Handsome Furs Sweat It Out in Toronto -- NXNE

Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner was a self-proclaimed "angel from sweaty heaven" at the band's much-hyped NXNE showcase at the Garrison in Toronto on June 18. The packed and humid room got even sweatier as Boeckner (who put his "other" band, Wolf Parade, on "indefinite hiatus" just last month) and his wife and bandmate Alexei Perry did their best to charge up a dance party with most of the tracks off their upcoming third album, 'Sound Kapital,' which Sub Pop drops on June 28.

It was the last major night of NXNE, one final late-night kick at the can for many who'd endured the city's hot, sweaty and packed venues during the five-day festival, so it's a good thing the Furs' latest electro-pop offering is a summer dance party waiting to happen. As the husband-wife duo launched into the new album's first track, 'When I Get Back,' the crowd at the front got the infamous Toronto head-bob underway, while the folks at the back seemed more concerned about chatting -- a fact that the denied fans waiting outside the at-capacity club would have been none too pleased to know about.

Despite the initial round of feeble dance moves, the cheers and applause gave reason to believe the crowd was into it and the pair took it upon themselves to inspire movement with their own spastic ballet on stage as they rolled through 'Cheap Music,' 'Memories of the Future' and 'Bury Me Standing.' A herky-jerky Perry held as little direct contact with her synthesizer as possible throughout the set, her right leg often creeping up into the space behind her in a beat-keeping arabesque, as one hand stayed on dial-twiddling duty only as long as it needed to, before she'd collapse on the floor at the end of each song.

As the beats flowed, the head-bob caught on and slowly spread its way towards the back of the room. Once the heavy-hitting anthem 'Serve the People' hit the crowd, Handsome Furs' hard work paid off and the head-bobs graduated in to full-on floor-leaving bounces from the more enthusiastic.

It wasn't the kind of dance party that can blow a roof off but still, the crowd's cheers drew an encore from the panting couple -- a rare thing at a city-wide festival that knows how to stick to a schedule. In the end, not everyone made the transcendence into sweaty heaven last night, but there was enough sweat in the room to give everyone a taste of what may lie beyond the terrestrial head-bob.

Listen to the Handsome Furs' New Song 'What About Us'
See Spinner's Complete Coverage of NXNE 2011
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