Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) Created an Album via Twitch with the Help of Fans, and ‘Dropped Frames Pt. 1’ is Out 7/10

Mike Shinoda, MC/rapper/multi-instrumentalist known for his years as a co-front man of Linkin Park, has been as busy as anyone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He’s kept busy on a near-daily basis on Twitch, live-streaming jam sessions and bursts of creativity from his home studio, and as the weeks went on his audience grew. Linkin Park fans gravitated to his Twitch streams, and as the material built up he decided to release a batch of his new material as a proper album.

On July 10, Shinoda will release Dropped Frames Pt. 1., a mostly instrumental album of songs he put together during these streams. The only track with vocals is “Open Door,” which features contributions from seven Linkin Park fans from various places around the world.

Said Mike Shinoda in a statement about this new project:

In March, when quarantine began, I started creating music live online. In addition to bringing the fans together for a daily conversation, the live streams inspired dozens of unexpected genre mashups and theme ideas. I’m excited to announce the release of my first batch of these instrumental songs.

My album “Dropped Frames Vol. 1” will be coming out July 10th. Leading the release is “Open Door,” a song that started out as a challenge called #singopendoor and evolved into a track featuring 7 fans from around the world.

“Open Door” is the only vocal-led song in the album. In times like these, when so much is being said, I felt an album of wordless tracks might hopefully give fans a place of respite—a break from the chatter. Listen to them while you chill, while you work, while you paint, while you eat, while you play…wherever they fit into your life.

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In March, when quarantine began, I started creating music live online. In addition to bringing the fans together for a daily conversation, the live streams inspired dozens of unexpected genre mashups and theme ideas. I'm excited to announce the release of my first batch of these instrumental songs. My album “Dropped Frames Vol. 1” will be coming out July 10th. Leading the release is “Open Door,” a song that started out as a challenge called #singopendoor and evolved into a track featuring 7 fans from around the world. “Open Door” is the only vocal-led song in the album. In times like these, when so much is being said, I felt an album of wordless tracks might hopefully give fans a place of respite—a break from the chatter. Listen to them while you chill, while you work, while you paint, while you eat, while you play…wherever they fit into your life. Three of the twelve tracks— Open Door, Super Galaxtica and Osiris—are available now. Enjoy: 🔗 in bio

A post shared by Mike Shinoda (@m_shinoda) on Jun 30, 2020 at 9:13am PDT

Two other songs released thus far from the new collection are “Osiris”:

And “Super Galaxtica”:

Shinoda released Post Traumatic, his first solo album, in June 2018, a cathartic collection of solo songs that were his first musical release since the July 2017 passing of his Linkin Park band mate Chester Bennington.

In April, Linkin Park bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell stated in a podcast interview that the remaining members of Linkin Park had been discussing and working on new music before the pandemic hit.

Shinoda also indicated during a Twitch chat that there is one leftover song from sessions for One More Light, Linkin Park’s 2017 album and its final release with Bennington, that still has to be released:

Mike talking about an unreleased Linkin Park song from One More Light called “Friendly Fire” that he really likes. He says we will hear it eventually. pic.twitter.com/NKc0TgKNEa

— Linkin Park Live (@LPLive) June 18, 2020