james ferraro and the corporeality of "other" worlds: a retrospective breakdown of the jarvid 9 series

"things need to burn in order to be renewed. i think that's what makes it more intense: that yearly land is prevented from burning. i think there should be some artificial setting of fires." 

- james ferraro (interview with the wire, 2018)

cyborg lizards, pyramid cultures, xenocivilisational decline, a eulogy for the real—these are four descriptors that i feel perfectly encapsulate the motifs conveyed in james ferraro’s jarvid 9 series, a trilogy of double-sided albums that one can only describe as alien recordings through a nokia 8310 microphone, registering sounds from a tropical world at the other end of the universe, where enlightened ophidians function in non-linear time, living at the beginning of a new world, a second chance at a positive trajectory of life. the soundscapes present in these tapes are like artifacts brought back, courtesy of james, from the very abode of seraphim. 

the jarvid 9 series was dropped on april 12th, 2009 as three separate albums: jarvid 9: kava jar race, jarvid 9: gecko, and jarvid 9: flushpipe. there is no official order of listening since there has been no specified release time for each of the albums. released in cd-r format, the units contained an album tracklist written in an alien script along with descriptions.

cover art for jarvid 9: gecko

gecko is the most fun listen in the series. with no place to rest, there is a constant air of stimulation filled with croaks and conversations accompanied by an atmosphere that would neatly describe what dense rainforests on pluto would sound like with all its non terrestrial flora and fauna. intricate arrangements and creative pacing and placement of relics throughout its runtime makes this the heart of the trilogy.

cover art for jarvid 9: kava jar race

kava jar race feels like a sort of middle point of ideas between gecko and flushpipe, with the same dizzying assault of alien atmospheres and sounds found on gecko along with the colder and more industrial sounds found on flushpipe. the second side of the album features one of the most meditative and beautiful ambient tracks ive ever heard at over thirty minutes long, with enough progression involving newer elements that seamlessly integrate into the lead loop.

cover art for jarvid 9: flushpipe

flushpipe is the desertification of the world that resided in gecko, with life still around albeit on a planet much more arid and dry, and populated by specters that perform in an orchestra solely comprised of jovian jew's harps. although not as lively as its two sibling tapes, flushpipe's soundscapes oozes an almost fading sense of vitality without losing any of its wonder and intrigue.

the three tapes are united by an almost tribal ambient aesthetic with lizard vocalizations, warped croaks, throat singing, drone music, and field recordings, all of which are condensed into something entirely extraterrestrial. with such variety, ferraro manages to craft some of the most cohesive and transportive soundscapes out there. every minute of music here feels like it channels a sort of intent and purpose, part of a greater grand narrative that ferraro is attempting to portray through these three tapes. i have always been intrigued by what the albums are about. what are they trying to tell me? surely a work of art this dense in detail and esotericism must mean something, or maybe the joke is that it doesn't. 

cover art for clear

with a lot of ferraro's recent output dealing with themes of ecocide and consumerism, i feel that the sequence of gecko, kava jar race, and then flush pipe makes perfect sense in the context of technological progress and the consequences of accompanying natural calamity, from the sound to even the album covers. gecko starts of as a lush world ruled by reptilians practicing a rudimentary form of culture. this then devolves into the world on the cover of kava jar, more barren and now occupied by primates who appear to have developed a more advanced culture as displayed in their more elaborate attire, accompanied by more pyramids in the backdrop. finally, in the world of flushpipe, we reach a proper desert world, populated now only by metallic relics and giger-esque biomechanical characters. [the pyramids move ever closer to the frame, probably alluding to an irreconcilable and inverse relationship between technological progress and the state of the natural world]...[the pyramids also appear in the album art for clear]

liner notes for the skaters' physicalities of the sensibilites of ingrediential stairways, a precursor to the approach of the albums that followed in 2009 including the jarvid 9 trilogy

one clue as to the headspace ferraro was in when making these albums comes in the description of his summer headrest series released in the same year. 

"the series is loosely based on visualizations that came to mind while receiving self induced hypocapnia or as it's commonly called ''free fall'' the albums being representatives of the free fall head space". 

- james ferraro

hypocapnia is a state of decreased CO2 content in the bloodstream, which in extreme cases can be fatal. usually accompanied by muscle pains and dizziness, the induced state of mind which ferraro describes as free fall (from which he sourced visualizations for these albums) seems to be one absolutely disconnected from normal experience. surreal and strange visions that ferraro no doubt used as an inspiration for his work around this time. this process of using experiences in atypical states of mind to draw inspiration for art is very reminiscent of salvador dali’s sleep technique, a self induced awakening during the n1 stage of sleep, where for a brief period of time one can experience the unbridled creativity of the subconscious, lending to the unreal dream like qualities of dalis paintings (an observation that is perfectly applicable to much of ferraro's vast body of work).

sketch of a conventional mason lodge floor (whose symbolism explained here)

ferraro's sustained obscurity throughout his career (especially with regard to his lo-fi era in the 2000's) has given us very few sources/interviews dealing with his music before the release of far side virtual. but with the available information that does exist online, i thought i'd breakdown my opinions on what this album is attempting to do. to begin with, the name jarvid 9 is most likely a play on the fictional device call jarvik 9, found in david foster wallace's infinite jest. the jarvik 9 is actually based on a real life device called the jarvik 7 (an artificial heart). this choice of name with an intentional misspelling leaves me with the impression that james intended this series to be a sort of vague reflection on post-human life, and how the artificial prolonging of our bodies affects our search for meaning and our perception of time and every day experience itself. 

liner notes for jarvid 9: gecko

another theory about the relevance of the periods and the concept of the cyclical nature of time recently occurred to me after reading the descriptor behind the disc of kava jar race: "jarva jarva headplug in; finger prints plug into headstream of déjà vu through the desert sands of jarvid 9 into time tracks of red earth download memory of fossils underneath the desert sands of jarvid 9". deja vu, time tracks, memory of fossils...i think the pyramids also allude to the fact that the story that unfolds across the three albums is not unique, it has happened before, with the pyramids as relics of the rise and decline of such civilizations in the past. the planet, like the fictional device it's named after gives us second chances. but all civilizations suffer from a serious case of historical amnesia. like the fossils before them, the morals and lessons learnt by our predecessors are also buried under the ground alongside them. the cycle will continue, the pyramids but mere relics of a forgotten lesson. but we need not worry for jarvid 9 will give us a second chance cause she loves us so [and to love is to forget].

liner notes for jarvid 9: kava jar race

what does it mean to be finite? what would it be to live without time? how would an eternity without decay feel like? however, like all of ferraro's albums, there never is one solid message. rather, they are accompanied by an array of varying themes that are loosely tied together by a unifying idea, constantly shuffling through and bouncing off of each other, which leaves the listener with an overarching idea of what a combination of all that has been conveyed would look like. 

liner notes for jarvid 9: flushpipe

the album art on all 3 disks is... strange (a common adjective you will come across when describing pretty much anything ferraro comes into contact with). collage's containing pyramids in the distant background present in each of them, we notice characters wearing masks of a hominid resemblance, strange robes, and uncanny artifacts. i was unsuccessful when looking for a source for all of these pictures; with an almost photorealistic quality apparent in them, i had deliberated on whether these were stills from some obscure piece of lost media. but one clue i unearthed in my search was when i came across the cover art for juri linas book on freemasonry titled "the architects of deception" (published in 2004) and its striking similarity to the album art in genie head gas in the tower of dreams (jesters midnight toys), an album ferraro released in early 2009. both illustrations feature checkered tiled floors, masked figures that look like jesters, and an overtly surreal background containing odd combinations of objects, textures, and characters. 

going through the freemasonic art archives online, some of the inspirations seemed pretty blunt. although there weren't any mask-wearing figures in the image of the ones present in the jarvid artwork, the underscoring of distant pyramids, vaults, and similarly strange combinations of objects has convinced me that ferraro was definitely aware of freemason aesthetics during the creation of the albums, and it would not be farfetched to assume he incorporated these elements into his world-building and aesthetic vision for jarvid. 

1. cover art for the architects of deception by juri lina (left)  2. cover art for genie head gas in the tower of dreams (jesters midnight toys) (right)

the mystique surrounding the album begins with the occult references in the artwork (like many of ferraros other album covers); in this regard, i was immediately reminded of the weirdness in yabujin's work and his own world-building, using obscure and seemingly random combinations of cultural artifacts, numerology, and references to construct his larger narrative of azeroy. but what can one make of these strange fictional worlds that are seemingly impenetrable to anyone outside the artist, who alone is privy to the true meaning of their creation? james once described his creative intentions in an interview with the skaters (a duo act with longtime colleague spencer clark): 

“the inside and the outside at the same time,” and in the process, experiencing what ferraro calls “private imaginations.”

photos of james ferraro (left) and Spencer clark (right) taken for the childhoods end issue by the wire, june 2010

this is where the concept of hypersigils came to mind. i first came across the concept in an online thread discussing reality breaking, back when i read up on william burroughs' cut-up technique as a tool for time hacking. the term was first coined by comic book author grant morrison, who created and employed the concept when writing the invisibles (he expands upon this in a text called pop magic). morrison shares how the hypersigil manifested changes in his life when he identified himself absolutely and obsessively inside the fictional narrative he created for the story. morrison defines it as such:

"the 'hypersigil' or 'supersigil' develops the sigil concept beyond the static image and incorporates elements such as characterization, drama, and plot. the hypersigil is a sigil extended through the fourth dimension. the hypersigil is an immensely powerful and sometimes dangerous method for actually altering reality in accordance with intent."

- grant morrison

excerpts from pop magic by grant Morrison

hypersigils are objects that contain fictional or semi-fictional narratives, and the creator identifies themselves as a conduit for the impressions these ideas contain, which over time translate themselves to changes in the "real world." the implication is that, with enough identification and obsession imparted towards fiction, one can quite literally make it not-fiction. the theory that jarvid 9 functions as one such narrative purposed as a reality-creating machine was further vindicated when i found this quote from ferraro in an interview for the august 2009 issue of the wire:

"for the past few years of my life, i have become increasingly aware of how the worlds you can create in a CD can, on a larger scale, be applied to life; that dreams can come true in every sense that you imagine them to be; that there are no limits in life, which is the temple of materializing dreams. not just the cover art, but my albums in their entirety have become sigils in a personal sense, in that they help structure the world around my head matrix." 

1. vault between pyramids by norbert bittner (left) 2. liner notes for "dreams" (center) 3. illustration of an atlantean temple (right)

what's mind-blowing is the absolute clarity and immersion the music offers, even with its tinnitus-inducing moments of low fidelity, so that a listener who has no idea of the true vision and scale inside ferraro’s mind can appreciate the strange beauty of a world that never has, does not, and never will exist to us. one trait of the series that i believe aids in reinforcing the unreality of the worlds that ferraro attempts to build in these songs is the fact that all of them express a dialectic of the far future and the distant past, where every moment in these tracks finds a way to express these two in a novel way. 

the symbolism behind apes in freemasonry sourced from here 

similar to frank herbert's dune series, where themes such as space travel and multi-planetary civilization are convincingly wedded with past civilizational relics like monarchist empires, physical combat without artillery, and the absence of computers. with his trademark elements of early new age incorporated, the music becomes non-linear in sonic themes and structures which we usually associate with art from various periods. splicing and combing timelines that shouldn't be anywhere near each other, and combined in a way that makes the music truly timeless. another quote from the same interview illustrates ferraros intent with his music here, a tool that immerses one in both its music and art as a kind of transportive machine to another world: 

images used for illustrative purposes, source unknown

"trying to download someone else's headspace—sometimes the most extreme being that of a virtual celeb image—opened up different aspects of consciousness, life potential, and interactions beyond my wildest dreams. i try and bring this to fans of my music via the albums, hoping that the listener will tap into the different worlds represented through the two-step flow of cover art observation to it, then opening up in multiple dimensions through the music joining in, in a progression, to create a virtual reality experience, thereby tapping into their own dream or our dream." 

- james ferraro

i think it’s obvious to conclude that the series was envisioned as an audiovisual experience of sorts, one that takes place in our heads and where our subconscious creates narratives based on the image we're presented with and aided by the audio contained within. the exact world that is eventually created will eventually be subjective to the audience of his work.

where the absurdist nature of ferraros post-2010 material dealing with consumerism, ecocide, and a whole host of themes that delve into the strangeness of the human condition in a world conditioned and run by capital takes center stage, most of his lo-fi era work, and in particular the jarvid 9 series, emanate a strongly occult vibe. what does it mean to escape reality or to change it in a way that would seem defiant to the current order of understanding and reason? besides the surface-level similarity to strains of chaos magick, there is an ever-present air of disassociation that has been translated into sounds that embody the ethereal and the terrifying. 

"we do not understand what real disruption means. disruption is destruction in order to create. but who understands this?" 

- gurdjieff 

one can at times quite literally feel the indescribableness of what james had in mind when making this, and i think that is what makes this whole series a spectacular moment in music. no metaphor or comparison does justice to what is expressed in those few minutes of peak weirdness and calms. it's neither scary nor inviting, neither ugly nor beautiful; rather, it is all these oppositions with vast chasms between them presented simultaneously, creating something entirely transcendental.

at 9 hours long, this behemoth of a series is daunting to even the most devout ferraro fans, but beyond the haze and hisses of the low-fidelity recordings found here, you are greeted to worlds that are revelations in sound. the albums are as strange and inaccessible, as they are profoundly alluring and unfamiliar in a way that provokes us to enter the tropical desert worlds outside our solar system, and roll down the hills in a state of pure elation.