Higher Lows — from the celestial cosmos to the cold concrete
Navigating everything from the euphoric heights of human aspiration to the stained asphalt pavements of unforgiving sidewalks and gutters — welcome to the Casio thrift store / junk shop chic of Higher Lows' debut self-titled album. The brainchild of multidisciplinary creative Jon Bernson (Exray's, Window Twins, Ray's Vast Basement, Black Fiction, elaborate art installations, scores for the stage and screen and too many to list) alongside longtime collaborator Jason Kick; the duo emerge from the wreckage of modern times, the season in hell that was 2020, the fragile and outright dangerous states of things in our contemporary reality with a wise work of wonder, woe, with lyrical words and harmonies of modern day enlightenment and electro catharsis. The two together paint portraits of purpose, interjecting trajectories of reason within the seemingly senseless storms of almost unstoppable entropy that curates a proactive cause that is centered on the plight of the humanities, the evolution of aesthetics, civic and ecological concerns for a world that is too often consumed in what can be read objectively as a regressive cautionary tale.
This is the world that we know according to the dao and through the lens of Higher Lows. Sequenced and arranged with a cornucopia of some of the greatest outdated, obsolete and awesome econo synths in the world; Jon obfuscates the places that connect fantasies, daydreams and their corresponding realities on the opener "Make Believe", shining UV ray lights on the housing quagmires and the international inertia of capitalism's gravitational pull on "People of the Sun", summoning the specter of Ray Bradbury on "Fahrenheit 450" that is the greatest Go-Kart Mozart track that Lawrence never made. Interludes abound, from the kinetic dressing drizzled "Thousand Island", the cosmic dance class cool of "Space Tango", messing with the uptrend and downtrend metrics on "Drastic Measures", to the electric tension of "Tourist Attraction" that rocks with the frenetic frequencies of an illustrious and ill-advised last resort. Space age love notes move like dub star constellations on "Valentine", extoling the ennui of the every-person on the working class hero hyper-ballad "Gods of Survival", to odes of autobiographical anachronistic errors on the DIY disco jam "The Same Mistake", trudging through truths and consequences of Bay Area-biblical proportions with "End of the Lie", before concluding with the snazzy jazz of "Thanks a Million", experimenting with fluctuating tempos, hard truths and counted blessings. Higher Lows are Bernson and crew telling it like it is, like it was and what it can be with the Casio-toned glow that shines a light forth from the chaos and conundrums of life in a cocktail of sweat, tears, vinegar that emulates that saline tinged sweetness that is this whole weird thing we call life. Join us after the jump for an exclusive curation by the one and only — Jon Bernson:
The natural, creative & inspirational realms of Higher Lows’ Jon Bernson
Awesome Casio Keyboard Commercial 1985
The Higher Lows album was made with Casio keyboards and voices, so commercials like these do a great job of highlighting our record making process. I’ve been using Casios since I was a kid and think of them as the Garageband of my childhood. Still, I have questions. Mysteries that may never be answered. What does the Casio test lab look like? How do they come up with their sounds and autochord arrangements? How do I get my hands on the rejected sound banks? Who is Greg Johnson’s agent and how did he land this commercial? Greg has the look, the chops, and the backlighting, but I want to know more.
Radiooooo
I discover most of my music through friends and human-curated blogs like Week in Pop, but Radiooooo is an app that I use regularly, especially when I get into a music rut. You can select a region of the world and a decade and it will create a (user-generated) playlist based on radio broadcasts from the time period. Higher Lows dabbles in a bunch of different world music genres (a blanket term that I despise, but don’t know how to sidestep) which were inspired by my vicarious travels on Radiooooo and made feasible by Casio. If this app sounds like your cup of Kombucha, I would use it ASAP, before Google or Amazon buys the site and buries them in their internet strip mall.
Diamond Dave Whitaker
The timeless conflicts, finger-pointing and shit talking amongst generations continues today as it always has. When pondering this dilemma, I lean on some valuable lessons learned from Diamond Dave Whitaker, a Bay Area poet and rebel rouser best known for mentoring Dylan back in Minnesota (before he became Dylan). Dave has a refrain that hasn’t changed for years and, as time has passed, I’ve come around to the wisdom of his message: Cast a wide net. Find the common thread. Let life flourish. He’s always looked for common ground and stressed the power of working together. His recognition and belief in the potential of each generation is a gift to the people of the Bay Area and beyond.
Mesa Verde
I visited Mesa Verde when I was young and still look back at photos of these cliff dwellings and petroglyphs on a regular basis. They are miraculously constructed and amazingly well preserved, but we may never know exactly what happened to these people, who the Navajo referred to as “the ancient ones.” Recently, I was struck by a quote from a team of Mesa Verde researchers because their description of the Anastasi living conditions is an apt metaphor for the careers of most artists: Cold, snowy winters give way to hot, dry summers, and periods of relatively abundant moisture are punctuated by sporadic — but sometimes prolonged — periods of drought.
Fantastic Man — A Film About William Onyeabor
I got into William Onyeabor when Luaka Bop began re-issuing his records in 2014. If you’re new to Onyeabor, he’s a Nigerian musician who built his own studio and then created a uplifting, eccentric blend of funk and synthesized dance music. Most of his lyrics are overtly political with themes that are still as relevant now as they were in the 70s and 80s. The reason I’m bringing him up is because I know a lot of musicians who dig his music, but haven’t watched this YouTube documentary about his career. It’s only 30 minutes and, in my opinion, a key addition to the DIY canon.
Department of Safety
Safety first. Play it safe. Safety in numbers. So many associations and plays on words that the name brings up. I love how this group of artists appropriated an Anacortes government building and turned it into a haven for creativity and community. Like Mesa Verde, the Department of Safety is a place I’ve only been to once, but it has a permanent place on my heart shelf. They created a music venue, art gallery, residency program, zine library, darkroom, multiple artist studios and hosted an annual festival called What the Heck Fest, all under one roof. They were open from 2002-10 and then turned in the towel. Like countless others, this cultural oasis was ambitious, beautiful and temporary. There’s a safety lesson in there somewhere.
66 Scenes from America
66 Scenes from America is a 1982 Danish film by Jorgen Leth, It’s been described as a collection of video postcards with no connecting narrative. Most of them document ordinary activities by ordinary people. One of the exceptions comes at about 20 minutes when Andy Warhol is filmed eating a hamburger. He barely says a word and takes about 4 minutes to finish the meal. I’ve watched this scene about 100 times; it’s my favorite video on YouTube. I’m pretty fascinated with banal art, readymades and the like. Depressingly, Burger King acquired the rights to air a tiny excerpt of Warhol’s scene during the 2019 Super Bowl. It took me about a year to recover and now I’ve begun my one man campaign to keep the original intent of this film alive.
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Higher Lows’ self-titled is available now via Howells Transmitter.
Higher Lows - debut LP (First Edition)