nono.stalgia Jammed. single artwork by Justin Ferrullo
Justin Ferrullo knows his new EP might not be around forever, and he’s okay with that. The three songs that make up the producer’s new release, titled Jammed., are built around samples cribbed from an MP3 blog — the blogger’s entire personal vinyl collection of obscure Japanese pop committed to digital file. For an electronic musician like Ferrullo this is a goldmine for the creation of outré samples. But at this prospect, the producer, who works under the name nono.stalgia, faces a problem: mine this stuff for all its sample-able glory but risk facing the wrath of a DMCA strike. Ferrullo knows that our current digital media landscape frowns upon this kind of line-skirting, but it’s part of what made it appealing to him.
The fact that this collection of songs exists at all is a surprise to its creator, who normally does not incorporate sampled sounds in his music. The discovery of this large, free library of music was reason enough, but the EP also serves as a statement on sampling itself. “Sampling is supposed to be a form of art that comes from having nothing to create with,” Ferrullo said. “What was once the cheapest form [of music making] is now the most expensive,” he said, referring to the high licensing fees required to clear a sample.
Frustrated with the difficulty of creating music through the proper channels, Ferrullo went ahead and did it anyway. “I was like ‘I’m going to put this out there with the full intent that I’m going to have to remove it,’” he said. The legal gray area these songs inhabit — illegally sourced but not yet found and removed by some authority — is the reason why they exist. They are the product of a liminal space. “It’s not something I’m trying to keep secret,” Ferrullo said. “There’s a very specific kind of openness I want to have with this usage of sampling.”
Beyond the Borgesian-as-fuck premise, the songs are actually really good. It sounds like chopped and screwed Bee Gees, or 70s night in Neo Tokyo. Action Bronson would say some really filthy things over these beats.
In regards to the moniker he’s chosen for himself, Ferrullo told me about the conception of “false nostalgia.” He explains: “It’s this idea that you may experience a fondness for a piece of culture that you have never experienced.” It’s sort of like nostalgia-by-proxy, basking in the warmth of a memory you never had. It is both chicken and egg. It’s feeling everything and nothing.
Jammed. is available now unless it isn’t. You can stream it on all major DSPs unless you can’t. You can find nono.stalgia on Twitter and Instagram unless you don’t.