Photo by Richard Holt Leave it to Hello Damascus to try dampening expectations. Their latest title, "Iterative At Best," sounds more like an apology or an excuse. Iterative--meaning repetitive or reiterating--is one of the last adjectives I'd apply to this sad, gorgeous song. But then, this Portland band has always trafficked in modesty and understatement. Their 2005 album, Harvest Dolls , was a slow-blooming wonder, full of soft-spoken melancholy and quiet grandeur. That album's lead-off track, "Randy," didn't just rend hearts; it was capable of performing quadruple bypasses. [...]
So it seems kinda bizarre and surreal to think I've been working on this project for a year already. One random Thursday in California 365 afternoons ago, I'd had the idea to typing up the contents of a mixtape I'd just compiled and blasting it into cyberspace. What began as a goof, a high-tech storehouse for whatever trivia happened to be pinballing through my brain, quickly evolved into a genuine passion. Tossed-off entries soon stretched into five- or six-hour writing sessions. Newly beholden to something, I'd leave parties early to toil over posts or curtail nights out to [...]
They'll snake into your head. Patientily, lazily, at a stroll's pace, Hello Damascus's songs will find their way in and win you over. I discovered that lovely secret firsthand, when I received their PDX Pop Now! contribution "Randy" via e-mail. Upon the first few listens, I was impressed enough to post it the next day . After a week, it had secured a permanent spot on my ever-shifting playlist. It'd also become the song I'd play right before bed, its mellow, contemplative melancholia soothing and lightening the darkness. In two weeks, it'd even tiptoed to the top of my [...]
I've got a couple of regrets—never took any art history classes in college, too shy around girls in high school, should've tried out for the tennis team—but one of the most glaring is that I've still never been to Portland. So many bands I love hail from there. I used to drink its famed Stumptown coffee on a regular basis. My friend Scott was constantly filling my head with idealized pictures of that woodsy city he grew up in. And yet, due to lack of funds or plans falling through, I never made it up to the Pacific [...]
Nerd Litter
Music Alliance Pact – February 2012
Listen: Usher x Diplo – Climax
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
Music Alliance Pact. MAP. February 2012.
