YHF35



Blog

January 18, 2013
 

Ben Collins finds more time and we get the “whole” Ferdy Mayne

More articles by »
Written by: Jeff Milo
Tags: , , ,
ferdymayne

New Ypsi Sounds:

Ben Collins

Ben Collins comes to life in the cold. He starts his year’s off right.

The Lightning Love guitarist has consistently unveiled his solo recordings right in the dead of winter. Ghost Stories came online right at the start of 2010, a batch of songs doubling as a thesis project for his studies in U-M school of music, experimenting and exploring geography and history through folk music. Feel Good Garden started the year in the first frosty days of 2011, a pair of electrified, rockier, somewhat spookier songs that hinted at the potential held for an grad in audio engineering ready to prove himself with a full, fleshed out band.

But then Lightning Love got real busy, released an EP and an LP (sequentially, in less than nine months) and toured. Plus, he’s still helping out on that as-yet-still-forthcoming Starling Electric LP.

Two years on from Gardens hints we hear the complete, proper Collins solo statement. These are crunchier, more cathartic slays of heavily fuzzed guitar, under hazily heaved vocals, sometimes-stonecold, sometimes softhearted. Much more his Teenage Fanclub/Dinosaur Jr-leaning side rather than, say, his previous recordings’ flare of an Elliott Smithy/Cass McCombsian gloominess. Much more Friday night rock rather than Sunday afternoon folk.

Ben Collins photo by Trever Long

Ben Collins photo by Trever Long

Collins doesn’t waste any time in distinguishing this from any of his previous ties to projects like, say, the pop of Lightning Love, the neo-country-croon of The Hounds Below or the paisley-psyche-rock of Starling Electric. He’s digging around in the darker corners of 90’s dream pop haunt-auteurs like Mark Linkous or maybe Jeff Buckley’s evocative heart-wringing folk-pop (if it were prickled and showered with a caustic yet dazzling storm of reverb and eerie transistor feedback).

This is presumably just the start, though. However heavy or contemplative he sounds on the albums standout/closer, “…could I just ask for one more time…” You’ve got more time, Ben. You’re not getting (that) old yet. With Pale Blue Glow, the perennial side-man sets up front and center, singing and strumming in his own (effected/affected) voice.

More sounds/info: http://ghoststori.es/album/pale-blue-glow

~

Ferdy Mayne

Also fresh-out this week – The Ferdy Mayne’s newest chapter / incarnation / psychedelic-poeticized elucidation ~ Brothers and Sisters is an EP that teasingly streamed out via a pair of singles six months ago. The fruition of Ferdy’s new psyche-fired works from Backseat Studios went up online as the new year dawned.

Now, behold – the fuller, warmer, realization of a song that’s entranced me since my ears first heard it three years ago – “Dresses,” – now edified with a rock-kick clatter, sweetened with syrupy-surf toned cascades and riled with surging crescendos.

There’s ferocity on these tracks just barely tamed into gracefulness, as though the four players are as keyed-up to cut into their parts as I am to finally hear the fruition of Ferdy as a full rock outfit.

But just like Collins, this is merely a jumping-off point for the group (Shane Firek on vocals/guitar, Nick Zomparelli on bass and vocals, Brad Hale on lead guitar and vocals and Josh Arutoff on drums). Firek’s artfully wobbly, avant-garde carnival-barking folk busker style seems like it could adaptively flow through, atop, or against various styles, sounds and arrangements and this batch of songs leans towards a somewhat coherent rock or psyche-rock aesthetic, yet hints at a punk-ish restlessness to lumberjack their way through a song, yet distinguished with an experimental bent in tone and structure, girded by those tumbling rhythms and fibrous guitars, suggesting they could reel off the rails, maybe down the line, heady post-rock-ist trip.

With Ferdy and its inherent elements (i.e., it’s players), one must resign to say: who knows…!?! Until the next song.

Saturday 26 January 2013

Mr. Mike’s– 1425 Ecorse Rd.

The Vagrant Symphony,
The Ferdy Mayne,
Leadpan


More sounds/info: http://theferdymayne.bandcamp.com/album/brothers-and-sisters

 



About the Author

Jeff Milo
Jeff Milo
Jeff is another awesome member of the iSPY team.



Ypsilanti Heritage Festival
 
 

 
mittenfestlineup

Mittenfest VII Lineup Announcement [Exclusive]

You’ve been patient enough. The lineup for this year’s Mittenfest is below. Inside you’ll find some familiar faces and a bunch of new ones. One thing you can definitely expect is an incredible 5 days (we’...
by iSPY Team
 

 
 
Mittenfest VII

Mittenfest VII

Woodruff’s doesn’t just close out the year, they close it down. On the subject of local music events in Ypsilanti, Mittenfest is the final word. It’s a five day Michigan music marathon that fills the pesky gap between Chr...
by Jasmine Zweifler
 

 
 
clouded staircase

A re-review of 2006/2008’s Clouded Staircase…and a coy chin-scratched pondering-aloud of what’s-to-come…

Starling Electric was recharged into live performances about one year ago. It was Autumn 2011 and it was essentially the five-year anniversary of the Ann Arbor art-pop quartet’s independent release of Clouded Staircase (…a ...
by Jeff Milo
 

 

 
Neil_Hamburger

“But thaaaat’s my life…” Neil Hamburger at the Lager House Tonight (9.18)

I usually write about music, but this is different. Neil Hamburger is different. One of his routines, a live recording, came on the comedy-station on my satellite radio the other day (he’s a stand-up comic y’see) and you’...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
Peninsular Place
 
jahconnery

Girls, Man + Chris goes back to the Cocoon ?

How many pop-songs are inspired by girls? Probably impossible to count… From the Beatles to Weezer, Chuck Berry to Bon Iver, there’s infinite inspiration for any heavyhearted roses-are-red-type-boy when he starts musing upo...
by Jeff Milo
 

 

 
Lightning Love, Ann Arbor, 7/25/12 by Doug Coombe

Lightning Love: Anxious. Awkward. Catchy. Magical. Blondes on the “Blonde Album.”

Alright, get ready. Leah Diehl had to pump herself up when the phone rang. She was anxious. Her band, Ypsi’s own Lightning Love, have their second full length release, “Blonde Album,” coming out and she’s battening her ...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
 
mayerhawthorne

7.26.12 Sonic Lunch // Mayor Hawthorne & The County

*Note tomorrow’s Sonic Lunch has moved from Liberty Plaza to the Michigan Theater. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. and the first 1,700 people will be guaranteed in.  Bank of Ann Arbor is bringing R&B/hip-hop artist Mayor Ha...
by Jenn Sibert
 

 
Ypsilanti Heritage Festival

 
The Go Rounds // Ferdy Mayne

Dull Hums and Dresses

I want you to hear this song… Put some headphones on… The drums shuffle along a nice groove and the guitars breeze steadily under our singer’s voice (a silky little croon with a Buckley-esque trill), it’s an otherwise c...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
 
YpsiArboroo

Festival Hopping? Shop Local, YpsiArboroo

Chris Anderson’s turning 29 and wants to exit his 20’s like a boss. Or like Marvel super-spy Nick Fury – as he’s assembled what’s essentially the Arbor/Ypsi music scene equivalent to a valiantly unwieldy blockbuster a...
by Jeff Milo
 

 
 
 

When I Die I’m Gonna Go To Detroit…

Everything, every engagement or project, this week, around Detroit anyway, is spoken of in terms of :after Blowout… “Oh, yeah, that, …been meaning to get to that, …(or), we’ll meet up and figure that out / talk that o...
by Jeff Milo
 

 




Peninsular Place