Dropped Frames, Vol 3, the third installment of Mike Shinoda’s instrumental series, is out today on his own Kenji Kobayashi Productions (ADA). The 14-track album builds on the catalog of music that Shinoda has been creating live on Twitch in collaboration with thousands of fans around the globe. Like Vols. 1 and 2, Vol. 3 incorporates an array of digital samples to create a thematic soundscape, but with more live instrumentation than its predecessors. Highlights include License To Waltz, which melds Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz Of The Flowers” with Beastie Boys, Raggaeton and ASMR, and “Robot Yodel,” which is a fan-requested mashup of country, alt-folk and Bulgarian Yodeling. Shinoda also illustrated the cover art inspired by the Twitch streams, which features an alien-abducted cow. The image is now available on several new merch items in his official store.
The Dropped Frames series was conceived at the onset of quarantine, when Mike Shinoda began creating music and art live on Twitch in front of and in collaboration with thousands of fans each day. He committed to a daily 10am PT livestream, making music four days per week and visual art one day per week, something that continues to this day. Viewers participated in the creation of these tracks by tuning in and communicating via the live chat. Fans earned points called ShinodaBucks which they could spend on things such as “Suggest A Musical Theme.” With suggestions ranging from “Mariachi,” to “Bollywood Hip Hop” to “90’s Boy Band Pop” – Shinoda then mashed them together, live, in one track. “The fans have been a part of every track in the Dropped Frames series—watching, commenting, and suggesting the whole way through. Some days, that’s like being the driver of a car with a couple thousand navigators…other days, it’s like piloting a spaceship with a community of eager passengers,” explains Shinoda. “We have a lot of fun on my channel, and I think it shows.” The stream essentially became a new instrument, and in the process, turning what might’ve been a creative low point into a communal creative revitalization.
Dropped Frames, Vol. 3 Artwork
Dropped Frames, Vol. 3 Tracklisting
1. Dream Fragment
2. Sound Collector
3. Dust Code
4. No Delete
5. Robot Yodel
6. Vibe Train
7. Mike’s Gonna Mike
8. Shoreline
9. Goodbye Cow
10. Genesis Supernova
11. Sidechain Gang
12. Overcast
13. A Thousand James
14. License To Waltz