Evil Friends

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends
Critic Score
Based on 16 reviews
2013 Ratings: #704 / 1115
User Score
Based on 298 ratings
2013 Rank: #176
Liked by 21 people
June 3, 2013 / Release Date
LP / Format
Atlantic / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

88
Paste

Danger Mouse’s fingerprints are all over all of these songs, and it’s easy to see parallels with some of his other projects, but in many ways Evil Friends is the most quintessentially Portugal. The Man album the band has released. It’s also undoubtedly their best.

80
PopMatters

The core songwriting and performances are top notch, and Danger Mouse’s input adds a plethora of valuable modifications and ideas.

80
No Ripcord

On Evil Friends, they have sharpened their sound and brought a sterling batch of songs. It is by far their most focused and polished album, and Danger Mouse makes sure that everything is sonically smooth

75
A.V. Club

Evil Friends is Portugal. The Man’s catchiest, most confident, and diverse record yet.

70
AllMusic

The punchy, rhythm-driven elements in Danger Mouse's production style create an elastic tension when contrasted with the band's loopy, hooky, guitar-centric, psych rock sound.

70
Consequence of Sound

Although they’ve been carefully walking the line between indie stronghold and mainstream single machine, Evil Friends is easily Portugal. The Man’s breakthrough album, amplifying pop sensibilities and executing them in their fullest Technicolor forms.

70
DIY

For creating something as fresh and strong as this at album number eight, Portugal. The Man deserve to be applauded.

65
Under the Radar

The album, which evokes Electric Guest (another Danger Mouse collaborator), boasts a fuller sound than previous albums as well as some strong moments, but does not boast anything as immediately memorable, as previous works have. 

60
Pitchfork

The frequently overstuffed, occasionally scatterbrained album is far from perfect. But even when going for broke gets them into trouble, Portugal seem happy to get up there and overshoot the mark.

treblafreeman
75

This sounds like the sort of music a van life hipster with a drone and a generic yt channel listens to.
I'm from Oregon and every mountain drone shot that looks the same is epic as fuck!!!! Look at the VHS filters!!!!!

Still, it's enjoyable and consistent, it's like ''if generic was good enough''.
Wtf is this ugly ass cover tho.

thumbman
NR

👍👍👍

Raiksheen
70

Alright

Waazze223
80

It’s pretty consistent and enjoyable

It was one of my favourite albums for a while, but I lost interest in it.

Pretty much every lyric is just meaningless words strung together, but I feel like in a certain context that doesn’t have to matter that much.

Would definitely appeal more to a more casual music listener

Vector
89

For my money Evil Friends is one of the most underrated indie albums of the 2010s. The occasional missteps and overly hipster-ish sentiments are drowned out by basically every other element on the album, such as Danger Mouse’s excellent production, taking the vibrant psychedelic sound of P.TM’s last record and turning it into something that sounds a little more of-the-time but nonetheless retains all of its charm. For the most part, the lyrics are very good too, particularly on the ... read more

YahirRiv
78

PTM's most consistent and best produced album. Thank you, Danger Mouse.

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Track List

Year End Lists

#9/CraveOnline
#36/Amazon
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Added on: June 1, 2013