You covered my thoughts exactly Robot Boy is an interesting song. It just has an atmosphere I have never heard before in a Linkin Park song. The lyrics are nice; 'hold on, the weight of the world will give you the strength to go', and the guitar solo (that might actually be a synth solo, I don't give a sh*t) is really good. I always thought the singing could be done live by Mike and Chester singing at the same time.
I do sincerely love Robot Boy. I know a lot of people have a hard time liking it, and perhaps it was the song that for most people took some time to grow on them (myself included). I really like the lyrics of the song - they're meaningful and I think it's really a nice, conceptual tie-in for the album. It's this other theme on the album that seems to talk about how we ought not feel defeated in the face of the problems we have and that there is still a lot of optimism to be had about the world. It finds itself in a few songs on the album, particularly "Robot Boy," "Iridescent," and "The Messenger." It's a powerful theme and I like the way that "Robot Boy" introduces it. I love the transition from this track into "Jornada del Muerto," and for me I just love the synth build and the latter half of the song. I love how Chester really just goes nuts in the background. It has a very Bono-like sound to it, and it just adds to the astounding atmosphere that it has.
Totally because you guys asked for it, and totally not because I have no time to write up for two songs, we're doing "Jornada Del Muerto" alone. "Jornada Del Muerto" is the seventh track on A Thousand Suns, which leads directly into the album's second single, "Waiting For The End". It is one of the six interludes on the album, and it clocks in at about a minute and a half. The lyrics of the song were taken from the lead single "The Catalyst" (as was the case with "The Requiem"). The only lyrics in the song are the words "Mochiagete. Tokihanashite". Those two Japanese words translate to "Lift me up. Let me go.", the anthemic lyrics from the bridge of the aforementioned "The Catalyst". The title of the song is in Spanish, and it translates to "single day's journey of the dead man" or "route of the dead man". In the real world, "Jornada del Muerto" is a desert located in the US state of New Mexico. The name of the desert comes from a legend about a German man who died in the desert while fleeing the Inquisition in the later 17th Century. The desert is mostly known for the event that took place there on July 16, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity nuclear test site. With A Thousand Suns being an album dealing primarily with nuclear warfare, it's quite obvious why the band chose it as a song title for this interlude. As for the sound, "Jornada Del Muerto" is probably the smoothest, most song-like interlude on A Thousand Suns. Even with it's short lenght, it manages to feel like a complete song. It begins with the synth that ended "Robot Boy" with short samples similar to those in "The Requiem" appearing. The main pad used in the song was later on reused for the "The Requiem" aswell. Another important sample from another song appears, the sampled heartbeat from "Burning In The Skies". Shinoda soon starts singing, this time with his normal voice. The quiet, passionately sung lyrics, while being calm and atmospheric, still manage to feel a bit chaotic, which certainly adds to the atmosphere of the entire album. Soon enough, Shinoda is backed up by even more synths and a quiet sampled drum line consisting solely of hi-hat drums. The song then gets it's most important element, which goes on for about a minute. A synth solo similar to the one used in "Robot Boy", and it works remarkably well. With the synth solo taking the lead role, the other hundred synths in the background provide an interesting atmosphere and truly create a special feeling. Through the solo, a quiet but deadly guitar line appears in the back aswell. When the synth solo is done, the song finishes with a fade out effect, while that main synth, still ringing, appears at the very beginning of the next song, "Waiting For The End". Really gotta give A Thousand Suns some praise for being so flawlessly connected. Even with being a short interlude, "Jornada Del Muerto" was an incredible live experience. It was always performed live as an introduction to "Waiting For The End". The band played it through the entire A Thousand Suns touring cycle, but retired it for the Living Things and The Hunting Party tours. It was played in it's original album form, without any significant changes. It had it's live debut during September 14, 2010 A Thousand Suns promotional show along with three other interludes from the album, "The Requiem", "The Radiance" and "Fallout". Below I embedded a performance captured at Moscow's Red Square during the band's June 2011 performance for the Transformers: Dark of the Moon premiere. Just like the rest of the set, the performance was essentially flawless. Chester sang the lyrics along with Mike which provided a very interesting vocal harmony similar to the album version. The synth solo was a very emotional moment, with Chester standing calmly with his eyes closed, truly experiencing the music. The last performance of the song ever happened at the very end of the A Thousand Suns tour, during the band's September 25, 2011 show in Singapore. What do you think of the song and it's live performances?
I appreciate the separate post for "Jornada del Muerto." I think considering its ability to really stand alone as an interlude, it was worthy of the post. I think it is the best of the interludes, without a question. The song's use of samples that are placed elsewhere on the album, and really just the build from beginning to end, makes it the most interesting and exciting of the interludes. I love the use of the lyrics, "Lift me up, let me go" in Japanese to carry the theme forward and really reinforce the historical context that the album brings forth. It's a well done harmony (and I think it is both Chester and Mike who sing on the track, not just Mike, right?). Either way, it is quite good. I love the layering of sounds at the end, especially with the guitar coming in to reinforce what the synths were doing. I really love the way it builds into "Waiting for the End," too, once again pushing forward the continuous rise and fall of volume that takes place on this album. It's just a fantastic interlude overall.
Definitly a great interlude to WFTE, like the way Robot Boy end in it. Finally i know what Mike is singing in it One point i love on ATS. YOu can find on each song something, that is somewhere else on the album (well, The Messenger is something special in this way). The synths are pretty cool here in the song and the "guitar-solo" makes it just more "atmospheric". Perfect way to end in WFTE.
Jornada is a cool, atmospheric interlude which adds its contribution to what is in my opinion the best segue on the album (Robot Boy -> Blackout). Nice synths, in particular.
I win, haha! Jornada del Muerto is my third-favorite interlude, second if you don't count The Requiem as a transitional piece (I don't, I consider it a full song), succeeded only by Wisdom, Justice, and Love. From the minute I heard the Japanese lyrics, the song has always been so intriguing, especially because the title is in Spanish. JDM is the perfect way to transition from the crazy atmospheric synth solo of Robot Boy to Waiting for the End, which is much calmer for the most part. I especially love how many synths keep building up as the song goes, and with each time Shinoda sings "Mochiagete, tokihanashite", the synths become even louder and more prevalent until the climax of the song in another synth solo like that of Robot Boy. We're nearing my favorite Linkin Park song of all time, prepare yourselves. And it's not Waiting for the End.
The band have used a number of unusual time signatures in their music throughout the decades but "Jornada Del Muerto" is still the only Linkin Park song so far to feature 9/8 time. "Jornada" and "The Requiem" both foreshadow "The Catalyst", and I think that they each give you hints about the two halves of the song (so to speak); "The Requiem" foreshadows the darker, more aggressive part and "Jornada" the more optimistic part at the end. I've always found it kind of funny that the song has a Spanish title but Japanese lyrics
Jornada's placement in the album + it's meaning of being done entirely in Japanese is genius. Waiting For The End is my favorite song off of the album - maybe (I'll talk more about that later). I know every single word in the song, and I have since 2010/11. Amazing song, and the transition into it from Jornada is fantastic. I love everything about the song, it has some of the best lyrics the band have written, the spacey atmosphere is amazing... It also begins my favorite chain of songs (this song until Iridescent). I can't really formulate anything besides "amazing" or "beautiful", so that can just summarize my feelings for this song. EDIT: Didn't realize WFTE wasn't in the post until now. I'll transfer it to a new post later on, haha.
JDM is probably the best interlude on the album. I didn't think about it until now, but the lyrics are in Japanese because the bomb was dropped on Japan. Also the name connects the whole concept of the album. I really like how Mike's voice builds every time he sings the phrase again. Synth solo is nice too.
Really sorry guys, but I had to put real life and school ahead of this this weekend. Had too much to do, and I'll be busy for a few more days. I'm really sad that this is the first delay ever, as the thread has been running flawlessly through the past month and a half, so I'm sure you guys can forgive me. We'll stay on "Jornada" until Tuesday, when I'll (hopefully) be able to post WFTE. Apologies. BOOOOOOO. BURN THE TRAITOR! amirite guys?
Sorry to go off topic here, but I have a message for Sujana (if he happens to see it). You need to delete some of your messages. Because I cannot send you any more as you don't have enough space. I will delete this post after he has seen it.
I skipped Jornada for the first few times I listened to ATS, because I thought that it would only be composed of the Japanese lyrics and the pulsating noise from The Requiem. Then I accidentally skipped to about one minute in and fell in love with it :3 Live however, I prefer Until It Breaks over Jornada as an intro to WFTE, as played live recently.
Boooo. As an avid ATS fan, I will never like the UIB intro over the good old Jornada del Muerto to Waiting for the End transition. JDM just carries out of Robot Boy and changes the pace enough from that almost chaotic synth outro to a more tranquil one, and even with the drums and everything in the beginning of WFTE it's still a very calm song in the beginning.
Best interlude by far. I love the ad-lib changes to the synth in some of the live performances like itunes festival. Robot Boy -> Blackout is my favorite section as well, I wish everything else flowed as smoothly.