Sondre Lerche, Portugal. The Man @ The Troub

Looking forward to a couple good gigs at the Troubador this week. 

Thursday night it's Sondre Lerche whoring his brand-new Heartbeat Radio, which finds the Norwegian singer-songwriter again reinventing himself, just as he did with each of the previous four full-lengths (not including his most recent "release," the soundtrack to that old 2007 blockbuster, Dan In Real Life, which simply embedded existing Lerche tracks alongside a few fresh helpings of film-score acoustic work).

Musically, Radio falls somewhere between 2007's frenetic Phantom Punch (his last actual release) and the melodic and hooky Two Way Monologue, his 2004 breakout record. Gone are the punked-out guitars of Punch, making room for more of the orchestral flavors that defined his earlier work...not to mention the jazz chops flexed on Duper Sessions. But throwbacks aside, Lerche continues to evolve as a composer. The arrangements are still characteristically intelligent and unpredictable, as the Norseman continues to make heady songwriting sound effortlessly poppy.

It's a solo acoustic leg of the tour. Interested to hear some of these new multi-layered tunes in stripped-down form. 

Sondre Lerche — Words & Music

Sondre Lerche — If Only

Sondre Lerche — Goodnight

Sondre Lerche on Amazon

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Then on Friday we do a complete 180 with Alaskan psychedelic indie prog-rockers Portugal. The Man. I've discussed them here before, but Christ, how do you define these guys? Here's allmusic's stab at it, which still sort of shies away from trying to nail down their sound. It's tough...especially when they sound like a completely different band with each release. Come to think of it, I guess they do share something with Sondre Lerche. 

You decide. Here's a track from each of their four, in reverse chronological order:

Portugal. The Man — Kill Me. The King

Waiter: "You Vultures!"

Portugal. The Man — The Bottom

Church Mouth

Portugal. The Man — 1989 / Our Way

Censored Colors (separate tracks meant to be consumed as one)

Portugal. The Man — The Home

The Satanic Satanist

P.TM on Amazon

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An aside to the soul-searching regulars:

As you know, sometimes we weave some indie and other stuff into this space. It's been happening more frequently of late, but you know we never leave you hanging completely. Here you go:

Sister Love — Mr. Fix-It Man

Comments

[No]

"changing the world"?
"best band of our generation"?

I'm pretty sure Zach's mind will explode when he discovers music before 1980.

[zach]

i love portugal the man they are changing the world with thier music and i do belive they are the best band of our generation our number one influence in our music