#35
Satellite
P.O.D.
2001
I was first introduced to P.O.D. at a Christian music festival at Universal Studios Orlando called Rock The Universe. My church’s youth group went to this, as well as Disney World’s Night of Joy, every year. In these festivals, I was introduced to artists who weren’t as popular as those you hear in the adult contemporary stations like Michael W. Smith and Third Day. Here I got to see Switchfoot, and Relient K play…way before they became well-known. However, that fall in Orlando in 2000, I saw this band hit the stage basting these hard riffs and drumming which blended hardcore punk and metal with hip/hop and reggae influences, and it they just absolutely blew my mind. They are called Payable On Death, but we know them as P.O.D.
A year after that they released their fourth album,
Satellite, and I remember being so excited to go to the store after school to pick up the album on the day they released it. However, I waited a few days, because it was released on September 11, 2001. I was very shaken up from the events from that day. This album helped me heal in a way. The message of love and righting the wrongs in the world throughout this album was inspirational. With the single “Alive” already doing well before that day, they were in a unique position. The media had caught on about “Alive” and the new album that was released on September 11th , it was uplifting and it offered hope. I think a lot of people turned to that album because they suddenly surged and became the biggest Christian crossover success in the history of popular music.
Satellite does take a step back from P.O.D.’s previous records in terms of intensity. The album is excellent by all means, but delivers a softer change. Of course, why should it matter as long as the music is good? The softer melodies do work on tracks like on the title track and “Thinking About Forever.” The gem of this album is “Youth of the Nation”, which is a song about adolescent tragedy in American culture, from school shootings to suicide. It’s severe in subject matter and in songwriting, with brooding guitar notes, and a rhythm section that is nearly militant and contemplative. There is still much aggression in the CD from such tracks like “Without Jah” and the album closer “Portrait.”
Satellite is one of the most important albums of the 2000s, for its positive message during a tragic time in America, and its influence to rock artists today. Honestly, I haven't really enjoyed a P.O.D. album since 2005's
Testify. It's not that they changed their sound, it's mores that their music isn't good anymore. I don't feel the passion of songwriting they had for
The Fundamental Elements of Southtown,
Brown, and
Satellite. Luckily, I can always have their older stuff for me to go back to anytime I want to and enjoy.
Favorite Tracks:
The Messenjah,
Youth of the Nation,
Potrait,
Ridiculous,
Anything Right#34
Furious Angels
Rob Dougan
2003
If you ever watched first Matrix film, then most likely you heard “Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Variation),” which happens to be one of my all time favorite songs. Kurayamino in Japanese means “of the darkness”, and the song is dark, it’s ill, and it’s just
mean. It’s supposed to be a dance song, but it’s a song you can’t really dance to. Who could be mad enough to confuse yet move people like that other than Rob Dougan. He’s a composer whose brilliant genre blending music inspired trip hop and house artists like The Glitch Mob, Crystal Method, and M83. Dougan started off as a producer and remix artists who only released singles. An orchestra and a choir usually backed up his original music. A decade later after he made in the UK dance scene, he released his one and only record,
Furious Angels.
This is a behemoth of a record, folks. And it’s near perfect. The flaws, such as the lack of variance in his voice, are minimal. Dougan’s genius blending of trip hop, house, classical movement, blues, and folk is absolutely reveling. It sort of plays out as a dark movie soundtrack led with orchestral-leaning electronic tracks. The inclusion of strings that give the album a dramatic ambiance yet contains a fresh feel to it. The rhythm and beats enhance Dougan’s dim journey he is taking us on.
There’s really nothing happy about this record. Dougan speaks of his demons and vulnerability that his lyrics really compliment the music. Gruff whispers and low-end rumble (similar to Leonard Cohen, actually) span the spectrum from suppressed rage, to boiling rage, to exploding volcanic rage. This is one pissed-off, damaged customer. His raspy voice growls crawls over the string arrangements, delivering poignantly earnest emotion that manages to be both ominous and bittersweet at the same time. Brilliant.
Just about every song on
Furious Angels showcases Dougan's mastery at melding symphonic lushness into a throbbing atmosphere, the album as a whole feels more like a calling card, a mere introduction to Dougan and his aural pleasures that showcases his various interests in film scoring, piano bar rambling, and retrofitted club thumping. It’s a glimpse of what is and what should have been. Unfortunately, Dougan never released any original music after this release. Rob Dougan had also allegedly been working on two new albums since 2006, one original, and one classical. However, it seems like this mad genius of a composer has moved on to finer things since he became the new owner of the La Peira En Damaisela vineyard. Perhaps one day he will unleash new music. God knows
Furious Angels is a roller coaster of an album. I want to go on more rides.
Favorite Tracks:
Clubbed To Death,
Furious Angels,
I’m Not Driving Anymore,
Drinking Song,
Nothing At All
Topic: Accelerando's Top 50 Albums v. COMPLETED (Read 19304 times)
