Playing the Toronto Star stage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as part of Beats, Breaks and Culture: Toronto Electronic Music Festival, the mild-mannered gentlemen of Junior Boys looked younger in person than I had remembered seeing them in photos. There was a total Pet Shop Boys vibe going on with one of the guys on lead vocals and the other guy twiddling the knobs on a series of samplers(?) and keyboards. The vocalist also added some spare guitar arrangements to the fold and on one song both members played guitar. Their sound has definite electro-pop influences which reminded me of bands such as Pet Shop Boys and OMD, although Junior Boys had a more modern sound. One song added some lazy, echoe-y guitar work to nice effect and sort of reminded me of Portishead at one point. I wasn't quite enamored with the male vocals which in my opinion the music would benefit much better with a female voice a la bands like Zero 7 and Portishead. Not to lead you astray, the Junior Boys are not a trip-hop band but they do definitely take some influences from trip-hop on their slower songs. I don't know if the band benefited from performing in broad daylight. Under dim lighting with light effects the group might be more exciting to watch. The group still looked like they were working out their live performance legs but with time I think they'll grow into it. They're young. Considering all the exposure the group's getting in the UK, it's funny that they're from Hamilton, Ontario of all places. Otherwise, they're definitely a group worth checking out...btw, read the article from the Toronto Star which got me interested in checking out the band in the first place.[photos here.]
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Last Exit
a little late in posting but...
concert review: Junior Boys @ Harbourfront(Toronto, Ontario) as part of Beats, Breaks and Culture: Toronto Electronic Music Festival, July 11, 2004
Playing the Toronto Star stage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as part of Beats, Breaks and Culture: Toronto Electronic Music Festival, the mild-mannered gentlemen of Junior Boys looked younger in person than I had remembered seeing them in photos. There was a total Pet Shop Boys vibe going on with one of the guys on lead vocals and the other guy twiddling the knobs on a series of samplers(?) and keyboards. The vocalist also added some spare guitar arrangements to the fold and on one song both members played guitar. Their sound has definite electro-pop influences which reminded me of bands such as Pet Shop Boys and OMD, although Junior Boys had a more modern sound. One song added some lazy, echoe-y guitar work to nice effect and sort of reminded me of Portishead at one point. I wasn't quite enamored with the male vocals which in my opinion the music would benefit much better with a female voice a la bands like Zero 7 and Portishead. Not to lead you astray, the Junior Boys are not a trip-hop band but they do definitely take some influences from trip-hop on their slower songs. I don't know if the band benefited from performing in broad daylight. Under dim lighting with light effects the group might be more exciting to watch. The group still looked like they were working out their live performance legs but with time I think they'll grow into it. They're young. Considering all the exposure the group's getting in the UK, it's funny that they're from Hamilton, Ontario of all places. Otherwise, they're definitely a group worth checking out...btw, read the article from the Toronto Star which got me interested in checking out the band in the first place.[photos here.]
Playing the Toronto Star stage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as part of Beats, Breaks and Culture: Toronto Electronic Music Festival, the mild-mannered gentlemen of Junior Boys looked younger in person than I had remembered seeing them in photos. There was a total Pet Shop Boys vibe going on with one of the guys on lead vocals and the other guy twiddling the knobs on a series of samplers(?) and keyboards. The vocalist also added some spare guitar arrangements to the fold and on one song both members played guitar. Their sound has definite electro-pop influences which reminded me of bands such as Pet Shop Boys and OMD, although Junior Boys had a more modern sound. One song added some lazy, echoe-y guitar work to nice effect and sort of reminded me of Portishead at one point. I wasn't quite enamored with the male vocals which in my opinion the music would benefit much better with a female voice a la bands like Zero 7 and Portishead. Not to lead you astray, the Junior Boys are not a trip-hop band but they do definitely take some influences from trip-hop on their slower songs. I don't know if the band benefited from performing in broad daylight. Under dim lighting with light effects the group might be more exciting to watch. The group still looked like they were working out their live performance legs but with time I think they'll grow into it. They're young. Considering all the exposure the group's getting in the UK, it's funny that they're from Hamilton, Ontario of all places. Otherwise, they're definitely a group worth checking out...btw, read the article from the Toronto Star which got me interested in checking out the band in the first place.[photos here.]
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