Toronto has always been a musical city – arguably the most in Canada and undoubtedly among the top in the world. Our diverse population allows almost any genre of music to thrive in Toronto, from Jazz to European Folk. Predominately though, Toronto has always been a rock city. Sure, nowadays our biggest music exports hail from hip-hop (Drake, Kardinal Offishall, etc.) but a walk down Queen West – the centre of Toronto’s music universe – shows that we just can’t get enough of those tantalizing acoustic strings or aggressive electric guitar riffs.
But a there’s a major renaissance on the horizon. It’s been building up in the underground music scene for the past few years and, more than ever, during the past half year. Electronic music has swept through the city like a flu, and it seems that everyone’s been hit. More frequently, rock bars are opening up to computer-generated sounds and many of the city’s newest hotspots now feature electro or dubstep nights. It’s no surprise then that some of the hottest nights in the city (Monday at The Social, Thursday at Strangelove) emerged because of Toronto’s sudden love of electronic music.
Some of this shift can be directly attributed to the sudden rise of Toronto native Deadmau5. The 29-year-old artist and producer producer has dominated the global electronic music scene since the release of his 2008 album Random Album Title. Since then, Joel Zimmerman – as he’s known off-stage – has taken home three Junos, six Beatport Music Awards, and three International Dance Music Awards. And it just so happened that as he was reaching his peak in late 2009, he concluded the year with a massive show at The Guvernment on Boxing Day. When you talk to anyone even somewhat interested in electronic music, they’ll tell you they were there or would have died to have been.
His next Toronto show is scheduled for November 5, 2011 at Roger’s Centre – the large Toronto’s concert venue other is necessary to accommodate Deadmau5’s following. Deadmau5 isn’t single-handedly responsible for this sudden, major shift in the city’s musical preference, but he’s definitely a factor. If you haven’t heard of or experienced this music scene before, maybe we can get you started. The following shows are absolutely “can’t-miss” for any electronic enthusiast or rookie:
And have a quick listen here. You can say you heard it first on Notable!
Deadmau5 – Not Exactly by BaXuZ