My first experience with Portugal. The Man was romantic as far as music listening goes albeit entirely platonic. A good friend of mine made me a mixed CD for my twenty-first birthday and on the track list, typed out on a twice folded piece of paper, I found not one but two  Portugal. The Man songs. I was excited to listen, yet unsure. My friend had of course told me about the band and how much he liked them on several occasions prior to my birthday, but at this point, they were still an abstract concept to me; an “awesome” indie rock band from Portland, OR. What did that mean? I’d heard that description used many times before and each time found it to mean something completely different, leaving me with a vague understanding of both the Portland music scene and indie music in general.

Sure enough, after listening to those seventy minutes of Memorex encoded music, I had
a new idea of what it meant to be an indie band from Portland. I suppose someone could have
worse problems, though. At the very least, I was not disappointed. Portugal. The Man have a sound all their own, and frankly, I like it a lot. It’s raw, yet full; passionate, yet intelligent; unconventional, yet catchy as hell. More importantly to me, however, was that I felt as if I had been given their music. I didn’t just buy it at a Best Buy or something. Someone had heard their songs and thought to give them to me in celebration. There is something indescribably special about that, and although I’m sure  Portugal. The Man appreciate any and all record sales, I bet they also secretly love having their music passed ceremonially from friend to friend.

And so, we, LaundroMatinee, would like to present you with some  Portugal. The Man songs. The songs featured in the videos here have been stripped down to their acoustic skeletons and are ready for your listening. Enjoy.

MP3 Session Downloads:

Portugal. The Man - Church Mouth
Portugal. The Man - Do You
Portugal. The Man - And I
Portugal. The Man - People Say

Recorded and Mixed by Jeff DuPont and Abby Goldsmith
Filmed and edited by Joe Wallace, Michelle Castillo and Doug Fellegy
Words by Gerard Pannekoek