While the rest of you were at home last night, patriotically watching the last remaining Canadian hockey team get slapped around by the last remaining American team, there was a veritable indie rock-fest going on at the Cabaret. And I'm not talking about the new category at HMV kind of indie rock. I'm talking about the kind of indie rock where the musicians are so untainted by the demands of the music biz that they simply exude enthusiasm. Such was the case as The Spinto Band, The Lovely Feathers and Tokyo Police Club brought their sounds and styles to St. Laurent.

Being first in a three band line up is never easy, but Tokyo Police Club delivered an energetic opening set featuring lots of tambourines, sweet synth sounds and the odd screaming background vocal. Their songs got tighter as the set progressed and while TPC seemed neither Tokyo-ish nor Police-ish, their club is worth looking into.

The slightly underwhelmed crowd changed its tone as local darlings The Lovely Feathers took the stage. Clearly the band everyone came to see, the Feathers did not disappoint, blasting the crowd with jangly guitars, resounding keyboard parts (provided by a guy in a yellow super hero suit, with a feather on the chest) and high energy drums (when the drummer took his shirt off at song 3, it was clear he meant business). The two lead frontmen traded guitar and vocal lines, captivating the crowd with their theatricality. Their Myspace page doesn't do justice to their energetic performance of "In the Valley" and "Wrong Choice"; the only complaint was that, after 50 minutes of pure adrenaline, their last song was the slowest of the night.

Despite The Lovely Feathers' repeated pleas for fans to stick around for the Delaware-based headline act, less than half the crowd remained for Spinto Band. The stragglers were a little slow to get into Spinto, but the band's spastic robot-like movements and lush harmonies eventually drew them in. Despite the waning crowd, Spinto is worth just as much musical recognition as the Feathers, blending infectious pop melodies with quirky pacing and songwriting. Their music is sugary but not so sweet as to rot the teeth. Even when it does, your toes are still tapping.

Maybe it was the ridiculous deer-caught-in-stage-lights expression on one of the lead vocalist's faces, or the fact that Spinto didn't enjoy the home field advantage the Feathers did, but when Spinto came back for an encore, it seemed anti-climatic. Still, they rocked with fervor and even managed to throw in key cultural references to Tim Horton's Camp Day (both camp day and iced caps were signs of Canada's progressiveness). The biggest fault of their gig was that "Oh Mandy", likely Spinto's greatest contribution to the musical canon, was buried in the middle of their set, robbing it of the recognition it deserves.

But who do these bands look and sound like you ask? I will leave that to you. Check out the fantabulous video footage (combined with horrid sound quality) provided by MP's resident video blog nerd Mark Raheja.

Watch Tokyo Police Club lay down some screams and sweet synth.
Enjoy the Lovely Feathers and the best Tambourine playing since Raffi.
Tap your toes to Spinto Band's mandolin infused "Oh Mandy"
(try to ignore the expression on the other frontman's face)

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