New Video Podcast: Exray’s Live @ The Sunset Tavern

Hey folks, Live Eye Tv is back from a brief summer break, and ready to tear into some new music! This week we catch up with Exray’s live in Seattle at the Sunset Tavern with performance videos for the tracks “Ancient Thing” and “Ways to Stop Time”. In addition, check out our recent interview with the band’s main guitarist/vocalist Jon Bernson as he discusses the band’s new LP Trust A Robot, as well as details about the bands creative and recording process, literary influences, and more. Stream the videos below, and jump in for a little reading!
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STREAMING MEDIA LINKS:
VIDEO: Exrays: “Ancient Thing” Live @ The Sunset Tavern [YOUTUBE]
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VIDEO: Exrays “Ways to Stop Time” Live @ The Sunset Tavern [YOUTUBE]
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Since 2009 the Exray’s Jon Bernson and Michael Falsetto-Mapp have crafted a very unique brand of gritty and warped electronic pop. Recently adding multi-instrumentalist Jason Kick, the group has continued fusing Falsetto-Mapp’s sampled beats with the band’s deceptively simple electronic melodies, creating strangely familiar homes for Bernson’s cinematic and slightly dystopian lyrics. On the band’s newest LP, Trust A Robot, they continue to explore an eery, near-future dream world, blending the experimental and familiar into intriguing, off-beat pop! All of the band’s releases can be found on the label Bernson runs with Jennifer Welch, Colin Held, and Michael Zapruder, Howells Transmitter. In addition, the band’s song “Hesitation” was included on the soundtrack for the movie The Social Network, and they have contributed tracks to compilations like City Limits Presents: San Francisco and In a Cloud: New Sounds From San Francisco. The band is part of the diverse and creative San Francisco scene and continues to collaborate with musicians like Tim Cohen of The Fresh & Onlys, Dominic Cramp from Evangelista and Jason Kick from Maus Haus. What follows is a recent email correspondence we had with the band’s Jon Bernson to discuss the new LP, as well as a look into their creative methods and inspirations…

LETv: Jon, let’s begin by talking about the new album, Trust A Robot, did you guys approach its’ creation in any different ways than the previous recordings. While it bears sonic and thematic similarities to Ammunition Teeth and your self-titled 2011 LP, the tracks here tend to stand more discreetly as songs, proceeding fairly straight forwardly and reading more like odd short stories, say, rather than post-modern poetry. An example might be, “Ancient Thing” vs. “Hesitation”. Can you identify any differences, or similarities, you see for the new album, and tell us whether they are the result of an approach or strategy on your part.

JB: Simplicity, without being simplistic. That was our goal on this record. Still plenty of experimentation, but with the intent of whittling things down to the essence. I like how you compared this record to a collection of short stories and our earlier records to poems. That rings true. The setting for our first few records was the Mission district here in S.F. so the found sounds and textures were all recorded through my mail slot. Trust a Robot and our upcoming records are set in the future so our found sounds haven’t arrived yet.

LETv: As a duo, how do you share creative duties and how do your ideas progress into a song? Do you tend to start with the lyrics, or a musical idea? Also, with your own recording space, 1924 Franklin Is A Car, does this mean the albums are self-recorded and produced, and if so, is one person more responsible for engineering or production, or is it shared?

JB: If you really want to break down the making of an Exray’s song, I wish you luck. There are some recipes lying around but plenty of mystery ingredients too. Yes, I’m responsible for the songwriting and Michael is responsible for the beats, but responsibility is not really in our rulebook. I definitely work on the beats as well, and Michael is fundamentally involved in the arrangements. Also, let us not forget Jason Kick, who’s been playing with us for two years, contributed great parts to the new album and is now a member of the band. The producing and engineering falls equally on the shoulders of Michael and I. We work on sonics and mixes together, usually alternating on ideas that require the other to suspend disbelief for 20 or 30 minutes.

LETv: Has having your own recording space affected your creative and production process? You have talked about using the studio as an instrument…can you tell us a little about the space, how it came about, and how you’ve used it for the Exray’s albums. It would seem having your own recording space would allow you to be more creative and independent, even or especially from a financial perspective. Have you guys found that to be true, and was that in any way the intention behind 1924 Franklin Is A Car?

JB: First of all, when we say studio, please don’t think of a three story building with a 48 channel board, three sets of monitors, a pool table, vending machine and convertible parked in the control room. We do have one large room with a small soundproof closet in downtown Oakland. The room is surrounded by empty offices and storage units. What’s important is that it’s quiet, cheap and reliable. All the gear is set up and ready to go. The idea is to make our route from imagination to reality a waterslide, not an obstacle course.

LETv: How do you guys approach live shows? Jon, your previous project Ray’s Vast Basement was very much about an immersive, multi-media sort of live experience, but the Exray’s project has been different with less emphasis on playing out. Is that true at all, and is it maybe changing with the new album and recent West coast tour? Do you find yourself thinking more about how the music will play in a live setting, and has that effected your approach at all?

JB: How many days did it take to build Rome? I always forget that one. Whatever the answer, I think bands are a bit like Rome. Ray’s Vast Basement developed over a period of years. Exray’s is going into it’s third year so we’re getting on to firm ground. More tours and multimedia elements are on the way. Meanwhile, I dare people to watch the videos attached to this interview. They will be touring the internet all year. These videos will introduce people to our other videos, which provide further clues about the future.

LETv: Exray’s work seems to have a literary bent to it, and you guys have referenced writer’s like Philip K. Dick, James Blaylock, and William Burroughs, to which you might add JG Ballard and Harlan Ellison. Those writers are great at taking an everyday reality and making it the locale for strange events, while probing the limits of what we know to be real, and looking to the future with wary anticipation. I think those thematic concerns come across both lyrically and musically in Exray’s. Can you talk at all about how those literary influences might be channeled into your work?

JB: Can I quote you? That’s a cool run down of our aesthetic. The world of music is large, but the world is larger. And what about other worlds? Our favorite music has something to say beyond the world of music. Referencing writers is our way of giving people a quick way to understand our aesthetic. Also, it’s a way of giving respect to people who had something valuable to say about our future. We have a lot to learn from them.

LETv: From the outside, it would seem that the Bay Area has an awesome and thriving music scene with a good sense of community! Exray’s have been included on compilations like In a Cloud: New Sounds from San Francisco  and City Limits Presents: San Francisco , you’ve had guest appearances on your albums from locals like Tim Cohen, Devonwho, Dominic Cramp and Heidi Alexander, you participate in community building projects such as the Urban Music Program, the label Howells Transmitter, so from the inside and having traveled the country and played many other cities, does San Francisco feel like a special place for music and art? How essential is a sense of community for you guys and what you do?

JB: San Francisco is seven square miles, but filled with an insane amount of talent, ideas and culture. The music industry doesn’t have a strong presence here, which has resulted in a different type of music culture. I think the Bay Area is an incredible place for new ideas to incubate and grow outside of the national spotlight. I love other things about other cities, but stepping back, the spirit of collaboration and the purity of San Francisco creativity is something I’ve really come to love.

LETv: Your albums feature some really great covers! Can you tell us how they came about, and what we should know about the artist Richard Colman, and how you guys have worked together on the covers?

JB: We shouldn’t judge books by their covers, but we all do. The idea is that the visual and physical object should be an accurate companion to the music. Richard Colman is an incredible visual artist I encourage everyone to recognize before his art belongs only to people who live on private islands. We were introduced by another great painter, Kevin E. Taylor, who is getting ready to buy a private island. (Seriously though, check Kevin too. He painted Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick records and the forthcoming Window Twins record.) We enjoy developing the Exray’s aesthetic, whether it’s through video or album art or the various ways we infiltrate the web.

LETv: How did the remix happen with Shigeto, and how did you guys participate in the process? Will there be more remixes to look forward to from other artists?

JB: Michael is friends with Devonwho, who introduced us to Shigeto at his show and it all went down pretty smoothly. We sent him stems for three songs and he picked Yellow Light. He remodeled the house over the next few weeks and then sent it back to us for painting. We sent it back to him and he played building inspector. Brooklyn Vegan played travel agent, or something like that.

LETv: What is on the horizon for Exray’s? Will there be more touring in support of the new album? Have you guys begun looking ahead to the next release or started any new recordings?

JB: All of these things are in the works, but people aren’t going to find out unless they reach out. We’re a DIY band. We don’t have a machine working for us so hit us up over email, Soundcloud, Facebook or wherever and let’s make some things happen. Person to person. That’s where it’s at. That’s what we’re into.