Thirty Days of Music Day 24 - A Song You Want To Play At Your Funeral

Coldplay tend to get a lot of stick compared to most bands and, although this is probably a natural reaction to the massive success they've had, it seems to be unwarranted and unnemcessary.  They are extremely gifted band and have produced a number of consistantly polished albums.

A Rush of Blood to the Head, probably the most highly acclaimed of their albums, is a collection of stunning songs and Amsterdam is one of the best.  It's a gentle, passionate tune based all around the interplay between Martin's vocals and piano-playing - and his heady falsetto combines beautifully with the sparse instrumentation.

It's music for a funeral because it's solemn and emotional but uplifting and positive.  Martin's lyrics are a similar mix of the positive and negative: 'And time is on your side, it's on your side now', 'oh my star is fading'.  This is the kind of music that can envoke mixed emotions with ease, and this is what makes it so perfectly poised.  Not many artists can so easily straddle the line between joy and sorrow.

Thirty Days of Music Day 16 - A Song You Hate But Used To Love

Welsh metal band, Bullet for my Valentine, released their debut self titled ep in November 2004 on the Visible Noise label.  They sparked a minor craze, with a large amount of the alternative teen population falling in love with their pained, dark lyrics and unleashed energy.
 
Hand of Blood, probably their most famous song, is a crazily energetic riot of a song that screams for attention.  It's all about the sickeningly fast guitar and violent screaming, with the pounding drums driving the whole intrumentation forward.  I used to absolutely love this song but as I've grown older I have moved away from this style of music.  I'm not saying that I absolutely despise it, because the guitar is still catchy and the song has a certain charm to it.  My main problem with the song is that I've mellowed quite considerably since 2005 and this song isn't subtle enough for my liking.

It's a shame that Bullet haven't really produced anything up to the standard of their first few releases since then, but I suppose it was hard for them to live up to that early strength.