A big question for many entertainers today is how the show can go on when crowds can’t safely gather in venues. In a previous article, Auxiliary interviewed three subculture musicians who have that problem and found a similar solution: live streams. It’s no surprise that DJs have used the same technology to keep events going, to maintain some form of income, and even to raise funds for venues which still face steep rent but can’t earn it by being open for business. This is a worldwide phenomenon, but for the purposes of this article we’ll keep the focus on Toronto. In no particular order, here are five streams which are either continuations of live events, or new programs here to keep us dancing at home.

Prophecy

A few years ago we did a Club Night Spotlight on Prophecy and that’s a good place to explore its history. “Prophecy is a foretelling of what to come, revealing what is unknown. It describes our goal of playing cutting edge new music alongside obscurities.” And it continues in its current incarnation, a live stream of new and obscure goth/industrial/postpunk/darkwave/deathrock/electro from its partner DJs. The event was running successfully out of Bambi’s not long before things shut down, and adapts itself well to changes in venue, so it isn’t surprising that it kept going in this live stream era. Prophecy happens on the first Friday of the month unless otherwise noted. This DJ team also currently runs the podcast It’s Midnight Somewhere.

Frequent Contributors : Mistress McCutchan, The Wasteland

More Information : Prophecy on Twitch, Prophecy’s Facebook Group

SubFrequencies

A stompy industrial, synth, noise, and rave flavored DJ stream happens every Thursday evening, so far almost twelve iterations strong and drawing a regular crowd. The stream layout, graphics, and bots certainly bring cybergoth joy reminiscent of the cyberpunk future portrayed in 80s and 90s film/television and games like System Shock. This stream has always existed in cyberspace without a physical venue, fittingly. Listeners can stay in the Twitch text-only chat or go to a video hangout with other attendees. The genre selection also ranges through 80s and 90s classics that fit the feeling and flow of a given event, and guest requests.

Frequent Contributors : Dreamstate Seven, Count FLACula, Synescape

More Information : SubFrequencies on Twitch, SubFrequencies’ Facebook Group

Darkness Forever

Another event which has adapted well to changes in venue, Darkness Forever had most recently found a home at Houndstooth bar before things needed to close, and has also offered merch such as T-shirts and mugs to raise funds for Houndstooth and the DJs. The sounds range from postpunk/punk all the way to Italo-disco and whatever happens to fit the flow. The overall mood is fun. The live schedule was monthly, but the online schedule appears to be every two weeks on a Sunday.

Frequent Contributors : Hate Mior, Vernal Trash

More information : Darkness Forever on Twitch, Darkness Forever’s Facebook Group

Day Drunk

Another event from one of the personalities of Darkness Forever, Day Drunk live streams occur every Thursday in the afternoon (hence the name) and the genre focus shifts to vaporwave, officewave, and smooth easier listening of a less mainstream/less often played variety to help people get through their home office workdays or just idle time spent during self-isolation. Some of us like the improvement over our usual workplace music at home, and others are happy to hang out in chat. The second stream in the list that never had a physical venue, this revels in the fun of digitally enhanced backgrounds that many of us are becoming accustomed to with our web conferencing activities.

Frequent Contributor : Hate Mior

More Information : Hate Mior on Twitch, Hate Mior on Facebook

Hybrid Live-To-There

Dwight Hybrid has been a premier alternative Toronto Club and Event DJ/Event Producer/Broadcaster since 1991 with six years as the 102.1 The Edge Live-To-Air Weekend Producer/Programmer/DJ winning Best Club DJ awards during that time. He is currently live streaming the HYBRID // Live-To-There Weekend every Friday and Saturday from 9PM to 12AM with local guest artists and DJs on Fridays and monthly scheduled HYBRID theme shows Nineties (alternative, industrial, brit, electronica, flannel), HAARDCAST (alternative and industrial metal show), POPROCKS! (alternapop/indie/synthpop show), GLITCH (electronic, darkbeat, synthbeat show), and SAIGON SUNDAYS! (retro/new wave/post-punk, classic alternative show) every Sunday from 7 to 10PM. So he’s doing quite a number of things and hoping at least one will be just right for you!

Frequent Contributor : Dwight Hybrid

More Information : Dwight Hybrid on hearthis.at, Hybrid // Stomplife’s Facebook Page

This selection of events reflects what has caught our attention most recently if you have a Toronto DJ stream you would like to shout out or you know of one that didn’t get mentioned, feel free to leave a comment below with some details and a link for readers to visit.

To keep reading, check out some more of our music content online.

Dylan Madeley

Dylan Madeley is the Copy Editor of Auxiliary, a frequent contributor, and the author of The Gift-Knight’s Quest.