Lost in the Rhythm in Toronto

Lost in the Rhythm showcases deep, soulful and classic house and dance music in Toronto, through artists and DJs like Guerilla Science, DJ 2Ten, Russell Joseph and DJ SoliD, who are all part of our community-first roster. Want that sound in your city? You can start here.

The Toronto Scene

Toronto's house scene goes back to the mid-1980s, when twin brothers Dino & Terry (Dino and Terry Demopoulos) started out playing funk, disco, and the first house sounds at legendary spots like the Twilight Zone (built around a state-of-the-art Richard Long sound system!) and later the Phoenix, where their Sunday residency became the thing of local legend.

By the '90s, the city had a thriving deep house underground of its own making. Nick Holder's DNH Records became one of the most respected imprints in the genre worldwide, releasing over 200 tracks and counting in its lifetime. Elsewhere, 83 West Records, run by Tyrone Solomon and Peter Primiani, supported the early careers of artists in the city such as Abacus and DJ Sneak, as well as soon-to-be house royalty, Kerri Chandler, launching a sublabel in the name of Camouflage, branching out into more percussive and techier sounds in the early 00s. Clubs like Industry, Roxy Blu, and Coda carried the sound through the decades that followed, and through today's producers like Demuir, founder of Purveyor Underground, and promoters like goodbeat!, Toronto's deep, soulful lineage is kept very much alive.

The Sound of Toronto, 1991–2006

Selections picked by Russell Joseph

1991