There's an excellent interview with Portugal. The Man up over at Wired's Underwire blog.
The band hails from Alaska, and it seems that growing up in a town like Wasilla means that your pop is far removed from the pop currently rocking the airwaves. I've listened to their new album, The Satanic Satanist, and it's a confusing listen. There are elements of classic harmony-laden pop like the Beach Boys, but there are elements of prog, indie, and the whole thing is one of those rare albums that completely defies genre pigeonholing.
Frontman John Gourley puts it fairly well when describing modern pop (your Britneys, Justins, et al) saying that it lacks the "ooh" you used to give when you'd hear a really excellent pop song on the radio.
"It's become a formula," he says. "It's a science. Everybody knows what words to write, everybody knows what chord goes to what and how it all works.... The idea of the structured pop song, to me, is doing something fearless. Just doing something bigger with less."
The band goes on to be a further enigma by releasing The The Satanic Satanist on Equal Vision, a label best known in the past for straight edge hardcore, although they've branched out in recent years with records from artists like Armor For Sleep. And the packaging on this record...my dear sweet Jesus. Ridiculousness.
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