The first thing which impressed me about Five Times August is that it is a totally independent act unsigned with any record label, and yet it has achieved more than most other albums that have signed with record labels.
Five Times August is actually a one-man project by Brad Skistimas. His birthday is on August 5th and the project was named based on the thought that it would be easier to remember Five Times August, than the name Brad Skistimas. I beg to differ however, Skistimas’ name is not one I will soon forget.
Five Times August's achievements are truly remarkable. His first album, originally titled Fry Street, has sold more than 100,000 digital downloads online and 11,000 CD’s throughout North America and Europe, and nine of the albums’ songs had been featured on popular television shows like Laguna Beach and One Tree Hill.
A remixed and remastered version of his first album, aptly retitled The Independent was released just a few days ago, on August 7, 2007, to be distributed from Wal-Mart stores nationwide. The album consists of two discs; which includes a bonus disc of acoustic sessions, and 26 tracks; fourteen tracks on the main disc, including three bonus tracks, and twelve tracks on the bonus acoustic disc.
If I could use only one word to describe Five Times August, it would be unique. Skistimas has a very unique playing style with the guitar, and my boyfriend, who is a very talented guitarist himself, was very impressed with Skistimas' style. I agreed with him, but not only on the guitar style. Everything about his songs were unique; the lyrics, the melody, everything. Each song was so uniquely different from each other, and all so very special in their own right, that it was hard choosing favourites.
The nine songs which had been featured on television shows, "Better With You", "First Time For Everything", "Roll Into You", "Do It Again", "Save It For Later", "The Way You Do", "So Typical", "Up To Me", and "Wherever" were all very good, and it's not hard to understand why they were featured. You can hear the full songs here.
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