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James Ferraro, Multitopia
James Ferraro , Multitopia [self-released CD-R]
» The Skaters’ James Ferraro seems to be on a completely different trip than most of his peers on the US psychedelic underground. While bands like Double Leopards and Robedoor, not to mention The Skaters, steep themselves in occultist mystique, James takes his inspiration from the tackier elements of pop culture. The Xeroxed back cover of Multitopia, one of a series of fresh CD-Rs released in Europe, depicts a bare-chested glamour model with James’s afro-rimmed face superimposed on top of her own, leaning against an arcade machine. Not a shaman or a sigil in sight.
The obsession with trashy pop culture manifests itself musically in Multitopia’s pseudo-M.O.R, Sunset Beach-style, synth-disco odysseys – the kind of pock-marked almost-there pop Ferraro explored on releases like Mavi Blackout and Dial 747-Creepozoid. As ever, the music stops short of being what it signifies. Its distorted, it lollops and stumbles, has moments of awkwardness where a drum loop extends beyonds the limits of a synth phrase; it’s pop that’s sick, crippled pop. This rubs up against mangled synth tone-float bliss-out, flat on its back with spiral eyes wide open, and a recurring musical motif; a cacophonous, clutterbunk ensemble of thuggishly thwacked roto-toms, drunken slurring organ chords and the random clanging of struck metal, sounding a little like a merry-go-round that’s spun itself off its axis and fallen apart at the seams, springs popping, unicorns on fire. All this is punctuated by TV and radio interjections: shopping channel "have a nice day" inanity, a newsflash reporting Howard Stern’s auction of a girl’s virginity, a woman’s voice asking “can that be real?”…
Multitopia is incredibly suggestive, the repetitions and juxtapositions so leading that you start trying to "decode" the music, to decipher its infernal logic. Such attempts at exegesis are always and inevitably red herrings, yet it is extraordinary how adept the music is at opening up channels of inquiry, sparking off chains of thought that send you burrowing deeper and deeper into it. Multitopia is not presented as a magical object and shuns the world of candles, midnight and the moon. Yet there is powerful magic at work nonetheless in the alchemical transformation of the cheap and nasty into music of infinite depth and richness.
Posted on October 17, 2008
More on: james ferraro, latest album & single releases, multitopia, review, skaters
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its important to know that james uses no samples in his music from other artist. he creates all of the sounds himself from scratch using old digital samplers/synths and weird keyboards and stuff blending things together. besides using some beavis and butthead straight of the T.V. I read in a italian magazine interview last week, it was cool to hear that because I was under the impression he sampled alot of his material, really adds a really cool dimension knowing that its all from scratch.he was being interviewed from his apartment in las vegas at the time september of last year. was asked about all the internet slamming and replied by saying he doesn't mind what people think "I imagine most of the people contributing to it to have some inner turmoil they have to get out and it just manifest itself in that way ," and as far as it being information, the writing is so bad, so sometimes I cant help but interpret what I read as a reflection of their own self hate, the words dissolve and its just the energy behind it, which appears to be pretty black, hopefully it doesn't spread to far out of the arena,but it seems completely natural for communication to evolve into this'' a lot of its okay with him though he goes on to say. he views it as ''a virtual cage of online persona crucifixions and those as "psychological throw downs" but he "loves a good roast'' and if it makes some one feel good until the next inability to cope with reality puts them in front of the computer thats cool with him. also from an aesthetic point of view he thinks it's really cool and makes it easier to understand t.v. shows like CSI LAS VEGAS and Survivor, it's like watching the central brain of a world on autopilot, and its cool to be in there somewhere. and ended with saying ''some times when the rage travels outside of the fun house people should just pull their own plug but you gotta let everyone have their fun, it's sadistic I love it! killer, seems like a cool guy to me, gonna go see em soon I hope in chicago spring tour I heard. take your shoes off you rule too! check em out
— jake crow on February 04, 2009