The crowd was ready for a night of dancing, and Junior Boys complied with their languid grooves Thursday night in Chicago. The Canadian electropop duo was a trio on this night with a drummer locking in their beats and adding some extra push to the proceedings. But while they were the picture of restraint excess, opener Max Tundra was everything else. His rough around the edges energy properly fired things up at the start of the show.
Max Tundra
With a keyboard and a table full of toys and other gadgets, Tundra performed from within a pen of equipment, but it certainly couldn’t contain his expressive spirit or his buoyant electronic sounds. He spent the set in constant motion, jumping and waving his arms to exalt the crowd, or grabbing his recorder to play three notes before setting it down and turning his attention to the toy microphone he had at the ready. He set the room in high spirits with his set-closing techno rendition of “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music.
Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan
In contrast, Junior Boys took their positions on stage, and save for the necessary motions required to create their music, they moved very little. Jeremy Greenspan had his station with two synths and a guitar, Matt Didemus operated a banks of synths, keys, sequencers and boards and their drummer kept time from his riser. Of course when you play emotionally charged dance sounds with the gravity they do, lots of extra movement isn’t needed.
Junior Boys’ Matt Didemus
Besides, the crowded venue was more than up to the challenge of providing the movement, with the dancefloor in full sway from the first beat. Not content to simply press play on their prerecorded sequences, Junior Boys put each song together right there and then, and some of the headphone friendly touches of their studio work were replaced with spontaneous imperfections that made their songs that much more tangible and comfortable.
The set leaned heavily on the matured sounds of their latest album Begone Dull Care, and “Parallel Lines” “Hazel” and “Bits and Pieces” all sounded properly crisp. The music inspired dancing without exertion and Greenspan’s voice comes across with strength when needed and vulnerability when he chooses.
The two bands will be on the road together for the next month. Here’s where to check them out.
04.04 – Winnipeg, MB – Pyramid Cabaret
04.07 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room
04.09 – Calgary, AB – The Warehouse
04.11 – Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret
04.12 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
04.14 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
04.16 – San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s 365 Club
04.19 – Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room
04.22 – Denver, CO – The Bluebird Theatre
04.24 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
04.25 – St. Louis, MO – Billiken Club
04.28 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
04.29 – Columbus, OH – Skullys Music Diner
04.30 – Lexington, KY – The Dame
05.01 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
05.02 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
05.03 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
05.05 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
05.06 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
05.07 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
05.08 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs
05.09 – Montreal, QC – Le National
Read More
STREAM Junior Boy’s New Album ‘Begone Dull Care’
REVIEW Junior Boys :: Begone Dull Care
INTERVIEW: Junior Boys
Leave A Comment!