Film School: Shoegaze me in to the new year
Maybe it’s just me, but dark indie pop or shoegazer guitar fuzz sounding music isn’t as depressing as some might say. Perhaps it’s my four years of studying philosophy and determining that existentialism, while depressing to some, is quite enlightening to others. It’s the dark sensibilities and the reality of life that come together for me on certain shoegazer albums and Film School have achieved this quite handedly I may add.
Why I’m just learning about Film School, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because I don’t read blogs like Bradley’s Almanac enough during the day.
They came out with their sophomore album back in September of this year and hail from San Francisco. According to Brad, it would seem that this band should have either faded away after their first album or shouldn’t have followed up with such an impressive showing. Their gear was stolen in 2006 and went through a major line-up change (3 out of 5 members replaced). Two events that would cause nightmares for any startup band and a second to think about not only their bands direction but their own direction as well.
The first two songs on Hideout, “Lectric” and “Two Kinds“, set the tone for the guitar fuzz heavy and droned out synth sound that the entire album exhumes. I noticed in particular that the synths seemed to be set on Horns as they barrel through some sections of each song.
The third track, “Dear Me“, is a guitar heavy song that includes a strong build up to the chorus.
“Oh, never ending thoughts of you. Time can make it seem alright. why can’t I get you out of view. I follow you now. I follow you.“
A majority of the songs follow a pretty typical shoegazer anthem - a wild and crazy girl or guy gets lodged in to the consciousness of the ever so dramatic indie artist and he/she tries and tries to get them out of their head but every attempt lulls them further in to depression.
On a few occasions, when the vocalist is going with a drone approach, there are comparisons to The Magentic Fields’ Stephen Merritt. Especially at the beginning of “Sick Hipster Nursed by Suicide Girl”. I Googled Film School and Stephen Merritt to see if there were any influences mentioned by the band before but just came up with a bunch of searches that talk about Stephen’s alma mater, NYU film school.
But it’s clear their influences come from such indie shoegazer icons like The Magnetic Fields and My Bloody Valentine.
While I make all these references to shoegazer, I do it only to relate their sound to other bands you’re probably familiar with. However, in big scribble on my notepad I say, “i bet this is a great live show!” In other words, I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of gazing at shoes going on. And according to their myspace page, they don’t want you staring down either as they describe their shows as “loud and dynamic and energetic (no staring at shoes).“
I highly recommend you pick up Hideout today. As for their debut release, I’ve only heard great things about it but have yet to personally hear it for myself. So why don’t you pick it up and tell me what you think.
Happy New Year people.
Download: “Lectric”
Download more MP3’s over at Bradley’s Almanac, including all songs from their live set here in Cambridge, MA back in October (HERE)
Purchase Hideout: Beggars Group (HERE); Amazon (US)
Visit Film School on Myspace (HERE)
Visit their official website (HERE)
Heima Review
It was a damp, cold night and rain was falling all over the icy, snowy streets of Boston. Each step was a testament to the strength of your leg muscles and the quality of your shoes. We slip slided our way in to the Kendell Sq. Theatre and prepared ourselves for a screening of Sigur Ros’s homage to home, Heima.
According to Sigur Ros, the weather last night was just right. In one scene, they’re playing for a relatively large village (in Iceland terms) that was tucked away between a mountain range and located on the edge of a river bank. From the looks of their wool sweaters and caps, the weather seemed damp as well and the fog was rolling in. They were playing outside to their fellow Icelanders and this my friends, was in their eyes, perfect conditions.
Put aside the music for a second, the imagery in this film was above and beyond one of the more stunning movie experiences I’ve been to in awhile. Now add in the ever so dramatic music by Sigur Ros and the combination becomes overwhelming.
If you’re not familiar with this recent release, the scenes were all shot during the summer of 2006 right after their world tour supporting the excellent release of Takk. It was a spontaneous decision to announce a few local shows around the countryside. The announcements were not made outside of Iceland on purpose. They wanted this to be a tribute to their home country and didn’t want to have the outside world come crashing in on the intimate tour. Slowly the spontaneous idea turned in to a once in a lifetime experience caught on film.
If I were to sum up the movie in one word it would have to be “innocence”. From the hundreds of tiny baby shots to the close ups of grandma watching them play, this movie was stooped in innocence. And topping it off were the band members themselves. Here goes my attempt at their Icelandic spelling - Georg “Goggi” Holm, Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson, Orri Pall Dyrason and Jon Por “Jonsi” Birgisso. Jonsi is the timid lead singer you hear belting out the mostly Icelandic, some English and a lot of hopelandic (the Sigur Ros made up languag) on their albums. At times it sounds like whales screaming his pitch is so high. But something we learn about the band in this film is their humorous approach to humanity.
This is especially apparent with Jonsi. His attention to detail why trying to explain his thoughts bring both a smile to your face and a sense of commonality on his outlook on life. A perfect example is how he describes the crowds that show up to their random concerts peformed throughout all the villages and towns in Iceland. He describes how it’s apparent that some are showing up just because it’s a happening and not really for the music. And for Jonsi, this is just as amazing as if they were all coming together to just hear them play. He chuckles and giggles in his boyish way and gives off a crazy vibe but really, he’s just crazy
The movie is currently out on DVD but it has been traveling the theatre circuit here in the United States and elsewhere for a couple months now. I’m very happy I opened up my Myspace account for the first time in who knows how long to see the latest Sigur Ros post on my account - “updated screenings”.
There are only two more screenings in the states that I know of and they are going on tonight in Austin, TX at Dobie Theatre and Seattle, WA at Metro Cinemas.
Download: “Untitled 8″ (On the 2002 album ( ))
Download: “Olsen Olsen” (On the 1999 album agaetis byrjun)
Learn more about Heima from the official website - HERE
Purchase the Heima DVD (perfect Christmas gift for the music and art lover in your family) - Amazon (US) (UK) (Canada)
Visit the official Sigur Ros website and pick up more MP3’s - HERE
