From mtv.com:

Linkin Park has said in the past that the band's new release, A Thousand Suns, would be a concept album, but only dropped occasional hints of what that concept is. The lyrics to the first single, 'Catalyst,' sketch a picture about and it's a pretty dark one.

"We will burn inside the fires of a thousand suns," sings Chester Bennington over a dense layer of ominous synths and sustained guitars. Joe Hahn, Linkin Park's DJ and sampler directed the 'Catalyst' video (which will premiere in late August on MTV) name-checks Atomic bomb creator Robert Oppenheimer and the Bhagavad Ghita when explaining the inspiration for 'Catalyst' and its accompanying vid. “When coming up with the idea of the visual piece to accompany the song, I thought of the end, “ says Hahn. “What would it look like and feel like if someone pushed the button to decide our fate? What would it feel like if we accepted our fate in the moment of devastation? If we had a final moment to celebrate our final living moments, how would that feel?" Heavy enough for ya? Check out some of the first still to appear from the new video and come back later in the week to see a 30-second preview.

From linkinpark.com:

Our new music video for "The Catalyst" will premiere on August 26th. You can watch it online at MTV.com and VH1.com beginning at 12:00am EST that morning. Also look for it on MTV, VH1 and MTV2 at 8:00pm PST/EST that night.

-Joe

Really funny podcast with some LPA Staff and Adam (LPU Admin) over at lpassociation.com

Characters from the Yo Gabba Gabba show and Mike Shinoda (C) from the band Linkin Park join with volunteers and other celebrities as they spend a day helping build houses for the "Habitat for Humanity" organization in Los Angeles on August 12, 2010. Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built, rehabilitated, repaired or improved more than 350,000 houses worldwide, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 1.75 million people.

Linkin Park Say New Single ‘The Catalyst’ Is ‘A Risk, But Worth It’

‘We wanted a track that represented where the album was going to be and how it was going to work,’ says bassist Phoenix Farrell.


Last week, gamers everywhere thrilled to the new trailer for the upcoming “Medal of Honor,” which was directed by Linkin Park’s Joseph Hahn and features the band’s brand-new single, “The Catalyst.”


And while the trailer no doubt had “MOH” fanatics going crazy, it may have left LP fans feeling a bit confused. Because “The Catalyst” is undoubtedly unlike any song the band has ever released. A moody, synth-heavy, decidedly doomy rumination on the broken times in which we live, it seems to back up the group’s claims that their new album, A Thousand Suns, will be a drastic departure from anything they’ve done in the past.


And that, according to LP bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, was precisely the point.


“We wanted a track that represented where the album was going to be and how it was going to work, and this was really the track to do that. … It’s a risk, but [it's] worth it,” he told MTV News earlier this week. “We’ve known [the album is] going to be different, and if fans were expecting Hybrid Theory or Meteora, they’re going to be surprised. It’s going to take people some time to figure it out and know what to do with it.”


Farrell wouldn’t go into greater detail about just how the new album, due September 14, will differ from Linkin Park’s previous efforts, but any fan with a pair of ears should be able to tell based on “The Catalyst” alone. The songs are bigger, deeper, decidedly weirder. And while Farrell didn’t exactly back up frontman Chester Bennington’s earlier claims that A Thousand Suns is a full-blown “concept” album, he didn’t really deny them either.


“I’ve never liked the title ‘concept record,’ to me that holds up the idea of Tommy or The Wall. And I love those records, but this is not that,” he said. “There are a couple threads that run throughout it, but, for us, the only concept is that it’s not intended to be a collection of individual songs. It’s constructed in a way and thought of in terms of ‘How will it flow?’ I would love … in this day and age, for our fans just once to sit down and listen to it from front to back. We want it to work as an experience.”


And to that end, Farrell said the band always wanted to tie “The Catalyst” into a video game of some sort. The way they see it, it only adds another layer to the experience. So when the “Medal of Honor” folks approached them, they leapt at the opportunity. Though, sadly, working with Electronic Arts — the publisher and developer of the “MOH” series — hasn’t improved their gaming skills any. But you can’t really blame LP for that. After all, they’ve been working on A Thousand Suns for a long time now.


“I loved the old ‘Medal of Honor’ games, but since we’ve been working on the new album — and really, since I had kids — I’ve kind of hung it up for a while,” Farrell laughed. “It sucks because now I have a younger brother who’s 15 and when we play against each other, it’s not even competitive. It’s ridiculous. And it pisses me off. He’s laughing and sh–. He’s killing me with his knife.”

source: mikeshinodaclan.com and mtv.com

Mike and Dave are going to be at 1live in Cologne on August 17th. 20 Fans will exclusively listen to ATS and later take part in a press conference where they can ask their questions.

http://www.einslive.de/musik/aktionen/2010...linkin_park.jsp

source: lplive.net

Pic from LP Facebook:

Chester recording his vocals for The Catalyst. Watch the new episode on linkinpark.com

Pic from LP Facebook:

I just noticed that i run www.joehahn.org for 4 years now.
(website is online since online since 26th June 2006).

Anyway its about time to say thank you to all my visitors and all my lovely affiliates!

From billboard.com:

Linkin Park posts the first No. 1 debut in the 14-month history of the Rock Songs chart, as "The Catalyst" launches with 12.2 million audience impressions.

The cut eclipses the chart's previous highest-starting song, Pearl Jam's "The Fixer," which arrived at No. 2 a year ago this month.

Rock Songs premiered the week of June 20, 2009. The Nielsen BDS-based radio airplay survey measures the most-heard titles on more than 180 alternative, adult alternative and mainstream rock stations.

"The Catalyst" concurrently opens on the Alternative Songs chart at No. 3, marking the list's loftiest arrival since Linkin Park's own "What I've Done" bowed at No. 1 in April 2007.

"The Catalyst" is the first single from the band's fourth studio album, "A Thousand Suns," due Sept. 14.