that he got Embrace pal Danny McNamara to listen in. The musician, who penned the official World Cup 2006 anthem, told the Daily Star: "Chris gave me a sneak listen to some of the new tracks and they blew me away.

"They are very experimental and much more out-there than what you would expect - they are breathtaking. There are lots of big fat guitar riffs but soulful, emotional moments too. Chris played me a track which was just him and a piano and I just thought, 'Wow'. They haven't planned any dates for releasing it yet. You can't put a deadline on that kinda stuff."

He continued: "Whatever your expectations of Coldplay music, throw them out the window."

More on this story here

SuperSport 5 SA and TVi Portugal will be broadcasting the All Stars '07 football match on June 9th at 22:15 (CET). More channels to follow...

Luís Figo Foundation is promoting the game in Alvalade Stadium (Lisbon, Portugal) and Coldplay's drummer, Will Champion, will be one of the players. According to 'Mais Futebol', Will Champion, who is a personal friend of Luís Figo, said he's very excited and obviously happy about the invitation.

More on this here [thanks Larry]

Coldplay drummer Will Champion has surged ahead in The Daily Echo's competition to find Hampshire's Top 100.

Votes have been pouring in after we asked our reader to name the Hampshire citizens they thought had made the biggest impact around the world. Will's leap to the top of the leader board means Dire Strait's frontman Mark Knopfler has sunk to second place.

We will publish all the winners in a special supplement on June 20 to pay tribute to Hampshire's true talent. To find out more and to have your say, follow the links on the left hand side of our website to the Heritage page.

More on this here