Ciel curates compilation of Toronto electronic music for Air Texture

Ciel has curated a compilation celebrating Toronto electronic music for Air Texture.

The new compilation will be released on Friday, 9th May, and follows a recent edition spotlighting music from Egypt, which was curated by ZULI.

This is part of the latest wave of releases in Air Texture’s ‘place’ series, following previous compilations of music from Chile, Tunisia, Georgia, Kenya, Colombia and other countries.

The remaining three editions in this latest run will focus on electronic music from Morocco (curated by Bergsonist and due out in June), Ireland (overseen by Efa O’Neill and due in July), and Switzerland (compiled by NVST and Nicola Kazimir with a release date set for August).

Speaking on her selection process, Ciel commented: “My taste is very much a product of my being from Toronto and continuing being based here. It’s a diverse community of artists from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, and the music very much reflects that melting pot dynamic. I also very much wanted to give a chance to artists who have long been active in the scene as a DJ / producer / promoter / booker / record store staffer but for a multitude of reasons, have yet to break the international circuit. As such, the tracklist is lacking in the bigger names that have broken out of this scene and is instead full of artists that are familiar in Toronto but unknown to the larger international community.”

“You won’t find much in the way of gabber or business techno here,” she added, “but if you’re looking for groovy, deep, and psychedelic music of all styles, you will definitely find them here.”

Last year, Air Texture released a compilation celebrating femme and non-binary artists in electronic music, featuring contributions from Introspekt, Bored Lord and more.

2024 was a busy year for Ciel, as well, who partnered with D. Tiffany as Psychedelic Budz for the ‘Wonk Donk’ EP on Banoffee Pies Records.

Earlier in the year, she connected with CCL on the ‘Tilda’s Goat Stare’ EP, and released a solo EP, ‘Sada’s Dream’.