Portugal. The Man All My People

Portugal. The Man first caught my attention with their 2009 album "The Satanic Satanist". It was awesome. In fact, it was so awesome, that "American Ghetto" simply can't live up to expectations. You see, Portugal. The Man has no problem composing complex licks that switch this way, that way and then back again. That was the beauty of their last album. Unfortunately, with "American Ghetto", it's as if they've taken black noise and covered all of their former songs

with it. Maybe it's the reverb; maybe it's the 300 layers. It would almost start to get annoying if it weren't for a few gems, including "All My People" and "1000 Years".

I'll give them credit where it's due: they've released a new album every year since 2006. That takes a lot of creativity, though I'm sure being from Alaska provides a bit of inspiration -- what, with the 23-hour nights and all. In fact, those 23-hour nights may have influenced the rather dark tone of this album, particularly with opener "The Dead Dog". Yet for all my criticism (and I haven't really gone into too much depth), it appears as if the majority of music blogs give this album high praise. Unfortunately, it just doesn't strike a chord with me.