Zac Pennington

The Fiery Furnaces Wed Oct 13 Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside The difference between you and me is that I always have to be right. It’s that sort of righteous indignation that propels this music section week upon week–and if I don’t passionately believe every half-thought assessment I toss off, our little dynamic will […]

Less a social archetype than it is a religion, the iconography of rock stars over the last half-century is as vast and compelling as anything birthed by the Bible. And for all of its inherent shortcomings, glaring clichés, and bloated vanity, in the right hands the rock star lineage serves an unequivocally urgent role in […]

The Rapture Fri Aug 20 Roseland 8 NW 6th It began about two years ago as a dull tingling. If you’re like me, you begin to notice these things early on. You learn to trust your senses. They’re the best hope you’ve got in this game. You see, being a social contrarian is a serious […]

Sebadoh Thurs Aug 12 Berbati’s 10 SW 3rd For a band of seemingly amiable characters, Sebadoh sure gets a lot of shit. Granted, when you look at the band’s awkward, insular offspring the world over, all crafting the kind of likeminded music that makes listening to the vast majority of indierock so completely insufferable, it’s […]

Tropix Thurs Aug 5-7 Various Venues www.yumanora.gq.nu/tropix.html “You have to really look at this year’s Tropix as sort of like Christmas,” suggests Tropix 2004 curator Amy Vecchione, who seems to have largely shouldered the burden of this year’s festival. “Tropix has never been very organized–it’s not supposed to be. I mean, you have to think […]

Ratatat Sun Aug 1 Holocene 1001 SE Morrison I’m more than a little exhausted with Rock’s Narcissian self-reverence. For the past several years, the bulk of Rock’s statements seem neatly made in tradition, in longevity, and, most offensively, in tribute. It just thinks itself a little too important. And while Ratatat’s sound is largely one […]

K Records Summertime Dance Party Thurs July 22 Crystal Ballroom 1332 W Burnside It’s a little uncomfortable, isn’t it? The familiar intimacy of K Records stable–the core of kids usually relegated to house shows and alternative venues–stepping up to the dwarfing stage of the Crystal Ballroom. It’s like a grubby kid donning an ill-fitting three-piece. […]