“Portugal. The Man is an American indie rock band originally from Wasilla, Alaska, currently based in Portland, Oregon, USA.
In 2009, the band became famous all over America thanks to their sets at the festivals Bonnard and Lollapaluza. When vocalist John Gurli came up with the name of the group, he knew only the name of the capital (Lisbon) about Portugal, that there are beautiful beaches and “Portugal sounds cool”. Because of this, the group has received immense recognition in Portugal since its inception.
The album “In The Mountain In The Cloud”, released in July 2011 on Atlantic Records, turned the group into the property of an entire state. The musicians were featured on Conan O'Brien's TV show and ranked ninth in the list of best albums according to an MTV poll. By the end of 2011, with the help of the same Atlantic Records, the band got to popular festivals and TV shows. Sales of the record were successful, and the number of fans of the group doubled.
Album “In The Mountain In The Cloud”
Currently, Portugal. The Man" has 8 studio albums, including the last one called "Woodstock" (released in June 2017 after a 5-year break). The universally recognizable single “Feel It Still” included in it began to be played in bars around the world.
Album "Woodstock"
According to the band members, they played about three hundred concerts in a year to check and select only the most suitable songs for the album with such a historical name (Woodstock - Woodstock Music & Art Fair, colloquially Woodstock) - one of the most famous rock festivals, held from August 15 to 18, 1969 on one of the farms in the rural town of Bethel, New York, USA with the participation of more than 500 thousand spectators).
“That was a crazy idea,” says Gurley. “And our label could very well have killed us for this, but we threw away all the material we had gained in three years and created a new album.”
Undoubtedly, the main highlight of the Woodstock album was the track “Feel It Still” (#4 on the list). Among other things, the song became the group's first track to enter the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart (For reference: Billboard Hot 100 (“Billboard Hot XNUMX”) is a weekly chart of the hundred most popular songs in the United States published by the American magazine Billboard. In fact, it is the official US hit parade).
The track "Feel It Still" features interpolations from the song "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes (1960s American female vocal group). Based on the assumption that you have already listened to the album itself, we suggest watching the video clip for this song, which was released on March 6, 2017. The impression from the video is contradictory, although the song is certainly good.
For those who have reached the end of the article, we will inform you why this material is in the “Music News” section. The fact is that on July 18, 2018 at 20:00 you can listen to all these songs live: the group will perform their only concert in Moscow at the Crocus City venue. Tickets are on sale. Good luck!
Top photo courtesy of www.kgw.com
