Blog Archive for February 2026

Album Of The Day: Testify by P.O.D.

Album Art of P.O.D.'s Testify album - A photo that is completely black, white and green. It shows a green grass in front of a green-hued sky with a light on the left edge of a hill or something where the grass meets the sky. On the edge of the hill is a silhouette of four men, the one on the left with a cane in his right hand, and the one to the left of him with his fist in the air. Above their heads, taking most of the sky area, is the album title in a very decorative black, graffiti-style writing, with the middle 'T' being the shape of a cross. Below the title in much smaller print is the band's 'P.O.D.' word mark with the symbol of the Holy Trinity in the middle of the 'O'.

Released 20 years ago last month, this is the 6th album by nu metal band P.O.D. and their last album on Atlantic Records. The band is known for lots of heavy guitars and screaming and some rap-style delivery on some of the vocals. Some songs get a bit reggae as well, especially the opening track "Roots In Stereo", which features guest vocals from Matisyahu along with P.O.D.'s lead singer Sonny. The Internet says "Goodbye For Now" was a pretty successful single for the band, and well, it may have been the last most of the world heard from P.O.D., despite that they have released another 6 albums in the last 20 years. Honestly, I picked up this album about 20 years ago because I liked their previous Atlantic releases, but I've almost never listened to it. It's definitely a dozen songs from the band, but most of them are just not that exciting or memorable. I do now remember hearing "This Time" on Christian rock radio a lot, I think, and it's a pretty good song. Their albums released after this I never even bothered to listen to, though I do like their earlier albums a lot and listen to them on occasion. Maybe my interests in music changed, or maybe the band changed; I'm really not sure which.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: The Long Surrender by Over The Rhine

Album Art of Over The Rhine's The Long Surrender album - A dark, blank-and-white photo of a small, cobbled alleyway or narrow street in some sort of old city. As the dark street rounds a corner, a bike is just propped against the wall. Most of the picture is taken up with the walls on both sides of the alleyway and the stones of the street which are rough and wet. Only far-off down the alley can we get a glimpse of some buildings that are not just a blank wall. Printed in the center on the left side is the band's name in a greenish-gray, handwritten script-like font. And below it printed in a white, all-caps serif font is the album title.

Released 15 years ago yesterday, this the 11th studio album from Over The Rhine. The band started as a four-piece folk rock band in the late '80s, but by the late '90s the remaining band members were Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler, who also married about this time. Over The Rhine is considered a folk band, and that's a good catch-all for their style, I guess. At some points in this album, with Linford's jazzy piano playing and Karin's lackadaisical but somehow still spirited crooning, you might think this a jazz club 100 years ago. On other songs, they lean into the folk/country style with guitars and you might think this is a Nashville country band. "Rave On" and "The King Knows How" get a bit rock 'n' roll and "Undamned" features harmonies by Lucinda Williams. I was a huge fan of their 2003 record Ohio and kinda lost interest in the band's later releases so I haven't listened to this album often, but I really like the simple production and excellent songwriting after today's listen. If you're looking for a quiet, simple listen, give this album a virtual spin.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Inheritance by Audrey Assad

Album Art of Audrey Assad's Inheritance album - On a light blue background, a cloth is draped from the top left in a curve to the bottom middle. The cloth is bright red in the top left, and more of a golden color in the bottom, and it slowly gradients to that, which might be a visual edit or illustration, I can't really tell. On top of the image, the word 'Inheritance' is printed in a white, serif font in very large print. In spots, the letters go behind the cloth, though in most cases they are in front of the cloth, for an odd visual quirk.

Released 10 years ago this coming Thursday, this is the fourth album from singer-songwriter Audrey Assad. Instead of original songs like her other albums, this album is recordings of classic hymns in her indie pop style. Audrey Assad's vocals are beautiful, and the instrumentation on "I Wonder As I Wander" is especially haunting. Most of the songs are serene and peaceful, beautiful guitar- and keyboard-based music. A few songs such as "New Every Morning" and "Even Unto Death" are original melodies based on old hymns or scripture composed with Matt Maher. Songs like "it Is Well With My Soul", "Be Thou My Vision" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" are the more common hymns you may have heard before. Audrey Assad no longer believes the Christian faith, but these recordings are still worth checking out.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: Nothing Is Ordinary, Everything Is Beautiful by Apollo LTD

Album Art of Apollo LTD's Nothing Is Ordinary, Everything Is Beautiful album - A photo of a very simple cover that is mostly white with the band's name in bright red and the album title in black print, plus a few label logos in the top right. The whole cover is wrapped in a silvery-looking plastic envelope with the envelope having the sticky area about a quarter of th way down vertically.

Released 5 years ago this Thursday, this is the second album from pop/rock duo Apollo LTD. They deliver 13 tracks of catchy pop/rock anthems with a positive vibe and religious themes. One of my favorites is "Good Day" which features guest raps by Social Club Misfits. Songs like "You" and "Soldier On" bring honest discussion about the struggles of life but also offer a sunny outlook that it's all going to be OK. These two guys do a good job of making Christian pop/rock that isn't just all cheese and is fun to listen to, in my opinion. I didn't really set out to listen to Apollo LTD originally, but I found that if I listened to RadioU at all, their singles were quickly stuck in my head and provided encouragement.

Release Year: 2021
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Album Of The Day: Art Ambidextrous by Propaganda & Odd Thomas

Album Art of Propaganda and Odd Thomas's Art Ambidextrous album - A black-and-white photo of two men in a long hallway. On the left is a black man in a black hoodie with the letters 'Lrg' printed on the front. A dozen feet down the hallway on the right is a white man with a beard and black hair and also in a black hoodie. Like most of the hallway in the background, this man in the background is a bit blurry. The hallway looks like it might have walls and a ceiling of wood of various shades.

Released 15 years ago this past Sunday, this is the third album by Propaganda and his first collaboration with Odd Thomas. Odd Thomas makes the top-notch musical beds, and Propaganda provides the lyrics. This is not an album I've listened to as much as Propaganda's more recent work, and some tracks are more spoken word poetry over a musical bed than rap, but it's still a good listen. A few tracks are love poems about Prop's wife, and one interlude pokes fun at poetry slams. And, throughout, Propaganda educates us about the streets he grew up on and his view on history and politics. I really love Propaganda's work and his style.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Wow To The Deadness by Steve Taylor & The Danielson Foil

Album Art of Steve Taylor and The Danielson Foil's Wow To The Deadness EP - On a grey backgrounnd, a bunch of four-legged bug drawings are in blue. On top of them, a pile of colored dots of various colors are present, and printed on top of them in a yellow script is 'WOW' in a thin yellow script, where the 'wow' is in the center and the 'O' is a heart shape. Below it in a red script is 'to the deadness'. In the top right, it says 'Steve Taylor and the Danielson Foil' in a small purple print.

If you think most of my music is not weird or avant-garde enough, this is for you. Released 10 years ago today, this is the collaboration EP combining the talents of Steve Taylor, '80s and '90s alternative rock artist, and Daniel Smith of Danielson, an indie pop artist. Taylor and his sarcastic rock fuses with Smith and his high tenor/falsetto musings for 15 minutes of rock where you never know what sounds will happen next. Taylor or Smith might start screaming and the guitars scream right along with them. This EP is for those who want an assault on their musical senses and lyrics that need a poet to parse through, but in the end will make sure you are laughing with their wit and sarcasm. Just give this a listen—it's quick—and maybe you won't like it or maybe you will find it intriguing. It's definitely indie music artists decades in their career doing whatever they want and I'm here for it.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: Dead Man Walking by John Tibbs

Album Art of John Tibbs's Dead Man Walking album - On a gold background, a black-and-white photo of a white man in a black coat and black pants is in the center. He's walking from right to left and has his head turned towards the camera, To the right of center, two copies of his cut-out photo are copied, but each one is more transparent than the one before, looking kinda like a ghostly figure. Above this is printed in white in large letters the artist's name right across the center, with the album title in smaller white letters below it.

Released 10 years ago this Thursday, this is the debut album from southern rock artist John Tibbs. It's not a long album, but it's a quality 10 songs of well-produced rock/pop. Tibbs uses his southern charm and slightly raspy vocals to put the Gospel to music and does it with refreshing heart and honesty. He's not a flashy or top-selling artist, but he's a very down-to-earth man and writes about his love of God. I got to see him play live a year or two after this album came out and I liked his style a lot.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: The Big Picture by Michael W. Smith

Album Art of Michael W. Smith's The Big Picture album - A photo of a boy of maybe 10 years old from the shoulders up sitting in front of a purple and black background with a golden white cloth hanging in front of the blurry background. The kid is wearing a shirt with words or symbols printed on it and is lit from the left side with an orange light. In front of him is a brow, ornately-carved frame, hanging askew and in front of the boy's mouth, with his eyes and hair inside the bottom left corner of the frame. To the top left and out of the frame, the artist name is printed in a variety of fonts and symbols. Across the bottom, behind the kid is printed a bunch of translations of the album title phrase, 'The Big Picture', it other languages from around the world.

"Wisdom from the sacred page / Is turned and ignored / In a world that's wired for sound." Released 40 years ago yesterday, this is the third album by Christian pop royalty Michael W. Smith. Smith and his frequent songwriting collaborator Wayne Kirkpatrick craft '80s keyboard-heavy pop songs about life and Christianity on this release. Though this was a few years before I started listening to Michael W. Smith as a kid, it's been an album I'd listen to on occasion over the last 25 years or so, and "Old Enough To Know" and "Rocketown" were on his first hits compilation that I listened to a lot throughout the '90s and beyond. More than his '90s works, I would say that the '80s music sounds very dated, but it's still pretty fun for an occasional listen. "Rocketown" is the most well-known song from this album, telling a story of a modern day Jesus Christ hanging out on the street and in the bars and presenting revolutionary ideas. The first half of the album is long songs full of electronic keyboard sounds, with "Lamu", "Wired For Sound" and "Pursuit Of The Dream" all over 5 minutes long. I think Michael W. Smith perfected his sound and started writing even better songs as the '80s and '90s progressed, but it's fun to hear these early, maybe more experimental years where the drum machines ruled and the guitars were hiding behind the keyboards on most songs.

Release Year: 1986
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