"Genre-Busting" New Album?

Mike Shinoda was recently interviewed by Rollingstone.com and claims that the band's fourth studio album will be genre-busting, saying “they’re going to have to come up with a new genre name for what this record is.”

He goes on to state that Linkin Park is about halfway through the writing process and hopes to have the album out for an early 2010 release. The quality of the tunes is top priority among his concerns, and says that “if we need to take a step back and make sure everything is top, top quality by our standards, we will.”

"We want to hopefully move even more into being able to make more substantial music, and we’ve always been capable of it, but sometimes, there were different things that we got excited about on each record, about what we wanted to write and what we wanted to make and what kind of statement we wanted to make. On this record, we’re definitely paying attention to the substance and the nuance, and we hope to make something that’s really cutting edge and really different.”, says Shinoda.

Mike says the record isn’t what he would describe as a concept album, but has some cohesive elements. “This isn’t necessarily a record that tells a story about a character or anything like that, but I do hope the record has a sonic identity, from beginning to end, that’s distinguishable from the other stuff we’ve done and distinguishable from everything else out there. I would love, at the end of the day, to be able to look at this record, and say its something totally new, totally true to the spirit of the band, and it doesn’t sound like anything else. That’s what we shoot for.”

To read more, please visit Rollingstone.com.

Thanks to Gitsnik for the news!

 

100% how I feel.

 

ya they have several timesw before and it hadnt been as "woah" as we would have wanted it to be..but like Derek said i wont believe it till the CD is in my hands..until then all the details on how the album sounds i wont take to heart

 

Did they actually hype MTM up that much themselves? I mean, I'm not trying to be an asshole when I say that, I just don't really remember much of what they said themselves about that album. If they did hype it up like this back then then fair enough. I think they did talk about experimenting pretty often, which is pretty much what they did. I agree with parts of what you said but in the case of MTM I think a lot of people seemed to hype it up themselves and expect a masterpiece because previews were saying it had guitar solos and more nuance in the arrangements and stuff, while in retrospect I don't think anyone could realistically have hoped for much more than what we actually got. I'm not saying Linkin Park fans are the only ones who do that, but at the moment I think that seems to be the case as much as anything.

 

I agree with you, but I think, after their last battle with Warner, they probably have more leverage this time around. Hell, I could be wrong about that, but I sure as hell hope I'm right. With Mike always giving people advice about record label issues on his blog, I'd expect him to have his shit (at least somewhat) on lockdown by now.

Also, with what he's talking about with "groundbreaking", I think he's probably referring to the heavier incorporation of synths into the music. With Chester talking about his love of NIN, Mike talking about how he loves Justice and Crystal Castles, the breakdown of "New Divide" sounding like NIN, and Mike being prominently featured as playing a synth in the video (that's what it looks like, at least), I'm expecting more electronic elements on the new record. I don't know if that'll really make it "genre-busting", but I'm sure I'm going to love the record either way. LP never disappoint.

 

same here

 

As far as I can recall they did hype up MTM but not to this extent. That's a pretty big statement Mike made right there! He sounds almost overconfident. I'm, in no way, hanging on his words though. As Derek said, I'll believe him once I get the CD.

 

I wonder if it's going to be released on a cd...I remember them saying months ago that everyone will be receiving the new album in a way that's never been done before.

 

same here.

 

LOL. That would be epic.

 

I've been saying for years, "Linkin Park needs more falsetto vocals."

 

Part of having success out in any field is having an amount of people not liking you or the product that is released. In my opinion, LP will never please everyone except well...themselves! I respect them as a band for doing something original and they have in songs like Little Things and BTH etc, and they have got great feedback from those songs. If they strive for what they want, in due time, it will occur. I give them full due cred for attempting to do somethin' awesome and original. It may not be this next album, but I see this band's potential to craft something amazing in the many years to come.

 

As long as the band is on a major record label, their true vision for their music will never see the light of day.

EDIT: I'm sorry, how is "The Little Things Give You Away" or "Breaking the Habit" even close to original? The former song is, I'll admit, a pretty good song, but it's nothing earth shattering, "genre busting", groundbreaking, etc. It's just a long ballad. BTH... god what a horrible song. Don't get me started. I was embarrassed for LP when it was released.

 

We'll see how they do producing The Resistance. Maybe then, though, because Chester likes them. I would actually prefer Josh Homme to produce, he's got a really dense dark sound that would be neat for LP.

Anyway, they also said that MTM wouldn't be definable, and it is probably one of the most generic records I have. Especially after New Divide, i'm taking this with a grain of salt.

 

I wish they'd stop talking. Every time they say something they end up looking stupider and stupider when the actual music actually releases. They promise all this crazy shit and when it comes out I'm just like "...how the hell could you describe this like that?".

They need to just not talk about it until a month or so before release.

 

didn't they say that minutes to midnight was going to have a "new sound?" i don't know what to expect but i can't fathom how this new album is going to be genre defining. as disappointing as i found the "new sound" on minutes to midnight, this album had better come through.

 

They should get Steven Wilson to produce the record.

Wouldn't be surprised if he's not a fan though, lol.