Max Tundra comes across as the George Costanza of indie electro pop—in looks and stature, at least. But instead of displaying George’s chronic incompetence, Tundra is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and consummate entertainer.

Blessed with lightning-fast reflexes, an endearing repertoire of spastic dance moves, and the flamboyant chops of a prog-rock keyboardist, the diminutive Tundra channels his abundant talents into crafting exceptionally ebullient electronic pop. Leaning heavily on his excellent new Parallax Error Beheads You, Tundra pawed his synths, blew in his melodica, stroked his electric guitar, and thumbed his kalimba with manic intensity. He also sang in a high-pitched, Garth Greenside-like voice with a thespianic flourish, especially when he broke out the songbook to Rodgers and Hammerstein's "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music.

Tundra’s songs swoop, effervesce, and bloom with verve. At times it seems as if he’s straining too hard to lift spirits through his music, but after a while you realize that Tundra is simply overflowing with cheer and if he didn’t express his feelings through song, he’d explode, leaving a trail of glitter and cake frosting.

Highlights for me were “Will Get Fooled Again,” with its social-networking-intensive tale of courting, “Orphaned,” a discombobulating ball of confusion and joy, and the unexpected cover of the KLF’s “What Time Is Love,” which had some of the crowd’s older attendees flashing back to their raving days.

Tundra concluded each song last night with a terse “Thank you very much” and efficiently promoted himself periodically between songs and after his set, helpfully naming his MySpace URL and directing our attention to the merch table. His affable English manner made none of this as obnoxious as it sounds.

I only witnessed five Junior Boys songs, as the week’s heavy gigging schedule finally caught up with me in a major way and I had to bow out, but what I did hear far surpassed my expectations (maybe Eric can fill in some of the gaps). Past Junior Boys live experiences have been marred by a sluggish dourness (first time I saw them was at the Mutek festival in Montreal, and they seemed way out of place among all the serious experimental techno and IDM). In some ways, having Junior Boys tour with Max Tundra is just as perverse, as they are almost diametrically opposed to the latter's extreme chirpiness. This time, though, the addition of a drummer added much-need power and dynamics to the rhythms, which typically have been a strong point for Junior Boys on record. And vocalist/lead Jr. Boy Jeremy Greenspan was in fine, soulful form. A couple of tracks eased into a sexy, slo-mo disco groove and the rest explored the band’s trademark glumly uplifting emotronica for sensitive folks who may have suffered Smiths/Morrissey exhaustion.