Portugal. The Man has released a full-length album every single year since 2006 with each one having its very own, distinct style to it.  This goes especially for the last three releases, Censored Colors, The Satanic Satanist, and the latest, American Ghetto.  The reasoning behind their quick creativity could be due to the band releasing their albums independently. The band parted ways with Fearless Records after the release of Church Mouth.  Since then, every album has been released under their own independent record label, Approaching AIRballoons.

American Ghetto caught everyone off-guard when John officially announced plans on the band’s website, less than a month before it came out digitally.  John Gourley, singer and guitarist, and producer Anthony Saffery went to the studio and took yet another, different stylistic approach to the album.  Whereas Satanic Satanist has some psychedelic rock characteristics, American Ghetto takes Portugal into a bit more  of an electronic-infused realm. Read more

Equip with two acoustic guitars, a keyboard, and a voice, Phoenix went to Paris where they played and filmed four songs.  The idea to film on the streets of Paris was an idea thought of by filmmaker Vincent Moon and the band. Vincent Moon explains the idea, “And then we thought about this funny video the band posted on July 14th on their blog, where they play “1901″ with an awful iChat wallpaper as a background. Eh, why don’t we do it again, but for real this time ?”

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