Jon Bernson

Early Ray's Vast Basement performances began in 1999 as a one-man show{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rays-vast-basement-p577403/biography |first=William |last=Ruhlmann |title= Ray's Vast Basement biography |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=March 20, 2012}} that incorporated music, sound design, video, storytelling, dance and tableau vivant.{{cite news|first=Dean |last=Preston |url=http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=456 |title=Don't Miss This: Ray's Vast Basement, April 15 |publisher=BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News |date=April 7, 2004 |access-date=January 30, 2011}} Subsequent shows added a full band that toured the United States numerous times in support of two cassette releases and three full-length CD's.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p577403/discography |title= Ray's Vast Basement discography |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=March 20, 2012}} Ray's Vast Basement shared the stage with many of today's leading indie folk figures, including Jolie Holland, Horsefeathers, The Mountain Goats and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. The band contributed to a variety of compilations, most notably the Verse Press audio book Isn't It Romantic which featured Richard Buckner, Jeff Tweedy, Jason Molina and David Berman. In addition to these recording efforts, Bernson also penned a short book that details a fictional mythology behind his creations.{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Marcus |url=http://citypaper.net/articles/111600/cw.sixpick3.shtml |title=Ray's Vast Basement |publisher=Philadelphia Citypaper |date=November 2000 |access-date=January 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007131214/http://www.citypaper.net/articles/111600/cw.sixpick3.shtml |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}

Without explanation, Bernson abandoned the name Ray's Vast Basement in 2008 and adopted the Exray's moniker in collaboration with Michael Falsetto-Mapp.{{Cite web|url=http://www.exraysvision.com |title=Exray's official website |access-date=March 20, 2012}} Exray's debut performance at SXSW was followed by a national tour and numerous unofficial live recordings. Exray's first studio recording, Ammunition Teeth, was released via cassette on October 12, 2010.{{cite web|url=http://howellstransmitter.com/exrays.html |title=Exray's artist page |publisher=Howells Transmitter |access-date=January 30, 2011}} The band's first LP, Exray's, was released in February, 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/artist/exrays/393023623 |title=Exray's discography on iTunes Store |website=iTunes |access-date=March 20, 2012}} It features contributions by Nate Query from The Decemberists, Warren Huegel from Citay, Tim Cohen from The Fresh & Onlys and Black Fiction, Dominic Cramp from Evangelista and Jason Kick from Maus Haus.{{cite news |author=Ben Van Houten |url=http://www.thebaybridged.com/2008/06/09/wednesday-528-at-annies-petracovich-rays-vast-basement-the-physics-of-meaning/ |title=Wednesday, 5/28 at Annie's: Petracovich, Ray's Vast Basement, The Physics of Meaning |publisher=The Bay Bridged |date=June 9, 2008 |access-date=January 30, 2011}}

Exray's first official song "Everything Goes"{{cite web|url=http://www.last.fm/music/Exray's/_/Everything+Goes |title=Exray's "Everything Goes" – Listening & stats |publisher=Last.fm |date=February 11, 2009 |access-date=January 30, 2011}} appeared on Secret Seven's compilation album In a Cloud: New Sounds from San Francisco, which also includes songs by Thee Oh Sees, Kelley Stoltz, The Fresh & Onlys, Tim Cohen, Sonny and the Sunsets, The Sandwitches, Grass Widow and others.{{cite web|url=http://secretsevenrecords.typepad.com/secret-seven-records/2010/02/various-artists-in-a-cloud-new-sounds-from-san-francisco-lp-sec7005.html |title=Various Artists- In A Cloud: New Sounds From San Francisco CD & LP (SEC-7-005)|publisher=Secret Seven Records, SF |access-date=January 30, 2011}}

Since 2001 Bernson has written numerous soundtracks for theater and film. His most well known score is a cycle of songs written and performed for a staged version of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in 2005. Two years later this music was released as a critically acclaimed album called Starvation Under Orange Trees.{{cite web|author=David |url=http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2007/07/note_books_rays.html |title=Note Books - Jon Bernson (Ray's Vast Basement) |publisher=Largehearted Boy |date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=January 30, 2011}} The Exray's song "Hesitation" was used in the soundtrack for David Fincher's major motion picture The Social Network, about the controversial founding of Facebook.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/soundtrack |title=The Social Network soundtrack|publisher=IMDb |access-date=April 23, 2012}}{{cite web |first=Larry |last=Fitzmaurice |url=http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14923-hesitation/ |title=Exray's: "Hesitation" |publisher=Pitchfork |date=October 5, 2010 |access-date=January 30, 2011}} [http://www.freitagfilms.com Vera Freitag]'s 2005 film In a Steel Box also features a full soundtrack of Bernson's original music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0956343/plotsummary |title=In a Steel Box |publisher=IMDb |access-date=April 26, 2012}}

Window Twins is a collaborative group with Tim Cohen that led to an LP called I'm This Tall City in 2008.{{Cite web |first=William |last=Ruhlmann |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/im-this-tall-city-r1493768 |title=Window Twins - I'm This Tall City review |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=April 26, 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.brokentwilight.com/releases/bt-06.html |title=Window Twins - I'm This Tall City review |publisher=Broken Twilight |access-date=January 30, 2011}} Window Twins began as a duo, but now includes Kevin E. Taylor, a multi-instrumentalist and prolific visual artist. The collaboration between Bernson and Cohen has taken other forms over a five-year period. Bernson was a member of Cohen's Black Fiction{{cite news

|url=https://www.sfgate.com/thingstodo/article/BLACK-FICTION-The-bassist-may-be-a-metalhead-2513391.php

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130202031853/http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-08-24/entertainment/17306152_1_black-fiction-martin-moves-tim-cohen

|url-status=live

|archive-date=February 2, 2013

|title=Black Fiction: The bassist may be a metalhead, but the band's music is folk pop infused with hip-hop beats, beatboxing and funk samples

|last=Hix

|first=Lisa

|date=August 24, 2006

|work=San Francisco Chronicle

|access-date=January 30, 2011}} and Cohen has contributed to Ray's Vast Basement recordings since 2006.

In 1997 Bernson started the "Urban Music Program",{{Cite web |url=http://urbanmusicprogram.org/ |title=Urban Music Program official website |access-date=April 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420214439/http://urbanmusicprogram.org/ |archive-date=April 20, 2012 |df=mdy-all }} an audio creation club for youth. Part of the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center in San Francisco, UMP has generated hundreds of original pieces music which have been released as a series of twenty CDR's known as Beacon Beats.{{cite web |url=http://www.snbc.org/programs/community/urban-music-program |title=Urban Music Program |publisher=Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center |access-date=January 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219192255/http://www.snbc.org/programs/community/urban-music-program |archive-date=February 19, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} Bernson's work in the UMP has also led to a series of experimental drone records under the THEMAYS moniker. KNOWFI (the debut release) was put out by Gigante Sound in 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.gigantesound.com/fr_mays.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110711092657/http://www.gigantesound.com/fr_mays.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 11, 2011 |title=THEMAYS - KNOWFI |publisher=Gigante Sound (GIGA019 2010) |access-date=January 30, 2011 }} The club's dedication to DJing was featured in Doug Pray's Scratch, an award-winning movie about the history of turntablism.{{IMDb title|0143861|Scratch (2001)}}

Since 2004 Bernson has shared a small recording studio with songwriter Michael Zapruder called "1924 Franklin is a Car". This space has been the main location for many of Bernson's recording projects and the site of many impromptu sessions with Zapruder. Other recording credits include work with Scott Pinkmountain, Black Fiction, The Lovely Public, Gene V. Baker, Anamude, P.A.F. and Raised By Spacemen.

Bernson is a founding member of the Howells Transmitter arts collaborative and record label.{{Cite web|url=http://www.howellstransmitter.com |title=Howells Transmitter official website |access-date=May 1, 2012}} Other principal members include Jennifer Welch and Colin Held. Howells Transmitter is home to a stylistically diverse group of artists: Charles Atlas, The Fresh & Onlys, Exray's, Michael Zapruder's Rain of Frogs, Black Fiction, Scott Pinkmountain, Window Twins, Ray's Vast Basement, Modular Set and contributors to the Wiretap Music Compilation.{{Cite web|url=http://www.howellstransmitter.com/wtm.html |title=Wiretap Music Compilation |publisher=Howells Transmitter (HT009/2009) |access-date=May 1, 2012}} Howells Transmitter has produced numerous plays and poetry readings, in addition to its musical endeavors.

;With Ray's Vast Basement

;With Window Twins

;With THEMAYS

;With Exray's

;Soundtracks

;Compilations

;Sound design & coordination

;Production and recording

{{Reflist|3}}

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• [https://myspace.com/raysvastbasement Ray's Vast Basement] on Myspace
• {{Official website|http://www.exraysvision.com|Exray's official website}}
• {{allMusic|id=p577403|tab=discography|label=Ray's Vast Basement discography}}
• {{allMusic|id=p1119175|tab=discography|label=Window Twins discography}}
• {{discogs artist|Ray's Vast Basement|Ray's Vast Basement}}
• {{discogs artist|Exray's|Exray's}}
• {{discogs artist|Window Twins|Window Twins}}

{{Refend}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}

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Category:American male singer-songwriters

Category:Singers from San Francisco

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Songwriters from San Francisco

Category:Singer-songwriters from California