James Ferraro : Far Side Virtual

Far Side Virtual is an album by James Ferraro, released digitally and on vinyl in 2011 by the label Hippos in Tanks. The album marked Ferraro’s transition from his previous style of lo-fi drone music toward a sharply produced electronic aesthetic. Far Side Virtual deliberately evokes the artificial style of corporate “elevator music“ and obsolete computer sounds. Ferraro said he first conceived of the album for release as a series of ringtones, and that listeners using songs from the album as ringtones is the completion of the project. The album engages with concepts of hyper-reality, simulacra, disposable consumer culture, 1990s retro-futurism, advertising and branding, pop art, and musical kitsch. Critics have found Ferraro’s attitude toward his themes ambiguous, depicting the modern world as both bleak dystopia and uncanny utopia. Far Side Virtual has been cited as one of the original catalysts of vaporwave, an underground electronic music movement that covers much of the same sonic and conceptual terri