Niki N. Phaser

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that the best gigs are those of the bands you know to perfection (B-sides and side-projects included), the bands you grew up with no matter the age you first heard them. In December 2012, I will be celebrating a decade since I first considered myself a Linkin Park fan. However, the celebration came a bit early, as the boys finally decided to rock Romania on June 6^th, prompting a lot of the 10.000+ fans, gathered at the oh so familiar venue – Romexpo, to loudly proclaim the likes of “this is a dream come true” or “I’ve been waiting for this since high-school’’. The surprising truth is that Linkin Park have been around for a relatively long time now. It just goes to show that being in a constant development and not being afraid to experiment (A Thousand Suns was the most underground mainstream album of 2010) has paid off. Different people have different notions of what the Linkin Park ‘sound’ is.

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              Music for Relief, the non-profit organization created by Linkin Park in 2005 for helping victims of natural disasters, is doing its part for the Haiti survivors. A compilation of 9 songs penned by important names in mainstream music of all genres is available to download at the organization’s site. All earnings will go to the United Nations Foundation, Habitat for Humanity (for rebuilding the homes of those affected) and Dave Matthews Band’s BAMA Works. Linkin Park’s new track, Not Alone, is also featured on the collection. They are joined by other artists like Peter Gabriel, Slash, Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette, The All-American Rejects, Hoobastank, Kenna, Enrique Iglesias and Lupe Fiasco. This is all previously unreleased music, published especially for this effort, hence the empowering lyrics about unity and help. You can listen, download and donate:

HERE

             In a recent blog post on his official website, Linkin Park/Fort Minor member, Mike Shinoda gave fans an update on LP’s new LP. The band had their first meeting of the year, regarding the evolution of their future album, expected to be released, sometime in the summer/autumn of this year. It will be their fourth and the follow-up to the successful Minutes to Midnight. The MC seems happy with the way things are going and emphasizes a lot on the new direction of their recent songs. He even talks about initiating a new genre with this one, so the pressure to not repeat themselves seems to be really off. He also teases the army of fans, waiting for any new information: “I was going to tell you guys the working titles…but I changed my mind”, he writes. Though not a concept album, the new material is, so far, tied by “some thematic threads”, the producer also admits. Five songs are almost confirmed, with another 15-20 being worked on, a batch from which the final tracklisting is supposed to be picked. In earlier reports, there was talk of a more electronic sound, Blade Runner-inspired, but, as we all know, an album has many  gestation periods, so we’ll just have to wait and hear.