Pointillism (1998 Xero/Mike Shinoda Demo)

[NJPLP]

What is this demo?

 

From Xero To #1: Becoming Linkin Park

 

Jeff Blue describes it in his One Step Closer: From Xero to #1: Becoming Linkin Park book: "Next was "p o i n t i l l i s m", which was something Mike was creating for a soundtrack. His description was that he felt very alone while writing the song during the transitional period when he started concentrating on music. He'd just gotten a new job and was spread so thin that he didn't have time to hang out with his friends. He wrote that he needed to work hard, or sacrifice, in order to succeed. He had crossed out that last sentence in his notes. I wanted to know what he was thinking. What I did know, was that Mike was intense, driven, and focused."

Edited October 20, 2021 by NJPLP

[Deafandblind]

No idea, can't see the link

[NJPLP]

8 minutes ago, Deafandblind said:

No idea, can't see the link

It’s fixed. Should be able to see it now.

[lpliveusername]

I'm not sure what you're asking here, it looks pretty self-descriptive.

[Diaux]

31 minutes ago, NJPLP said:

What is this demo?

 

From Xero To #1: Becoming Linkin Park

Just a demo mention on Jeff's book nothing else, as far as i know there isn't any sample or snippet of that song.

Check this by the way http://linkinpedia.com/index.php?title=List_Of_Unreleased_Songs#Deftest

[NJPLP]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:58 AM, lpliveusername said:

I'm not sure what you're asking here, it looks pretty self-descriptive.

Is a demo that we completely ignored that was from that Xero CD?

 

This demo might have to be put up on the "Unreleased Songs" page on Linkinpedia.

 

Mike Shinoda Pointillism Twitter Post

 

I don’t know if this is related or not, but I just found it and the page to the link provided in the post can’t be found.

 

(I also double posted, my mistake)

Edited May 5, 2021 by NJPLP

[lpliveusername]

42 minutes ago, NJPLP said:

Mike Shinoda Pointillism Twitter Post

 

I don’t if this is related or not, but I just found it and the page to the link provided in the post can’t be found.

Pointillism is a style of drawing. If a link doesn't work anymore you can always try the web archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/20140714131410/http://mikeshinoda.com/2012/03/04/pointillism/

[NJPLP]

5 minutes ago, lpliveusername said:

Pointillism is a style of drawing. If a link doesn't work anymore you can always try the web archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/20140714131410/http://mikeshinoda.com/2012/03/04/pointillism/

With that put aside, again is it a demo that we completely ignored that was from that Xero CD?

And this demo might have to be put up on the "Unreleased Songs" page on Linkinpedia.

 

[lpliveusername]

I think this might be the Xero 818 demo CD they were passing around in early November. We didn't include that anywhere because we didn't have a tracklist before. None of us remember that page you posted here at all. Maybe Jeff Blue updated his book?

 

Is there an exact date (or any indication) for when Jeff Blue received the CD? My guess is late October 1998. The tracklist is very similar to the November 17th demo, but without Rhinestone before Esaul. The November demo also had Step Up replacing Pointillism. I wonder if these two songs are somehow related.

 

We could try to ask Mike on Twitch about Pointillism and this soundtrack he was working on.

[NJPLP]

34 minutes ago, lpliveusername said:

I think this might be the Xero 818 demo CD they were passing around in early November. We didn't include that anywhere because we didn't have a tracklist before. None of us remember that page you posted here at all. Maybe Jeff Blue updated his book?

 

Is there an exact date (or any indication) for when Jeff Blue received the CD? My guess is late October 1998. The tracklist is very similar to the November 17th demo, but without Rhinestone before Esaul. The November demo also had Step Up replacing Pointillism. I wonder if these two songs are somehow related.

 

We could try to ask Mike on Twitch about Pointillism and this soundtrack he was working on.

It's on the second page of Chapter 11: It's All Happening. That's all I can say. The book doesn't give you the page numbers. It's most likely because I'm using a preview of the book off the internet.

Edited May 3, 2021 by NJPLP

[lpliveusername]

Nevermind, that IS the November 17 demo. We somehow missed that there were 9 tracks instead of 8. So the Xero 818 demo remains a mystery.

[NJPLP]

Is this song a Xero demo or a Mike Shinoda demo?

 

It was on the November 17th, 1998 Xero CD, but it was also described as Mike doing the song all by himself.

 

Also what is the current tracklisting for that November 17th, 1998 Xero CD?

 

By the way, the page is page 45, if you are still wondering.

Edited May 3, 2021 by NJPLP

[LPsMart]

3 hours ago, NJPLP said:

Is this song a Xero demo or a Mike Shinoda demo?

I'm pretty certain it's a Mike Shinoda demo on a Xero Promo Release. Like Fiends (which I'm sure is MS or at least almost only MS) on the same disc and later Pods on an LP release.

 

3 hours ago, NJPLP said:

Also what is the current tracklisting for that November 17th, 1998 Xero CD?

Rhinestone, Esaul, Pictureboard, Fiends, Stick N Move, Carousel, Slip, Pointillism and Step Up

[NJPLP]

12 minutes ago, LPsMart said:

I'm pretty certain it's a Mike Shinoda demo on a Xero Promo Release. Like Fiends (which I'm sure is MS or at least almost only MS) on the same disc.

Fiends has backing vocals from Mark Wakefield and sampled vocals from Emcee 007.

Edited May 3, 2021 by NJPLP

[LPsMart]

1 minute ago, NJPLP said:

Fiends has backing vocals from Mark Wakefield and sampled vocals from Emcee .007.

well at least almost only MS still

[NJPLP]

Jeff Blue also describes Esaul, Slip, and Step Up in his One Step Closer: From Xero to #1: Becoming Linkin Park book: 

 

Esaul: "Brad’s guitar line in "Esaul” felt iconic. The back and forth with Joe on the turntables reminded me of a western movie duel. This was already on of my favorites during rehearsals."

 

Slip: "Mike’s verses on "Slip” were intoxicating. His talent was on full display as the pre-chorus flowed seamlessly into a slightly underwhelming chorus. But his brilliant vocal interplay with Brad’s guitar in the first half of the intense bridge leading into a cathartic and beautiful release made this one of my favorites."

 

Step Up: "Step Up” was written in response to the trend of sticking hip hop into heavy alternative music in a careless way. Mike felt that artists should strive to represent themselves and their music with authenticity, originality, and respect for hip hop. He went on to write that he didn’t consider himself a hip hop expert but the band needed to push themselves harder than they were, because hip hop was not a moniker to be thrown into a song for the sake of street credibility."

 

This information also needs to be added to Linkinpedia.

Edited May 4, 2021 by NJPLP

[kiq fLP]

This is a great find, for sure!

And Jeff says that the song is for a soundtrack. What about if is the "BGCues NBA Inside" song that had a BMI entry years ago? It's just a assumption, but is a possibility, isn't?

[Bambitt]

I just found a song "FUCKIN OR WHAT?" in the BMI catalogue. The whole band + Mark is credited as writers and performers are LP and Xero. Any idea about that song?

[NJPLP]

10 hours ago, Bambitt said:

I just found a song "FUCKIN OR WHAT?" in the BMI catalogue. The whole band + Mark is credited as writers and performers are LP and Xero. Any idea about that song?

I just searched it up through BMI. I also saw it, I wonder what it is.

 

F**kin Or What BMI 1

 

F**kin Or What BMI 2

 

F**kin Or What BMI 3

 

F**kin Or What BMI 4

 

Do we know what this song is?

 

(Forget this comment I said. This song belongs to a different band called "Xero".)

Edited May 4, 2021 by NJPLP

[NJPLP]

On 5/3/2021 at 12:07 PM, lpliveusername said:

We could try to ask Mike on Twitch about Pointillism and this soundtrack he was working on.

Someone who follows Mike on Twitch should ask Mike about "Pointillism" and the soundtrack he was working on at the time.

Edited May 9, 2021 by NJPLP

[NJPLP]

If Jeff was mentioning that "Pointillism" was a song Mike was working on for a soundtrack, is the song an instrumental or an actual song with lyrics?

Edited May 10, 2021 by NJPLP

[Justin]

On 5/5/2021 at 7:06 AM, NJPLP said:

Someone who follows Mike on Twitch should ask Mike about "Pointillism" and the soundtrack he was working on at the time.

There's almost no chance that Mike would say anything other than "I don't remember that one specifically, but we had a lot of demos from back then that didn't go anywhere."

Maybe it's worth a shot, but Mike's memory is notoriously bad and it only gets worse the farther back he's asked to remember.

[NJPLP]

22 hours ago, Justin said:

There's almost no chance that Mike would say anything other than "I don't remember that one specifically, but we had a lot of demos from back then that didn't go anywhere."

Maybe it's worth a shot, but Mike's memory is notoriously bad and it only gets worse the farther back he's asked to remember.

Even though his memory is indeed notoriously bad, like when he was asked about Cuidado when he couldn't remember whether it was the working title for "Lying From You" or "Figure.09" and when he could remember that Meteora Rob drumming demo from the Making Of Meteora, but could not remember the name of the demo, it's gotta be worth a shot, even if we don't get a precise answer.

Edited May 11, 2021 by NJPLP

[EmptyHusk]

A random thought I had. Seeing as Jeff said this was something Mike was creating for a soundtrack, do y'all suppose it might have a connection to the mysterious NBA Inside Stuff -BG Cues song? 

[SerioDrew]

On 5/11/2021 at 8:11 PM, TheVeryLastDinosaur said:

A random thought I had. Seeing as Jeff said this was something Mike was creating for a soundtrack, do y'all suppose it might have a connection to the mysterious NBA Inside Stuff -BG Cues song? 

Honestly i doubt it. I dont think NBA Inside Stuff background music counts as soundtrack in any way.

I think the NBA Inside Stuff - BG Cues song is probably one of the songs we already have, maybe Rhinestone.