If you had to name an early winner following the announcement of the 2012 JUNO Award nominees, it would have to be William Shatner. The Montreal native, best known to those under 25 as “the Priceline guy,” received the biggest pop when he was announced as the host for the 43rd edition of the awards. [...]

It feels weird to refer to Quanche as a veteran of the local hip-hop scene. The Toronto rapper—real name Zack Gomez—is only 20 years-old. That said, he’s already put in a lot of work. He first popped up on the radar back in 2005, when he made a guest appearance on a mixtape by T-Dot [...]

In the confusing realm of musical sub-genres, it could best be referred to as dance-rock. Or electro-pop. It’s so hard to tell anymore. But whatever it’s called, you’ll know it by the chest-pounding kick of the bass drum that doesn’t seem to flag even when the singer announces “a slow one.” Or the incessant hiss [...]

Toronto-based musician Slakah the Beatchild is best known as a hip-hop and R&B producer, having made beats for artists like Drake and Melanie Durrant. On his latest album, The Other Side of Tomorrow, the first release from his “band” The Slakadeliqs (“band” in quotes, because he does it all himself), he changed direction and paid [...]

“Going retro” is a potentially dangerous course for any artist to chart, but it’s especially perilous for musicians. Used correctly, a fresh take on an old sound can create a broad-based appeal that simultaneously tugs at listeners’ sense of nostalgia while still sounding fresh and current. Go overboard, however, and you risk becoming the musical [...]

Believe it or not, music videos still exist. Sound Tracks trolls the internet to find the best and the worst of local artists’ new singles and the good, bad, or otherwise noteworthy visuals that accompany them. Indie-folk singer Jenny Mayhem certainly isn’t the first Toronto musician to use seminal discount emporium Honest Ed’s to display [...]

Fort York is the kind of band name you wish you thought up with your friends first. According to Fort York’s Bandcamp page mythology, the group was spawned by roommates living on Toronto’s Brunswick Avenue, who constructed a rehearsal space in their house around the same time they picked up a banjo. Feels Like Then [...]

Subway trains flew in and out of Yorkdale station in opposite directions. The glass tunnel connecting the TTC station to Yorkdale Mall was brutally chilly, but offered an absorbing view of the stark urban tangle of chain link fence, parking lots, multi-lane highways, and rails that define the area. Guitarist and TTC musician Adam Solomon [...]

It would be easy to write Devon Tracy off as some sort of hip-hop Justin Bieber—an ever-so-slightly edgier version, who doesn’t require a swagger coach. It’s not his fault, but the 18 year-old MC’s non-threatening teen idol looks, slightly nasal voice, and dance background make it a little hard to take him seriously as a [...]

Four days before Christmas, user “americathesn” uploaded an audio track to YouTube under the title “Untitled Bends Era Radiohead Song.” Radiohead fans took heed. They insisted upon the track’s authenticity on sites like Gawker and NME. Christopher Stopa, a Toronto local, was first forwarded the NME article by a friend who told him to check [...]

Unseen City goes where the public can’t. When modifications to Roy Thomson Hall’s interior were announced in 2000, Arthur Erickson, the building’s original architect, was incensed with an intensity particular to misunderstood artists—and screaming infants. “I am deeply grieved that this could happen while I am still in practice and known to have the flexibility [...]