Off-the-cuff reactions to Portuguese bands I was recommended by a friend of mine.
Ornatos Violeta
Funk/punk in the style of fishbone, maybe chilli peppers at a push, or some of the more grungey elements from the same eta (STP, Blind Melon). Definitely going on my Spotify library anyway.
Mão Morta
Some kind of Doom Metal, I think… Er… Well, see for yourself.
Belle Chase Hotel
Trilingual combo whose name is based on a Jim Jarmusch movie. Musically pretty good and playing in a variety of styles (so much so that at first I wondered if maybe there was more than one band that shared the name) but frustrating if, like me, you only want to hear PT lyrics, because they don’t seem to have many. One of the members is JP Simões who is also a solo artist who sings in Portuguese.
Sean Riley & the Slowriders
What? Dudes, do you even speak Portuguese?
Wray Gunn
Er… Again, struggling to find any Portuguese titles here. Rock ‘n’ Roll of the school of Link Wray. I had a look at the first one in the list and it seems to be about sleeping with his sister. No thank you. Do not want.
Minta & the Brook Trout
Really, really good but disappointingly anglophone
Jerónimo
I can only find three one songs by this lot and all English too
First Breath After Coma
Remind me of the Durutti Column or some of those post-rock bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor. The tracks I listened to were largely instrumentals with maybe some samples voices but not in Portuguese. Interesting and I’ll listen again but not really what I was after…
X-wife
Pretty decent indie dance band but again, not singing in Portuguese
Legendary Tigerman
Rock. Pretty good but English lyrics again.
Dead Combo
I really like this music. It’s quirky and energetic. They have a collab with Marc Ribot, who’s worked with Tom Waits, which should give an idea of the genre. A lot of the track titles are in Portuguese, but they’re not very loquacious and it’s mainly instrumental stuff.
Ornatos Violeta are my pick of the bunch here, being eminently listenable and with Portuguese lyrics, but they’re in no danger of displacing Deolinda in my affections!
Luso 