Instead of a curated hike for the 'gram, do a "LOWER Walk." Take your low-quality camera. Photograph only three things: a cracked sidewalk, a dying plant, and a puddle. Caption it: *"Ground state."

Set aside 20 minutes to listen to a cassette tape warble or watch a DVD skip. LOWER entertainment finds joy in the error —the tracking lines, the pixelation, the moment the technology fails. Why This Matters Now (The Philosophy) We have been conditioned to believe that higher resolution equals higher happiness. But 8K doesn't make you feel warm; it makes you feel inadequate.

Invite friends over. Do not put on Netflix. Instead, put on a dusty VHS tape of a 1994 travel commercial or a 15-year-old SD card of someone else’s forgotten vacation photos. The lower the production value, the better the conversation.

Put away the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Dig out a 2-megapixel flip phone, a 2000s digital point-and-shoot (Digicam), or a disposable film camera. The lower the megapixel, the higher the soul.

WELCOME TO THE CHEAP BEATS

23 March 2016

Foto Memek Lower -

Instead of a curated hike for the 'gram, do a "LOWER Walk." Take your low-quality camera. Photograph only three things: a cracked sidewalk, a dying plant, and a puddle. Caption it: *"Ground state."

Put away the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Dig out a 2-megapixel flip phone, a 2000s digital point-and-shoot (Digicam), or a disposable film camera. The lower the megapixel, the higher the soul. LOWER entertainment finds joy in the error —the

GONE WITH THE WIND – BUT FOUND

28 February 2017

One of the problems of running The Rare Record Club is the ones that got away. One of my greatest ambitions was to put the classic Rendell-Carr Quintet albums Shades Of Blue and Dusk Fire back onto the black stuff. Sadly, this was thwarted by the company that owns this material declining to license them. As many readers will know, these albums issu…

PSYCHAMERIICA PARTT 2

10 January 2010

The influence of hallucinogenic drugs had begun to be felt in ultra-hip musical circles from the start of the 60s, but it wasn’t until 1965 that it became explicit. Future Doors drummer John Densmore (see interview, page 54) joined a band named The Psychedelic Rangers that spring, ubiquitous Hollywood scenester Kim Fowley released his The Tri…

Luke Haines

09 September 2021

As a younger fellow, I used to quite like the idea of subversion and (hushed tone) transgression in pop music. These days I’m not so bothered. I’m not sure that pop music has ever been particularly subversive. Has it ever had a corrupting effect, though? Yep. As a lower middle-class dweller (old skool class definitions here only) I am happy to …

WELCOME TO THE CHEAP BEATS

Foto Memek Lower -

GONE WITH THE WIND – BUT FOUND

PSYCHAMERIICA PARTT 2

Luke Haines

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WELCOME TO THE CHEAP BEATS

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GONE WITH THE WIND – BUT FOUND

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Luke Haines

First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

First Name^*

Last Name^*

Email^*