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Basic Soul Unit

(Philpot, Ostgut Ton, Versatile, Mule Electronic, Mathematics, LOTD) – Dj – Toronto - Canada

Basic Soul Unit

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Stuart Li ‘s interest in club music started as a teenager in the late 80’s listening to Toronto’s independent college radio stations (House, Hip Hop, Electro, RnB, Freestyle and Reggae was usually heard, and sometimes even on the same show). By the early 90’s he was hanging out in the multicultural city’s thriving after hours scene where DJs would be playing a cross section of house music from New York, Chicago, Detroit and Europe. Stuart grew up on labels such as Trax, DJ International, KMS, Nervous, Strictly Rhythm, & Nu Groove. Working at the Cosmos Records store during the late 90’s led Stuart to dig further into Disco, Jazz, Soul, Funk, Latin, Brazilian. With this wide spectrum of interest in music, Stuart’s strength as a DJ is his versatility. Depending on the night and the crowd, he can play a deep and soulful set, throw down some crunchy techno or jacking house.

As with his Djing style, Stuart’s productions can swing from lush and soulful numbers to jacking beats or smoky deep house (with hints of above aforementioned influences). He has released music on respected labels such as Philpot, Mathematics, Mule Electronic, Versatile, Ostgut Ton, New Kanada, Iwanai and Left Of The Dial and Crème Organization. Basic Soul Unit has been getting played and charted across a spectrum of music enthusiasts from deep house heads and techno aficionados to the jazz and broken beat crowd.

Besides his own music, Stuart has been working along side good friend and sometime DJ partner Jason Ulrich doing A/R for John Kong’s Left Of The Dial Recordings (Toronto). Thus far, they have released music from local and international artists such as K Alexi, Alton Miller, Tony Lionni, Adam Marshall, Stephane Vera, and of course BSU himself. Future LOTD releases are in the works from German up and comer Jacob Korn (Running Back) as well as more BSU material.

Upcoming releases include en ep for Crème Organization, remixes for Spanish label Hivern and Steffi’s (from Panorama Bar / Klakson) new label Dolly.

Forthcoming releases

  • BSU Ep for Crème Organization
  • Pional / Cocoples de Gana (Basic Soul Unit remix) / Hivern Discs
  • Kai / Strom (Basic Soul Unit remix) / Ojo de Apolo
  • Herman (aka Basic Soul Unit) ep for Fine Art Recordings
  • BSU Ep for LOTD

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