James Ferraro - NYC, Hell 3:00AM Album Review

By Joe Sherwood /

rating: 4

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As the computer-programmed voice intones the word 'money' over and over in the intro track, it becomes very clear where James Ferraro is hedging his bets with NYC, Hell 3:00AM. Even without this opening gambit, one could take a reasonable guess as to what Ferraro's latest album is dealing with: the name itself is quite telling, as is the QR code/hundred dollar bill artwork. Just as 2011's Far Side Virtual critiqued our times of hypermodernity, NYC, Hell 3:00AM is an examination of the troubles of Ferraro's locale (and indeed Western society on the whole), all communicated through his ever-oblique worldview. Ferraro has said he has found inspiration in "rats, metal landscape, toxic water, junkie friends, HIV billboards, evil news, luxury and unbound wealth, exclusivity, facelifts, romance, insane police presence and lonely people... all against the sinister vastness of Manhattan's alienating skyline" as well as from his own "demons", and this is reflected throughout the album in numerous ways. Monotone AppleSpeak voices frequently announce slogans and/or brand names, and snatches from what appears to be 9/11 TV coverage on "City Smells" add a surreally chilling dimension to the narrative of the album. Musically, Ferraro is continuing the deconstructed RnB approach of his mixtapes as Bebetune$/Bodyguard with NYC, Hell 3:00AM. While a project like inhale c-4 $$$$$ carried a certain humour in its blurred lines between pastiche and parody, this album is decidedly starker and bleaker in tone. Ferraro's untreated/treated murmur is present on a number of tracks, and at times he's almost despairing in tone. "These cigarettes give me cancer," he croons on "Cheek Bones", before crying out, "I don't wanna get cancer!" It's a plain message at face value, but in context it's a bizarrely disturbing viewpoint of society's vices; Ferraro asks "Who would die for you?", and the fact is that many people, including himself, would indeed die out of an addiction to cigarettes.Some of the samples on NYC, Hell 3:00AM are utilised in a way that is reminiscent of Ferraro's Hippos in Tanks stablemate Dean Blunt. Blunt's The Redeemer, released by the label earlier this year, took pop-rock samples from the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush, and used them as a looping backdrop to his manic tales of love and depression. Ferraro takes a similar approach on a number of tracks, albeit with soul samples. Second track "Fake Pain" juxtaposes a clean vocal fragment with a murky, downbeat instrumental and Ferraro's own AutoTuned voice. Elsewhere, tracks like "QR JR." echo the chugging ambience of Oneohtrix Point Never, but unlike Lopatin's glistening textures on R Plus Seven, NYC, Hell 3:00AM operates in a dark and dank atmosphere, which only goes to reinforce the thematic elements at the heart of the record. It has been rather apparent that since the release of Far Side Virtual, Ferraro has all but abandoned the woozy hypnagogia of his earlier recordings, and has instead taken to the alien sonics crafted by mechanical means. Is NYC, Hell 3:00AM something of an endgame for his hi-fi sound, or does it represent a new angle to his already confusing oeuvre? Only the man himself knows, but for now we have an album that is instantly gratifying yet near-infinite in depth, and it serves as even more proof of Ferraro's artistic genius.