Welcome to the Toronto Portraits. Every Friday we're going to profile a young, dynamic Torontonian, and each week we're photographing them in a different Toronto neighbourhood.


Slim Twig, 19 years old. Greektown.

Slim Twig is pretty damn slim. I didn't ask to weigh him during our interview (a missed opportunity to be sure) but you've probably seen those black, rail thin jeans of his slinking down Queen Street in the last couple years.

In this column we talk to musicians; sometimes about the music they make, sometimes about whatever tangent they happen to go off on. And once in a while we may talk to non-musicians as well, just to keep you on your toes.

In this installment, we talk to manic frontman for Toronto's Run with the Kittens, Nate Mills (aka Nate Milk) about bikes, petty theft, cocaine, devotion, and comedy.

This weekend Beats, Breaks & Culture will celebrate its fifth year anniversary, bringing some of the best new music and culture to the Harbourfront Centre.

This year in particular the line up is quite impressive, with some of the best national and international talent such as Ladytron and Crystal Castles on the bill.

And did I mention that admission is FREE?

For well over a decade, Montreal-based musician Mike Feuerstack has released solo material as snailhouse. I remember always liking his lo-fi acoustic songs whenever they were played on the Indie Hour, but it was always kind of a mystery because I rarely heard about the band anywhere else.

Turns out that Mike was busy with his main band Wooden Stars. They released four acclaimed albums and after an eight-year hiatus they reformed in 2007 and won a Juno award for their collaboration with Julie Doiron. Mike also plays in The Acorn, who I loved at Canadian Music Week.

Luckily for us, Mike has found the time to record and release a very sweet new snailhouse album called Lies On The Prize (Unfamiliar Records). Mike's voice is soulful and his lyrics are very thoughtful. The instrumentation is top notch and the album takes a few interesting turns as it goes along.

But why is he called snailhouse? What does he think about Toronto? What's up with his CD release show this Thursday at the Drake? I asked Mike these questions and many more.

Keep reading for the complete interview.

With a heavy heart I type this edition of my Q&A series. This is the first one where I'm speaking to a band who are about to play their last shows. Foreign territory for me, as I tend to focus on "up- and-comers" who I encourage our beloved readers to check out.

A Northern Chorus is an ambient rock band that every fan of moody, atmospheric, heart-felt music would like. But sadly, after eight years and four full-length records (released by Sonic Unyon Records), they are packing it in before graduating past their "up-and-comer" status.

A Northern Chorus play their final Toronto show tonight at the Horseshoe. Singer/guitarist Pete Hall shared some memories with me about how the band started, the difficult road they travelled and why there is still lots to look forward to.

Keep reading for the complete interview.

North America has really embraced the new electro house movement with open arms, and it boasts a lot of popular DJs and producers in the scene. While European countries like Italy might still prefer the more traditional club sounds, Italian duo Crookers are representing their homeland in a very big way these days with rap-inspired electro house sets and killer remixes for big names like Kid Cudi, Armand Van Helden and Chromeo.