Toronto · No. 028Established somewhere after midnight

Cover Story · Long read

Everybody Wants
to Be Devoured

Inside the slow, ecstatic rise of Black Chapel, the Toronto quartet turning every basement in the city into a private catastrophe.

Read the story →
On the wire
Violet Teeth announce an all-night set at The Cistern✦Juliet LaRue’s new single is a love letter to a room with no exits✦Festival of Ashes lineup gets stranger, thank God

Selected pieces

New noise,
properly heard.

02

Album review · 9.1

Fever Thread are not interested in your forgiveness.

Their second record sounds like a church collapsing beautifully, and nobody has thought to leave.

Read review →

Live · The Axis Club

Fawn Calloway takes the room apart, one piano key at a time.

By Francie Hollaren

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Interview · Berlin

“Make it pretty, then make it hurt.” With Angel-8’s Kiki Neumann.

By Clara Saint

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Obituary · 1954–2026

Paul Mercado taught a generation of guitarists to play like they meant it.

By Francie Hollaren

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Field notes

TORONTO
AFTER DARK

Dispatches from the city’s rooms, rooftops, green rooms, and bad decisions.

All Toronto stories →
DON’T
LOOK
DOWN

The five best new bands playing to fewer than fifty people.
Scene report · 6 min

The last night at The Paragon was louder than its demolition.
Memory lane · 4 min

The radar

Three things
you should know.

01

September 12 · Houndstooth Theatre

Little Mourning’s first Toronto show is already sold out.

Details →
02

New release · Now listening

Static Bloom have made the breakup record of the year.

Listen →
03

Good cause · This Friday

Six local acts play the Orchard Room for the Night Kitchen Fund.

Go →
Frances Hollaren

Frances Hollaren
Editor at large

The Hollaren column · Every Thursday

On the peculiar
intimacy of a
bad encore.

The song ends. The lights come up. Nobody has gone home. This is where the truth of a performance begins.

Read Francie’s column →

The nightly dispatch

Keep your eyes
open.

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