James Ferraro
James Ferraro | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Also known as | Bebetune$, Bodyguard, Edward Flex, K2, Lamborghini Crystal |
Born | Rochester, New York, U.S. | November 7, 1986
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Synthesizer, computer, Holy Mountain |
Website | James Ferraro on Bandcamp |
James Ferraro (born November 7, 1986) is an American experimental musician, producer, composer and contemporary artist. He has been credited as a pioneer of the 21st century genres hypnagogic pop and vaporwave, with his work exploring themes related to hyperreality and consumer culture. His music has drawn on diverse styles such as 1980s electronic music, easy listening, drone, lo-fi, sound collage, and R&B.
Ferraro began his career in the early 2000s as a member of the Californian noise duo The Skaters, after which he began recording solo work under his name and a wide variety of aliases.[2][3] He released projects on labels such as Hippos in Tanks and New Age Tapes.[2] Ferraro received wider recognition when his polarizing 2011 album Far Side Virtual was chosen as Album of the Year by The Wire.[4]
Biography
Early life and The Skaters
Ferraro was born in Rochester, New York to Italian and African-American parents.[5] He came from a musical background;[6] his father was a musician, DJ, and record enthusiast while his mother was a singer.[6] He began making instrumentals in high school with the program MTV Music Generator (1999).[6] When Ferraro was 18, he moved from New York to San Diego, California, where he met Spencer Clark.[7] He explained that "we had this conversation and it ended with us collaborating on visual art and paintings and stuff together."[7]
When Ferraro was 20, he formed a drone noise music project[8] with Clark called The Skaters and the two recorded music for a year under the moniker.[7] After a year of recording, they began touring around the country and issued releases from that year of recording.[7] Physicalities Of The Sensibilities Of Ingrediential Stairways (2008), issued on Eclipse Records, was the last record released by the Skaters.[7]
Solo career
Ferraro started the label New Age Tapes to release his own solo work; his early solo material was often released under myriad pseudonyms such as Lamborghini Crystal and Teotihuacan, and was often distributed as limited
With the release of his polarizing 2011 album
In August 2017, Ferraro's multimedia art exhibition Extinction Renaissance premiered at the Loyal Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden.
Artistry
Ferraro has created music since the mid-2000s, initially with Spencer Clark as The Skaters. His style has ranged from
In a 2009 issue of The Wire, David Keenan characterized Ferraro as an progenitor of an emerging post-noise music style dubbed "hypnagogic pop", in which memory and nostalgia for retro formats (especially 1980s recording technology and culture) acted as a defining characteristic.[17][18]
The sounds Ferraro uses are those that humans encounter but are not aware of.[19] These include television jingles, cell phone ringtones and ATM noises.[19] Robert Grunenberg of Ssense characterized the sounds as "communicational tools" between humans and electronics that are "informing, warning, or pleasing" humans.[19] He also writes that "the shelf life of electronic audio rarely surpasses that of your average milk carton. And so, his compilations become a nostalgic sound archive of the near-past."[19] Overall, Grunenberg analyzed that concepts of Ferraro's sound palette was that "as much as we are living under the dominance of our visual culture, we are greatly affected by the powers of our audio culture as well."[19] Ferraro symbolized the nostalgia element that comes out of these "near-past" sounds as "the decline of American prosperity, a ghost of a once-superpower that is dying."[19] In making an album, Ferraro says that he comes up with a "vision" or an imaginary visual picture of what it will be.[6] He explained in a 2012 interview, "I try not to be overly conceptual about what I’m doing. You can contrive it to a point where it gets too heady. Music wise, I try to be careful."[8] When interviewed by Bomb magazine on the subject of sampling in 2013, Ferraro said, "I sample my own sources of sounds. I use AT&T Natural Voices and text-to-speech generators so it's all original content."[6]
Discography
As James Ferraro
Studio albums
Year | Title |
---|---|
2007 | Alternative Soundtrack To: Scream in Blue Surf Video |
2008 | Clear |
Discovery | |
Marble Surf | |
Multitopia | |
Postremo Mundus Techno-Symposium | |
Virtual Erase | |
Last American Hero / Adrenaline's End | |
2009 | Heaven's Gate |
Genie Head Gas in the Tower of Dreams (Jesters Midnight Toys) | |
KFC City 3099: Pt.1 Toxic Spill | |
Star Digital Theatre: Movies for P.T. Cruisers | |
Jarvid 9: Flushpipe | |
Jarvid 9: Gecko | |
Jarvid 9: Kava Jar Race | |
Body Fusion 1 | |
Body Fusion 2 | |
Rerex 1 | |
Rerex 2 | |
iAsia | |
Son Of Dracula | |
Wild World | |
Hacker Track | |
2010 | Pixarni |
Feed Me | |
On Air | |
Night Dolls With Hairspray | |
iAsia 2 Raver | |
2011 | Far Side Virtual |
2012 | Sushi |
2013 | NYC, Hell 3:00 AM |
2015 | Skid Row |
2016 | Human Story 3 |
2017 | Anthrospray: Music for Extinction Renaissance |
Speed | |
2019 | Requiem For Recycled Earth |
2020 | Neurogeist |
2021 | Terminus |
They Don't Know It's Christmas | |
2023 | Concerto I for Strings |
Concerto II for Strings | |
2024 | Genware I: DIHCRO |
Genware II: Eigen Embyro | |
Genware III: Neuralpaint |
Mixtapes
Year | Title |
---|---|
2013 | Cold |
Compilations
Year | Title |
---|---|
2009 | Citrac |
2016 | Rerex |
Extended plays
Year | Title |
---|---|
2011 | Condo Pets |
2012 | Hurting |
2013 | God Of London |
2014 | Eco – Savage Suite |
LAPD (Extended Motifs) | |
1 WTC | |
2015 | War |
FUKU-TONE | |
2016 | Burning Prius ® |
2017 | Fanfare for the Boston Marathon 2017 |
Troll | |
2018 | Four Pieces for Mirai (Overture) |
As Lamborghini Crystal
Studio Albums
Year | Title |
---|---|
2006 | 1992 Cool Runnings |
Lamborghini Crystal | |
2007 | Clock Tower Acid |
Demon Channels (Radio Demons) | |
Dial: 747 Creepozoid | |
Draco-Shop Bop Vol. 1 | |
Little Deuce Coupe T.V. Dinners | |
Roach Motel | |
Smoking Out His Majesties UFO | |
2008 | Refried Demon Channels |
Compilations
Year | Title |
---|---|
2007 | Alien Microwave |
Releases under other aliases
Studio albums
Year | Title | Alias released under |
---|---|---|
2004 | Cruisin' the Nightbiker Strip 1977 | Cruisin' the Nightbiker Strip 1977 |
2005 | Sunbrain Albino (Aquarium Temples) | 8pashupatinath |
Acid Eagle | Acid Eagle | |
Newage Panther Mistique | Newage Panther Mistique | |
Live Smokeshows From Inside the Ciguri Cave Hazed Diamonds With Windswept Hair | Teotihuacán | |
Teotihuacán | ||
2006 | Dreams | Dreams |
Purple Gongs | Purple Gongs | |
Pan als Allgott Saturnia, 1977 | Pan als Allgott Saturnia, 1977 | |
Wheel Of Heaven | Snake Figures Fan | |
Composition of the Sensibilities of Melted Knowledge | Composition of the Sensibilities of Melted Knowledge | |
2007 | Body of Consciousness / Uguiya to Jeep by Iguana Greenwave | Nirvana |
Malanyang Nirvana Safari | ||
Peyote Cactus Rituals | Peyote Cactus Rituals | |
Slippery Beach Trashed Gamelan | Splash | |
Prelude to Diminishing Forms | Sky and Mirrorbalm in Preparation for Deja Vu | |
2008 | D.M.T | D.M.T |
Infrared Roots | ||
Chameleon Ballet | K2 | |
Dianetic Biodome | ||
Encino Man: Cryogenic Awakening | ||
Silicon Oasis | ||
Alternative Soundtrack to "Digital Overdrive" | Liquid Metal | |
Symbio Dome | Symbio Dome |
Mixtapes
Year | Title | Alias released under |
---|---|---|
2011 | Inhale C-4 $$$$$ | BEBETUNE$ |
2014 | Suki Girlz | User703918785 |
Extended plays
Year | Title | Alias released under |
---|---|---|
2005 | Menstrual Chinese Dream | Menstrual Chinese Dream |
Boiling the Animal in the Sky | The Wooden Cupboard | |
Palm Reading in the Sacred Universe Wilderness | ||
Animals Speak the Spirit Tongue | ||
2007 | Observatory cg II & III (Coconut of Teotihuacan) | Arecaceae |
References
- ^ Johnson, Jason (October 14, 2013). "Experimental musician James Ferraro on his new album and its relationship with GTA V". Kill Screen. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, Paul. "Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ^ Advisor, Resident. "RA: James Ferraro".
{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help) - ^ "2011 Rewind Chart: Top 50 Releases of the Year - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
- ^ Farrar, Justin F. "Into the Mystic". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g Snodgrass, Catlin (October 16, 2013). "James Ferraro". Bomb. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Interview: James Ferraro And His Music Multiverse", Red Bull Music Academy, March 6, 2012, archived from the original on June 28, 2013, retrieved March 10, 2013
- ^ a b Allan, Ruth (July 6, 2012). "James Ferraro: Bodyguard". Dazed. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- ^ Music review: Replica from Oneohtrix Point Never and James Ferraro's Far Side Virtual-World Socialist Web Site
- ^ "James Ferraro Talks Phases, Fads and Fidget Spinners". 8 August 2017.
- ^ "Troll | James Ferraro". 26 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
- ^ "James Ferraro presents: Plague transmediale festival 2018".
- ^ a b "Q&A: James Ferraro On NYC's Hidden Darkness, Musical Sincerity, And Being Called "The God Of Vaporwave"". 11 October 2013.
- Pitchfork. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
- ^ Bowe, Miles (October 13, 2013). "Q&A: James Ferraro On NYC's Hidden Darkness, Musical Sincerity, And Being Called "The God Of Vaporwave"". Stereogum. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- ^ Beks, Ash. "Vaporwave is not dead". The Essential. The Essential. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ Keenan, Dave (2009). "Childhood's End". The Wire. No. 306.
- ^ Grandy, Eric. "Triumph of the Chill". The Stranger. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g Grunenberg, Robert. "James Ferraro and Mall Aesthetics". Ssense. Retrieved March 26, 2017.