Ostensibly Coldplay and hip-hop have almost nothing in common, in that Martin sings neurotic songs of individual confusion. The role he plays is somewhat like the neurotic Paul in Godard's Le Mepris (P13) who simply cannot make up his mind, and his marriage to Bardot falls apart.
This is almost the total opposite of either trad rock or hip-hop, which are in general forceful expressions of view - especially contrary view ("bitch"). The connection between hip-hop and Coldplay is that hip-hop performers rely on interface-readouts, while Martin is the logical singer who has no specific point of view.
There's a dichotomy that the more hip-hop is reliant on logic-boards, the more it is going into a universe with no specific view, and contrary to the language of anger and abuse.
The problem with being in a touchy-feely universe of digital readouts is that it anticipates the logical future of motion-capture (and expressive algorithms at some point) seen in the ABBA stage-show.
That universe is neurotic and weak and with no specific point of view. In other words, the contrary psyche existing in a digital universe is a contradiction in terms! A digital entity shifts the perception and choice is denied.
So, a good rule of thumb is to allow the psyche the freedom to choose when to be digital and when to be acoustic and to have a sense of proportion. Buffy's 1992 album Coincidence contains the first powwow rock song
with "different voices, although they all were my own" that "gave a richness to the powwow choruses.." (digital overdubbing with the acoustic chorus, biography, page 201.)
BB Boris devotes chapter 27 to a 90s style synthesizer stage-show, and it is hard-core spaceship rock a la Jefferson Starship.
I could mention the compelling paradox of watching this futuristic act showcasing old, almost forgotten musical accessories. Reviving a method developed forty years ago, BB Boris used a bank of multi-timbral Kawai synthesisers, driven by a MIDI sequencer that had memorised every note of every instruments' part and could play them all simultaneously on command..
As for the music, the material was definitely eclectic. (Memoirs, page 405,406.)
Rather than being driven into a universe with plugged-in heads sitting on their ass, neurotic and weak, the proportionate psyche has a baseline of freedom of choice, between acoustic and non-acoustic, leaving the body as an instrument in itself.
Freedom of choice is the baseline for expressing what is after all soundwaves in air, and not readouts on an interface. This is clearly especially so in folk music - of which Buffy and Tunstall are pop partisans - and one is reminded of the "Judas" incident at Isle of Whight (electrification of Dylan.)
Folk is a body and, having just obtained a copy of The Winnebego by Paul Radin, the same exists with religio-folklore. Winnebego clans were divided into a twofold division, one being of the sky (including Thunderbird clan), the other being land and sea animals.
The animal/spirit totems imposed an order on the clans that is for example seen in the layout of a village.
The twofold division was largely imposed on marriage rites whereby one had to marry into the other division. Marriages were generally arranged at a young age - though the parents were flexible - and one could imagine the odd West Side Story tragedy.
But the essential point is that, while modern societies are 'free', the Winnebego are ordered, and the hierarchy of organization is extremely visible- even in the look of a village.
An ordered hierarchy is a process of oppositional encounters, and the same divisions occurred on the ceremonial lacrosse games.
Modern societies try to blank out oppositional encounters, and the underlying reason is probably that 'freedom' implies a lack of hierarchical relationship to the universe. In other words, of isolated individuals,neurotic and insular. Coldplay types who are convinced the universe is highly complex VERSUS the expansive, totemic animals of powwow rock. The psychic realm of friendly relations (and enemies) in a mythical universe.
The social setup of the Winnebego is mythically body-oriented (animal totems), directing social divisions that are extremely visible and serve to divide the genetic material.
In other words, the higher divisions in the Winnebego, imposed by the religio-myth, imposes an order that is almost completely lacking in modern societies, where 'freedom' is related to either/or genetic mutations/digital devices.
But, as previously noted, both are a type of meaningless mutation, confusing freedom with a type of chaos run by machines (gene-machines, digital-machines.)
Modern advance is one-sided and lacks the hierarchical order that comes into social, folkloric, mythical, animal roots.
"Farewell everyone, and as you leave tonight, take a good, long look at the skies above you, at those zillions of stars out there. You'll soon realise that all things, from the largest galactic cluster to the smallest atomic particle, are part of the same, incredible dance." (page 411)
