An interesting article can be read here - about the bands that are likely to make such an impact as Coldplay have.IT'S BEEN about four years since a little-known four-man band from London, England, called Coldplay crept into the indie soundscape. At the time, I had just retired my glowsticks, so to speak, and the sobriety of Coldplay's breakthrough ballad "Yellow" was sound advice for a generation that wanted badly to crawl out of its k-hole. The refreshingly contemplative debut CD "Parachutes" balanced tender and tough like a more accessible Kid A-era Radiohead, one of Coldplay's chief influences. I spent those years living a stream-of-consciousness existence in Pablo Escobar's neck of the woods - chugging beer among strangers in cities you'd never read about in Conde Nast Traveller - and Coldplay provided the constant mood music to my so-called nomadic life.
By the time the rest of the world bear-hugged the group's 2002 follow-up, "A Rush of Blood to the Head," Coldplay had become the only British band to successfully steamroll into the rough-and-tumble American market since the Beatles. (Last year, they sold out the 14,000-seater Madison Square Garden in less than 45 minutes.) Two Grammys and loads of best-of lists later, their sophomore CD has also managed to make top-drawer celebrities like David Bowie, Rachel Weisz, Mike Myers and Woody Harrelson woefully hysterical. That's a crazy huge jackpot for a band that frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion once named Starfish.
Turning down blindingly lucrative deals from Coke and Gap, Coldplay has stuck to a relatively medieval all-for-one stance, which has made them the poster boys for fledgling pop stars with integrity. On the other side of the deal, record companies have also started to chain smoke bands in search of one that possesses a similar mix of grassroots dedication, sensitive songwriting, and overwhelming ordinariness.
However, now that radio has pushed the Coldplay sound to the brink of overkill and their scruffy front man has been effectively Paltrowed by the tabloids, will Coldplay soon become Oldplay? (On that note, is Gwyneth the Yoko who'll tear the band apart? I really hope not.) If Coldplay is the post-Radiohead band of the British indie scene, who will take their place in a post-Coldplay world? According to word on the street, these are the five likely gonnabes:
Keane
Provenance: Hastings, England
Breakout single: "Everybody's Changing" (2004)
All 12 scuffed up tracks on "Hopes and Fears" sum up life at the deeper end of the pool but lift the introspection to slightly happier levels with the use of a new serious rock instrument called the piano. Keane have nothing in common with Coldplay save for a predilection for decadent sleeper-style choruses and perhaps indie label Fierce Panda, who once housed both acts as well as Supergrass and Idlewild. Tom Chaplin's articulate warbling on this, Keane's inaugural effort, will not culture shock hardcore Coldplay fans, especially those who prefer to swaddle themselves with tortured, forlorn music even on a really sunny day.
Coldplay quality: High
Turin Brakes
Provenance: South London, England
Breakout single: "Mind Over Money" (2001)
Ollie Knights and Gale Paridjanian made their entrance as Turin Brakes in 1999 with "The Door EP." Five years on, Turin Brakes are poised to eat daytime radio alive with their elegantly eerie and almost skeletal trademark sound. On "Ether Song," Turin Brakes -as though chanting in a circle outside your house - make music for complex, introverted souls. However, Turin Brakes sometimes sound uncomfortably like a Jeff Buckley cover band, never leaping head first into a crowd. The duo's melancholic musical vision finds its strength on the swirling "Panic Attack" and "Falling Down." And at its finest moments, "Ether Song" can strum like a youthful version of Neil Young's "Harvest."
Coldplay quality: Medium
Starsailor
Provenance: Chorley, England
Breakout single: "Poor Misguided Fool" (2002)
Clicking culturally with both swaggering art types and intimidatingly cool spaz rockers, Starsailor's brand of restrained and beguiling folk-tinged Britpop is reminiscent of the Verve and Tim Buckley. Once hailed as the future of British rock, Starsailor is now recast as the Last Big Thing, a successful fixture in the indie music boxcar race. The melancholic atmosphere of "Silence Is Easy," especially "Restless Heart" and the title track, can easily hold their own either as music in a film's pivotal rescue scene or during a 30-minute session of extremely low-impact aerobics. It's your pick, but stick with it and let it politely tap you on the shoulder while you slam dance in slow motion.
Coldplay quality: High
Snow Patrol
Provenance: Glasgow, Scotland
Breakout single: "Run" (2004)
Like a fuzzier, darker, and heavier version of indie label mates Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol like their pop spiked with a bit of grunge. "Final Straw," their third album, fills in the noisier end of after-five introspection. With a sometimes-uneven sound that recalls The Pixies and Super Furry Animals, the band nonetheless leaves no amp unturned as they wear their hearts on checkered sleeves on tracks such as "Gleaming Auction" and "Tiny Little Fractures." Mopey but in a boozed-up frat boy kind of way, Snow Patrol captures the essence of sad music on the verge of becoming happy.
Coldplay quality: Low
Aqualung
Provenance: Southampton, England
Breakout single: "Strange & Beautiful" (2002)
The strong nostalgic streak of Aqualung's music has prompted diverse entities such as the Tate Modern, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen to employ several tracks for their respective ends. Far from selling out, however, front man Matt Hales' latest "Still Life," has the emotional blueprint of gray clouds in search of a massive rainstorm and considers solitude as its bedfellow on "Easier To Lie," "Brighter Than Sunshine," and "Breaking My Heart Again." With a soulful musical monologue comparable to Electric Soft Parade's "Holes In The Wall," "Still Life" sure beats running off to New Mexico for enlightenment.
Coldplay quality: High
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