New Jersey psych-pop outfit Ducktails (better known as Matt Mondanile of Real Estate) have announced a brand new full-length. St. Catherine arrives July 24 via Domino.
The record features guest appearances from Julia Holter (on the songs “Church” and “Heaven’s Room”) and James Ferraro, who is featured on the album’s lead single “Headbanging in the Mirror,” which you can stream below.
St. Catherine tracklisting:
01. The Disney Afternoon
02. Headbanging in the Mirror
03. Into the Sky
04. Heaven’s Room
05. St. Catherine
06. The Laughing Woman
07. Surreal Exposure
08. Church
09. Medieval
10. Krumme Lanke
11. Reprise
If you’re at all familiar with the American Underground “Post-Noise” scene of the 2000s, James Ferraro is a name you’ve likely heard of. On the outside world, however, throughout all the dusty cassette tapes, scratched CD-Rs, and limited-edition vinyl pressings, he isn’t that well known. If you’ve never heard this guy’s music or even heard his name before, then this may come as a bit of a shock to you: Ferraro is without a doubt one of the greatest, most prolific, and most intriguing artists in music history. Here’s why:
The following is an apt description of both his musical aesthetic and his Twitter feed: spontaneous, absolutely hilarious, and fascinatingly absurd. These elements are the solid foundation of his sound, in which electronic themes are taken and warped to create an atmosphere of eerie nostalgia. One thing you need to know about Ferraro (who was born in Rochester, New York and currently resides in Venice, California) is that he’s released a shit-ton of albums: roughly 110 since beginning his extremely prolific musical career in the mid-2000s. Ferraro started out lo-fi, releasing several upon several limited-edition cassette tapes of distant ambient drones and new-age tribal exotica (usually in a single year). In 2011, he introduced a dramatic change in sound with what is possibly his most well known release: Far Side Virtual–released on the Hippos in Tanks label as a limited-edition vinyl pressing and often hailed as one of the first vaporwave releases (as well as being chosen for Album of the Year by the UK’s Wire Magazine). However, beyond all the cheesy MIDI synths and parodies of “Google culture,” you’ll find that Ferraro’s discography goes much further back than that.
Of the several he was a member of, one of Ferraro’s most prominent bands before delving into a solo career was the lo-fi noise/drone group The Skaters–comprised of him and New Age Tapes founder Spencer Clark, who released many of Ferraro’s later tapes on said label. The duo released a total of 34 albums before going on hiatus in 2008. Many of the highlights from their discography–including 2004′s Dark Rye Bread and the folk-influenced Rippling Whispers, 2005′s Pavilionous Miracles of Circular Facet Dice, and 2008′s Physicalities of the Sensibilities of Ingrediential Stairways–are usually analog-recorded tapes which include choir-like vocal harmonies from both Ferraro and Clark and infinitely looped electronic drones which lull you into a state of lo-fi bliss. Ferraro’s 2005 project Acid Eagle is the most similar to his old band, obtaining and orchestrating a similar “post-something” aesthetic.
In 2006, Ferraro claimed the alias Lamborghini Crystal in which–over the course of 10 albums in just two years– he churned out incredibly absurd yet memorable compositions of Carl Perkins-esque rockabilly. The project’s debut, 1992 Cool Runnings, is probably the most nostalgic of Lamborghini’s bunch: The cover art features an ‘80s action-hero man with a light mustache and sunglasses, with–but of course–a crude cartoon drawing of Slimer from Ghostbusters on top of his head. This is easily the basis for Ferraro’s pre-2011 musical sound. He combined obscure and cringe-worthy pieces of ‘80s and ‘90s memorabilia in both his album covers and music and turned them into something of an artifact: a piece of both audible and visual aesthetic that transformed the way he look at nostalgic art. If anything, Ferraro’s pre-2011 albums made us nostalgic for things that we never experienced.
The rest of Lamborghini Crystal’s discography (including 2007′s excellent compilation Alien Microwave and 2009′s final Live at Slimer Beach) is a good starting point before delving into any of his related side projects and several different aliases. Overall, these albums sounded like an improved version of his one-off 2004 tape Cruisin’ the Nightbiker Strip 1977 (hard to find on cassette, but if you manage to discover a ripped copy online, it’s worth the listen). The Lamborghini Crystal sound served as a great stepping-stone to James’s solo career. His first official full-length released under his real name was 2007′s Alternative Soundtrack to: Scream in Blue Surf Video: a 45-minute excursion through surf-rock-esque guitar riffs and colorful sound effects that sound like they were sampled from a local arcade. Upon listening to it, you’ll probably be reminded of some surf-oriented video game from your youth. For me, this is the perfect lost soundtrack to Wave Race 64 or something along those lines. The album’s sound is completely mesmerizing–incorporating aquatic ambient drones with atmospheric guitar licks.
Ferraro’s early sound could easily be compared to that of Ariel Pink. However, despite both being pioneers of the “hypnagogic pop” genre–they’re two wildly different artists. If anything, I would say Ferraro’s aesthetic is much more appealing than Ariel’s for one reason and one reason only: James seems to rely on personal childhood memories and lost psychedelic sounds rather than producing much of said aesthetic as a cheap gimmick. His music sounds genuine, honest and incredibly skilled in its performances.
2008 saw the rise of Ferraro’s ambient releases, taking notes from several ‘80s new age albums and–most evidently–Brian Eno. The two sister albums, Clear and Discovery, were both initially pressed as CD-Rs but were later re-released on vinyl. These pair of albums are one of the greatest examples of Ferraro’s tendency to venture off into unknown territory: the dreamy lo-fi synths which swirl around into pools of aquatic drones use the naturalistic themes and tribal drums as their backdrop. Shortly following these two releases came one of Ferraro’s most obvious and well known masterpieces. Marble Surf–comprised of two tracks which both span 19 minutes long–is one of the greatest albums of the 2000s. The opening synth riff on “Memory Theater” sounds like the soundtrack to a tutorial video on how to use an Apple IIc computer: it’s a soothing slice of electronic heaven that washes over you like endless waves of synthesizer and cheapened melody. Some of the most gorgeous choir vocals you’ll ever hear are soon introduced into the mix, giving the song a strong balance of both atmosphere and audible sensation.
Throughout all of the incredibly lo-fi electronic and rock sounds that James produced back in the day, evidently mixed in with booming drones and distant vocal harmonies, the thought occurs: How did James record all of this? The real answer is: I don’t know. Nobody seems to know. Even many of Ferraro’s close colleagues and collaborators don’t seem to know. Ferraro cleverly keeps his pre-2011 music beneath a cool shadow of mystery, ever-so attributing to much of his musical aesthetic that was apparent on earlier albums. Albeit, there are some rumors built by his small yet loyal fan base: some of his obscure exotica and tribal records that he released under several different aliases were recorded in mysterious caves in Mexico. People have also guessed that in order to achieve his stunningly lo-fi sound, you have to take the original analog recordings and difficultly loop and delay them endlessly to nail the canned sound. Whether or not these myths may be true (that last one doesn’t sound too far off), one of Ferraro’s greatest strengths of his pre-2011 sound was his obscurity in both absurd visuals and homemade tape music.
2008 also delivered another milestone in James’s discography: The masterful Last American Hero / Adrenaline’s End. The original pressing was on cassette through the Dreamtime Taped Sounds label, and the cover art of that release was a low-resolution photo of two NASCAR racers standing in the desert. If things couldn’t get more absurd, the 2010 limited-edition vinyl reissue on Olde English Spelling Bee featured an overt photograph of the outside of a Best Buy store with the logo of courtroom TV series Judge Judy in the lower-left corner. On paper, this may all sound incredibly silly. However, when paired with the excellent music contained within the cover art, the album’s aesthetic eventually becomes clear.
When you have some spare time, sit down and listen to Last American Hero (preferably the remastered 2010 vinyl reissue). This is the sound of American greed and capitalism. The sound of a middle-aged man sporting a baseball cap driving his F-150 down to the nearest Costco. The sound of you patiently waiting on a curb for him as he’s inside. The sound of consumption and wealth. Last American Hero is not only one of the greatest examples of musical aesthetic and prowess, but it’s also one of the greatest examples of Ferraro using his sound as one of his strongest artistic tools.
Things soon became stranger, weirder, and more aesthetically-driven in Ferraro’s discography. The following releases helped close out and define the musical era of his pre-2011 sound: The two-part Body Fusion series, Hacker Track, iAsia, the Jarvid 9 series, the Rerex series, Son of Dracula, Wild World, Heaven’s Gate, Edward Flex Presents: Do You Believe in Hawaii?, and KFC City 3099: Pt.1 Toxic Spill. That simple roll call doesn’t even scratch the surface of Ferraro’s 2009 output (yes, all of those albums were released in the same year), yet it’s a pretty solid summary for anyone looking to dive even deeper into the musical madness of Ferraro’s world.
Before introducing all of us to vaporwave in 2011 and releasing a string of relatively strange alt-R&B and trap-flavored SoundCloud albums and EPs shortly after, Ferraro reached the creative peak of his early sound and helped clarify it in the most wonderful way possible. The four albums he released in 2010–Feed Me, On Air, Pixarni, and Night Dolls With Hairspray–were all influenced by ‘70s progressive electronic music and ‘50s rock & roll. On Air is the most prime example of this musical fascination: The spacey, alien-like Tangerine Dream synths which cohesively connect each song are the album’s solid foundation. On more upbeat and not-so absurd moments such as the title track, we see Ferraro delivering his best Elvis Presley vocal impersonation–the results are both hilarious and amazing. It’s albums such as these that you soon forget that Ferraro really does record everything you hear by himself.
Night Dolls With Hairspray can be seen as the grand finale to his lo-fi era: The album combines gooey glam punk with obscure yet inviting sound collage. It’s like re-watching old episodes of Saved by the Bell on VHS: you realize that you’re not particularly proud of where you are at this exact moment, yet you’re taking in every bit of late ‘80s/early ‘90s nostalgia that comes your way. The solid guitar riffs featured on Night Dolls showcase a form of DIY expression in the same way that R. Stevie Moore or Sparks taught us. To put it simply: if Night Dolls were released sometime in the ‘70s it would be hailed as a pop punk classic today. It would have been played by teenagers during lunch break at high schools across the nation, with a group of kids passionately shouting the lines: “Leather high school!”. Stunningly, however, the album was in fact released just 5 years ago. Possibly, Ferraro created a design of audible and visual aesthetic on his early albums that gave them a grand illusion–in which they sounded much, much older than they actually are. Night Dolls was both the defining moment and ending of Ferraro’s lo-fi era. He sadly abandoned it in the coming months, replacing the haunting electronic sounds and nostalgic rock riffs with hip-hop-inspired instrumentals and horribly sung R&B vocals on albums such as 2013′s Cold mixtape and the 9/11-influenced NYC, Hell 3:00AM released not soon after.
Although his early work is much more impressive than his most recent output, James Ferraro–the artist, the composer, the man, the legend–is a true genius in his own right. Rarely has any musician in all of music history been able to achieve what Ferraro has achieved in just roughly 10 years. His lo-fi era contained sounds that couldn’t have possibly been made by any other human being. After countless releases of lo-fi avant-garde experimentation he spontaneously abandoned it for the capitalized and almost satirical sound of lazy Ableton-produced electronica. For the strong following that he does have, this sudden change-up didn’t seem to anger his fans. In fact, it made them appreciate Ferraro even more as a musician. James has the brilliant and rare ability as an artist to do whatever the hell he wants without a worry in the world. Because he’s a relatively obscure name in the music world, both him and his music is something of a rarity. Many years down the road, James Ferraro will be remembered as one of the most original, prolific, and masterful musicians of our generation. It’s just a shame that, as of right now, not that many people can remember the name.