Advertisement

Music

Bizzarh

BIZZARH with WEAVES, PURSUIT GROOVES and BAD PASSION at Daniels Spectrum Courtyard (585 Dundas East), Friday (July 26), 7 pm. Free. wavelengthtoronto.com.


Toronto soul/rap duo Bizzarh have been building underground buzz since they started performing together two years ago, despite the fact that singer Dollar Paris and rapper Charlie Champ are both barely 19.

“Finally!” Champ exclaims with a giant smile, grateful to no longer worry about getting kicked out of their own shows for being underage.

Their youth hasn’t held them back from opening for international touring acts like Big Freedia and THEESatisfaction, or throwing their own popular series of underground late-night parties under the name Aftershock. The pair are currently gearing up to release their second EP, Soft Porn, later this summer.

The sneak previews posted online so far find Bizzarh moving far beyond the rough homemade quality of their now-deleted 2012 debut, the Cover Up EP.

“We took it down,” admits Paris.

“That first EP was a set of tracks that we called covers,” explains Champ. “Like we did a cover of Erykah Badu’s Bag Lady that was more like a remix – basically a mixtape approach just to put people on to what Bizzarh is up to.”

They don’t have to steal their beats any more, thanks to the contributions of an even younger up-and-coming producer named Harrison, whose hazy future-funk grooves suit Bizzarh’s modernist reworking of neo-soul perfectly.

“He came out to one of our 88 Days Of Fortune [the sprawling Toronto collective they’re members of] shows last year and reached out to us,” recalls Paris.

“His production is just otherworldly, and we vibe out so well. The Bizzarh-Harrison collaboration has been supernatural,” Champ boasts.

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when Ben Cook (of Toronto punk superstars Fucked Up) provided the studio expertise to bring it all together.

“What was missing for Bizzarh was a recording space. He reached out to us on his own, so we expressed our needs and he was totally willing to help,” Champ says.

“But when we get our own studio set up… I feel soooo sorry for the world!”

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted