Well, GATS was released in early March, the album came in middle June. I also think we will get a early single in April.
What about jamming together? Collaborating for the first time on a studio album? Recording to tape? Songs like "Guilty All the Same" (which had a rap verse from someone who wasn't even Mike Shinoda), "Mark the Graves" and "A Line in the Sand", that's not experimenting? Get a grip.
Thank you! People really tend to see "experimental" as a genre, while it really isn't....or then, a very vague one, as every genre could potentially be "experimental". Experimenting litterally means trying new things, which LP has definitely done with each of the past albums, and certainly with THP too. Though, to be fair, I don't think people here care much about how experimental a process is, as long as the final product ends up sounding somewhat creative, fresh, and not common in the music industry/ for LP standards.
Looking at last time around, they started posting pics 5-6 months before GATS, I thought it was more like 3-4. Even still, a single in late April/early May wouldn't be out of the question for an August/September release, although June/July would be more likely. I don't think anyone's saying that there's nothing experimental on THP, more that there wasn't as much as ATS or even MTM (a perfect example of an "experimental album for them" without being an "experimental album"). We don't know how much they jammed, knowing LP I'd say not that much, but I'll give them that one. Recording to tape doesn't really count IMO, it's not going to magically change their music, and collaborating, while great, is something they have already done before. When a band already has an album dedicated to collaborations, a remix album, and countless other collaboration singles, I don't think you can call them deciding to include a few on a studio album "experimenting". I think most people would agree that songs like KTTK, GATS, War, MTG, Drawbar, and ALITS are "experimental", so I'm not saying the album's not one of the band's more experimental ones (god that word's starting to sound funny ), but songs like AFN, Wastelands, UIG and FM, some of which are great songs, aren't particularly fresh. The album feels like a 50/50 split between new stuff and playing it safe.
So do I. On what planet are a rock band jamming together or recording to tape deemed experimental? I'm sure the guys will have done both in the past at some point anyway (eg Xero demo tape), and the end results were a slightly heavier but still recognisable LP album, good but nothing ground breaking. I agree GATS, War, MTG and ALITS were different from previous releases, but KTTK, other then the intro, wasn't a massive departure really, it's structure is actually quite similar to Victimised. I'm not desperate to see anything radically experimental though, all I want is the band to do what they want and not rush it or confine themselves to any boundaries.
Mike said he hopes to release the album in the second half of 2016. That ranges from July all the way to December. Personally, I hope they release the first single as late as possible because long waits between album and single are painful. The catalyst was a month before which is great. Burn it down was like two months and that sucked. Same with GATS
Yeah. The later the single comes, the better, but I'd want an album as soon as possible after the single.
It was experimental for Linkin Park, after two highly stylized electronic-centered albums. They hadn't done that in ages (as you basically say yourself).
Recording on a digital 4-track Tascam Portastudio that EXPORTS the finished product to cassette tape =/= recording to an actual reel-to-reel tape machine. A couple decades worth of a technology gap there. VERY few musicians under the age of 40 have ever experienced true analog recording. (Not that THP was a true analog recording, they only tracked the drum tracks to tape, and they did it all with a machine that transferred the tape data into Pro Tools in real time so they could still edit it later)
Given Mike's statements in LPA's interview with him, I'd be surprised if we didn't get an ARG/Puzzle of some kind.
I do wonder what sorts of untraveled roads in music LP can take from here. There are just certain genres I can't see the band entirely embracing: country, full-on pop, complete EDM/Dubstep, etc. Whatever they end up doing, I'm almost entirely certain that the fans will be once again be taken by surprise.
Definitely. There's one thing I know for certain, as long as the band keep pushing themselves I won't be too overly concerned if I don't personally happen to like a new album, after all, that just means I can hop back on the hype train the next time around, as at least I'll know for certain that they won't repeat that style I don't like. Once the band starts repeating themselves, then we have a problem. Regarding genres they haven't done before, I think the obvious one to me is something more stripped back, something more acoustic. Leading on from the raw sound of THP, only this time encompassing the mellowness of some of their other albums. They've delved into it before, with The Messenger and the acoustic version of Final Masquerade, as well as their several live acoustic versions of songs, and even songs like In Between and Burning In The Skies fit under this umbrella. LP have great melodies, I'd be interested in seeing what they can do with loud guitars and electronic layers taking the back seat. The fact that Mike's said they're recording full song ideas with vocals on piano early on this time makes me think it's a possibility they might go down that route, but of course this is 100% speculation, no one can know this early on, likely even the band themselves don't know yet. It just seems like something they've touched on often but never fully delved deep into.
don't forget Three Band Terror, Castle of Glass and Devil's Drop.. I hope they bring more country-infused in their album.
I actually completely forgot about the folk influences on LT! I knew there was a part of my train of thought that I forgot to put down.
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Acoustic guitar? Yes please. I wish they scale down the electronics a little bit and focus on acoustic guitars, piano and strings. We need more strings on the next record.