Portugal. The Man

Add Date: July 26 

Artist: Portugal. The Man 

Album: In the Mountain in the Cloud 

Label: Atlantic 

Genre: Rock 

Comments: Portugal. The Man are nothing if not prolific; In the Mountain in the Cloud is their sixth studio record in under six years, starting with 2006 debut Waiter: "You Vultures!" (The band must have a thing for extraneous punctuation marks.) During this time, the (mostly) Alaska natives have bounced between two independent labels, Fearless and Equal Vision, and they've now landed on a major. There's also been a pretty significant progression of their sound, as band members have transitioned from their post-hardcore roots into proggy psychedelic pop-rock.

Starting around the time of 2009's The Satanic Satanist, too, there's been a very distinctive Motown slant to Portugal. The Man's music. In short, this is psych rock with soul. (Also, while we're at it, some funk and R&B, too.) And while the band has hinted at its potential in the past, In the Mountain in the Cloud is quite possibly their best album overall. The first four tracks are killers--"So American" and "Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)" in particular--and they don't really let up steam at any point, whether it's from the funk-pop of "Everything You See (Kids Count Hallelujahs)" to the prog-rock blast of "All Your Light (Times Like These)". (Again with all the punctuation...)

An excellent effort; start with tracks 3, 1, 2, 7 and 4.