MUSIC
PROUDEST EVER – FRESH KILL: A FEMALE FRONTED FUSION OF TRANSGRESSIVE SYNTH-POP PROG-ROCK
Posted on 26th February 2018

Proudest Ever’s debut track ‘Fresh Kill’ is harmonious Indie Synth Rock masterpiece that simply cannot be ignored. The New York based act was formed upon the melodic intellect of songwriters Kelly Jackson & Phil Maves; the ingenuity that they pour into each track creates some of the most succinct cacophonies of sound I’ve ever heard.

Fresh Kill is a female fronted Pop hit that any fans of the Riot Grrrl movement will want to take note of. Kelly’s voice and infectious attitude has a resemblance similar to acts such as Sleater Kinney, What Would Tilda Swinton Do, Le Tigre and Courtney Barnett. Then there’s the beat, which couldn’t be more perfect through its transgressions of Pop synth and prog-rock guitars. This emerging act won’t be around on the underground for long with their instantly iconic sound that exudes warmth with subtle angst infused in their passion for creating sensational sounds. - A&R Factory

The beauty of music is that it provides a respite from the gravitational forces & natural laws of our shared universe. Music itself is a mystic art that can quantified academically in fields of theorems & studies that all attempt to outline & map the genome of its ineffable aural aspect of being. Critics can attempt to contain the phenomenon in terms of semantic estimations that can only approximate its patterns by virtue of observation & subsequent tools of interpretation. NYC’s Proudest Ever creates music made in the key of life, arranging audio arts that imitate our existence in areas of emotion, endeavor & exchanges of thought. The duo of Kelly Jackson of Phil Maves expound upon their catalog from their days as Ferns, Phil’s work in Wild Decade & more to make a collection of work that combines honest humanism & warm humor to help us as a society find meaning in what can otherwise feel like a life tethered to the regiments & rheumatism of relentless daily routines.

Presenting the world premiere for Proudest Ever’s video for “Fresh Kill” directed by the duo’s own Kelly Jackson along with designer & artist Amber Zezeck. From indoor winter wallpaper backdrops, gothic garden patios & other assorted footage taken fresh from zoo exhibits; Proudest Ever play off of a motif of hunters & the hunted in a song about new awakenings & discoveries. Kelly & Phil take on the primal instincts that exist in both animals & humans in a cat & mouse paradigm that illustrates the gaming sports as something of a natural exchange passed down from the ancients. As the duo playfully engages in impromptu dance moves, tangling holiday lights & messing about with a colorful array of faux skulls; Proudest Ever juxtapose footage of wildlife (lions, tigers & bears & more, oh my!) engaging with their Homo sapien counterparts as Kelly’s lyrics create the narrative of a car chase between the prey & ensuing foe. Combining & comparing the ecosystem protocols from zoological species with that of our own begs questions about our own selves, our own state of evolution & more with the striking similarities we share with other entities in the food chain order. Kelly & Phil place the focus on the fierce attachments we sometimes share with others, questioning everything from concepts of care to civility & how our actions, affections & aggression affect one another. The perspective continues to move back & forth in the discourse of who is the hunter & who is the hunted that turns the dance of existence into the sport of the field & stream variety. - Impose Magazine

"Kelly Jackson reminds me so much of a less aggressive Cinder Block, and I love it. The feisty singer for Brooklyn’s post-punk indie quartet seems equally as neurotic in her performance for ‘Impulsive’ as Tilt did on “Viewers Like You” and “Til It Kills”, but, instead of shouting angrily and unapologetically, Kelly seems to have harnessed that energy and angst. She channels it into mature pop songs. It’s almost as if Tilt started all over again, 13 years later as adults — maybe with Karen O consulting? Regardless, I can’t thank Ferns enough for conjuring up the old memories I have of 12-year-old Andrew listening to Fat Wreck compilations on repeat, via that shit-awful single-disc boombox in my mom’s living room.

“Impulsive” comes from the band’s latest EP “Whatever We Plan,” which released over the winter and unfortunately overlooked by most of us. Check out their new video below and watch out for upcoming show dates in Brooklyn here." - Death and Taxes Mag

The energy of Ferns caught our attention around the time of their DIY video for "Impulsive", and today the band gets the full animated rendering in the debut of Jay Marks' video for "Surf Song". Based on concept drawings and sketches taken at one of the band's Brooklyn shows at Pianos, the group and their audience become part of their cartoon episode with a classic Pinocchio twist. An outspoken group of enthusiastic and multi-talented friends known to give us manifesto statements, we should have known that it was only a matter of time before they got the Jamie Hewlett-style Gorrillaz treatment.

Marks' video starts in the mellow way "Surf Song" eases its way into play, placed in the smoky bar setting. The audience enjoys stogies, pints, games of pool, and classic arcade racing games as Ferns' play it deceptively slow. As they shift into gear on the second verse, all hell is about to break lose as the venue sign gets switched around from, "come in, we're open" to red "beat it, we're closed." The animated avatars of Kelly, Kevin, Phil and Brandon bring down the house where the audience becomes possessed by the band's board busting boogie. As the concert goers become unruly and enraptured by the unleashed audio aggression of the band's sound and howls, things take a turn for the malevolent. While Ferns play on and louder in their cartoon environment, the crowd regresses into Lord of the Flies anarchy from spray painting their surroundings, sling shot delinquency, and more under the observance of a suspicious barkeep. Making literal jack-asses of themselves, the rowdy and untamed audience are ultimately transformed into donkeys, a la Pinocchio. Then as "Surf Song" reaches its frantic climax, the infamous Pleasure Island scene is revisited as the dizzying end leaves you wanting more cartoon capers from the Brooklyn quartet.

An already animated bunch, we are joined by Ferns' vocalist Kelly Jackson, guitarist Kevin Dedes, bassist Phil Maves, drummer Brandon Starniri and video animator, Jay Marks to talk about this wild, visual creation.

First of all, how does it feel to have become animated?

Kevin Dedes: Awesome! I’ve lost weight!

Phil Maves: Are you suggesting we’re a bit dull? I kid, I kid. Actually, it’s pretty incredible! Jay Marks directed the video, and he did a great job capturing an exaggerated version of the band.

Kelly Jackson: I think he did a great job of relaying our energy throughout.

Brandon Starniri: It inspired me to apply for CHiP.

How much of a role did you have in the concepts at work?

Kevin: I went to college with Jay, and we’ve worked together on different projects. He pitched the main idea to us and we just kind of did what he wanted. We were on board from the beginning and thought it was rad from the get go.

Phil: Our previous video, “Impulsive”, was a low-tech, DIY video that we filmed in our drummer Brandon’s living room and edited over a weekend. “Surf Song” was the polar opposite approach, and it was entirely Jay’s concept.

Kelly: Jay took pics of us at our show at Pianos for reference. I’m glad he got my red shoes in!

How long did this take to make?

Jay Marks: A few months, juggling it with other projects. The tricky but fun part was combining completely different approaches: the characters are all drawn by hand in the real world with pencil, then scanned in, colored, and animated on the computer, then placed into three dimensional environments that are rendered to look paintings or sketches.

Love how it turns into the Pinocchio goes to Pleasure Island cautionary tale, that is often called one of the most horrifying scenes in vintage animation. How did the multi-faceted fun of "Surf Song" turn into the donkey transfiguration epidemic?

Jay: It came from the vibe of the song. During the earlier, quieter parts I could picture Kelly singing in a smoky, dark venue, like a scene out of an old noir movie, and then when it kicks in and she's doing those crazy howls, I just imagined that same mysterious environment exploding into chaos as the band played on. Then the idea of mashing it up with a tribute to the classic Pleasure Island scene gave the whole thing a kind of sinister angle, like the band was hired as entertainment for the Pleasure Island bar and were complicit in the nightly abduction and transformation of the kids. Basically celebrating the idea of the music corrupting the youth, I suppose.

Kevin: I also like the notion of ‘surfing’ in this ‘mixed-up-crazy-topsy-turvy’ world. Once you’re here, you gotta navigate somehow, and hopefully not look like too much of a jackass.

Is this video a sort of ad council public service announcement to curb hedonistic vices to the tune of a song that incites a hedonistic feeling of raging and tearing the joint apart kind of thing?

Kevin: All of the above.

Phil: None of the above.

Kelly: I saw it to be reflective of the lyrical content, as the theme of what I wrote describes a Faustian situation that is hard to get out of.

Brandon: ... [sips whiskey]

What do Ferns have in store for 2014?

Kevin: New record! New shows! A MILLION BILLION DOLLARS.

Phil: A jump to the left and a step to the right.

Kelly: A subscription to “Boobs Monthly” with every album download?

Brandon: [more whiskey sips]

Ferns' Whatever We Plan LP is available now via Bandcamp. - Impose Magazine

Whatever We Plan is the latest release from Brooklyn dream-pop band, Ferns. It’s a 90′s esque, Empire Records soundtrack filling collection of tracks that seem to speak to something inside of you. I don’t know why but, I can’t stop listening. It’s almost as if there is some sort of pull that is luring me in minute by mine, second by second. But it’s not a mystery, is it? Its not. The reason is plain and simple. It’s a good album. There are no tricks or gimmicks, it’s just a band making music without the use of smoke and mirrors. Sadly, those seem to be a rarity. Looks like Ferns now belong to that elite group. @LeahLovecat - Dingus Music