I find the new, young scene refreshing and less judgmental. This is the new guard — and I like it!”
Barbi Castelvi, a.k.a. DJ Barbi (pictured, 2) is enthusiastic about Toronto’s current dance club climate. She should be, since alongside similarly seasoned DJs and promoters including Mario J of A.D/D. Events and Nav Sangha (a.k.a. Nasty Nav, 7) Castelvi is at the centre of this “new guard.”
As in 2006, heavily mixed and mashed sounds ruled our clubs this past year, with a supremely strong showing by parties offering various takes on the electro-nu-rave-indie-dance-blog house-hip-hop-booty biz. Many more genre-specific scenes got a serious rethink in 2007, while promoters including A.D/D., Random Play, Pink Mafia, Fameless and DMoney Underdogs (co-organizer Darcy, 4) went from being underdogs to a dominating force, as is evident in A.D/D.’s Randomland Fridays at mega-club CiRCA and DMoney’s myriad events hosted at the Drake.

But don’t rule out deeper, more soulful sounds or breakbeats — many scenes are either holding their own or making comebacks. Here, in part one of a two-week review of 2007 trends in T.O. clubs, I ask notable local DJs and promoters how their club communities are faring.

“In the ’90s — even five years ago — Toronto’s underground house music scene was alive and kicking. Then warehouse parties all but disappeared and apart from companies like Garage 416 and milk. doing parties, these kinds of club events became few and far between. All the while, trance and electro events were getting bigger and more popular than ever before,” recalls promoter Pat Boogie who, along with frequent collaborator Andy Roberts, (5) has been largely responsible for rekindling our house scene through producing events like the Deep End series.

“We made a conscious effort to really step it up and organize proper deep and soulful house events at least once or twice a month, showcasing quality talent from abroad as well as locals. The response has been amazing.”

Roberts agrees. “A lot of fresh faces have populated the scene alongside the usual suspects. Personally, I think people needed to get excited about the music again. You can see that happening.”
Brothers Carlos and Pedro Mondesir of Hot Stepper Productions (6) have long played a key role in keeping soulful and funky sounds bumping in T.O. clubs. They may be producing fewer events, but they’re keeping the crowds coming out and entertaining generations of music heads.

“Our gigs are definitely holding their own,” says Carlos. “Bump N’ Hustle parties are rammed every month and the Garage 416 parties went well. We proved with the huge success of the Versus parties and the Roxy Blu Reunion that the soulful parties are far from done, as was speculated by many. They just needed a good spot and, of course, some co-operation between promoters.”

Also proving that there still are fervent and sizeable audiences for the warm sounds of jazz, funk, reggae, Afrobeat and the like were parties including Symon Warwick’s Turning Point, John Kong’s Do Right! events, and the Turning Point monthly produced by DJs Stuart Li, Jason Palma and Jason Sanders a.k.a. General Eclectic (1). Sanders himself was a particular standout this year as his Uma Nota and Atomic Shuffle events blurred musical boundaries while bringing together DJs and live acts.

“The scenes I participate in are very much on the rise,” he says. “With the massive popularity of the nu rave, electro and ’80s revival scenes, events like mine — where we present a more musically varied and eclectic programming style  — have now become the alternative. As such, we’re in a great position to create new exciting cross-pollinations within the underground that could not have happened a few years ago.”

Similarly, we’ve seen rising turnouts for hip-hop-centric affairs as promoters collaborate and grow more inventive: DJ Fase stands strong with his open-eared approach at nights such as Footprints and Edumacation; the ambitious and well-programmed Manifesto festival gave shine to a lot of locals; and classic hip-hop ruled the school at the popular Never Forgive Action and Hip-Hop Karaoke events (run by Dalia and Numeric, 3).

And what of T.O.’s once mighty but now struggling drum ’n’ bass scene?
“It’s in a rethinking and rebuilding process right now,” offers DJ Frankie Gunns of Play De Record and Selection. He gives props to promoters Future Sound and Two Tone while looking to the future. “There needs to be more widespread representation of the music and more clubs open to housing it for d’n’b to reach new ears. We also need more creative programming — cultivating new talent while bringing in top internationals.”