''Skid Row'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

electronic musician Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

James Ferraro James Ferraro (born November 7, 1986) is an American experimental musician, producer, composer, and contemporary artist. He has been credited as a pioneer of the 21st century genres hypnagogic pop and vaporwave, with his work exploring themes rel ...

, released on November 13, 2015 by Break World Records. Lyrically, it had previously existed as a series of poems before it turned into a set of lyrics for an album named after the crime-and-poverty-heavy

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area

Skid Row A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...

. It is the Los Angeles counterpart to Ferraro's previous studio effort '' NYC, Hell 3:00 AM'' (2013). Its sound palette includes elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, news reports,

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

and 1980s

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

. The album garnered generally positive reviews upon its release.

Recording and concept

When James Ferraro was raised in the early 1990s, his mother lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and his father in

. While traveling back and forth to these homes every few years or less, he noticed the difference of trends and cultures that took place in the cities he went through, describing the experience as "like the internet before the internet had really evolved."Barry, Robert (November 24, 2015)
"James Ferraro On His New Album, An Imaginary Film About The War Zone of LA Life"
''THUMP''.

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

. Retrieved January 21, 2017. ''Skid Row'' is a follow-up and the Los Angeles equivalent to Ferraro's previous LP '' NYC, Hell 3:00 AM'' (2013), a

Hippos in Tanks Hippos in Tanks was a record label founded in 2010 by Barron Machat and Travis Woolsey. The label specialized in electronic music. It was named the best label of 2011 by ''FACT (United Kingdom magazine), FACT''. Following the death of Machat in 2 ...

release that was about the unwholesome part of New York City Ferraro saw that was unknown to most of the world and "a surreal psychological sculpture of American decay and confusion" as Ferraro described. One time, when visiting the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

to meet a friend, Ferraro was authorized to use the

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

therapy software Bravemind, which is normally used by war veterans to re-experience traumatic war events in order to relieve severe symptoms of

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

. He described the virtual area he viewed as "lifeless and really void," and it inspired him to create the three-track

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''War'' (2015) shortly after using the software, around the same time he began writing ''Skid Row''. The experience with Bravemind painted the mood of the album that Ferraro conceived, saying that his Los Angeles experiences felt like a

hyperreal Hyperreal may refer to: * Hyperreal numbers, an extension of the real numbers in mathematics that are used in non-standard analysis * Hyperreal.org, a rave culture website based in San Francisco, US * Hyperreality, a term used in semiotics and po ...

war zone or a "psychic battlefield". ''Skid Row'' is about the city's relation to how the media dramatizes information about topics like the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

and the 1994 O. J. Simpson trial. Some parts of Los Angeles he saw are used on the record as metaphors, such as burning

Toyota Prius The is a Compact car, compact/small family car, small family liftback (supermini/subcompact sedan (car), sedan until 2003) produced by Toyota. The Prius has a Hybrid vehicle drivetrain, hybrid drivetrain, combined with an internal combustion ...

cars, showcasing how

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

have caused people to ruin climate. The album is interlaced with samples from

online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of th ...

commercials, a take on the culture of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

according to ''God Is in the TV''. In the tradition of making most of Ferraro's records where he imagined an album as being a stage play, film or opera, what would later be an album named after the crime-and-poverty-heavy Los Angeles area of

Friedlander, Emilie (September 24, 2015)
"James Ferraro Has a New Album Coming Out, and It's Called 'Skid Row'"
''THUMP''. Vice Media. Retrieved January 21, 2017. began as a series of poems named after ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...

'' (1984), a film set in Los Angeles. The films ''

Colors Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

'' (1988) and ''

Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube (in his film debut), Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fis ...

'' (1991) were influences throughout the whole writing process when he the turned the poems into album lyrics and changed the name to ''Skid Row''. As Ferraro said, "I kind of see it as if, you know when you go to a movie house, there's ''Colors'' and ''Boyz n the Hood'', and then there's ''Skid Row'', this weird B-movie from the time that nobody really saw." ''Skid Row'' was the second record in Ferraro's career where he produced in an actual studio. Ferraro said in an interview that "it's cool to be in an actual space that is just dedicated to you crafting this work. You really hone in icon certain things and spend more time being focused." One difference of making ''Skid Row'' from his previous releases is that the recording was done first before mixing instead of all at one time.

Music and sound

''Skid Row'' utilizes influences and sound palettes from Los Angeles' music culture, different from ''NYC, Hell 3:00 AM'' in the style of "cold and brittle"

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

.Raymer, Miles (November 16, 2015)
"James Ferraro: Skid Row"
''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''.

Conde Nast Conde is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Counts in Iberia *List of countships in Portugal Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a com ...

. Retrieved January 21, 2017. The online magazine ''God Is in the TV'' categorized the LP as a

vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

album due to its use of news snippets overlaid on top of each other, samples of

lounge music Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The ra ...

and

, slow track tempos, and 1980s

and

samples.Hobbs, Matt (December 30, 2015)
"James Ferraro – Skid Row (Break World Records)"
''God is in the TV''. Retrieved January 21, 2017. A ''

'' reviewer also noticed more

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

hooks in ''Skid Row'' than on ''NYC, Hell 3:00 AM'', which suggests that "he might be starting to come to terms with his innate pop talents, or it could just be a new tactic of dispensing hints of traditional pop pleasures into the gloom to keep his audience off balance." Ferraro's lead singing on ''Skid Row'' serve as an

internal monologue Intrapersonal communication (also known as autocommunication or inner speech) is communication with oneself or self-to-self communication. Examples are thinking to oneself "I will do better next time" after having made a mistake or imagining a ...

about the feeling of isolation while in a car, a vehicle that is a big part of the overall lifestyle of Los Angeles.Bulut, Selim (December 21, 2015)
"James Ferraro: “The amount of burning Priuses that I’ve seen in L.A. is pretty strange.”"
''Dummy''. Retrieved January 21, 2017. ''God is in the TV'' described his voice on the album as a "slowed-down

Maxi Jazz Maxwell Alexander Fraser (14 June 1957 – 23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 ...

" with occasional influences of

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

on tracks like "Sentinel Beast." Sonic aspects of the album are arranged to represent conflict associated with the city, and cinematic strings are played to enhance the movie-like feeling of the album.

Release and promotion

On September 24, 2015,

's electronic music publication ''THUMP'' premiered ''Skid Row'''s title track, and announced that the album would be released on November 13, 2015 through Break World Records. On November 15, ''Stereogum'' premiered the official video for “Thrash & Escalate," which Ferraro directed with Elsa Henderson. The video consists of white silhouettes of angels laid on erratically arranged footage of smog, factories and dark streets. Reviews of ''Skid Row'' were generally positive. A ''Pitchfork'' critic described the album as "solidly built cohesive" and "a worthy addition to the long line of punk albums about Los Angeles that render it as a city built on fantasy with a nihilistic streak that runs to its core." A review published in ''God Is in the TV'' spotlighted Ferraro's knowledge of Los Angeles which was unusual for a person who usually lives in New York, and described its "metallic"

chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a genre of hip-hop music and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and DJing. It was pioneered by DJ Screw, and became a staple in the ...

style as "idiosyncratic". A ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

'' review was put under the site's "EUREKA!" column, a section for albums "so incredible we just can't help but exclaim EUREKA!" The review described the album as "a sad, chaotic, asymmetrical report, but it's honest." ''Skid Row'' landed at number three on the publication's list of best albums of 2015.

Track listing

Release history

Notes

*A Even those some sources claim ''Skid Row'' to be Ferraro's first studio experience, he said in an October 2013 interview with ''

Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

'' magazine that with ''NYC, Hell 3:00 AM'', it was the first time he produced in a studio.Snodgrass, Catlin (October 16, 2013)
"James Ferraro"
. ''

''. New Arts Publications, Inc. Retrieved January 17, 2017.

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums James Ferraro albums