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24 years in the making, Linkin Park's long-awaited and much-hyped singles collection, "Papercuts", is finally available for you stream and listen to! The 20-track compilation consists mostly of the band's most popular tracks (i.e. the band's most-streamed songs on Spotify) which means that even the most casual Linkin Park fan has already overplayed them to death over the past 2-and-a-half decades.

Given the versatility Linkin Park have displayed in their music over the course of their 7 album cycles to date, "Papercuts" is quite varied. Fans who aren't deeply familiar with some of the band's history or never checked out their live shows might be surprised to hear contrasts like "Waiting For The End" next to "Somewhere I Belong", or "New Divide" after "One Step Closer", or just the fact that "Papercut" and "One More Light" are somehow both by the same band.

The compilation also includes deep cut "QWERTY", which is a 2006 demo recording originally released on the 2006 fan club exclusive CD "LP Underground 6" (and later also included on a 2008 compilation called "Songs From The Underground"), and "Friendly Fire", a song idea left off 2017's "One More Light" which was updated by band members Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson exclusively for this release.

For reasons none of us are able to comprehend, nearly all of the songs on this release are edits straight from their respective albums. This creates some strange moments in the sequencing; at the end of "Breaking The Habit", for example, the guitar feedback intended to lead into "From The Inside" on "Meteora" is still included, sudden cut-off and all. Given that these songs were all released as singles, single edits that omit these transitional elements exist but were oddly not chosen for this singles collection.

"Papercuts" tracklist:

1. Crawling
2. Faint
3. Numb / Encore
4. Papercut
5. Breaking The Habit
6. In The End
7. Bleed It Out
8. Somewhere I Belong
9. Waiting For The End
10. CASTLE OF GLASS
11. One More Light
12. BURN IT DOWN
13. What I've Done
14. QWERTY
15. One Step Closer
16. New Divide
17. Leave Out All The Rest
18. Lost
19. Numb
20. Friendly Fire

Accompanying the release of "Papercuts" is a visualiser for "QWERTY" masterminded by visual artist Dimitri Thouzery, that seems to be a throwback to the trippy Windows Media Player or iTunes visualisers which you probably hadn't thought about in years.

For YouTube Premium subscribers, Linkin Park's channel also uploaded a "behind the song" documentary directed and edited by the band's longtime videographer Mark Fiore. This video features narration by Phoenix explaining the history of "QWERTY", along with footage such as the band trying it out in rehearsals ahead of the 2006 live festival shows where it would debut.

In addition, most of the music videos made for the songs in the singles collection have been given 4K upgrades on YouTube and other video platforms. Some of these videos ("Leave Out All The Rest" and "What I've Done" specifically) are from an era before "high-definition" altogether. As we've experienced with previous 4K upgrades of Linkin Park's older music videos, these new versions allow us to see things which were never meant to be viewed with this level of detail ...


"Papercuts" is available for streaming on digital platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. You can also check out a dizzying array of physical formats and bundles available on Linkin Park's official store.

Have you checked out "Papercuts"? Tell us what you think!

Hello, and welcome to LPA Investigates. Today we delve into the baffling case of Rob Bourdon, the esteemed drummer of the iconic band, Linkin Park. Since his last public appearance in 2020 to promote the Hybrid Theory 20 boxset, Bourdon has been conspicuously absent from interviews or promotional features, leaving fans scratching their heads.

Websites such as LinkinPedia have requested information regarding his whereabouts and even Mike Shinoda himself has expressed doubts as to Bourdon’s location. As fans continue to pour over leads and evidence, theories abound regarding Bourdon's whereabouts. Some speculate that he embarked on a solitary journey, seeking solace in the depths of nature, while others suggest more creepier possibilities, including alien abduction.

The disappearance of someone of Rob Bourdon's stature is certainly unprecedented. In our quest to discover the whereabouts of Bourdon, LPA explored all avenues, from the plausible to the far-fetched. Even Robert Stack, himself resurrected from the dead, had no earthly idea on where Bourdon is.

Our investigative journey into the disappearance of Rob Bourdon took us to unexpected places, but none more peculiar than a remote spiritual commune nestled in the desert. And what we found there may shock you.

Here, amidst the sand dunes and cacti, we uncovered a truly bizarre revelation: Rob Bourdon has been living his life as a toaster.


Gobsmacked by our discovery, we tried our best to make sense of this development. But what astonished us more is the reaction of the commune's residents. Rather than fear the musician turned toaster, they've embraced Bourdon's transformation as a divine occurrence.

“When I first saw Rob, er, the Holy Toaster, I knew it was a sign from the universe. He's here to guide us to enlightenment, one perfectly toasted slice at a time." - Commune Member 1

"We've started a new religion around the Holy Toaster. We call it 'Crispianity.' - Commune Member 2

Yes, you heard that right, Crispianity. Followers of this peculiar faith believe that Bourdon's metamorphosis into a toaster holds profound spiritual significance, and they gather daily to pay homage to their newfound deity.

As we spent the day among the Crispians, we left this visit to the desert feeling more confused than ever before. Despite our lingering questions, one thing became abundantly clear: Rob makes one hell of a buttered toast.

After our journey we reached out to Mike Shinoda who emailed back the following response. "Crazy. This makes a lot of sense. I've never seen a toaster and Rob Bourdon in the room at the same time. -m"

And in an unexpected turn of events, Rob Bourdon himself, or should we say, the Holy Toaster, has agreed to grant us his first interview in many years. Despite his initial reluctance, Bourdon, in his toaster form, has decided to break his silence and shed light on the mysteries surrounding his transformation.

Watch our exclusive interview here!

Thank you for tuning in and may your bread always be perfectly toasted. Goodnight.

Things move quick in the world of Linkin Park these days, just days after getting the first snippet of Friendly Fire this Monday, we now have the full song and a music video to boot. The song's lyrics speak on interpersonal conflicts when nobody remembers why they ever began, with key lyrics like "What are we fighting for?"

Tell me the words I've forgotten
What we were fighting for
Staring right into the darkness
Through an empty open door

Friendly Fire was written, recorded and mixed by the band in the process of making their 2017 album One More Light, and was ultimately left off that album with the intention of releasing it at a later point. Jon Green, who contributed writing and instrumentation to Battle Symphony and Nobody Can Save Me, is credited with writing and production alongside band members Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson on this song. Alongside Green in co-producer roles are Andrew Dawson and Purity Ring's Corin Roddick (finally putting an end to the mystery of whether or not he was involved with the One More Light sessions).

The production on Friendly Fire actually puts it neatly alongside those aforementioned Jon Green songs on One More Light, with a big emphasis on the halftime stomp of both live and programmed drum sounds. The rhythm is bolstered with thick bass stabs, while spacious guitar and synth textures round out the instrumentation. At the center, of course, is Chester Bennington's dynamic vocal performance; we hear his low register in the verses, bringing to mind songs like Halfway Right, but, from there, it builds up to an earworm of a refrain, "It's just friendly fire", after the second chorus.

The video is directed and edited by the bands long time videographer Mark Fiore, who has directed a few of the band's music videos in the past, like Given Up. He also co-directed the One More Light video alongside Joe Hahn. Fiore typically works with footage he gets of the band in the studio and on tour. Fittingly, the video for Friendly Fire consists of in-studio material and live footage edited together. You can watch it here:

So it turns out that the teasing the band did on social media the last few weeks wasn't just for a fun goof, they were teasing the release of their career-spanning greatest hits album, Papercuts! The album collects some of the bands biggest hits from 2020 to 2023, and throws in the the new song Friendly Fire with the fan favourite QWERTY as well. In a statement to Consequence of Sound, Brad Delson had this to say:

“Friendly Fire’ was always one of our favorite songs from the One More Light sessions. Something about it wasn’t quite right so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later. When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, the sonic landscape and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time.”

Delson continued, “We got together to work on it and connect some of the missing pieces that for whatever reason hadn’t revealed themselves during the recording of One More Light. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s such a beautiful, compelling, heartbreaking, hopeful story and it really resonates with me today.”

In addition to the statement from Brad, Billboard.com also got a statement from Mike Shinoda:

“In the making of each Linkin Park album, I want to love and believe in each individual song completely,” says Mike Shinoda. “I hope that if any one track is heard on its own in the world, it is something I can feel proud of, and something that takes root inside the listener and becomes part of the energy that connects us.

“Curating the tracks for Papercuts was a joy,” Shinoda continues. “Each song in this collection is both a singular moment on our timeline and an evolving story that is as much ours as it is yours. From our first release ‘One Step Closer’ to the brand-new ‘Friendly Fire,’ this tracklist spans all our chapters so far. Thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope you enjoy Papercuts.”

The pre-order for Papercuts is now live on papercuts.linkinpark.com and it comes out on April 12th. You can get the album in a few different variations:

Papercuts is the first singles collection from innovative musical force Linkin Park. The career-spanning 20-track album compiles 18 essential anthems, plus the never-before-released track “Friendly Fire” recorded during the 2017 sessions for their seventh album One More Light and fan-favorite rarity “QWERTY.”

Linkin Park were inspired to thoughtfully curate Papercuts by their fans’ passionate reception of the 20th Anniversary Editions of Hybrid Theory in 2020 and Meteora last year. That enthusiasm led to this comprehensive retrospective of the band’s journey so far in the span of one album.

Tracklist:

1. Crawling
2. Faint
3. Numb/Encore
4. Papercut
5. Breaking The Habit
6. In The End
7. Bleed It Out
8. Somewhere I Belong
9. Waiting For The End
10. Castle Of Glass
11. One More Light
12. Burn It Down
13. What I’ve Done
14. QWERTY
15. One Step Closer
16. New Divide
17. Leave Out All The Rest
18. Lost
19. Numb
20. Friendly Fire

What do you think of the music video for Friendly Fire? Will you pick up Papercuts? Come and discuss in our forums.

Sources: Linkin Park YouTube, Linkin Park Store, Consequence of Sound, Billboard.com

After a week of teasing something green on their social media profiles, Linkin Park has now released a snippet of a previously unreleased song from their One More Light studio sessions. The song is called "Friendly Fire" and you can check out the snippet here below.

What do you think of the snippet? What do you think it is the band has been teasing? Come and discuss in our forums.

Source: Linkin Park Twitter

Last week, Shinoda gave us versions of "Already Over" and "In My Head" optimised to soundtrack gaming sessions; this time, he's delivering us new remixes geared for your sweaty cardio workouts, once again in collaboration with the German soundscape wizards at Endel Sound. The resulting mixtape-style listening experience, "Already Over / In My Head (Endel Workout Soundscape)" consists of 15 tracks with 43 minutes of music, starting from soft and relaxing numbers and building up to more intense arrangements.

The music contains plenty of distorted ambient elements and stretched-out vocal cuts, coated with heavy amounts of reverb and layered over deep bass, which adds up to an ominous, trippy atmosphere that permeates the entire album. The overall sampling approach heard here could be compared to the aesthetics of modern-day phonk or mid-2010s "cloud rap", both of which draw heavily from the 90s Memphis hip-hop scene and trailblazing producers like DJ Smokey and DJ Screw.

Meanwhile, all the drums parts are house-influenced four-to-the-floor rhythms at different tempos, instead of more relaxed trip-hop rhythms on the previous Shinoda x Endel collaboration, which makes for the most obvious difference between the two.

The tracklist comprises a "Warm Up" suite with 4 versions of "In My Head", a "Light Cardio" section with 4 remixes of the "Fort Minor Mix" version of "Already Over", and, lastly, 7 remixes of the original "Already Over" divided into 3 suites: "Cardio", "Intense Cardio" and "Cool Down".

1. In My Head - Endel Warm Up 1 (Workout Soundscape) [2:07]
   
2. In My Head - Endel Warm Up 2 (Workout Soundscape) [2:06]
   
3. In My Head - Endel Warm Up 3 (Workout Soundscape) [3:38]
   
4. In My Head - Endel Warm Up 4 (Workout Soundscape) [3:54]
   
5. Already Over - Endel Light Cardio 1 (Fort Minor Mix)(Workout Soundscape) [2:23]
   
6. Already Over - Endel Light Cardio 2 (Fort Minor Mix)(Workout Soundscape) [2:29]
   
7. Already Over - Endel Light Cardio 3 (Fort Minor Mix)(Workout Soundscape) [3:31]
   
8. Already Over - Endel Light Cardio 4 (Fort Minor Mix)(Workout Soundscape) [2:53]
   
9. Already Over - Endel Cardio 1 (Workout Soundscape) [3:00]
   
10. Already Over - Endel Cardio 2 (Workout Soundscape) [3:12]
    
11. Already Over - Endel Cardio 3 (Workout Soundscape) [4:07]
    
12. Already Over - Endel Intense Cardio 1 (Workout Soundscape) [2:35]
    
13. Already Over - Endel Intense Cardio 2 (Workout Soundscape) [2:51]
    
14. Already Over - Endel Cool Down 1 (Workout Soundscape) [2:25]
    
15. Already Over - Endel Cool Down 2 (Workout Soundscape) [2:08]

The first couple of tracks are soft, drumless ambient takes on "In My Head", combining swirling synth drones and vocal snippets with generous amounts of reverb. A soft guitar rhythm seeps in towards the end of "Warm Up 2".

"Warm Up 3" begins with the sudden introduction of a kick rhythm and a bassline from the original song; this arrangement continues to build with the introduction of piano chords, cymbal crashes and other rhythm elements; this build continues in "Warm Up 4", which brings in more guitar parts, vocal samples and synth parts. At about the midpoint in this track, the arrangement reaches its climax and begins to wind down over the rest of its 4-minute length.

The "Cardio" section is the first 3 closing sections which are all remixes of "Already Over". This suite is primarily built on a house four-to-the-floor rhythm paired with the original song's pre-chorus bassline. A synth pad and vocal elements from "Already Over" appear over the top, and the song's synth arp appears around the midpoint of "Cardio 2" for what could almost be mistaken for a rave-friendly build-up, but the track breaks down from there instead of delivering any sort of drop. Towards the end of "Cardio 2", the pre-chorus bassline is traded for the verses' four-note bass guitar part, which remains the bassline throughout all of "Cardio 3".
Things get a little bit faster during the "Intense Cardio" section - we once again have a house rhythm going on, with the verse bassline again, but it's faster now, bringing us more in the vicinity of the original "Already Over" tempo. The vocal samples here aren't so obscured and distant but some of them are distinctly off-beat, giving these tracks a slightly more chaotic feel. Some rhythm guitar appears towards the end of "Intense Cardio 2" as the arrangement builds to a climax and closes out.

One ambient-leaning version of "Already Over" isn't enough for Mike Shinoda's creative appetite. He has now gone further and collaborated with Endel Sound to produce 35 minutes of new remixes of "Already Over" and his other 2023 single "In My Head".

These new reinterpretations heavily incorporate elements of ambient, dub and trip-hop, and could be compared to works by Zero 7, Massive Attack or Thievery Corporation. They are packaged together in a 13-track collection, called "Already Over / In My Head (Endel Gaming Soundscape)", which is available now across digital music platforms.

The tracklist consists of 5 tracks drawn from "Already Over", 4 from the "Fort Minor" remix of the song, and another 4 produced from "In My Head".

1. Already Over - Endel Version 1 (Gaming Soundscape) [4:30]
2. Already Over - Endel Version 2 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:28]
3. Already Over - Endel Version 3 (Gaming Soundscape) [3:01]
4. Already Over - Endel Version 4 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:45]
5. Already Over - Endel Version 5 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:11]
6. Already Over - Endel Version 1 (Fort Minor Mix)(Gaming Soundscape) [2:15]
7. Already Over - Endel Version 2 (Fort Minor Mix)(Gaming Soundscape) [2:33]
8. Already Over - Endel Version 3 (Fort Minor Mix)(Gaming Soundscape) [2:25]
9. Already Over - Endel Version 4 (Fort Minor Mix)(Gaming Soundscape) [2:40]
10. In My Head - Endel Version 1 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:32]
11. In My Head - Endel Version 2 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:33]
12. In My Head - Endel Version 3 (Gaming Soundscape) {2:08]
13. In My Head - Endel Version 4 (Gaming Soundscape) [2:56]

Given that they are all labelled "Gaming Soundscape", these tracks don't shy away from the darker sonic aesthetics of the songs they are sourced from, pairing them with dub and trip-hop elements to create interesting contrasts. The first set of five tracks are arrangements featuring prominent synth arps, calm electronic drums with a hefty amount of delay, and filtered snippets of vocals from "Already Over".


The second set of tracks, built off the "Fort Minor" remix of "Already Over" on which Dom McLennon provided a guest rap verse, use similar trip-hop rhythms paired with the more ominous synth arp featured in the remix, along with brooding 808s and brief cuts of Shinoda and McLennon's vocals. The "Version 3" arrangement features McLennon's verse in full to start off.


Finally, the "In My Head" reinterpretations feature various reversed elements, reverb-heavy vocal stabs and clean guitar plucks, all laid over the dark, aggressive synth basslines sampled from the original song, and - surprise - a relaxed -trip-hop rhythm as the backbone. Between Shinoda's rapping, lead singing and various harmony parts, and guest vocalist Kailee Morgue's contributions, "In My Head" contains many vocal layers to work with.


With this Endel release, Shinoda joins a list of acts including 6LACK, Sia and James Blake in collaborating with the German company to reinterpret their music through an ambient soundscape lens. This is also not Shinoda's first foray into ambient pieces. Back in 2020, he produced an instrumental album called "Cognition" intended to soundtrack relaxation, sleep and studying; eventually, in 2021, it was released exclusively through the meditation streaming platform Calm as one long 79-minute track.

You can check out the Endel Gaming Soundscape release now on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and more. Shinoda has also posted the entire collection in one "Full Experience" YouTube video for your listening convenience.

What do you think of these ambient takes on "Already Over" and "In My Head"? Let us know!

Mike Shinoda is at it yet again: the fifth episode of his "Already Over" sessions is now available on YouTube. In this episode, which depicts a session dated early December 2023, Shinoda is shown visiting Tokyo to meet with his merry band of chosen Japanese musicians at Avaco Studio Recording 301.

Shinoda's hand-picked performers for this session are no joke, with most of them having cut their teeth playing in bands over the years, in addition to being strong enough at their craft to gain Internet followings as instrumentalists and content creators on their own.

• On lead guitar is Kazuki (かずき), also known as NagomiBright. Kazuki's YouTube channel features a myriad of guitar covers, tutorials and effects gear reviews and has over 337,000 subscribers.
• On bass is MINA, previously a member of the now-defunct Japanese pop-rock act GIRLFRIEND. MINA posts bass guitar covers, tutorials and tips on her YouTube channel, where she is also shown to be proficient with a number of other instruments. She also posts short-form content on TikTok which has earned her 1.6 million followers there.
• On piano is Yomii (よみぃ), who runs a piano-centered YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers. Yomii began earning accolades in music at a young age: at 15, he composed a piece which won first prize in an official music contest for the Bandai Namco rhythm game "Taiko no Tatsujin". His achievements since then include becoming an ambassador, instructor and advisor for Yamaha's AI Music Ensemble system. His most recent video documents some entertaining shenanigans from the "Already Over" session in Tokyo ...
• On the drums is Maiki (マイキ), AKA Maiki P, an artist and songwriter who formerly played drums as part of a Japanese pop duo LatuLatu (ラトゥラトゥ) and the rock outfit Yullie-Echo (ユーリーエコー). In addition to drumming, Maiki provides songwriting and production contributions to other Japanese artists, and some of the work he has been involved in appears on his YouTube channel, which boasts almost 900,000 subscribers.
• Providing musical direction and perhaps helping Shinoda to oversee the whole affair is Minoru Yokoo, a veteran recording engineer and coordinator who has filled a wide range of management and technical roles for rock bands and orchestral acts around the world since the early 90s.

Shinoda himself actually fills the rhythm guitar role this time, marking the first time he has played a guitar for any of these performances. The band leaps headfirst into the titular song with a double-length full-band intro. The audio mix prominently highlights MINA's slap bass coupled with Maiki's double-kick drumming. Kazuki slips in lead guitar melodies throughout the arrangement, starting with the short re-intro section after the first chorus. Meanwhile, Yomii, sitting at a Steinway grand and wearing his signature shades, plays an arpeggio part throughout the second verse. Later in the song, he launches into a virtuosic piano solo to kick off the bridge, before giving way for a flashy guitar solo from Kazuki over a rockabilly rhythm switch-up from Maiki.

To follow up this intense performance of "Already Over", the group challenges itself further with a dynamic rock band arrangement of the Fort Minor classic "Remember The Name". Guitarist Kazuki and pianist Yomii deftly trade off playing the song's iconic cello hook. Shinoda raps his two eight-bar verses from the song back-to-back; the band picks up the intensity for the second verse, before building into a heavy double-chorus to close out with. At that point, even Shinoda himself appears shocked at what they've managed to do.

If things go as they previously have, this live recording of "Already Over" will be available for streaming and download on digital music platforms at the end of this week.

What did you think of this "Already Over" session? Let us know!

Hot on the heels of the last "Already Over" session, Mike Shinoda has wasted no time in releasing a new video in his series. This one shows Shinoda posted up in Red Bull Music Studio in Berlin with a cohort of German artists and musicians, gathered to perform his 2023 single "Already Over" live in the studio space. The date shown in the video puts this literally the day before the London session that the previous video focused on.

Just like in all the other "Already Over" session videos, this is an interesting and eclectic group of musicians that Shinoda has picked:

• Backing Shinoda up on vocals is the young artist and songwriter Damona, who hails from Bavaria. Damona started out with a brief stint on "The Voice Kids" (a "Voice of Germany" spin-off focused on children) in early 2022, before moving on to grow her own following online and eventually getting signed to a label later that same year. Over the past couple of years, Damona has been refining her 90s-influenced pop-rock sound while consistently nurturing her online fanbase on platforms like TikTok, where she has over 2 million followers.
• Handling the lead guitar and providing some backing vocals also is wavvyboi, a non-binary pop artist, songwriter and producer with a string of commercial releases stretching back to 2018. wavvyboi has dropped a lot of music since then, and has drawn from a wide variety of genres along the way - hard rock and metal, shoegaze, synth-pop and beyond - but an emphasis on noisy guitar riffs and an unrelenting focus on catchy melodies has stayed consistent across all of it. Their discography is also peppered with collaborations with other adventurous German artists.
• On rhythm guitar and also doing backing vocals is Simon Will, a YouTuber and artist whose musical output consists of only a few songs between 2020 and now. Out of those, his 2023 musical offerings have been more guitar-heavy pop numbers, as opposed to singles from prior years which featured a softer, more reggaeton-influenced sound.
• Playing the keyboard is Tobias Hildebrand, AKA tobiplayspiano, a Dresden-based content creator who is best-known for this TikTok post from 2022, which shows him sitting down and improvising on a public piano; the post went viral and has amassed nearly 10 million views to date. Hildebrand's videos feature various covers of popular songs, more public piano performances, and also things like reinterpreting the iconic iPhone ringtone for piano added in for good measure. He has also released a few original compositions which comprise his YouTube channel.
• On bass is Marti Fischer, a bassist and content creator who has been active on YouTube for over a decade, and whose Instagram bio explains that he's a jack of several trades: music producer, podcaster, web video creator, impersonator and more. Fittingly, Fischer's YouTube content is widely-varied, but the bulk of it seems to be videos about music composition and production, where he analyses music by acts like Depeche Mode, Daft Punk and ABBA, or quickly explains subgenres like darkwave.
• Behind the drum kit is Raja Meissner, a drummer and content creator based in Berlin who has been playing professionally since her early teens, and whose drumming videos have gained her almost a million TikTok followers. Meissner's selections for covers mostly lean towards hard rock and metal, with many covers of Slipknot songs in particular.

Shinoda returns to a handheld SM58 as his microphone this time around, and the group starts off "Already Over" with a full-band intro, as opposed to the more minimal guitar intro that you may be used to. Damona, who backs up Shinoda with an octave vocal early on, takes on the lead singing for the second verse in her native German, before Shinoda swaps back in for the pre-chorus. Later on, wavvyboi's octave guitar solo for the bridge is a more embellished take on Shinoda's original solo.

After performing "Already Over", the band is shown taking on Shinoda's 2023 single "In My Head", a surprising swerve when all the previous episodes have featured performances of Linkin Park singles. Damona proves to be a great fit for the lead female vocal part originally sung by Kailee Morgue, while the guitarists back her up with harmonies during the choruses. This is the first time "In My Head" has been performed by Shinoda in any live setting, and it further widens the lane for future episodes if Mike Shinoda solo songs are now on the board ...

What did you think of this performance? Let us know!

Mike Shinoda has posted a new video showing him in another studio space with another one-off supergroup, performing his 2023 single "Already Over" live for the third time to date since its release in October last year. This time, Shinoda finds himself in Metropolis Studios in London, surrounded by mostly UK-based musicians.

Unlike previous episodes from this series, this video kicks off with a more behind-the-scenes look where Shinoda and company try to work out arrangements - while Shinoda picks out his lineups well in advance, these performances are still largely put together on the day, which is likely a testament to the ability and professionalism of these performers. The group is shown trying to put together their own version of Linkin Park's single "Castle Of Glass", to follow up previous episodes' performances of "Bleed It Out" and "Faint".

Much like with the Los Angeles collective Shinoda put together, many of these performers gained their followings fairly recently by posting content online, and typically out of necessity due to pandemic lockdowns. Though some are established musicians or artists to some extent (who nonetheless branched out to online content creation due to aforementioned lockdowns), others are not and, therefore, information about them can be scarce:

• On additional vocals is Nørskov, a Danish singer based in Sheffield who is best-known for competing on the 10th season "The Voice UK", and for singing on Rudimental's 2021 single "Straight From The Heart", her only commercial release to date
• On lead guitar is Paul Davids, a Dutch guitarist and teacher whose successful YouTube channel naturally features guitar tutorial videos and other such content, boasting over 3 million subscribers
• Playing rhythm guitar is Diego Riera, a content creator from England who began posting guitar performances on TikTok in late 2020, and now has around 1.5 million followers on the platform
• On keyboard and backing vocals is British bass guitar virtuoso Charles Berthoud, creator of entertaining bass guitar YouTube videos which have gained him almost 2 million subscribers
• On the actual bass guitar and backing vocals is Cambridgeshire-born artist, songwriter and producer Ellie Dixon, whose alt-pop music and random instrument choices have gained her over a million followers on TikTok
• And, lastly, behind the drum kit is Sam Arrow, a London-based musician who posts drum covers online and who has played on tour for a variety of musicians including Shinoda affiliate grandson

Setting this performance of "Already Over" apart from the others is Nørskov taking over the lead vocals during the second verse using a twist on the higher harmony part, while Shinoda backs her up with a backing vocal based off the original lead vocal melody. Nørskov also jumps back in to lead the second chorus, before Davids launches into his guitar solo to kick off the bridge.

This is all followed by the group's rendition of "Castle Of Glass", and the video shows that they adventurously dive into it without locking down every fine detail.

For this arrangement, Nørskov leads the first verse with Shinoda and Charles Berthoud doing harmonies; Ellie Dixon then joins them to create a lush four-part harmony in the chorus. Dixon and Shinoda lead the second verse singing octaves, while Berthoud provides a backing harmony.
Like with the Los Angeles performance of "Faint", the band is assisted by samples from the original studio recording of the song.

"Castle Of Glass" is a relatively left-field choice in the wake of more high-octane hard rock numbers like "Bleed It Out" and "Faint", and opens the door for all sorts of Linkin Park songs to be performed in future episodes.

What do you think of this video? Let us know!

Back in September, Mike Shinoda assembled a veritable supergroup of Australian musicians to perform his single "Already Over" live at Studios 301 in Sydney. Now, he's followed that up with a second episode which was filmed at The Village in Los Angeles in mid-October earlier this year, in which he delivers a live rendition of "Already Over" flanked by a group of U.S.-based musicians.

Shinoda's band is larger this time around, and it seems most of these musicians have gained their audiences via self-produced content on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, as opposed to being members of established groups. This tracks with how Shinoda has often spoken about noticing talented vocalists and instrumentalists who pop up in his social networking feeds. Though many of these artists have gained considerable followings online over the last few years, most of them haven't done much in way of press, so information on them is fairly limited:

• Bobby Amaru, currently the lead vocalist of the rock band Saliva, joins Shinoda on vocal duties along with his daughter Veda (AKA Veda J)
• Nalu The Piano Man, known for clever piano mash-up covers, is behind the keyboard
• Brazilian guitarist Mateus Asato, who has toured with various pop acts, and whose guitar videos on Instagram have gained him over a million followers, plays lead guitar
• Morgan F. Kennedy, guitarist and songwriter who began posting guitar content online late 2020 and has since amassed over 2 million TikTok followers, is on rhythm guitar
• mynameisnotdrew, best-known for comedic bass and guitar shorts that he uploads to TikTok, is rocking the bass
  
• and, last but not least, Nate Mueller, who has built an audience of over a million with his drumming talent, and who is still studying music in college, on the drum kit

After nailing their performance of "Already Over", the band also gives it their all with a rendition of "Faint", one of Linkin Park's many signature hits. With Veda doing backing vocals, Bobby Amaru steps up to do Chester Bennington's singing parts throughout the song, delivering a performance which has been warmly-received by many Linkin Park fans in the comments under the video. The band tops it off with their own take on the extended live outro which Linkin Park have been doing at their live shows since 2007.

There are more "Already Over" performances to come. Per recent interviews, Shinoda has already plotted out performances based in the UK and Japan, with one or more of them likely already filmed.

What do you think of this performance and how does it compare to the Sydney one? Let us know!

© 2016 The Linkin Park Association

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