It may have taken nearly a decade to arrive, but Basic Soul Unit’s Motional Response is everything a debut album should be.
basic soul unit
Exclusive Download of the Week: Basic Soul Unit, Undercurrent
October 12, 2012 – 12:01 AM
This week’s download is an exclusive track from Basic Soul Unit that drifts through placid, meditative arpeggiations.
Basic Soul Unit, Soulspeak
September 21, 2011 – 12:01 AM
Soulspeak, Basic Soul Unit’s first 12″ for Steffi’s Dolly imprint, skirts any threats of sameness and comes packaged with a Shed remix.
LWE Podcast 39: Basic Soul Unit retires this week
March 13, 2011 – 10:01 PM
LWE’s 39th podcast, a hearty hour of techno and house mixed by Basic Soul Unit, retires this week. Add it to your collection before it heads off to the archives this Friday, March 18th.
Herman, Prototype
May 10, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Stuart Li, best known for his Basic Soul Unit project, continues his departure from more linear house music on his first release under the Herman alias for Fine Art Recordings.
LWE Podcast 39: Basic Soul Unit
January 4, 2010 – 1:01 AM
As Basic Soul Unit, Toronto’s Stuart Li has earned a reputation as something of a producer’s producer. Combining the rough-hewn trackiness of underground techno with hazy atmospherics of deep house (not to mention a healthy pinch of low-end and DFA-style synth wackiness), his releases for labels like New Kanada and Mathematics have shown they can play chameleon in practically any discerning record bag. But 2009, which saw his “Dank” single released by Philpot and his track “Things Pass” included in Ostgut Ton’s Panorama Bar 02 EP, scraped away at Li’s underground status, raising the bar on his studio prowess while placing Basic Soul Unit on a whole host of new radars. Whether you call it a 2009 victory lap or harbinger of a stellar 2010 to come, LWE’s 39th podcast, an exclusive mix of heavy, organic, and thoroughly trippy house grooves, gives us a rare and tasty showcase of Li’s DJ chops.
Basic Soul Unit, Basic Necessity EP
December 3, 2009 – 10:01 AM
“Tool” is almost exclusively used dismissively in dance music criticism, but must every track hold up unlayered, unmixed, or otherwise isolated? Some brilliant club tunes deserve your headphoned attention, but I think we critics sometimes lose sight of where classic moments in dance music occur — on the floor, with a deft selector manning the decks. Toronto’s Stuart Li, known in grimy house music circles as Basic Soul Unit, has become a DJ’s favorite for the very reason many of us might usually click the skip button: save his “Panorama Bar 02 | Part I” A-side, “Things Pass” from this fall, which found Li in veritable anthem mode, they’re unabashedly tracky. While Basic Soul Unit’s recent “Basic Necessity EP” for New Kanada might not contain a DJ’s main event, its contents provide the sort of sinews that hold great sets together, bridging the gap between the energy of one showcase track and the next.
Basic Soul Unit/Lerosa, Panorama Bar 02 Part I
October 19, 2009 – 10:01 PM
Ostgut Ton have made quite an impact with their mix CDs. Both timely and timeless, the Berghain and Panorama Bar residents always try to create something lasting; indeed, the first Panorama Bar CD by Cassy has yet to leave my mix CD rotation. With high standards in mind, anticipation for Panorama Bar 02 grows every day, not least thanks to two teaser 12″s Ostgut Ton releases containing exclusive tracks from the CD. “Part I” features the talents of Toronto’s Basic Soul Unit and Dublin-based Lerosa, and is soon to be followed by contributions from Levon Vincent and Panorama Bar resident Steffi.