Pods

Background

"Pods" was a project done by Mike Shinoda while he was still studying illustration in college, being done as a "stream of consciousness" piece of music. This track and "Coal" share some of the same samples.

It was released in three parts on November 25, 2015 as a part of the LP Underground 15 CD, and an LPU exclusive video was released on January 23, 2016 talking about the tracks. In the video, Mike said, "There are 3 songs that are all basically movements in one piece of music and it was called "Pods". In 1998, I was actually still in college at Art Center in Pasadena. I was studying illustration. Parameters of the project were a little wider, so... if you wanted to bring in sculpture, if you wanted to bring in installation, performance art, paintings, drawing, whatever you wanted to do. Since I had never really turned in a project that was music based in school, I decided to turn in a music project. "Pods" was what it was, and it ended up being basically, what would happen if I kind of just did a stream of consciousness piece of music. So, in other words, it would start wherever it started and it would evolve into wherever it ended up, and any idea that I put into it, I'd keep it and I'd stick it into the piece. So, it ended up being kind of long, and here I divided it into three movements."

When talking about "Pods 1", Mike said, "You know, although most people, when they think of Linkin Park, they think of rock and rap first, the electronic component has always been a big part of what we do, and at the time in '97, '98, I was really into jungle music, which is kind of officially an electronic style or sub-genre. So at the end of "Pods 1", you'll hear, you know, jungle beats."

About "Pods 2", Mike stated "...I think there's more of that Linkin Park kind of sound. You know, some more old-school drum machines going, and it does definitely get into more of a hip-hop beat, with some more industrial or rock elements over top of it."

Regarding "Pods 3", Mike said, "And on "Pods 3" you definitely get more of the hip-hop influence, and it gets really grimy towards the end. I wanted it to kind of crescendo out into the end. And you can hear all of the earliest reference points and influences that took me to what my contribution to Linkin Park's sound ended up being. It was an art project, it was an experiment, it was a random assortment of sounds and music that I wanted to share with you guys. It actually pre-dates, I'd say like 75% of most of the other Xero, early Linkin Park music that any of you have ever heard. So I thought that would make this year's LPU, being the 15th anniversary, I thought that would make this one special."

The comment about "Pods 3" means that the songs were likely from 1996, instead of 1997, when the Xero demo was released.

When asked about "Coal" on Twitch on October 20, 2020, Mike mixed it up with "Pods" and said, "Wasn't that the one that I decided was like homework? I think that was the one that was like a homework. One of my classes in college had a really loose definition or marching orders for what this one assignment could be. And I think I submitted it as my piece. I feel like it got a lukewarm reception."

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Pods 1 of 3 (1998 Demo)	LP Underground 15	1:33	1998	November 25, 2015
Pods 2 of 3 (1998 Demo)	LP Underground 15	1:56	1998	November 25, 2015
Pods 3 of 3 (1998 Demo)	LP Underground 15	2:38	1998	November 25, 2015

Lyrics

Pods 3 of 3

Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah
Aw, yeah

'Cause when our styles elevate the styles of beats elevate
'Cause when our styles elevate the styles of beats elevate

These selections have been brought to you by Mike Shinoda

External Links

References