Film School >> You ask me what would happen if all strangers turned to stone

California Month, tremor #14:

Film School - "Two Kinds"

(Beggars Banquet Records, 2007)

When Film School's self-titled album came out in '06, it was pegged as part of the whole Interpol / Editors post-punk revival thing, and since most of those neo-post-punk bands had disappointed me, I kind of ignored it.  A few years later, I stumbled onto a Blogspot post of some live songs that F.S. had played at South By Southwest '08 that very same month.  I downloaded it and was stunned by the song "Two Kinds," and hence decided to go see them the following month.  So I have to thank that person for getting me into Film School, and especially into this song, one of the finest of the last decade.

The melody line is emotionally gripping and urgent, the lyrics are great / bittersweet, the bassline is monstrous (yet subtle), the synth violin is pretty magical, etc.  The way each instrument enters the song at the beginning one after another is pretty cool, and, as a nice touch, they each leave the song the same way at the end.  Lorelei's backing vocals also become more prominent towards the end.  Why Beggars Banquet didn't release this song as a single is beyond mind-boggling, so I won't sit around and bemoan that, but it could be due to the fact this album only sold about 900 copies in its first week, which is more an indictment of the public's musical taste than anything.  Then again, it would've sold a lot more if this single had preceded it by a month, so it's a chicken or egg question.  There was a cool Sixties-style video made for the intense single "Dear Me":

Here are some of the pics I took at the Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge on 4/15/08.  These are totally raw, direct from my memory card, meaning no Photoshopping, cropping, color adjusting, etc.  All the blurs are from using a long shutter speed, of course, and are intentional.

L-R: Dave Dupuis (gtr), Greg Bertens (vox, gtr), James Smith (drm), Lorelei Plotczyk (bass, vox), Jason Ruck (snth).
I believe the images projected on the screen were related to the album's cover art (see below).

They used a trippy "venetian blinds" lighting effect for a while

Aerial view from the upstairs balcony at Greg thrashing about & Lorelei standing still

I can't sit here and explain why, but this is my favorite pic of the night, and one of my favorite band pics I've ever taken

(Yes, they played "Two Kinds" that night, as well as "Compare," "Lectric," "11:11," and "What I Meant To Say.")  The only problem with the show was that this fairly irritating band called British Sea Power headlined.  I bought Hideout on LP & got it signed, thanks to the ridiculously nice Lorelei, who was quite surprised / flattered at my request, then spent around an hour tracking down her bandmates in various places in the club.  She also gave me a free "Dear Me" 7" and some stickers.  She has this amazing Zen-like calmness and placidity that is quite disarming, both onstage and off.  Talking to her or watching her perform is kind of like having Benadryl directed directly into your veins.  (Note: The LP comes with a free digital download code for the album, which is where I got the mp3 for this post.)  Guitarist Dave Dupuis and I talked about our love of Band Of Susans after he complimented the BOS Love Agenda t-shirt I had on.  (That was the first time anyone had commented on that shirt, in fact.)  I remember I was wearing a bright green ski cap that night for some reason, which combined with my red BOS shirt to make me look very Christmas-y.  I made a mental note to mail my other BOS shirt to Film School, since it doesn't fit me, but I never got around to it.  Dave said that Swervedriver is his favorite band ever, and mentioned how psyched he was that Film School would be opening for the Swervies' reunion tour in a few weeks.  He drew his trademark curly 'fro on the LP:

Poster by Scott Campbell of Bullhorn Bandits. (A Baton Rouge "post-rock" band called Man Plus Building actually played before F.S.)

Planets with similar climates: Francis 7 - "Red Roses" (2003), R.E.M. - "The One I Love" (1986), The Werefrogs - "It's Real" (1990), Catherine Wheel - "Crank" (1993), Kitchens Of Distinction - "What Happens Now?" (1992), Swervedriver - "99th Dream" (1996).