Back to School

Film School‘s latest LP, Fission, drops today and marks the 4th full-length for the prolific Pacific pop-rockers.  Recently picked up by Hi-Speed Soul, the album, which knocks down FS’ former wall-of-sound in exchange for the bright, open expanses of dreampop, showcases not only a new sonic shift for the quartet, but is the impetus for their North American tour this fall.  And true to FS tours of the past, they will return to ATX.

You can purchase Fission online and at your favorite indie record retailer.  Speaking of records, the LP is also available in limited edition clear vinyl format, which includes a coupon for the free digital download and a Film School poster to hang on the wall next to all your Teen Beat covers.  Grand!  But Film School ain’t stoppin’ there…

They are steaming full-tilt toward their fall tour with choice fan interaction like never before.  Until September 8, FS is offering the unique opportunity for fans and designers to create their upcoming tour merchandise.  Yep, Film School is enlisting you and your so-called artistic talents to submit animal artwork inspired by the striped theme of Fission‘s cover art.  The top 3 designs, voted on by fans, will be slapped on the merchandise that will accompany Film School as they make their way on a month-long 20-date tour beginning in San Diego (read full contest details here). Call it a lazy method of generating merch, we call it a cool way to save little dog and cat buddies who have reached the ends of their temporal leashes in public shelters (10% of all merchandise proceeds will be donated to Tony LaRussa’s ARF).

So have a heart.  Sample Fission‘s opening track, ”Heart Full of Pentagons“, and check out Film School’s tour schedule below:

09.19 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah*
09.20 – Tucson, AZ – Plush
09.22 – Dallas, TX – The Nightmare**
09.23 – Austin, TX – The Parish** #
09.24 – Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon
09.25 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
09.27 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506

with The Depreciation Guild
09.28 – Washington, DC – DC9 
09.29 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s 
09.30 – Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands $
10.01 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge 
10.02 – Cambridge, MA – TT The Bears 
10.03 – Montreal, QC, Canada – Pop Montreal at Casa Del Popolo 
10.04 – Toronto, ON, Canada – El Mocambo 
10. 06 – St Louis, MO – Firebird 
10.07 – Newport, KY – Southgate House @
10.08 – Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern 
10.09 – Milwaukee, WI – The Cactus Club 
10.10 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry 
10.11 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
10.12 – Denver, CO – Hi Dive 
10.13 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge 
10.15 – Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern 
10.16 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios

with Love Like Fire
10.19 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
10.20 – Santa Cruz – The Crepe Place
10.21 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo

* performing with Dream Tiger
** performing with TV Torso
# performing with Monahans
$ performing with Home Video
@ performing with The Harlequins

Hi-Speed Picks Up Film School, Slows Down Release

The Summer of Film School will have to be temporarily postponed as the California band announced today via Facebook that Hi-Speed Soul Records will now release their upcoming LP, Fission. 

Hi-Speed Soul, whose artistic family consists of the venerable Adam Franklin, Swervedriver, and Creeper Lagoon, has warmly welcomed Film School as its newest member.  While it’s good news for the band who will now have a label backing their latest album – and a host to accept pre-orders of the CD and vinyl – it will push the album’s release date from July 20th back to August 31st.  Bad news for eager listeners. 

Here’s what Film School had to say this afternoon:

Big News – Film School is happy to announce that rather than self-releasing as originally planned, we’re now working with Hi-Speed Soul Records to release Fission.

HSS is a Southern California-based label that we respect and are practically family with at this point; home to Nada Surf, Adam Franklin, Swervedriver, and others. We’re excited about our shared DIY music ethic and the potential to bring more of our fans into the mix and be part of the release.

Working with the label means the album now won’t be available until August 31st. Sorry to keep you waiting longer, and thanks for your support and understanding – soon enough Fission will be out, and we’ll be in your city playing a show for you! We’ll be announcing those dates for our North American 2010 fall tour very soon. We can’t wait to see you out there.

Trust us when we say that the album is well worth the wait.  In the meantime, sample Fission‘s opening track “Heart Full of Pentagons” (inspired by a Facebook status update) here.  You’ve heard of love triangles… how about a love pentagon?

Gone “Fission”

Summer is upon us.  Warm days that beckon from beyond the windows of your job, that tear the joyous peals of laughter from children’s mouths, that pluck the minds from the distracted and send them daydreaming along soft edges of endless sun.

Summer is upon us.

It should come as no surprise that California, a coastal paradise long associated with surf and sun, would be the breeding grounds for the creativity and sounds featured on Film School’s new album, Fission, which arrives just in time for this glorious season.  The album, the fourth LP of their long and illustrious career, is appropriately titled for a 12-track amalgam that radiates such expressive energy and harvests itself along a collection of songs that embody the careless abandon of July afternoons.  From the opening bars of “Heart Full of Pentagons” to the cathartic end of “Find You Out,” Fission doesn’t shimmer with nuclear energy, but a new, clear energy that casts a clean glow that no previous LP the Bay Area band has produced can match.

Synth textures dominate and unite with the optimistic vibe of most of Fission’s songs to instantly lend the tracks to a dance floor romp: sampled drums blend with a live kit while guitars waver brilliantly across the aural horizon; bass riffs dictate the infectious tempo; and soothing vocals air out secrets of infidelity and romanticism. 

While Film School’s musical direction may have shifted on their upcoming release, much of what stapled their music to the poignant memories of your life remain: rich guitars, clever song structures, and songs packed with emotive lyrics.  Their departure from albums past is evident in a stronger female vocal presence and increased use of keyboards and samples, courtesy of Lorelei Plotczyk and Jason Ruck who apparently led much of the way during Fission’s production.  Greg Bertens, meanwhile, dipped into his past to channel the laconic, forceful vocals that made songs such as “On & On” and “Harmed” irresistibly catchy.

Where Hideout’s mature sound may have been tinged with a distinctly delicate despair, Fission digs a tunnel out to the bright future that exists in the juxtaposition of Film School’s past and present strengths; a carefree sense of youth and liberation.  They have embraced some of their roots, found old ways to be new and new ways to be old, and the result is one creative mid-life crisis you can condone.

My heart is on the go, go, go…

Mark you calendar; Fission is available July 20th on FFO Records.  See the tracklist below…

01 Heart Full of Pentagons
02 When I’m Yours
03 Time to Listen
04 Waited
05 Meet Around 10
06 Direct
07 Still Might
08 Distant Life
09 Sunny Day
10 Bones
11 Nothing’s Mine
12 Find You Out

Film School in Session Despite Looming Summer

After three years of inactivity, California nu-gazers, Film School, are releasing their 4th LP since their 2001 debut Brilliant Career.  The new LP, a 12-track charmer entitled Fission, is scheduled for a July 20th release on FFO Records.

Film School’s music is glorious, drifting back and forth between bright, pop melodies and dark, driving anthems.  The sheen of their “brilliant career” has been marred only by revolving lineups and label troubles, and not a lack of creativity.

After the success of Hideout, an immediate follow-up to the 2006 self-titled full-length, the California quintet experienced a 3-year pause in productivity while relationships between them and Beggars Banquet declined.   Now undaunted, the band extends its newest album, Fission, which promises to be more dynamic still.

Film School will tour in support of the upcoming album, though no tour dates have been finalized.