Mike Shinoda Posts First Studio Update of 2014, Discusses "Mostly Self-Produced" Album

Discussion in 'News' started by Derek, Feb 3, 2014.

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  1. LohithMohan

    LohithMohan It's like I'm paranoid...or am I?

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    It's clearly more of a personal choice. There is no point in one trying to prove another wrong.
    To me, A Thousand Suns was their best album till date. I can still listen to the album non stop. Living Things was good. It was a shift from ATS since it went back to a more commercial and familiar sound. It still featured more experimentation than Meteora ever did.

    Wonder how this album would sound. From what we've heard from Mike so far about the state of Rock music and then this album update, it seems as though this album will be high energy in a more rock-ish way I'd assume.
     
  2. Moridin

    Moridin Death Contagious Deity

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    1. Why is it anytime anyone says anything negative about LT you absolutely must jump in to defend it?

    2. Why do you keep putting forth the idea that anyone who likes ATS only likes mellow music?

    3. Why do you keep insinuating that mellow music is bad?
    ----

    Stylistically speaking there's nothing on LT I'd object to listening to. It's the totally half-arsed, dumbed down, we-wrote-this-in-our-sleep-for-the-radio-folk songwriting I have a problem with.
     
  3. Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    The albums that grow on me as opposed to getting an immediate reaction are the ones that stick with me. For whatever reason they've made think about it and think about it and come back to it. Take ATS and LT for example. LT has good, catchy songs. Eventually catch gets boring, and predictable. An album like ATS is complex, huge amounts of layers and meanings. It will be a long time before I feel I've heard every sound that album has to offer, and when that happens it will continue to find new meaning. LT is just too straight forward, too pop. Sounds drowned out in a poor mix. It may hold a place in the collection, the new album may even help it's staying power. But it will never Stand on it's quite like ATS.
     
  4. AndreyKamensky

    AndreyKamensky hakuna matata

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    Summer! why aren't you here yet???
    Really, this post got me super excited!
     
  5. Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    I would like to protest that ATS isn't even that mellow. When They Come for Me, Blackout, Wretches and Kings, The Catalyst all have high energy. Waiting for the End has moments of high energy. Even Burning in the Skies builds up to a good pace. Even see's one of only 2 of Brad's guitar solos. So It may not be comparable to LT really, but it's certainly not strictly mellow.
     
  6. Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    I have about 20 minutes until I need to leave my apartment, so I'm going to throw my 2 cents into the Living Things discussion to kill some time.

    When Living Things first came out, I loved it. In fact, there's at least one post I made on here where I said it "might be better than A Thousand Suns." I can think of a few other people who said something similar and probably feel differently now. I loved it because it was catchy, loud, different sounding in some ways, and had a few songs on the back-end that switched it up a bit.

    But as someone mentioned earlier, "catchy" fades. After I'm over the catchy hooks and the bright synths and the increased energy (compared to the previous two albums), what's left? Not a whole lot. Another album filled with shiny pop songs about vague emotional pain. Which is what most of Linkin Park's albums are.

    There's nothing wrong with liking music like that. If Living Things was the first Linkin Park album, I'd be very interested in following that band. But for a band that always talks about changing with every album, most of their albums really boil down to the same thing. Once you get past the shallow discussions of "guitars or synths" or "singing, screaming, or rapping," 4 out of 5 Linkin Park albums bring the same things to the table. It's like someone trying to sell you a new iPod that's exactly the same as the one you already have, except it's blue instead of the traditional silver. Is it really different?

    People who love A Thousand Suns, such as myself, have been accused of hypocrisy. If Meteora is bad because it's so similar to Hybrid Theory, and the nu-metal inclined fans are being silly for wanting that music again, aren't we the same way? Because we dislike Living Things for not being A Thousand Suns?

    The answer is "no." Or at the very least, "mostly no." The transition from A Thousand Suns to Living Things was like watching a person who vowed to exercise and get healthier finally step on a treadmill, only to walk 10 minutes on a moderate setting, get off, say "PHEW THAT WAS INTENSE I think I can take the rest of the week off," and grab a bowl of ice cream. You just got started. You've been making snappy "firecracker" albums your entire 10+ year career. You couldn't spend more than one album doing the experimental thing? Truly diversifying your work? And you didn't even go *that* far down that path to begin with. When people want "another" A Thousand Suns, that could very well mean a guitar driven "heavy" album. It's not the sound, so much as it is the songwriting and constructing. It's not the color of the iPod, it's the functionality.

    So when I hear that the band is absolutely switching up their songwriting/recording process, I am cautiously pleased. Record to tape. Experiment with jamming. Go to a different studio. Produce it yourselves. These are all things that could really truly lead to something new beneath the surface.
     
  7. Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    +1
     
  8. Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    Well, that was a very good read, Xero.

    (Not quoting 'cuz long post)
     
  9. MattLP

    MattLP No control No surprise

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    Why are people still talking about ATS?, that is done its over, its like beating a dead horse.
    Idc what the next album sounds like instrumental wise as long as there is screaming, rapping
    in it than it should be good.
     
  10. Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    Well when a new album comes out the rest of the discography becomes relevant again because you wonder how it will all fit together. Which brings up how the existing stuff fits together.
     
  11. Shmoanator

    Shmoanator Guest




    Aaaand it looks like Xero21 is our winner, ladies and gentlemen!
     
  12. MattLP

    MattLP No control No surprise

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    True, it kinda feels weird that is only gonna be LP's 6th album, it feels like they been around forever
    and they should have more albums.
     
  13. l4g_testify

    l4g_testify Well-Known Member

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    Off topic but I haven't heard this version of crawling before, mike has a rap verse http://youtu.be/ZY5I9RMHI3E and just a curious question. How successful do you think the band would be if they're albums were backwards? For example Living Things released in 2000 through Hybrid Theory being released in 2012?
     
  14. Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    ^ Well, yeah, that version's been out there for quite a while now.
     
  15. MattLP

    MattLP No control No surprise

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    They would have never become what they are today, if there albums were backwards they wouldn't have been big.
     
  16. Manu

    Manu Seeking tenderness with a dagger

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    That was beautiful, Xero. Nicely put.
     
  17. Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    lol I'm a fan of Tool and NIN. We're lucky we don't get 6+ years between albums :lol:
     
  18. MattLP

    MattLP No control No surprise

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    I'm a fan of Tool too and yeah that is very true haha. I think we would all go nuts
     
  19. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    Well, of course you wouldn't understand why fans are still talking about "A Thousand Suns" if you dislike the album. :sleep:
     
  20. Apop

    Apop LPA VIP LPA VIP

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    I'd say they would be very unwise to release nu-metal in 2010 and 2012.

    Xero- great read. You made a lot of very interesting points I had never really thought about, but where you really got me was the closing. The setting for LP6 looks pretty good at this point.
     
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