Gary Lightbody and the men of Snow Patrol have officially wrapped production on their fifth LP, the Jacknife Lee-produced A Hundred Million Suns. They have also officially initiated the publicity sequence for Innovative Album Marketing Strategy Of The Week. This comes via Guardian:
Snow Patrol have announced that they will be the first band to release a custom application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch products, full of extra content for their most technophile fans. It’s the 2008 equivalent of a CD insert or bonus DVD – but designed for geeks with up-to-date gizmos.
The Snow Patrol application will be available to download, offering any fan with an Apple touch-screen access to artwork, lyrics and behind-the-scenes photographs.
As the article notes, Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open was the UK’s best selling album of 2006 — and they didn’t even need a multimedia promotion like this to make it happen. Of course 2006 was like so many megabytes ago. These days people don’t like spending money on music without being plied with bonus remixes, tote bags, immediate download codes, concert discounts, bonus 180gm double gatefold vinyl, blowjobs, and now, Apple apps. But something tells me the sorta people who fell in love with Snow Patrol in ’06 are the sort still to buy albums in ’08, at least if they get more of those radio ready, arena-leaning anthems and ballads. To wit: “Take Back The City,” the new album’s first single, is an upbeat ode to urban good times, and it is ripe for a few thousand weekend warriors to clap hands and gently pump fists and feel like they’re not old just yet, at 130 bpm.
So there’s one for the fast times. A ballad to make you wanna wave your iPhones in the air can’t be too far off. A Hundred Million Suns is out 10/24 in Ireland, 10/28 in Europe, and 10/29 in the US via Polydor.
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Shit Sandwich!!
After listening to that, I just…ummmmmmm, well, their song “Chocolate” from 2004 was really, really good.
Yeah, they need to get back to whatever they were doing for FInal Straw. Maybe Mark McClelland was telling the truth.
Normally I am ok with Snow Patrol but that “Wooah-ooh-oh-ah-oh” is AWFUL
Mark me down for not ok with Snow Patrol.
From this disaster single, to Keane’s single, these alternative bands are losing their touch.
New Snow Patrol really! Gee wiz Stereogum, can’t wait to listen to it! Thanks for letting me know about all the important bands I need to pay attention to! lol….SNOW PATROL SUCKS
Nary a Sufjan Stevens reference in sight.
Also, they should focus on writing more songs about running and lighting up. I really liked that one from “Final Straw” (as if I had a choice).
kudos andrew, i just laughed out loud.
And with this snarky, unnecessary post I will finally stop reading this site. This too-good-for-everything attitude is obnoxious. Stick to talking about these godawful flash in the pan bands no one will remember in three weeks when everyone stops blogging about them and forget about mainstream pop. I’m neither praising nor condemning Snow Patrol, but at least their music entertains people, more than I can say for this website. I’ll stick to sites that talk about things they like, not how stupid everyone is for liking things they hate. Save that shit for the comments section.
(No, I don’t expect anyone to care, but I won’t be around to see the feedback so fire at will.)
pssst… hey you guys, he’s totally gonna come back to see the feedback.
oh……and sigur ros..sucks monkey balls!!!!!!!!!
MOFOS (yeh the guys leaving the comments)
It starts out bland and then gets OK as it chugs along.. about as impressive as the first single from their last album.. better quality track would help me gauge it a bit better..
I kinda miss Final Straw stuffs.. but I mean the last record had some pretty decent tracks (then again, it also had “Chasing Cars” ..) ..
It’s gone evermore downhill since “Final Straw”. Frankly, I’ve been listening to them since “Songs For Polar Bears” and I consider that and “When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clean Up” the last decent album. Since then, it’s blaise-Coldplayish rubbish.
this sounds like more of the same.
dude you totally showed your snow patrol cred by naming their first few albums, but i’d really like a timeline jpeg as proof
JPEGs are way too overused. I prefer bitmaps, or, if possible, ASCII.
Also, as per Snow Patrol, i wasn’t trying for “cred”, I was stating a fact re: my preferences. If we were discussing R.E.M. and I said I prefer “Murmurs” or “Fables of the Reconstruction” over “Accelerate”, would it be any different? :/
Alas, I got into the “old” SP through Belle and Sebastian, etc. and that whole route. way back when.
i’m sorry to hear that you like snow patrol at all
So, uh, guess I’m in the minority here for really enjoying Eyes Open, just as much as Final Straw. But, yes, this song does, indeed, stink.
This actually makes me like the new Verve.
I would have shocked to seen any positive feedback for a band like snow patrol on sterogum, which is more and more looking like the new Pitchfork when it comes to user comments. just people constantly ripping into any band with “mainstream” labeled on them. their last album was pretty damn good once you gave it a chance, which, after the became mainstream after the final straw, no one was willing to do. its sad how image based music has become within the “indie rock” type circles. just enjoy the music.
Try reading ALL of the comments.
To start: what I said was decently positive..
Most people on these topics are avid music fans and highly critical.. It comes with the territory, you see? I’d like to hope you’d be aware of such pompous attitudes — that’s how it is in nearly EVERY music circle.. not just Pitchfork/Stereogum as you claim.
snow patrol are the UKs version of nickleback. so boring. music for people with no attention span or ears
Songs for Polarbears was a tight album. Since then they’ve lost most of their originality, and this song makes things even worse. Get back to “Starfighter Pilot”!
I love how people who don’t like the band are the one’s reading the post, watching the video AND listening to the song. If you don’t like them…WTF are you even doing here in the first place.
BTW Final Straw was the better album.
But…as with most “break out” albums, it was comprised of their best songs and each one worked on…all subsequent albums usually have one or two songs that are worked on and the others are just filler.