Junior Boys, Woodhands @ Lee's Palace in Toronto (November 6, 2009)

Update [Nov 11/09, 12:23 AM]: Review now up.

I commented recently in a recent gig review that Toronto band Parallels "... pursue a genre that is particularly lacking in Toronto" and the genre I was referring to was synth / electro-pop music. In retrospect, it is perhaps unreasonable to expect a an explosion or scene of bands within such a narrowly defined genre. Maybe that's why Hamilton's Junior Boys have been so successful as over the course of three albums, their most recent being this year's "Begone Dull Care", the duo have built upon a synth-pop basis using bass and guitar and a live drummer, merging that live instrumentation and vocalist Jeremy Greenspan's smooth vocals with the sampled beats of electronic noodler extradornaire Matthew Didemus. Most apparently, especially with the new album, the boys have brought greater attention to their R n' B influences which I've enjoyed immensely. Having toured North America for the new album since the beginning of October, the final three dates culminated with shows within the Golden Horseshoe, the third last date stopping in at Lee's Palace in Toronto for a sweaty, packed show this past Friday night.

The Toronto duo of Dan Werb (vocalist/keytar) and Paul Banwatt (drummer) known as Woodhands opened up the show. It was a pretty high energy set with Banwatt's compact but explosive drumming and Werb's enthusiastic vocals and keytar playing. Musically, they tended towards a modern new-wave, electro-pop dance-rock sound that had people dancing and moving within the crowd. Through the use of some sort of electronic do-dad, drummer Banwatt sung "Dancer" sounding like pixie-ish Toronto female music artist Maylee Todd who sings on the studio version. Later on Werb would go hardcore-ish vocals on us with a abrasive version of Biz Markie's "Just A Friend". For my first time seeing them it wasn't difficult to see why they're so loved - they are the definition of fun, and I'd definitely check 'em out live again - but I'll leave the young un's to fawn over them, as I'm not there yet.

On the other hand, I've been fawning over Hamilton's Junior Boys since there early days. Vocalist Jeremy Greenspan mentioned that Junior Boys' first and last time playing Lee's Palace was about 6 years ago during the band's earliest days on a bill that'd featured another band made up of male models. Strange bill indeed. Returning to Lee's Palace 6 years later, Jeremy said the venue had a special place in their hearts. My previous times seeing Junior Boys live was at the El Mocambo and The Mod Club but this show at Lee's was by far my favourite. While the boys live stage presence hasn't changed much (and thank God for the live drummer) - Matthew still fairly removed from the audience as he goes on with his electronic noodling and Jeremy with some groove in him as he sings and plays guitar, bass, or keys - the venue did present one of the loosest audiences I've seen at a Junior Boys gig.

I didn't so much watch the band onstage as I watched the audience dance or immerse myself in my own euphoria. Junior Boys' music tends to simmer slowly before a melody or beats kick in but once they do, they take hold and don't let go. This was especially true during their set with tracks like the new albums' Depeche-Mode-ish "Parallel Lines" or the sultry beats of "Work". On the other hand, Junior Boys' showed an immediacy with the R n' B-ish "Bits And Pieces" and "Hazel" both which got many people including myself dancing. Other highlights included their debut album's "Birthday" and set closer "In The Morning" (off of "So This Is Goodbye"). Subsequent to Toronto, they played Waterloo then ended off in their hometown of Hamilton. They've been around the world and are now home for a deserved rest. I'm happy as a fan that this is probably their most successful tour to date, but on the other hand it's a little sad that we won't get to see them play live any time soon. I'm glad they played Lee's Palace this time. Something about Lee's Palace lends itself to the best audiences I've seen at gigs and maybe that's why I keep on going back. It was one of if not the loosest audience I've seen at a Junior Boys gig and it definitely made it the most enjoyable Junior Boys show I've seen ever.

Jen at Narratives has a review of the show. Spot The Groove reviews the show as well and has some photos.

Update: The Singing Lamb just posted their review of the show.

Photos: Junior Boys, Woodhands @ Lee's Palace in Toronto (November 6, 2009)
MySpace: Woodhands
MySpace: Junior Boys

Family Day

Ontarians(like myself) celebrate our inaugural new statutory holiday today entitled Family Day. Read - a day off from work(with pay!).

Pitchfork brings further updates on the upcoming long-time-coming 3rd full-length from Portishead including the tracklisting, cover art and new release dates. Follow the link for the first two items, but to save you the trouble, the UK release date is April 28 while the US date is the following day.

Other than some UK touring and an appearance at this year's SXSW, Montreal's Land of Talk continues to keep us in the dark about it's debut full-length(although here's a vague update from Liz). Hey, but that do have a new song streaming at their MySpace - ok, it's a cover, but it's a nifty cover of Wintersleep's "Weighty Ghost".

Toronto dance-electro-pop group Woodhands are Paper Bag Records newest signees. The duo's debut album "Heart Attack" is due out on April 1 in Canada.

And now on to the concert info:

If you were perusing the Canadian Music Week schedule(which btw, is shaping up interestingly) over the last few days and realized the absence of UK's The Duke Spirit on the sched(who I recall were to play Lee's Palace on March 8), it's unfortunately not a mistake. According to Filter, they've cancelled their Toronto shows and added a few more dates on the West Coast(which I guess makes more sense since they'll be in Los Angeles on March 5). Hey, maybe on the way back from SXSW on March 13 they'll swing through Toronto? Their newest album "Neptune" has it's US release on April 5 through Shangri-La Music.

I didn't make it out to the Brampton Indie Arts Festival last week, part of my disappointment being that I haven't yet seen Toronto act Forest City Lovers live. However, according to their MySpace they have a few local dates line up - they'll be at Soundscapes record store on March 9 at 2 pm for a free in-store then on March 14 they'll be at the Tranzac for a CD release show in celebration of their new disc entitled "Haunting Moon Sinking" out on March 11 in Canada on Toronto based label Out of This Spark. Several songs from the new album are streaming over at their MySpace.

Also at the Tranzac on March 14 will be Guelphites The D'Urbervilles who'll be celebrating their own CD release for their debut full-length "We Are The Hunters"(released tomorrow) also out through Out of This Spark. They have a whack of Canadian tour dates lined up through till the end of April - check out their MySpace for full dates and several songs streaming from the new album.

The Decemberists' Colin Meloy will be at the Phoenix on April 19th in support of his solo album entitled "Colin Meloy Sings Live". Fellow Portland, Oregon-ite Laura Gibson will open. (via Blacking Out The Friction)

Heavy psych-rockers Dead Meadow are at Lee's Palace on April 24. (via Beggars Group)

First word I've come across about this year's Over The Top Fest is that recent Merge Records signees Wye Oak will be playing this year's festival on May 2 according to their MySpace.

Pitchfork reports that Elvis Costello will tour with The Police in North America starting in May. There's a lone Canadian date, in fact kicking off in Ottawa, Ontario at Scotiabank Place on May 1 but the bill will reach Buffalo, NY for a show at HSBC Arena on May 3.

According to The Windish Agency, Shearwater will be on the bill with Clinic at Lee's Palace on May 11.