News > Portugal. The Man
Beware Of Portugal. The Man’s Dead Dog
By Johnny Firecloud
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Portugal. The Man are set to release their fifth full length studio album, entitled American Ghetto, on March 2nd, a release we’re looking forward to more than most others this year.
We’ve paid close attention to Portugal as they’ve developed their sound and an ever-growing audience, and their last album, The Satanic Satanist, was among our favorites of 2009. We look forward to American Ghetto with great anticipation, especially after hearing the first track off the album, The Dead Dog:
You can download the song for free at the official Portugal. The Man site. Frontman John Gourley had the following to say about the song:
“The Dead Dog” was the second song that Anthony Saffery, Adam Taylor and I began working on for the American Ghetto project. We started tracking this on my second day back in Boston… it may have been the first, I am not quite sure. This track began with a break beat and a loose set of chords that I had put together in the morning before tracking. Lyrically, this was the first album where I really went out and referenced the streets and places around where I grew up. “The Dead Dog” was a bar out towards Big Lake off Pittman Road where, no offense Pittman ralliers, some pretty shady folks spent their time. I don’t know what it was about that area that drew me in but it did, for whatever reason. As with all the songs on American Ghetto there is a focus on our teenage lives and the things we did and the paths we chose. Some of the moments are sadder than others but “The Dead Dog” was written more about the setting than with a specific person in mind.
The whole process of the American Ghetto recordings was basically a two week explosion of ideas followed by about 4 months of clean-up and focusing. This gave the songs space and time to breathe a bit before finding their true home in the album and in the finished piece.
I created a page that will be updated with tour news, band info, and American Ghetto news to help spread the word of this great band!
http://musicforperfectpeople.wordpress.com/spotlight-portugal-the-man/
This track is making me even more excited for this album.
Hey, that’s pretty cool, except don’t Portugal sorta have that covered? http://portugaltheman.com/
I’m definitely liking this track. This is probably only the third or fourth Portugal track I’ve heard.. what else is worth checking out?
@Steven – The entire Satanic Satanist album, and Colors from Censored Colors.
Great song, great band. And their record label gave me their Satanic Satanist for free, so I love ‘em even more. I’m kind of a music bitch, you see…
Great tune.
you can’t possibly take just colors from that album, its only the third best song out of the opening three. the whole albums great. oh and good tune, i think my skepticism over an electronic sound may have been misguided
i shared that skepticism. i read something about drum machines and gulped. but i dig this track a lot.
[...] to see the benefit of streaming; with new music and free downloads available from the Deftones, Portugal. The Man, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Turin Brakes and more, listeners are given a taste to get the earbuds [...]
A good peak into what to expect from these guys. Seeing them in Pitt this March, hoping to hear stuff from all over their resume. Portugal. The Man have yet to disappoint and are always progressing, so if you’re not familiar with their discography, do yourself a favor…