Zac Pennington

When last we spoke, the entire Portland club community seemed in terrific peril–the insightful prose that you’ve no doubt come to expect from us here at It’s Who You Know was unfortunately marred with ugly language like “closures,” “turnover,” and “uncertainty”–words that may have led you to believe that the city was on its way […]

With the news of a fresh venue shake-up rolling in virtually every week for the past few months, it’s evident that the ground has yet to entirely settle beneath the rocky foundation of Portland’s club community. Amidst closures, turnovers, and various reclamations, Portland’s club scene–and particularly its all-ages scene–remains perilously uncertain. With nearly two months […]

Low Wed March 22 Bossanova 722 E Burnside The parallels are pretty uncanny: two bands–both incredibly respected and successful, and with a half-dozen records under their belts–make the completely superfluous jump from labels that supported them for the better part of their respective decades to sub-major Sub Pop. Both bands decide to use this opportunity […]

As a proponent of low-rent conceptualism in all walks of pop music, I’m easily taken with even the faintest efforts made by bands to infuse their works with something more thoughtful than factory song production. I still hold an embarrassing affinity for bloated, pretentious concept albums, am occasionally way too forgiving of shticks, applaud even […]

Condescension. Arrogance. Self-importance. It’s what separates humanity from the lawless wilds of the tundra. Can you imagine life without shallow, egotistical prejudices? Art made unselfconsciously? A life of shameless self-discovery? The entire population of the world at ease with their self-worth? I shudder to think. What I’m getting at here, is that whether you like […]

I know all those squares with their fancy philosophy books and their Greenpeace stickers want you to believe that even-handed, well-informed discourse is at the heart of all true critical understanding–but let me tell ya: all that shit is vastly overrated. And as anyone who’s ever read this paper can attest, we here at the […]

Antony & the Johnsons Sat March 5 Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside If so inclined, one could argue that music is the shallow manipulator of the arts. And there would be a certain truth to such an argument–when propped up against, say, visual art or literature, music (especially pop music) can come off a […]

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: It’s Who You Know, Zac Pennington’s weekly discourse on the music industry, is nowhere to be seen this week because Zac has an icky staff infection on his leg and is doped up on antibiotics. While it’s annoying not to be able to read Zac’s normally entertaining and educational column… […]