Official video for Coldplay’s latest single, “Strawberry Swing”, which is off of the album Viva La Vida, in stores now. The video was directed by the creative/animation team Shynola, and it features a superhero version of Coldplay singer Chris Martin doing battle with a killer squirrel in a chalk board world.

Matthew Williamson is the artist behind Exhibitions by earph. His Exhibitions collection has elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and asian motifs.

His newer works (like the one above – not the asian or DNA stem looking ones) would make some pretty rad album covers. I immediately thought of Coldplay’s X & Y album when I saw Williamson’s CMYK print with the four little colour boxes (I know, aside from the boxes it looks nothing like Coldplay’s album cover, it just reminded me of it). His Heist print with the little triangle also reminds me of another album cover but I can’t remember which one exactly…

Coldplay has just announced that they are indeed returning back to North America this summer for the second time to promote the current album Viva La Vida.

Coldplay resumed its enormously successful world tour on February 12, playing Japan and Australia before returning to North America for its summer dates. The band, which picked up two Q Awards and two World Music Awards in 2008, was recently honored with a JUNO Award nomination for “International Album of the Year.”

Check below for a full list of dates in your area. Tickets for the Vancouver show will go on sale this Saturday March 14th, visit www.livenation.com for more information.

Here’s the my brief re-cap of this years Grammy awards ceremony.

Performances:

• U2 kicks the show off with their newest single “Get On Your Boots” off of the new album No Line on the Horizon.
• Al Green, Keith Urban, Justin Timberlake and Boyz II Men perform together. Boyz II Men playing backup? WTF? Didn’t Boyz II Men release a Motown revival type record this year? Just sayin’ why have them do vocal backing when they did an album of these jams this year. Wack. I was actually watching the pre-Grammy show and it was reported that Chris Brown and Rihanna were no longer atttending, seems that Chris Breezy got himself into a little trouble the night before and is under investigation for an alleged assault. So to fill the time slot I believe this performance was slotted in place last second.
• Coldplay performed “Lost+”. Set starts off with Chris Martin at piano solo and later joined by Jay-Z to spit his verse. Chris cuts that song and goes to the stage and the rest of the band appears and they perform “Viva La Vida”.
• Carrie Underwood performs and to be quite honest I couldn’t hear a thing because all I could do was stare at her incredible legs. Straight up them shits was plain breathtaking.
• Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus perform together. Taylor Swift, clearly has talent. Miley on the other hand not so much. I pretty much thought she was horrible and is it me or does anybody else think she sounds like a man?
• Jonas Brothers perform with…Stevie Wonder??? WTF? This was probably the second worst performance of the night for me coming in right behind Miley.
• One of the performances of the night for me was “Swagger Like Us” with T.I., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and a very pregnant M.I.A. The performance started off with M.I.A. doing a verse of “Paper Planes”, the sample of which “Swagger Like Us” came from. When she hit the words “…swagger like us”, out appeared the four gentlemen above. M.I.A.’s outfit choice was really really weird, but I guess her style has alway been out there that and add to the fact that she was due to give birth that very day.
• Paul McCartney featuring Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on the drums. Performing The Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There”, but Ringo Starr was not to be found on stage.
• Radiohead performance with the USC Trojans Marching band backing, probably one of the better performances of the night for sure.
• T.I. and Justin Timberlake perform “Dead and Gone”
• The Grammys honor and remember Motown legends The Four Tops, doing a medley of songs were Smokie Robinson, Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx and remaining member of The Four Tops, Duke Fakir.

Awards:

• Jennifer Hudson wins Best R&B album of the year. Raphael Saadiq could’ve won this as well in my opinion, but she deserves it as well.
• Song of the year went to Coldplay for their song “Viva La Vida”.
• This was kind of a “WTF?” moment for me. Best Pop collaboration went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Although the nominees for the category did seem a bit weak.
• Blink 182 members come out together to announce they’re coming back to do work as well as presenting the Best Rock album, which went to Coldplay.
• Best New Artist award went to Adele.
• In another “WTF?” moment, Record of the year went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. On the real, it beat out some deep competition.
• Best Rap Album went to Lil Wayne for Tha Carter III.

One of my favorite moments was during the interview stage on the red carpet. Not sure how many of you caught the E! interviews, but there was a moment where they caught up with T-Pain and he more or less admitted how wack his rhymes are. That was pretty awesome.

See a complete list of winners on www.grammy.com, the actual TV airing didn’t show that many.

Image: Getty Images

Coldplay’s latest video / single “Life in Technicolor II” has officially been released. The video seems to take place at a party of some sort, while kids and parents look onwards at a stage. One by one the band members show up, but in the form of a puppet and they perform the song.

“Life in Technicolor II” is the first single off of Coldplay’s 2008 mini album Prospekts March EP. The song is the full version of the instrumental song “Life in Technicolor” from their fourth studio album Viva La Vida.

Video: YouTube

Well with the year coming to a close here is another year-end chart, this time from Billboard. The numbers are based on Nielsen SoundScan. Charts below display the top 10 albums, most listened to song on the radio (how the hell do they measure this one?) and the most digitally downloaded song. I’m actually kinda surprised by some of the results below, seriously Ray J’s “Sexy Can I?”, number 7 as most listened to on radio, REALLY?!?!?! Oh and if you haven’t already check out our staff’s top 10 albums of the year then be sure to read that here.

Top 10 Albums:

1. Alicia Keys’ “As I Am”
2. Josh Groban’s “Noel”
3. Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III”
4. Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden”
5. Taylor Swift’s self-titled album
6. Kid Rock’s “Rock N Roll Jesus”
7. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”
8. Various artists’ “NOW 26″
9. Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride”
10. Garth Brooks’ “The Ultimate Hits”

Top 10 Most-Listened-To Radio Songs:

1. Alicia Keys’ “No One”
2. Flo Rida’s “Low” featuring T-Pain
3. Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”
4. Timbaland’s “Apologize” featuring OneRepublic
5. Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” featuring Static Major
6. Chris Brown’s “With You”
7. Usher’s “Love in This Club” featuring Young Jeezy
8. Jordin Sparks’ “No Air” featuring Chris Brown
9. Ray J’s “Sexy Can I” featuring Yung Berg
10. Rihanna’s “Take a Bow”

Top 10 Most Digitally-Downloaded Songs:

1. Flo Rida’s “Low” featuring T-Pain
2. Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”
3. Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” featuring Static Major
4. Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”
5. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”
6. Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song”
7. Timbaland’s “Apologize” featuring OneRepublic
8. Jordin Sparks’ “No Air” featuring Chris Brown
9. Rihanna’s “Disturbia”
10. Madonna’s “4 Minutes” featuring Justin Timberlake

So I’ve been reading a lot of these “Top 10 albums of 2008″ list in the last little while and decided, hell our staff here at Killahbeez has some pretty dope taste in music, we should also do one. So we’ve compiled a list from our writers annnnnd on top of that we’ve reached out to people that we’ve worked with in the past year such as Jeff Hamada from Booooooom, Sasha Lee from Halcyon Magazine, Michael Halford from Orland Kurtenblog and Sean La-La from Spectrum Events. This process was a tough one for all of us as we all hated narrowing it down to 10 and then ranking them created some nightmares. Check out the list below and let us know if you agree or disagree and what your top 10 would be in the comments below.

AJK’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
2. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
3. Anoraak – Nightdrive With You EP
4. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
5. Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream
6. The Presets – Apocalypto
7. Nas – Untitled
8 Black Milk – Tronic
9. Chairlift – Does You Inspire You
10. Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke

Atek’s Top 10

1. Q-Tip – Renaissance
2. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
3. T.I. – Paper Trail
4. Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It
5. N.E.R.D. – Seeing Sounds
6. Kid Cudi – A Kid Name Cudi
7. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
8 The Virgins – The Virgins
9. The Clipse – Road To Til a Casket Drops
10. Santogold – Santogold

DT’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
2. Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
3. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
4. Nas – Untitled
5. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
6. N.E.R.D. – Seeing Sounds
7. Pacific! – Reveries
8. Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream
9. Santogold – Santogold
10. Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules & Love Affair

Lee’s Top 10

1. Black Mountain – In The Future
2. Dávila 666 – Dávila 666
3. Jay Reatard – Matador Singles ‘08
4. Diplo & Santogold – Top Ranking (Mixtape)
5. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
6. The Duke Spirit – Neptune
7. No Age – Nouns
8 Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
9. Spiritualized – Songs in A&E
10. Tim and Eric – Awesome Record, Great Songs! Vol. 1

Mila’s Top 10

1. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
2. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
3. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
4. Santogold – Santogold
5. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
6. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
7. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
8 T.I. – Paper Trail
9. Leona Lewis – Spirit
10. Adele – 19

Mona Alice Oakenfold’s Top 10

1. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
2. Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules & Love Affair
3. Santogold – Santogold
4. N.E.R.D. – Seeing Sounds
5. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreaks
6. Ladytron – Velocifero
7. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
8 Lykke Li – Youth Novels
9. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
10. Cat Power – Jukebox

Neran’s Top 10

1. Johnson & Jonson – Johnson & Jonson
2. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
3. The Game – LAX
4. Bun B – II Trill
5. T.I. – Paper Trail
6. Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
7. The Roots – Rising Down
8 Nas – Untitled
9. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreaks
10. Good Charlotte – Greatest Hits & Remixes

Ry’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
2. Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream
3. Sebastien Tellier – Sexuality
4. The Presets – Apcocalypto
5. Nas – Untitled
6. The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale
7. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
8 Lykke Li – Youth Novels
9. Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules & Love Affair
10. Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It

Van’s Top 10

1. The Presets – Apcocalypto
2. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
3. Kitsune Maison Compilation 6
4. Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream
5. CSS – Donkey
6. Q-Tip – Renaissance
7. Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
8 Megapuss – Surfing
9. Pacific! – Reveries
10. Walter Meego – Voyager

Jeff Hamada from Booooooom’s Top 10

1. Mr Oizo – Lambs Anger
2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
3. The Dodos – Visiter
4. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
5.MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
6. Johnson & Jonson – Johnson & Jonson
7. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III
8. Priscilla Ahn – A Good Day
9 Wale – Mixtape About Nothing
10. DJ Shadow – 4 Track Era Bundle

Michael Halford from Orland Kurtenblog’s Top 10

1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science
2. Portishead – Third
3. Madvillain – Madvillainy 2
4. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
5. J.Dilla – Ruff Draft (Re-Issue)
6. A Tribe Called Quest – The Best of A Tribe Called Quest
7. Beck – Modern Guilt
8 Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
9. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreaks
10. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer

Sasha Lee from Halcyon Magazine’s Top 10

1. Big Elf – Cheat The Gallows
2. Danava – UnonoU
3. Dungen – 4
4. Howlin Rain – Magnificent Fiend
5. Pride Tiger – Lucky One
6. Trigger Renegade – Rip It and Pass It
7. Mammatus – The Coast Explodes
8 Annihilation Time – Tales of the Ancient Age
9. Conifer – Crown Fire
10. Mt. Eerie – Black Wooden Ceiling Opening EP

Sean La-La from Spectrum Event’s Top 10

1. Santogold – Santogold / Annnd Santogold & Diplo – Top Ranking Mixtape
2. Colin Munroe – Is The Unsung Hero (Mixtape)
3. The Roots – Rising Down
4. Q-Tip – Renaissance
5. Scarface – Emeritus
6. Jake One – White Van Music
7. Jamie Lidell – Jim
8 Sam Sparro – Sam Sparro
9. T.I. – Paper Trail
10. Al Green – Lay It Down

By now you’ve probably all heard the Viva La Hova mixtape by Mick Boogie, if not Google it and give that a download. To summarize it’s a mix that features songs from the Viva La Vida album with Jay-Z verses dispersed throughout the jams. There’s also an official remix for the song ‘Lost’, that’s offcially titled ‘Lost+’ and with that said here’s the official video for the said remix. This song will be appearing on the upcoming Coldplay EP entitled Prospekt’s March, the EP will feature 8 tracks, of those 8 tracks 6 of them will be new recordings.

Here’s the long awaited collaboration between Coldplay and Jay-Z. I know there were a lot of peeps this summer up at the Pemberton Festival thinking that Jay-Z would come out when Coldplay was on stage, but it did not come to fruitation. Well here’s the new remix for Coldplay’s single “Lost”, which features Jay-Z. Personally I don’t think Jigga mans rhymes went with the song really and actually I think I’ve heard this verse on another song as well. In any case have a listen for yourself.

Coldplay ft. Jay-Z “Lost” (Remix) 

Coldplay has premiered the official music video for the single “Viva La Vida” from their new album Viva La Vida. The video is directed by very well known video director Hype Williams. Hype Williams has directed videos for Wu-Tang Clan, Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G and many other artists. In addition to releasing the official video for “Viva La Vida”, they also released the alternate version of the video, which can be seen after the jump.