Living Things

				Living Things (Linkin Park album) Living Things Studio album by Linkin Park Released June 26, 2012[1] (see release history) Recorded 2011–2012 at NRG Recording Studios (North Hollywood, California) Length 36:58 Label Warner Bros. Producer Rick Rubin, Mike Shinoda Linkin Park studio album chronology A Thousand Suns (2010) Living Things (2012) Singles from Living Things "Burn It Down" Released: April 16, 2012 Living Things is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Linkin Park. It is set for release on June 26, 2012 through Warner Bros. Records in the United States.[2] Production was handled by vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who both co-produced the band's previous studio albums Minutes to Midnight (2007) and A Thousand Suns (2010). Living Things was chosen as the album's title because the album is more about people, personal interactions, and is far more personal than their previous albums.[3] The band states that Living Things combines elements from their previous four studio albums to create a new sound. They stated they finally felt they were in "familiar territory" and "comfortable in [their] own skin" after years of experimentation that resulted in their two previous studio albums, Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns.[4][5][6][7] The lead single for the album, "Burn It Down", was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on April 16, 2012. Background and recording In June 2011, lead singer Chester Bennington revealed to Kerrang! that Linkin Park had begun working on new material for their fifth album. He explained, "We've been working on a new record for the past two months. The music is great and we're well ahead of where we're expecting to be. There aren't a whole lot of noises going on, but there are a lot of good songs."[8] The band's co-lead vocalist and rapper Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin served as producers for the album. "Typically we'll have a once-a-week meeting to go listen to the songs that they're coming up with and talk about them. For so early in the project, they are much further along than they have been on the last two albums we did. On A Thousand Suns there were still a lot of irons in the fire. We knew, 'OK, we can't do this forever. Let's leave this batch and we'll come back and address it when we start up again'", Rubin said.[9] Bennington explained that Rubin "gives us spaces to just be ourselves and to work on our own...He gives us a clear and concise description of what he likes...He would like us to push ourselves into a more fresh take on that particular sound."[10] He also stated that Shinoda guides the band through the process of each song, and called the team-up of Shinoda and Rubin "our golden ticket."[10] In July 2011, Bennington told Rolling Stone that Linkin Park aims to produce a new album every eighteen months, and that he would be shocked if a new album did not come out in 2012. The band continues to record and produce new material even while touring. Bennington commented on Linkin Park's schedule, stating, "Touring for two years is excruciating. When we would tour for two years even the most resilient person in the band, at the end of that, was fucking miserable."[11] He further elaborated on their ideas in an interview with MTV saying, "We do have a really great head start. We've got some great music, some good ideas. The creativity has continued to flow for us for the last few years, consistently."[12] He later revealed in another interview in September 2011 that the band was still in the beginning phases of the next album, saying "We just kind of began. We like to keep the creative juices flowing, so we try to keep that going all the time...we like the direction that we're going in."[13] Shinoda told Complex that they spent a year in making the album,[14] as well as elaborating on the album's sound, saying that "It doesn’t lose any of the creativity of the newer stuff and it brings in the energy of the older stuff. It’s kind of a comprehensive sound. I feel like we’ve been able to take all the stuff we’ve learned on the way and put it all together in each song and still keep it fresh and forward-thinking."[14] Shinoda spoke to Co.Create about the album's art, saying that it will "blow them [the fans] away...the average person is not going to be able to look at it and go, I understand that that’s completely new, like not just the image but the way they made the image is totally new. So there’s going to be that."[15] On April 9, 2012, the band released a teaser video for the album on Tumblr.[16][17] Warner Bros. Records announced that the album's art will be released on April 16, 2012, the same day "Burn It Down" will be released.[18] On April 15, 2012, Mike Shinoda posted a blog update confirming that the new album title will be Living Things and that the album will be available for pre-order through their website, starting April 16.[19] Living Things will be released on June 26, 2012.[20] Pre-orders for the album began in April 17, 2012; upon purchase, fans will be subscribed to Living Things Remixed, remixed songs from the album.[21] According to Warner Music Japan, the album is 37 minutes long.[22] On May 9, 2012, a worldwide interactive scavenger hunt commenced.[23] Shinoda proclaimed the near-end of the scavenger hunt in May 23, 2012, stating he would call BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe the next day to premiere a new song from Living Things, the end result of the hunt.[24] Shinoda commended fansite Linkin Park Association for their extended coverage of the scavenger hunt.[23] The song that premiered on BBC Radio 1 on May 24, 2012 was "Lies Greed Misery".[25] Shinoda then gave permission to Linkin Park Association to leak the song to the internet.[26][27] Composition In an interview featured in the March 21, 2012 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Bennington stated that the band has returned to more 'familiar' territory on their new record, saying "with this [new] album, we've incorporated a lot of guitar work with big choruses and the heavier electronic stuff to give it that really big wall of sound feeling without getting too metal. This will be more familiar to people than A Thousand Suns was, where we were like 'Fuck it, we're just going to go bonkers." Bennington also said that the new album's lyrics would be personal and avoid being political, adding "We've been writing a lot about relationships."[28][6] Bennington and Shinoda echoed similar statements during an interview with Spin, with the former commenting that "We now know we have the skills and the tools to take those ideas and make them into what we’re actually looking for, as opposed to getting into it and discovering that it just sounds really nü-metal. That's always going to be gross to us, but we can take elements of that and reinvent the vibe, make it new and fresh."[5] The two previewed five songs from the album, as well as announced that they had collaborated with Canadian musician Owen Pallett.[5] The vocalists also stated that they have adopted numerous influences and topics for the album, particularly about people.[5] Bennington told Live 105 that the band is "embracing everything that [they] have done in the past," taking the "best pieces" of their previous four albums and "smash them together into this new record."[10] Shinoda explained in an interview with NME that the album would not return to their nu metal sound, however they assured that the record "gets back to our roots and it's captured a feeling that we haven't gone after in many years."[29] He also spoke similar statements to Bennington about combining elements of all four albums, saying, "We've learned so much from all the albums we've done, so we've taken everything we've learned and mixed it all into one."[7] Shinoda stated that the album is more "rap-centric" compared to their previous two albums.[30] Like the band's first two albums, the penultimate song ("Tinfoil") is an instrumental.[31] Release and promotion The band will tour with Incubus and MuteMath for the 2012 Honda Civic Tour.[32] Rolling Stone hosted a chat between Shinoda, Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger, and the fans of both bands to discuss about the tour.[30] The band will embark on a summer tour in promotion of Living Things, preceding the album's release.[33] On May 26, 2012, the band played at the Rock in Rio Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. The event was streamed on YouTube.[34] On March 28, 2012, Shinoda confirmed that the album's first single is "Burn It Down" and would be released for radio airplay and digital download[18] on April 16, 2012. He also confirmed they were filming a music video for the song,[35][36] with the band's turntablist Joe Hahn directing the video.[37] The band teamed up with the Lotus F1 team to create a musical racing iPad app entitled Linkin Park GP, where players drive a Lotus E20 and interact with an environment that allows the player to create a remix of "Burn It Down", as well as zooming into individual sections of the song.[38] The music video for "Burn It Down" premiered on MTV on May 24, 2012.[39] On June 4, 2012, "Lies Greed Misery" lyric video was released and was featured in a trailer for the video game Medal of Honor: Warfighter, that was revealed by Electronic Arts at E3 2012.[40][41] Critical reception Chris Epting of Noisecreep described Living Things as "a brilliant, definitive collection that represents an important band at its peak - yet again."[42] Rick Florino of Artistdirect called it the band's "best record and a landmark for rock as a whole."[43] Track listing All songs written and composed by Linkin Park[44].  No. Title Length 1. "Lost in the Echo"   3:25 2. "In My Remains"   3:20 3. "Burn It Down"   3:50 4. "Lies Greed Misery"   2:26 5. "I'll Be Gone"   3:31 6. "Castle of Glass"   3:25 7. "Victimized"   1:46 8. "Roads Untraveled"   3:49 9. "Skin to Bone"   2:48 10. "Until It Breaks"   3:43 11. "Tinfoil"   1:11 12. "Powerless"   3:44 Total length: 36:58 Japanese bonus track[1] No. Title Length 13. "What I've Done" (Live) 4:04 Release history Region Date Label Format Catalog Argentina June 19, 2012 Warner Bros. CD Japan[1] June 20, 2012 CD WPCR-14496 Australia June 22, 2012 Austria[45] Belgium[46] CD, digital 9362495048 Croatia CD, digital 9362495048 Germany[47] CD, digital 9362495048 Ireland CD, digital 9362495048 Netherlands[48] CD, digital 9362495048 New Zealand Norway[49] CD, digital 9362495048 Switzerland[50] CD, digital 9362495048 Denmark[51] June 25, 2012 CD, digital 9362495048 France[52] CD, digital 9362495048 Poland[53] CD, digital 9362495048 United Kingdom[54] CD, digital 9362495048 Canada June 26, 2012 CD, digital 9362495048 United States[2][20] CD, digital 9362495048