Toronto was good to us the last few days. The weather was great, the bands couldn't have been better, and the people were welcoming and hospitable beyond belief. In short, NXNE was a complete success. And like all great stories, this years North By Northeast festival ended with a bang.
First up was a band we haven't seen in forever. Well since Thursday that is. Brooklyn's 60s lovin' girl pop outfit Cults was out to prove to us that they could rock the big stages just as well as the small clubs when they played at the Yonge-Dundas Square. Like their performance at The Ninth Ward only a few days earlier, the Toronto crowd was equally entranced with their up-tempo xylophone-tinged melodies and gave the group a warm reception. Songs like "Go Outside" and "Abducted" were met with loud cheers of approval the second the first notes were distinguishable. Personally however I felt like something was missing during most of the set. For whatever reason, the songs didn't have the same intensity they had when we saw them at Soundlab and The Ninth Ward. Their music just has that extra kick when you contain it within four walls and allow the energy of the crowd to boil. Yet even in this tamed atmosphere you would be hard pressed to find someone not smiling and enjoying the evening.
Montreal's Pop Winds was next on our to-do list. We walked a city block to the Mexican restaurant/venue Rancho Relaxo where the psychedelic pop band were scheduled to kick start the night. Despite some small sound issues at the beginning, the band plowed through a number of noise rock dance numbers that impressed everyone in attendance. With some great three part harmonies and countless amounts of pedals and gadgets, our comparisons to Animal Collective seemed relatively on point. Songs would start with a simple guitar rift and would morph into a trippy electronic freakout before returning back to the organic guitar rift that kept everything grounded in reality. With a little more exposure and exciting shows like this one, I wouldn't be surprised if Pop Winds made it big one day.
From there I was off to The Garrison to catch the headliners of the night, Little Girls & Handsome Furs. To be Honest, I wasn't too familiar with Little Girls before this weekends show. Aside from some small research leading up to the days of NXNE, I had never heard of the group and didn't know what to expect. What I got blew my mind. Little Girls is a four piece that performs a unique blend of ghost punk that's loud, minimal, & chilling to the bone. The lead singer wore some sort of African tribal shirt that fit well with the haunting vocals & mysterious cult-like chanting he and the rest of the band partook in. For most of the night he even looked to be in a complete trance awaiting an exorcism. The band's strongest trait were the reverb infused dueling guitars that volleyed back and forth continuously. Think evil Franz Ferdinand with 90% more fuzz. Needless to say, the band made one hell of an impression on me.
Finally, it was time for husband and wife duo, Handsome Furs. I have been a big fan of Dan Boeckner since his early days in Wolf Parade and to say that I had been anticipating this show since day one would be an understatement. Thankfully, and really not surprisingly, they did not disappoint. The band took to the stage to the loudest cheers I had heard this past weekend and immediately jumped into their newest album opener 'When I Get Back'. The club ready electro-drums and pocket sized synth rifts had everyone's head bobbing and feet moving in unison. The song foreshadowed a night that was high on industrial dance beats and sparse on distorted guitar solos that had marked the bands earlier work. According to a press release, the band had actually written the new album Sound Kapital entirely on keyboards and was inspired by the electronic dance music of Eastern Europe. Through out the night the duo played almost everything off their latest album including personal favorites "Bury Me Standing" & "Cheap Music". The real highlight from the new material however was the slow burning rock anthem "Serve The People" which even got those in the back of the room to stop talking and join the rock show. The lone 'old song' of the night was "Radio Kaliningrad" from 2009's Face Control, which acted as the perfect crowd pleaser because everyone could finally sing-a-long to something they knew.
In a week full of a great orginial music, Handsome Furs seemed to represent the true spirit of NXNE. They performed new music to an appreciative audience and proved to any naysayers in attendance that great new music does exist in this world when you know where to look for it.
~bw
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