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Music

Pulse My week in the clubs

Rating: NNNNN


Junior’s in the house

Ended up at Roxy Blu Sunday night for Can You Feel It , a night dedicated to classic warehouse anthems. Run by Junior Palmer, who’s recently resurfaced after nearly retiring from the promotions game, the party successfully recaptured that back-to-basics house music feeling that many have been missing. The main room, where Nick Holder rocked the dance floor with raw deep classics, filled up relatively early. Holder may not be the biggest show-off behind the mixer, but when he’s playing to a receptive crowd he can craft an intricate and moving set.

By the time Jason Palma stepped forward, the place was packed and the ceiling was dripping (always a good sign), so Palma went straight to the big anthems of the past. Both Palma and Montreal’s jojoflores , who followed, tore things up as usual.

More deep house parties have been concentrating on local heroes (jojoflores could be considered local since he’s here every other weekend), partly because of the smaller number of active partiers and rising costs for out-of-town talent. While you could see it as a bad sign for the scene, at many events the local focus seems to be working out fine. Toronto boasts a large number of highly capable and underrated DJs who often know how to move this city’s crowds better than any DJ from overseas or across the border.

Bovine madness

Every Monday at the Bovine Sex Club , DJ Barbi hosts Die Lux , a night dedicated to electro, new wave and their offspring. Having built up steam over the past few months, it’s now a full-fledged party catering to a wide variety of people. Although the Bovine might be known for more rock-oriented events, it’s actually a great venue for this sort of thing, bringing attention to the punk roots of this music. Barbi regularly brings in special guest DJs as well as the occasional live performance, so it’s not a bad place to get an introduction to Toronto’s electro scene. Most of the key movers wind up making an appearance sooner or later.

Rhythm method

Friday night at Club 56, Rhythm Box celebrated the first anniversary of the monthly event. DJs That Robotic Kid and Didi Seven focus their attention on acid house and some electro and new wave, and attract the same kind of crowd you might see at Peroxide ( Will Munro ‘s monthly electro bash). Expect a visible gay presence as well as a large number of art scenesters, but it’s not quite as uncomfortably packed as Peroxide is known to get. Last week the usual musical program was switched up a bit for a surprise DJ set by a representative of Big Primpin’ , the homo hiphop night that’s had a big buzz behind it for the past few months. Even though it might seem weird to hear R&B, hiphop and dancehall right after weird old acid tracks, it actually made sense, and the dance floor didn’t miss a beat. benjaminb@nowtoronto.com

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