FILM SCHOOL began life as a group of like-minded San Francisco musicians writing and producing music by themselves for themselves. The result was something very special indeed. Undoubtedly they rock - hungry unrestrained guitars and loud driven drumbeats - but it is a sound as brooding, atmospheric and self-contained as it is explosive and infectious.

The band was among the first acts of a renewed wave of shoegazing music, harkening back to the late-1980s and early 1990s heyday of that genre. Although My Bloody Valentine is the most well-known of the shoegazers, Film School tends to hew more closely to the less stridently noisy bands from the original scene--bands such as Slowdive and Blind Mr. Jones. When Film School ups the tempo, their cascading guitars and background harmonies of "ooh" and "aah"--washed-out spins on classic mid-60s pop--they can also sound like Ride, another prominent band in the original shoegazing scene.

Film School today are San Francisco-based: Krayg Burton (vocals/guitar), Nyles Lannon (guitar/vocals), Justin LaBo (bass), Donny Newenhouse (drums) and Jason Ruck (keyboards).