“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 [...]

Token’ 808, the latest EP from Toronto bass-music producer Vlsonn, manages to pack a whole lot of diverse sounds—ranging from soft, introspective minimalism to in-your-face dance floor energy—into one very tight, well-conceived package. Consisting of three songs and two remixes and borrowing from dubstep—think Skream and Benga, not Skrillex— as well as 2-step and old [...]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Last time we checked on 178 Bathurst Street, it was just beginning to relive its Bassmint-era techno days with Derrick May at Crosstown, now closed. Since then, things underneath the Queen Street West and Bathurst Street Pizza Pizza have come full circle. Until 1999, Christian "DJ Unabomber" Poulson operated Bassmint, a famous party spot and afterhours that still conjures memories of sleepless nights for...