Love it or hate it, summer is pretty much over. That crappy cold white stuff (AKA snow) shall soon be upon us. Bleh.

The good news is that things are heating up on the urban music front. The fall season is an interesting time as you'd think that things would start to slow down. But you'd be wrong, for right now the major and indie record labels are beginning to flood the market with shiny new product and the concert scene is starting to take shape. Here are a few things to look out for:

Toronto's own trip-hop/jazz ingenue Esthero performs Thursday night at The Guvernment. The talented singer forever seems to be "the next big thing" but fate always seems to intervene. There's a still time left in 2005, so hopefully this is her year.

Roots Reggae band Truths and Rights (featuring Canadian reggae icons Mojah and Garry Lowe, formerly of Big Sugar) bring the riddems this Friday at The Mod Club. Heard some of their stuff on community radio and it's pretty good.

After a successful showing at the Toronto Urban Music Festival, spoken word poet Dwayne Morgan and crew host the The Roots Lounge open mic this Sunday. Spoken word is probably one of the most underappreciated genres in Toronto right now. Check them out.

And after many fits and starts, homegrown hip-hop/alternative soul singer Melanie Durrant drops her album on the 27th. Love me some Melanie and I had the opportunity to interview her recently. Check for that soon...

At the risk of seeming like a glorified e-bulletin board, I'll stop there. But the fall season is perhaps one of the best times to the year to get involved in Toronto's urban music scene.

Photo: Esthero