Sixeyes continues on his tear of fine postings with an interview with my current musical fixations, The National. Singer Matt Berninger talks to Alan about the band’s creative process and admits The National is a pretty bad band name.

I’ve griped at length about how I’m missing their September 18 show at the Horseshoe but just to rub salt in the wound, I just realized that I could have seen tham at SxSW back in March – I was maybe two blocks away from where they were playing and didn’t have anything else going on at that time… Curses. Anyone and everyone who’s in town that weekend – go see them. Yeah, you’ll have to hoof it from Exhibition Place to the Horseshoe (’cause you WILL be at Ear To The Ground, right? C’mon – Sleater-Kinney!) and maybe there’s a little less hipster draw now that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah aren’t on the bill, but I am betting the show will own, regardless.

Additional National content I’ve come across since my last National post – the video for “Abel”, off of Alligator, and a a couple of MP3s, again courtesy of Sixeyes – there’s more at the end of the interview:

MP3: The National – “All The Wine”

MP3: The National – “Murder Me Rachael”

Video: The National – “Abel” (Quicktime)

More good shows coming our way in October and November – I saw 18 shows in those two months last year. I don’t think I could go for a repeat, it’s not humanly possible. Anyway – Rob Dickinson, ex of Catherine Wheel, will be at the Horseshoe October 7 in support of his solo debut Fresh Wine For The Horses, out September 13 – Torr has a couple tracks available to download. CW were always abnormally popular in Toronto – and have been known to hang out in Hernando’s Hideaway, just up the street from my building, enjoying a big-as-your-head burrito or Mexican flag enchiladas. True. Tickets are $15.50, expect this one to be sold out lickety split.

Austin-via-Brooklyn’s Calla are at the ‘Shoe on November 2 ($10) to pimp Collisions, which is out September 27. I’ve always thought I should like Calla more than I seem to, on paper their hazy atmospheric rock would seem to be right up my alley. I had a copy of their last one, Televise, and it just never got played. The one track I’ve heard off Collisions sounded good – maybe I’ll have to give them another shot.

The American Analog Set will be at the Horseshoe on November 13. Their latest, Set Free, comes out September 20 on local uber-label Arts & Crafts. AmAnSet’s last Toronto show back in 2003 was one of the best I saw that year, for reasons I can’t fully articulate. It just FELT amazing. Attendance at this one is highly recommended, tickets are $12.

The UK’s Athlete are at the Opera House on September 19. They have the honour of possessing one of the lowest Metacritic scores for 2005. Impressive.

Finally, some tickets footnotes – ducats for The Posies’ October 3 show at Lee’s go on sale today for $15 and the October 10 Fiery Furnaces will go on sale Saturday for $16.50.

PopMatters. Sufjan.

Fountains Of Wayne give Paste five tips on how to choose a successful song to cover.

And speaking of covers, this shoegaze tribute album (see np) is pretty good. Andrew Kenney’s Spiritualized track is lovely.

np – various artists / Never Lose That Feeling Volume 1

I should probably be embaressed to admit that I liked Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. And not because I subscribe to the POV that it was a deliberately stupid satire on politics and the media and the military. I just found it tremendously fun and enjoyable and just the right amount of scary (not a fan of spiders so those warrior bugs freaked me right out). But in my defence, it came out when I was in the middle of university and may have been the first film I saw in many many months, so my frame of reference wasn’t at its zenith.

I’m not so embaressed to say that I also really enjoyed the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles animated series which came out around 1999. Completely CGI and state of the art for its time (though the animateion now looks a little dated and clumsy, on par with a contemporary video game), it was far more faithful to Robert Heinlein’s novel, at least in terms of setting the scene and the tech (the power suits, drop ships, etc). Pretty much ignoring the film completely (probably for the best), it continued on where the novel left off and followed SICON’s battle with the invading bug armies away from Earth and through the galaxy. The writing was far better and each of the characters within Razak’s Roughnecks, the unit the show chronicled, had more human and nuanced personalities than you’d expect from an animated series. Plus the action sequences and tech design kicked some serious ass.

So why am I writing about an under-the-radar animated show that stopped running years ago? They’ve finally compiled all produced episodes into a single DVD set, Roughnecks: Starship Trooper Chronicles – The Complete Campaigns. All five episodes in each of the seven campaigns have been edited together into a single, full-length feature. Of course, the narrative is still distinctly episodic, but it’s a nice touch to not have to sit through the opening credits five times per and they even edited the wipes and soundtrack to be more seamless. What’s not so nice – and I didn’t realize this because I never saw the whole thing on TV – is that the final three episodes of the series, which wrapped up the entire bug war, are missing. Not because they didn’t include them, but because they don’t exist.

The show was plagued by production difficulties from the get-go, airing before they had enough completed episodes to allow for a good run of repeat-free showings. As a result, they ended up in reruns after like two or three weeks and new episodes were slow to get into rotation. This caused real problems with following the larger story and probably cost them much of their potential audience. While they managed to get through 36 episodes (including four “special” clips episodes), the plug was pulled before the final three episodes could be produced. Which is a goddamn lousy thing to discover after you’ve watched over ten hours of the show and are pretty eager to see how it all wraps up. Extra irony points for ending the final episode with one character saying, “It’s over!” and another – upon realizing the bugs are still invading – saying, “No – it’s just beginning” (paraphrased). Actually, it was over.

Since the show wrapped up production some years ago now, there’s pretty much no chance we’ll ever see those last eps in any shape or form. I’d settle for scripts from those final shows, but I doubt those exist anywhere. This fansite has synopses of how the last three shows were supposed to go down, and it helps a little bit, but it also worsens the sting – “Final Inferno” sounds like it would have absolutely owned. There’s a couple more fansites here and here.

Bloody shame, wot. And let us never speak of the back-alley abortion of a sequel to the film, Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation.

Reuters reports that Sufjan Stevens – good, practicing Christian he may be – just ain’t Christian enough for the Christian Music Trade Association. Via Largehearted Boy.

VH1 is pretty much the last place I’d expect to find a treasure trove of Ride videos, but there you go. Sadly, they only work in IE and Windows. Mac folks will have to wait until the DVD comes out sometime in the not-too-distant future.

JAM! has an AP piece on Richard Thompson and his new solo acoustic album, Front Parlour Ballads, out today.

Swedish psychedelic rockers Dungen are at Lee’s Palace on October 11. I’ve heard these guys highly recommended, but haven’t heard any of their stuff. Is there a decent (legit) sample floating around anywhere? Also, Death Cab For Cutie bring Plans to the Kool Haus on October 15. I expect I’ll pass on this one – I’ve seen them three times and will always have the memories of their barely-attended show at the Horseshoe back in the Fall of 2001.

And some other shows of interest to people who are not me – KMFDM at the Phoenix October 4 and The Bravery (again) at the Kool Haus October 11.

np – Crooked Fingers / Red Devil Dawn

There exists a cult of Jason Molina that I just don’t understand. I’ve heard both albums from Songs: Ohia and The Magnolia Electric Co and saw the latter live last October and while I enjoyed all of the above, the devotion I see from some his fans makes me wonder if I’ve missed out on something. With a guest list spot and a free evening this past Friday, I decided to give Mr Molina another go.

Having hit The Airfields show at the Cameron House earlier in the evening, I missed most of the openers – all of Jon-Rae Fletcher & The River (no biggie, seen them before, will surely see them again) and most of Grand Buffet. Grand Buffet were touring with MEC and have no doubt left a trail of bewildered and probably angry Molina fans in their wake. From the 10 minutes or so of their set that I caught, I can say they were truly an odd choice of opener. A two-man comedy/rap group along the lines of Tenacious D, I thought the bits I caught were pretty damn funny but I know a lot of the crowd hated them… which I suspect may have been partly the point.

Molina and co took the stage just after midnight and led off with “The Dark Don’t Hide It”, my favourite track off their latest album What Comes After The Blues and spent the next hour performing songs from both the Magnolia and Songs: Ohia repetoire. Perhaps fittingly, the best audience response came for songs from the transitional Magnolia Electric Co album that served as Songs: Ohia’s swan song. They were certainly my favourite songs in the set – “Farewell Transmission” was particularly excellent. While I was mostly indifferent to their last show at the Horseshoe, I enjoyed this one quite a bit more. The band seemed less jammy and more focused, but looser in a good way. I can’t help but wonder if maybe the six-piece band configuration is too much. With all due respect to the lead guitarist and keyboardist, I found myself thinking that maybe a four-piece with Molina, the lap steel player and rhythm section might have given the songs more space to breathe and stretch out. With the half-dozen players onstage, it seemed there was a little too much going on.

Oddly, the Electric Magnolias did not return for an encore not that I was complaining – it was pretty late, I was tired. So while enjoying the show, I still haven’t figured out what the faithful are seeing that I’m not. Molina is a wonderfully emotive singer and songwriter, and his band is very solid if a little heavy on the conventional Southern/roots rock tradition, but seeing the looks on the faces of some of the audience, it was obvious they were enjoying the show on a different level than I. And that’s fine, I don’t have to get it. I probably like stuff that would leave them scratching their heads too… Anyway, photos here. Every time I looked at Molina’s scarf, I just thought he looked like a terrier.

Bonus – Junkmedia also has part one of a two-part interview with Jason Molina about his philosophy of touring everywhere and anywhere.

The Postal Service finally has a website – just in time for the project to be put in mothballs while Ben Gibbard gets behind the wheel of the Death Cab. What took you so long, guys? At least they’ve got some downloads and videos to make the visit worthwhile. And they’ll happily sell you a t-shirt.

Dressy Bessy’s Tammy Ealom tells Chart they’re pleased as punch to associated with Metallica’s old label. They’re also planning a tour with Canadian dates this Fall.

Sufjan Stevens breaks his legendary media silence and gives The LA Times a rare interview. Treasure this one, kids – who knows when we’re going to have another… Probably tomorrow. Via LHB.

Mark Eitzel talks to Acting Now about the difference between actors and singers and how the professions should be mutually exclusive. And how he hates people in general. Looking way into the future, Eitzel has a new solo album due out this Fall (Candy Ass) a new American Music Club album is in the works with an eye towards release in March or April of next year.

RIP, Peter Jennings.

np – American Music Club / Love Songs For Patriots

The Bees / Free The Bees (Virgin) The Bees’ (or Band Of Bees as they’re known in the US) second album, Free The Bees, is a slice of ’60s and ’70s throwback pop/rock/soul that sounds like a DJ set at one of the countless mod/britpop retro dance nights that litter this city or a long-lost AM radio station broadcasting from 40 years in the past. All perfectly listenable and sure to tickle the nostalgia bone for those who yen for all things retro, but I find it all somehow pointless. I already have my Beatles, Byrds and Motown records, and they’re better. There is no small amount of irony in a band paying tribute to their musical heroes by aping their sound and style when the intangible thing that made them so important and memorable in the first place was their inventiveness and originality. File under terrifically executed but ultimately redundant.

Gang Gang Dance / God’s Money (The Social Registry) This, on the other hand, I have no frame of reference for. If I were to make up a genre of music called Balinese synth-dance operettas, this would be the Rolling Stone essential album of that type. To say that it sounds like the soundtrack to one mightily fucked up dream would probably be taken as high praise by the creators. This is an album that I am sure someone out there loves and swears by. I am not that person. That person would frighten me, and probably fancy themselves far too cool to hang out with me anyway.

Meow Meow So I was looking for a third item to review for today and lo and behold, what’s this in my inbox? A MySpace friend request from an outfit out of Los Angeles called Meow Meow. Hi, Meow Meow – get in the ring. Lucky for them, their influence list reads like my CD collection – a healthy cross section of space rock, Americana and good old fashioned pop music. A good sign. Going track-by-track through the samples on their MySpace page, we have sun-kissed California melodies laid overtop either fractured Sparklehorse-y sound collages or late-era Primal Scream white noise squalls. Not all the elements blend as seamlessly as you might like, but the pieces fit closely enough together to create a pleasantly tilted landscape that doesn’t look entirely unlike the kingdom of The Flaming Lips. I approve. Their debut album, Snow Gas Bones, came out in 2004 on Devil In The Woods

np – Centro-Matic / Love You Just The Same

A free evening and some guest list action translated into a good old fashioned rock and roll double-header for me last night – but in the interests of milking what content I do have, I’m spreading the reviews out over a couple of days. This blog thing is all about advance planning, man.

First up was local atmospheric pop combo The Airfields, who I sang the praises of a couple months ago. Despite having a few chances since then, I hadn’t managed to see them live though I did get their lovely City-State EP some time ago (the entirety of which is available to download off their website). They were playing an early set at the Cameron House last night, so scheduling allowed me to pop in and see what they were about outside the studio setting.

Live, they’re a good deal louder (though you couldn’t really get quieter) and punchier. Whereas the EP played like a long-lost Sarah Records release, onstage the Airfields widen the lens a bit to encompass all things C86-ish. New elements like frantic Wedding Present strumming and Jesus And Mary Chain bursts of noise did well to broaden the sonic palette.

Despite the extra challenge of being the debut show for their new keyboardist/glockenspielist/melodicaist/vocalist, the Airfields still impressed and I’m excited to see some good old school indie pop coming from the Big Smoke. I know there’s an audience out there for their sound, if they can find them and connect with them, I think good things could come. Photos here.

The second half of the double header was The Magnolia Electric Co at Lee’s Palace – look for that writeup come Monday.

LiveDaily interviews drummer Murph about Dinosaur Jr’s return from extinction. Enjoy it while it lasts. Via Prefixblog.

Eisley tells Chart they like it when you stare at them.

PopMatters talks to Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats about marine life. Their Spelled In Bones came out last week and reviews are pretty good.

Chuck Klosterman riffs on the abundance of animal-named bands, the fashionability of wolves in particular. Zoilus is not impressed with the absence of any substance in Klosterman’s piece and challenges him to a fight at the jungle gym after school. I have just started reading Killing Yourself To Live – no, Chuck isn’t the most profound writer around but he makes me laugh. Like Ziggy.

np – Slowdive / I Am The Elephant, U Are The Mouse Original Soundtrack