★★★★★
For their last few years of ubiquity, Portugal the Man still managed to sneak up on me. The Portland, Ore., quintet built a reputation in the most organic of ways, releasing a lot of music over a long period of time. Never breathlessly reviewed, and only recently owning any commercial relevance, it's been far too easy to write them off as a bunch of croaky potheads thriving in Edward Sharpe's playing field. That would probably continue if eighth album
- www.austinchronicle.com
2013-10-03
★★★★★
For their last few years of ubiquity, Portugal the Man still managed to sneak up on me. The Portland, Ore., quintet built a reputation in the most organic of ways, releasing a lot of music over a long period of time. Never breathlessly reviewed, and only recently owning any commercial relevance, it's been far too easy to write them off as a bunch of croaky potheads thriving in Edward Sharpe's playing field. That would probably continue if eighth album
- www.austinchronicle.com
2013-10-02
★★★★★
With each era since the Nixon administration come fresh attempts to reboot the rebellions of the 1960s and 70s. Enter Portugal. The Man, who on previous albums have recorded faithful impressions of T. Rex, Bowie and the Beatles with a hazy swagger that, while not genetically unique, at least puts some distance between them and their forebears...
- www.rollingstone.com
2013-07-24
★★★★★
Portugal. The Man stay true to form on their new album, Evil Friends, with soaring rock anthems, countertenor lines, and atmospherics. And this time around, acclaimed producer Danger Mouse was at the helm. Title track "Evil Friends" begins as an intimate number with just vocals over bells and guitar, but soon it warps into an upbeat noisy rock song with singer John Gourley admitting, "Before you were born, I was already sinning...
- www.undertheradarmag.com
2013-07-13
★★★★★
Portugal, the Man have always walked the line between accessible and bewildering, mixing their ear-worm songs with a strong dash of weirdness, always keeping the listener from getting familiar. On their newest album, the Danger Mouse-produced Evil Friends, Portugal goes weirder yet even more accessible than ever before. You can practically see the fingerprints of the uber-producer on the polished sound and the focus on melodies, and that's a great thing...
- www.noripcord.com
2013-06-20
★★★★★
LP number seven, Evil Friends, sees Portland-based Portugal. The Man shift away from the glam-rock sounds of their previous record and into a more accessible style with fewer hints of the experimental elements that had previously driven their music. The band had already recorded 20 tracks before Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton got involved with the project, at which point they scrapped all but two of the recordings and started over, letting the producer take the reigns with varying results...
- www.theaureview.com
2013-06-18
★★★★★
There are essentially two components enmeshed to form Evil Friends--the melodies that Portugal. The Man wrote and performed, and the ambience that Danger Mouse cultivated through his production. Clear overlap exists between the two, and though each party's mannerisms are distinct, DM's influence is readily apparent. Friends finds P.TM exploring territory both familiar and foreign, with DM mostly borrowing from his regular stable of production techniques, reliable though they are...
- filtermagazine.com
2013-06-14
★★★★★
The latest album by Portland's Portugal. The Man, Evil Friends, is rarely the same from one minute to the next, careening between alt-rock bombast, punk snot, Lumineersy campfire singalongs, pixelated MGMT headbandcore, dawdling George Harrison solos; you name it, Evil Friends has probably stuck it somewhere. All that might sound like more than one album can bear, but funnily enough, Evil Friends is just about the least convoluted Portugal LP so far...
- pitchfork.com
2013-06-11
★★★★★
Plenty of reasons to smile
Packing plenty of excitement and quirkiness into their dazzling mix of rock, pop, psychedelia, and electronica, Portugal. The Man's work is as imaginative and catchy as it is immaculate and daring. Overall, Evil Friends is an extremely fun and engrossing record. It's fair to say that Portugal. The Man is among the most prolific outfits around today, as they've essentially released a new album every year since their 2006 debut, Waiter: "You Vultures...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-06-08
Loading...
