When listening to Charts, I can’t help but imagine myself at a low lit, gum popping, high-school dance of a by-gone time. There are guys in fancy blazers playing questionably appropriate rock-n-roll for the kids. Then someone spikes the punch, and I dash off in my bobby socks to wave a scarf at a night time drag race and smoke lots of cigarettes. Ok, so in my research I found that there had been a 1950’s doo-wop band named The Charts and perhaps this influenced me as I listened to Charts (no "the"). They do have a classic sound: a lo-fi buzz of burly bass (Andrew Clyde) and drum kicks (Josh Smith), all slicked up with romantic strikes of guitar strings and the twangy, sometimes punky vocals of Michael Rowan. There are rockabilly and punk elements, perhaps influenced by Ween, The Violent Femmes, or Suicidal Tendencies, that give them an intentional lilt, such as the warped "We Got it Good" off of The Eggy Tape EP. The trio’s latest work, Tease, continues in this drawl. The sound is heavy, yet off-beat and sweet, with a few tracks having the added harmonies of a female singer. The band has been rumored to play a swanky house show or two and has been busy playing with The We Shared Milk, jamming on the streetcar, and performing as part of a special PDX Pop Now! fund drive for KBOO community Radio. With Halloween season in Portland at hand, they are set to play a seasonal set of haunted pop songs like Slow Down Zombie(Your Eating Too Fast), How Did You Get So Dead, and more, for Record Room’s 2nd Anniversary party this Saturday. – Brandy Crowe

 Earnest and tightly-wound guitar that weaves between lighthearted post-rock and nuanced prog-grunge, The North Wind‘s guitar work on Mirror Lake is showcased like a snake winding across wet rock with it’s tongue flickering, no tail in sight. These songs never fall into the self-indulgent swells of delay-drenched drama that characterize their contemporaries; the pedal board is reigned in, and these songs move forward to a melodic closure that is equally rewarding and provocative. The atmospheric calm gives way to calamities of distorted chord progressions layered with shattered crystals of clear-to -the bottom counter melodies. The North Wind‘s rhythms keep the purposefully-meandering chords in a tight framework, and threaten to take the songs to ever-greater heights. Simultaneously blissful and workman-like in its guitar craft, this EP rewards multiple listens and attention to its delicate movement and syrup-thick moments like the impressive closing track "She Said." – Stephen Shoup

October 25th at The Know with 1939 Ensemble