Tuesday nights lineup of PDX locals Charts, Canada’s Michael Rault, and Brooklyn’s Cut Worms at the swanky Doug Fir Lounge in Portland was so good the show deserves a full write-up.
The night began with Charts, a Portland band I was not previously familiar with. Music snob that I am, I was fully prepared to just drink my beer and not cover the first band at all, but from their first song I was pulled in. Their sound is a rooted in what I’d call modern indie rock, but there were some surprising bits of psych, surf, and garage all throughout. The band also seemed super excited and happy to be on stage, which makes the experience fun for everyone. POW will be covering their music more in depth soon, but here’s one of their more surf-y tunes from Tuesday’s show.
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Michael Rault took the stage next. Looking every bit like he stepped out of my dad’s 1976 yearbook, he and his band put on a phenomenal performance. The set featured several songs from It’s A New Day Tonight, released earlier this year on Wick records. Two of the most captivating were “Sleep With Me”, a slow jam and the only to feature Rault at his Korg keyboard, and their brilliant 8 minute set-closer, “When The Sun Shines”. Both are featured below:
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Headliners Cut Worms closed out the night: anyone who knows me knows I’ve been wildly obsessed with this band for over a year now. Their debut album, Hollow Ground, came out in April and has not left my turntable. I’ve even forced other musicians POW has covered to listen to them. I covered their performance at Huichica Festival in CA in June and was completely blown away- so needless to say, I was thrilled to see them again, and they didn’t let me down.
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Max Clarke’s voice is so beautiful, so old school Everly Brothers/Buddy Holly/Ricky Nelson, that it just hits you right in the soul. And his band is tight- even tighter than when I saw them in June, most likely the result of the extensive touring they’ve been doing. Dig my favorite song from the album below:
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If you get a chance to see any of these 3 bands, do so. Getting to see all 3 of them in one night was an immense pleasure, but just 1 of them is well worth the ticket price. Rault and Cut Worms are both still on tour, so catch them if you can. And expect to hear more from Charts on POW soon!
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Follow the bands:
https://charts.bandcamp.com/
https://michaelrault.bandcamp.com/
https://cutworms.bandcamp.com/
Written By Sheena Salazar for POW Magazine
sheenacheyennesalazar@gmail.com
