What’s naut
to like

>> Toronto DJ Paul E. Lopes continues
a long history of great music

by SCOTT C

As far as I’m concerned, Paul E. Lopes is one of the most important figures in Toronto nightlife, and has been since the early ’90s. Simultaneously planting roots in the rare groove, dancefloor jazz, Brazilian/Latin and hip hop scenes, his contributions as a DJ/promoter/writer over the years have helped make Toronto one of the healthiest music scenes in North America today. Having just released Whatnaut: House on Virgin, Pauly reveals a love for new directions in soulful house music, and some of his own productions. The Mirror spoke to him over the phone from T.O.

Mirror: When I was going to nights in Toronto like Bump n’ Hustle, 52nd Street Bridge and Soul Night at the Cameron, you always had a bag of tricks. This new compilation makes it pretty clear that you’ve moved on from playing rare groove and Brazilian treats.
Paul E. Lopes: Well, I haven’t moved on from anything. I still play that stuff, but I’ve found that some house music has come to embrace a lot of the sounds that I love, and I’m really happy to see artists combining influences from different genres into house.

M: Man, I remember you and Jason Palma had the whole explosion in Brazilian music thing beat by about two years. How does that make you feel when you see how popular Brazilian music is on dancefloors today?
PEL: That’s the story of my life, man. When you want people to catch on, they never do, and then when you’ve grown out of it, it suddenly catches on. Brazilian music now is a double-edged sword, meaning that it got so popular that the quality of a lot of the tracks became questionable. There’s a lot of filler out there.

M: I hear that. You’re also one of the guys I associate with playing several genres in the course of one night, and having them all work on the same vibe. I guess you’ve noticed that catching on again, too.
PEL: It’s all about good tunes, man. They’ve been doing it in London forever. I think people here are much more concerned with genres and classification than they are with plain ol’ good songs.

M: So Toronto’s number-1 tastemaker finally gets to make compilations on a major?
PEL: They signed me for five, but you know they can drop you any fuckin’ time. I know sales aren’t going to be in the millions or anything, but hopefully I can sell enough that they’ll let me keep going from volume to volume. Master T put out a comp the same week on the same label, but he’s got TV commercials and radio. I’m doing this low key. Y’know, playing out to support it.

M: After all these years playing great music for so many people, do you feel like you’re where you’re supposed to be?
PEL: Yeah, man. It just keeps on getting better. It’s a slow fuckin’ process, but everything is good right now. :

At Therapy tonight, July 11, 10pm

>> Music Listings