Archive for the ‘Linkin Park’ Category
My Path To Finding Indie Rock
I need to take a little break from doing album reviews and there’s nothing wrong with making a random list of music. Anyway do any of you music lovers ever ask yourself how you got to liking a certain genre? Online there are a ton of people who enjoy indie rock and it explains why there are thousands of music blogs which host music that is almost impossible to find. Thank god for the internet!
The path to me finding indie rock is a little strange but I think I’ve narrowed it down when looking at the past. Pretty much growing up in the “ghetto” area of Toronto, hip-hop and R&B were and still is a huge musical influence for children growing up. This pretty much dominated my “young” adult years before entering high school.
Then came the rise of this band Linkin Park that mixed both rap and rock elements into their music. Right now it probably wouldn’t be very cool to say that I like Linkin Park and I’ve grown from the mainstream style of rock. But I do have to give credit where credit is due. I would have never started listening to rock if it was for them. Here’s my favorite song my them:
A Place for My Head (download)
The next period followed into liking mainstream rock like Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Green Day and much more. There was nothing wrong with liking songs that garnered a lot of radio and television airplay. Eventually like most people, the media outlets base their promotion on ever seeming young audience and I just seemed to outgrow radio/television and needed to find music that was out there but just didn’t get the respect it deserved.
The first actually indie band I started to like was the Stills. I think this was in grade 10. Thankfully the Edge had to keep up with CRTC rules and had to play Canadian content so some of the Canadian content were from independent sources. The “Still in Love Song” exemplifies my exact thoughts on the the Stills. I was compelled by their other songs such as “Lola Stars and Stripes” and “Love and Death”. Liking so many songs I was interested in downloading “Logic Will Break Your Heart” and at that time it was probably the best album I have EVER heard at that time. I was in love with that album but there was really no one else it seemed who were also fans of them (except maybe Xulander). Here’s one song off the album:
Let’s Roll by The Stills (download)
At this point I liked mainstream rock mainly with some independent bands I stumbled across that got some airplay. The big band that really set off my romance with indie rock was the Arcade Fire. There is just something with substance that I enjoyed so greatly the first time I heard “Rebellion (Lies)”. “Funeral” ended up being on the best albums ever and this is without reading a single internet publication. Like the Stills, it was an album I seemed to like myself.
“Neighbourhood #1″ perfectly describes my relationship with indie rock and what the Arcade Fire did for me:
“You change all the lead
sleepin’ in my head,
as the day grows dim I hear you sing a golden hymn.”
If you have never heard this song I suggest you download it or listen to it below:
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) by The Arcade Fire (download)
This really set off me looking for different styles of music as I seemed to like the Arcade Fire religiously and was confused as why there was poor airplay after a lot of talk about Rebellion eventually died down after some time.I really think everyone starts with mainstream music because it’s only main outlets that you know to have “cool” music when you’re young. So everyone should have a pathway to why they what they like. What’s your story??
Linkin Park Minutes To Midnight Review
This album was highly anticipated I would say since it’s been awhile and I loved the last release Meteora. Since then, my music taste has changed and grown to a more indie style. One thing for sure though no matter the doubters, I thought their music was great and I really liked it. Lots of people claimed that Linkin Park claimed their stuff is all “the same” well I can tell you people to f*** off because if you want someone to change their whole style you tend to get bad results.
Midnights to Midnight is a different animal. There is much less rap. It feels quieter even with screaming, the screaming is with less rage and is too organized. Most of the songs are boring, not like most Linkin Park where there were interesting beats, screaming and some good rap from Mike Shinoda. The rapping took a back burner and it appears to be on only one song so it was less of a mix genres between rock and rap which most people I know really liked. This album can really suck depending on your tastes. There are a few good songs on here, I did like Shadow of the Day though it’s not really representing Linkin Park well, as well as the song In Between which is sung by Mike Shinoda.
Overall the album wasn’t good but they may have some success with some of the singles. I probably will not listen to it again after I’m done my review but there are at least some decent songs. I don’t think it’s worth buying and you’re probably better off saving the 10-15 bucks it costs. 2.5 out of 5 is what I give.
