DJ Boring Establishes Lo-Fi Excellence at Toronto’s Velvet Underground

Written By | Joshua Habtwold

London, UK-based lo-fi house producer DJ Boring (Tristan Hallis) finished off his North American tour by coming to his 2nd last tour date, at Toronto’s Velvet Underground. Known for his vibrant lo-fi house sets from fans, as well as his most notable tracks that he released like “Winona”, “Against the Clock”, and his well-known EP mix, “For Tahn”, he made sure that the Toronto crowd is up for a good match while bringing a variety of new experiences for EDM and house fans, alike.

I came to the venue, just in time to see Toronto-based DJ Milch and what she brings to the table when it comes to unique mixes and live production from local talent. She started off quite well, and the certain amount of lo-fi BPM, which would be 80 BPM, made it stellar for vibrancy. The colour palette of the lighting was unique throughout the venue, and the show’s staging was quite exquisite. With the crowd coming strong in numbers, the vibes that these fans are giving are starting well for the opener. A couple of fans even came up to me and said that she was really good. What was also interesting was that the ladders were mainly present for the backdrop of the show. In addition, some of her production is quite vibrant and more interactive, beat wise.

Following up on bringing more local talent, Toronto-based DJ and producer Stacey Sexton came forward to open up for the lo-fi legend, and she brings this with a quicker BPM pace, of up to 120 BPM. Sexton also infuses a variety of genres with her lo-fi mixes, such as jazz-rock, which fuses with a blend of hip-hop, deep tropical house, and Soulective music. As the crowd tends to get bigger, the dancing seems to be quite enjoyable. Another interesting aspect of the night was when patrons were chanting when their friends and other fans were feeling the vibe through dancing and crowd enjoyment, and Stacey managed to receive those great vibes as well. The Toronto DJ also interacts with unique dancing and enjoyment in her face, and she also mixed Prince’s I Wanna Be Your Lover in a deep low-fi mix, which executed well

At around 12:30 AM, DJ Boring comes up to the DJ booth and greets Stacey Sexton with a hug before he set up his laptop to the deck. Fans and House lovers clapped and cheered for the DJ’s appearance and Sexton’s finale, even though there were technical issues at the end. Boring started off with a melodic opening set, where the 100BPM speed matched up with a variety of two-step to four-step to almost an eight-step drum pattern. The crowd was at its largest, which it filled the entire room by the masses and the dancing was quite energetic. Boring also brought something with his DJ set, where it has sort of a disco feel.

The lo-fi production brought a good amount of energy to the crowd, and it was hard to even find a spot because the crowd kept dancing away to any space that was free. DJ Boring even took off his jacket to enjoy the energy, and the mixes tended to be much exquisite, as it kept going on rotation. As the bass becomes much louder and the synths were much noticeable from time to time, the flow of the night became much quicker with the BPM. Although DJ Boring dealt with a couple of technical issues near the end of his set, it was something that the fans asked for and he managed to execute his set in an astonishing way.