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  • A grunge-y collage of the artists: Cam Kahin, Denise “Vanity” Matthews, Fefe Dobson, Kaia Kater, Morgan-Paige and Joncro. Multiple cut-outs, half-toned and grainy images of them sit atop a blue sequined backdrop.

    Breaking the sound barrier: Six Black Canadian artists reclaiming the alternative scene

    Music
    Jun 5

    6 min read

    From genre-bending banjo players to Caribbean hardcore revivalists, these artists are reshaping what alternative music looks and sounds like

WHAT’S NEW

  • Pen for Justice: Rectifying the judicial system
    Features

    Pen for Justice: Rectifying the judicial system

    May 28
  • ‘Sucker Punch’: Scaachi Koul talks heartache and identity at Toronto book launch
    Literary

    ‘Sucker Punch’: Scaachi Koul talks heartache and identity at Toronto book launch

    May 20
  • Tariffs and the publishing squeeze: Are smaller presses at greater risk?
    Literary

    Tariffs and the publishing squeeze: Are smaller presses at greater risk?

    May 13
  • After Dark

    Statement — ‘After Dark’ Print Issue

    May 12

arts
  • A ‘Freaky Friday’ with TMTC
    March 28, 2025
    A ‘Freaky Friday’ with TMTC

    Nearly 100 cast and crew members lit up the Chrysalis stage with song and dance

  • Louise Noguchi: Beauty, culture and violence, from the eyes of the other
    February 22, 2025
    Louise Noguchi: Beauty, culture and violence, from the eyes of the other

    A review of Louise Noguchi’s multidisciplinary masterpieces — exploring identity, perception, and the power of the unseen

  • Remembering Diwali: Toronto’s Festival of Lights
    December 19, 2024
    Remembering Diwali: Toronto’s Festival of Lights

    Thousands gathered in Nathan Phillips Square to enjoy Diwali’s joy and tradition through art, food and fireworks


FASHION
  • Pioneering change: Black women behind the camera and chair
    February 22, 2025
    Pioneering change: Black women behind the camera and chair

    These three Black creatives open up about working behind the scenes on film sets in Toronto and in the beauty industry

  • CanCulture’s guide to Canadian winter fashion
    January 21, 2025
    CanCulture’s guide to Canadian winter fashion

    Dive into some Gen Z-approved winter fashion gear

  • Aaniin to the Season! Canada’s first Indigenous department store pop-up is here for December
    December 19, 2024
    Aaniin to the Season! Canada’s first Indigenous department store pop-up is here for December

    Aaniin’s holiday pop-up at The Eaton Centre celebrates Indigenous craftsmanship and storytelling offering authentic, feel-good gifts from over 45 vendors until the end of December.


FEATUREs
  • Pen for Justice: Rectifying the judicial system
    May 28, 2025
    Pen for Justice: Rectifying the judicial system

    The women-led initiative reviews potential wrongful incarceration trials and builds a strong case of innocence for attorneys to pursue exoneration

  • Bridging cultures through music: Multicultural choral concert hits a high note
    March 9, 2025
    Bridging cultures through music: Multicultural choral concert hits a high note

    The Yangtze River Performing Arts’ concert in Toronto united voices from Chinese, Italian, Ukrainian and Latin American communities

  • Indigo Kills Kids: How arts communities are challenging power structures within Canada
    December 19, 2024
    Indigo Kills Kids: How arts communities are challenging power structures within Canada

    For many, the Indigo boycott is a clear example of how the people united will never be defeated.


FILM
  • ‘Enemy of the Sun’: Abdu Aljahma on Black-Palestinian solidarity
    May 8, 2025
    ‘Enemy of the Sun’: Abdu Aljahma on Black-Palestinian solidarity

    How advocacy is inseparable from the art for this budding filmmaker

  • A Sister Nancy Story: Portraying love, passion and resistance
    March 20, 2025
    A Sister Nancy Story: Portraying love, passion and resistance

    The screening of Alison Duke’s documentary on Sister Nancy inspires people to do what they desire and fight for what they deserve

  • WILDsound Documentary Festival: ‘Plastic Tourism’ makes waves
    March 9, 2025
    WILDsound Documentary Festival: ‘Plastic Tourism’ makes waves

    This short film emphasizes the “contrast between massive tourism growth and the insufficient capacity of local human resources to manage it wisely”


FOOD
  • What do your go-to drinks during finals say about you?
    April 22, 2025
    What do your go-to drinks during finals say about you?

     Surviving finals is never easy, but the right drink could make it more manageable

  • A Bold eye for nutrition
    March 20, 2025
    A Bold eye for nutrition

    TMU student-athletes share how they eat

  • Revisiting the great pineapple pizza debate
    March 1, 2025
    Revisiting the great pineapple pizza debate

    Pineapple on my pizza?! Pineapple on my pizza…


LITERARY
  • ‘Sucker Punch’: Scaachi Koul talks heartache and identity at Toronto book launch
    May 20, 2025
    ‘Sucker Punch’: Scaachi Koul talks heartache and identity at Toronto book launch

    Canadian author and TMU alumna makes the audience laugh over a book that might leave them crying

  • Tariffs and the publishing squeeze: Are smaller presses at greater risk?
    May 13, 2025
    Tariffs and the publishing squeeze: Are smaller presses at greater risk?

    U.S. President Trump’s newly imposed tariffs have small Canadian presses worried about their American sales

  • The case for Substack
    May 8, 2025
    The case for Substack

    Independent writers and journalists seek platforms like Substack to replace more traditional forms of media and publishing. 


multimedia
  • Fluffin’ around
    April 10, 2025
    Fluffin’ around

    Furnal Equinox is Canada’s largest furry convention and a showcase of some of the most creative costume designers and artists in the furry community

  • CanCulture Bingo: 2025 Oscars edition
    March 1, 2025
    CanCulture Bingo: 2025 Oscars edition

    The ultimate Oscar night challenge to track all your goops and gags

  • Dia de los Muertos 2024: On Remembering
    December 20, 2024
    Dia de los Muertos 2024: On Remembering

    Activism and community care were central in this year’s Day of the Dead celebrations


MUSIC
  • Breaking the sound barrier: Six Black Canadian artists reclaiming the alternative scene
    June 5, 2025
    Breaking the sound barrier: Six Black Canadian artists reclaiming the alternative scene

    From genre-bending banjo players to Caribbean hardcore revivalists, these artists are reshaping what alternative music looks and sounds like

  • Keep your tents at home!
    April 28, 2025
    Keep your tents at home!

    Camping out for concerts is becoming increasingly popular at a time when houseless encampments are slowly outlawed across the city

  • Connecting with the sounds of home
    April 16, 2025
    Connecting with the sounds of home

    Belting karaoke allowed me to rediscover and love aspects of myself that I was uncertain of


Podcast
  • March 28, 2024
    How a Story Gets Made: CanCulture’s editors talk about everything CanCulture! #CandidCulture

    Welcome back to Candid Culture! CanCulture’s very own audio take on anything arts in Canada! This week, host Anna-Giselle Funes-Eng is joined by masthead editors Grace Henkle, Arts Editor, Sarah Grishpul,…


  • January 8, 2024
    CanCulture’s night out at the Hot Docs Podcast Fest! Q with Tom Power in conversation with Kevin Drew #CandidCulture

    This October, CanCulture Multimedia Editor Anna-Giselle Funes-Eng watched a live taping of CBC’s Q with Tom Power at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival. His conversation with Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew…


  • January 2, 2024
    All about CanCulture at Toronto International Film Festival, part two #TIFF2023

    CanCulture’s executive team, Caelan Monkman, John Vo and Mariana Schuetze, continue their discussion of their favourite films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. In the second part of this special…




It’s nearly over? The last five After Dark stori
It’s nearly over? The last five After Dark stories make for some great light reading 💡

1) Brand new to the issue, writer @heyits__aisha takes you through a Trans and neurodivergent voyage under the strobe lights in her poem ‘After hours.’

2) In our buzzing comic page, artist @gmoloyy illustrates his profound conversation with Jack Lamon of Come As You Are — the world’s only co-op sex shop, right in the heart of Kensington Market.

3) Managing Editor @gracehenkel reveals what service workers are really thinking when the final melange of customers slip through the door five minutes before closing for the candid piece, ‘What they’re thinking vs. what they say.’

4) Tacky floors, granular tabletops and all, dive bars are where grit meets no bounds. Managing Editor @se444na has an ode to their tenacity amid sprawling gentrification.

5) Co-Editor-in-Chief @k1nz4 curated the perfect Queer ‘CanCon’ mixtape for your nighttime listening pleasure, with love. Give it a listen on our Spotify, found at the bottom of our homepage.

Not pictured: our games page complete with a cross-country crossword and Toronto night owl bingo card that you can download online.


Four stunning features for our fourth print issue!
Four stunning features for our fourth print issue!

1) At the crux of raving, has always been resistance — so what happens when rave corners of the city are poisoned by pinkwashing and corporatization? Co-Editor-in-Chief @k1nz4 has just the feature to tell you all about it. Through interviews with local scene veterans, Indigenous land defenders and photos by @joshuabest, the transformative piece inspires critical dialogue and challenges cognitively dissonant attitudes in Toronto’s nightlife scene. Hedonism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

2) Behind any PC-induced metallic track, you’ll probably find a Trans genius innovating it all, down to the turn-knob. Music Editor @azaydrea and writer @jayjashdown co-author this narrative feature on three Trans DJs/electronic artists in Toronto and how their Trans havens came to be. Through meticulous reconstruction, the duo delves into why raving and electronica is so innate to Trans livelihood as well as the treacherous harms of standardizing and neglecting community care.

3) With roots deeply entrenched in African American tradition, jazz music stands to be the most monumental and revered genre of all time, luminary to many of today’s prevalent soundwaves in rock, R&B and hip-hop. Through a historical recollection, writer @zanarchyyy breaks down jazz’s origins up north and the steadfastness & tribulations of Black musicians determined to make their sound heard. In this piece, the importance of cultural preservation and its jazz hubs take centre-stage.

4) Beyond the white-gay-induced-worship of Xtina and Cher’s 2010 cult film ‘Burlesque,’ writer @benderfromfuturamaa explores the ever-evolving world of neo-burlesque! Juxtaposing its origins with the words and experiences of burlesque performers, this feature upends outdated archetypes. Shifting the tide from its past thin and white ideals, today’s performers are actively Queering and reclaiming how the art form exists with every performance.

Head over to canculturemag.com/afterdark to read our four special issue features and more.


Hungry for more CanCulture After Dark? Here are ei
Hungry for more CanCulture After Dark? Here are eight medium-length stories from our 2024-25 print issue to satisfy your cravings.

1) In “Vogue ‘til your heart’s content,” Co-Editor-in-Chief @john.vo_ checks the pulse of Toronto’s historic Ballroom scene through field reporting and interviews with dipping and dancing icons. 

2) Literary Editor @lama.alshxmi digs deep into what’s unique about GTA’s late-night food landscape and what the significance of its growth holds for diaspora communities from the Global South. 

3) On a field trip around the city, @john.vo_ — and fellow Co-Editor-in-Chief @k1nz4 with her DSLR in hand — toured some of the finest bars merging design with darn good drinks. Check out our three recommendations. 

4) Writer @tdawnedward peers into the world of @tinkertoronto, a creative coworking space where makers of all kinds gather with the goal of experimentation, connection and play. 

5) Subverting the antiquated paradigm of sexy magazines, zinesters have crafted their own sexual revolution. Civil disobedience is baked into the recipes of zine creation, and the medium serves to challenge notions of sex, gender and sexuality. Writer @ellermilla has the story. 

6) Skinamarink a-doo, writer @txmxnna_g has a throwback Canadian film review for you! Released in 2023, Skinamarink’s journey to widespread acclaim is as intriguing as the movie itself…

7) Having lost too many nostalgic experiences and places to modernization, Food Editor @zarmminaa investigates how drive-in theatres are kicking today. 
 
8) The art of oral storytelling has come to impact the lives of many Canadians, with the night playing a significant role in their cultural tales. Writer @luis.ramirez.liberato explores how such stories are a living connection to our histories and identities. 

Visit canculturemag.com/afterdark to indulge in our medium-length stories and more.


HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️


HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

CanCulture Magazine has all your Queer reading needs and desires fulfilled with our fourth annual print issue, After Dark — all online!

And if you’re still itching for a FREE print copy, DM us or email cancultureinfo@gmail.com to get your hands on one!

Here are five stories you can find at the front of our biggest, and Queerest, issue yet.

1) After Dark’s first, and foremost, piece is a de-stigmatized harm reduction kit! Managing Editor @gracehenkel breaks down how to utilize essential supplies and implement optimal practices for safer injection, safer smoking and safer sex. 

2) In “Our favourite spots,” five 2024-25 masthead members share their go-to late night haunts. From the best spot to impress someone in Little Korea to the sweatiest Ossington dive bar, we got you covered for your next night on the town.

3) … So you want to be a DJ? Managing Editor @se444na has some choice words for you in this satirical essay outlining the glorious path to ultimate DJ-hood. 

4) Hidden deep beyond grocery lists and reminders for tomorrow, one can find digital scrawlings, often hurriedly typed out during spurts of passion, that manifest after midnight. Arts Editor Sharon Arulnesan hunted down a few such artifacts in the form of poetry from writers @zanarchyyy, @hajirbadger and @juliannsharmaa. 

5) After growing immune to the ‘spectacle of Toronto,’ writer and photographer @sdubiner set out to shift his perspective by deciding to shoot only in monochrome in camera. The result of his experiment is “Jelly Tones”— a collage of condos, clubs, workshops and empty office spaces, framed as a hand where light and colour break through structured negative space. 

Head over to canculturemag.com/afterdark to explore our front-of-book stories online.


Often historically overlooked, Black artists from
Often historically overlooked, Black artists from across the diaspora have always been trailblazing and defining the alternative music scene. @tdawnedward has just the listicle showcasing some stand-out Black Canadian artists for you to add to your playlist this summer! 🪕🎧

Get to know more about this spectacular round-up of talent at canculturemag.com!


"I think people who are incarcerated will forever
"I think people who are incarcerated will forever remember the people who helped them."

@ayshat_abdz covers Pen for Justice (@penforjusticetmu), a Toronto Metropolitan University student group that seeks justice for the wrongfully convicted and is Canada's first chapter of the American organization Youth for Innocence.

Head over to canculturemag.com for the full story.


Canadian author and Toronto Metropolitan Universit
Canadian author and Toronto Metropolitan University alumna Saachi Koul made the audience laugh over a book that might leave you crying.

Head over to canculturemag.com to hear @liana_yadav's experience at the launch of 'Sucker Punch.'

#canlit #canadianbooks #canculture #cancon #scaachikoul #suckerpunch


Toronto Met film student Abdu Aljahma's second sho
Toronto Met film student Abdu Aljahma's second short film, a visual narrative of the poem 'Enemy of the Sun' by Palestinian poet Samih Al Qaism, seeks to bridge the gap between Black and Palestinian solidarity movements.

Read more about Aljahma's film at canculturemag.com.

#cancon #Blackcinema #canculture #tmufilm #torontofilm



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