Portugal the Man "Ruby Magic"
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The jury is still out on whether Portugal the Man’s new record It’s Complicated Being A Wizard is the alchemistic answer to Three-Six Mafia’s “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” But it’s fun nonetheless to imagine the group storming an imaginary Oscar stage and accepting the Best Song Award for soundtracking the Harry Potter film that decided to incorporate a minimalist dance number halfway through. For those of you not familiar with the group, it’s a group of dudes from Alaska that sounds like a group of chicks from England. Wizard is a concept-type record, with each track based around some sort of gem-based magic (crystal, amethyst, etc.). The first, self-titled track is a 23-minute monster that takes more twists and turns, through bombast and whisper, than probably all of the Harry Potter movies played simultaneously, or something. The trick is, however, that, in a moment of wizardly ingenuity, they miraculously transformed the introductory track into 9 smaller subsequent tracks. Ta-da! They’re kind of cheating, but it’s only $5.98 on Amazon, so that’s cool. The section titled “Ruby Magic” (mp3) well displays the band’s tendency toward dramatic, high-register, multi-layered, faux-soul vocals overtop slow-moving shredded electro backdrops. It’s shape-shifting sci-fi indie-metal that, the more I think about it, would actually sound great during Harry P.’s acid-flashback scene, like the one Martin Sheen had at the start of Apocalypse Now.
Wizard is out on Reincarnate. Buy that mug here for the change in that cup in your car.