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Portugal. The Man On World Cafe

Portugal. The Man performing live at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.
Tiana Timmerberg
/
WXPN
Portugal. The Man performing live at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

Hip-hop-flavored indie-rock band Portugal. The Man joins us in this session. And for a danceable band of low-key, really nice dudes from Alaska, Portugal. The Man has stirred up some controversy. It all has to do with the super-catchy, danceable radio hit "Feel It Still".

First, there's the music video. It takes place in a nightclub-looking junkyard, people are wearing overalls, people are dancing, and — oh yeah — one guy is burning a printed copy of InfoWars, the website run by Alex Jones, a far-right radio host whom the New York Times has called a "high-profile conspiracy theorist." In this session, we'll talk about Jones' scathing reaction to the band.

Then there's the song itself, which bears a certain resemblance to the old Marvelettes song "Please Mr. Postman." And while Portugal. The Man certainly didn't try to pull one over on anybody, and even warned its team about the similarities between the two songs, the band explains why it had to get lawyers involved.

The band also shares some early details about its upcoming album Woodstock, which comes out in a month and was inspired by an old ticket stub from — you guessed it — Woodstock in 1969, belonging to lead singer John Gourley's dad. All that, a live performance from World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and more in this session. Listen in the player above.

Copyright 2017 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.