Bomb Diggity Jams – Vol. 2

It’s finally here! Bomb Diggity Jams – Volume 2, Summer ’08 edition. This thing took a lot of time. I started working on it a few months ago, and I actually went through my entire library to compile 300-400 songs that had a “summer” feel to it. That’s an unprecedented number of candidate-songs for any mixtape so far. I don’t know what got into me; I guess I was really excited for summer.

From there, it was a process of elimination. As usual, when it got down to around 40 or so songs, I started to arrange them so they had some semblence of continuity, eliminating tracks that didn’t fit with the rest as I went along. And…voila! I finally had a nice mixtape to provide a soundtrack for summer.

Put it on a CD, mp3 player, laptop, whatever. Play it at work, school, home, on the road with the windows down and speakers blasting. Let this be the soundtrack to usher in the warm rays of sunshine, the cool melt of popsicles, sandy beaches, care-free lazy days, innocent summer flings, rekindling old romances, memory-filling road trips, breathtaking sunsets, warm nights, stomach-filling barbeques…and all the rest of the delightful things summer brings.

Did I tell you that I love summers?

Tracklist:

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Livin’ La Vida Coldplay

Sorry about the title, I couldn’t help it. I think it’s rather humorous.

To the delight/lament of music fans everywhere, Coldplay released their 4th album this week, with the Ricky Martin-inspired title, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.

Maybe it was just me keeping myself less exposed to it, but it seemed like there was not nearly as much hype and build-up as there was for their previous album, X&Y. I count that as a good thing. X&Y was doomed from the beginning by all the ridiculous hype and expectations. (I do think they definitely took a few steps forward on that album though.)

When they released their first single from Viva La Vida, “Violet Hill,” it was pretty obvious they were going in a different direction, much of which can be attributed to first-time Coldplay producer, Brian Eno. There was a darker tone to the music along with some added depth. And a guitar solo. I was going to be pretty excited about the album regardless, but “Violet Hill” really drove up expectations.

I listened to the entire album online a few weeks ago when the band released it for streaming, so I’ve been able to enjoy it for some time already.

And man…it is a great listen.

All right, on with the review. This will go like the post for Radiohead’s “In Rainbows.” I’ll list the title of each track and my favorite part of each song, with a blurb of thoughts for each. Then I’ll give some wrap-up thoughts on the album as a whole afterwords.

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New Coldplay

You should like Coldplay because they jump around in boxes just like you do. Oh you don’t? Oh…well they do. So like them.

Say what you want about Coldplay, but no matter what you say, they do have legitimate song-crafting talent.

It’s almost a given that the cool indie kids all bash Coldplay. In fact, it’s become so ubiquitous that I think it’s come full circle; you’re now cool and hip if you’re brave enough to admit that Coldplay is actually pretty good…with qualifications, of course. One mustn’t forget the qualifications.

Whatever, without further ado, here is the reason for my post. It’s 3:25 AM and just before heading off to sleep, I stumbled upon the FREE new single from Coldplay’s upcoming album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.” Yes, I thought of Ricky Martin too.

I’m likin’ the song and I’m hoping the new album lives up to my expectations.

Song of the Day:

Go get the FREE single! It’s called “Violet Hill.”

Well, it looks like it’s no longer available for free. You can go listen to it though. Sorry if you, like me, didn’t know about this a week ago, and missed out (I got it last minute). I could just upload it, but I’m not testing the RIAA gods on this one. I’m sure they’re out like hawks. Hungry ones.

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