Toronto’s Arts & Crafts label packed up the family van and headed south to CMJ this week, showing off a few of their brightest and best Thursday night at Williamsburg’s Union Pool. While Still Life Still seemed to be stuck on repeat and Hollerado’s we’re-just-happy-to-be-here enthusiasm was graciously met with crowd appreciation, it was the genre-bending band Zeus that got to keep their name as god of gods, at least among the mustached and flannelled mortals.

The talented foursome seems to have made a hobby of collecting rock eras, but rather than tempering them in the Molson-infused bars of Toronto’s indie circuit, they dragged them through the truckstops of the south, rounding out their extroverted Brit influences with a bit of alt country. The trio front and center took turns chopping at 70s-styled guitar riffs and 60s-era garage keyboard licks, while the kit behind them kept time. The content of the songs was as schizophrenic as the genres the band spans: toying with the peaks of pace, mixing rhythms and hooks for masterful effect. “Mother, Mother” sounded a bit like Modest Mouse with a dandy flourish, and their cover of Genesis’ “That’s All” was just right.

Balancing pop and classic rock with ease, the band is prolific in the size and scope of their rock knowledge. Hipsterdom aside, the question still remains: beyond distribution challenges (try a Google search for Zeus), this Toronto quartet is going to need to dig deep into that southern soul, whether real or imagined, and decide how bad they want rock God status. Their namesake took down his old man for it.

- Will Kangas