James Ferraro – Night Dolls with Hairspray (2010, Olde English Spelling Bee)
In the future I will be reviewing albums that we actually like. This album was merely interesting to review.
Click To Read Review
If you are looking for top of the line studio production, this LP is not for you. Rather, the charm of this album is recognized in its warped, deteriorating, VHS playbacks transcribed into mangled pop songs. A stream of artists have reconnected with various personalization of lo-fi recording methods over the years covering a diversity of styles such as the chilled slowed down samples of 80’s Italian disco in Washed Out, the echoing R&B of How to Dress Well, and the strange pop creations of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to name a few. A striking similarity can be made from this record to Ariel Pink’s approach in bridging this “low quality” recording style with odd vocals and humor. And although it may be lacking in accessibility compared to “Before Today,” it remains true to its themes regardless if it impresses anyone at all. Such examples are evident throughout the entire album, especially on “Roses and Mystery” in which blown out instruments mimic two blocks of Styrofoam rubbed together from inside your speakers.
This entire LP is likely to confuse and irritate those drawn to conventional album form. There are no in depth thoughts of song to song transitions to behold here, but rather a hurried collection of twisted nostalgia for a decade three generations old. Obvious references include track titles such as, “Brittney’s Gum, Leather High School, and Buffy Honkerburger’s Answering Machine,” that in combination with the music, resurface into melted pop depictions of 80s youth iconography. Such influences might include commercial jingles for kids’ action figures, living in a room of old pizza boxes, saved by the bell, acid wash jeans, and skateboarding on a bad mix of drugs. This idea of iconography as well as the recording process can be likened to Daniel Johnston’s child like sense of musicianship, in which songs are created with a press record and play mentality: tape hiss, imperfections and all. There is a sense of intentional immaturity exemplified in song concepts like “a principal wearing panty hose under his suit, roaches watching TV, and a killer nerd with green hair,” that glorify a form of hyper-materialized teen angst.
Even the physical form of James Ferraro accurately mirrors this impression of patchwork 80s throwback, with unkempt mustache/afro; sporting an Easter-pastel sweatshirt and windbreaker. Is this even a real person??? (Look below for picture). And although this careful consideration for the overall package is most definitely genuine, there is a sense of unnerving mania and that rules over this entire claustrophobic recording. It is my understanding that this attitude is intended to be overbearing in order to hook or even deter its listener. However, despite its over the top efforts, there are fleeting senses of enjoyment recognized such as one particular thirty second clip beginning at 3:20 on “Radio Cherubs,” in which a guitar riff breaks shining among the midst of VHS cut and paste arrangements. The song title in itself praises the love of radio, the ephemeral routine of hearing pop song after pop song, and honoring the process of making mix tapes and sharing them with close friends.
Sounds like: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Daniel Johnston
Picture of James Ferraro - http://oregonmusicnews.com/files/2009/12/JamesFerraro.jpg
Promo video - http://vimeo.com/16364008
No comments:
Post a Comment