Techno Maestro Basic Soul Unit is Raising Kids and a Label in Toronto

Many artists start out their careers with edgy, raw sounds, but as they mature and gain studio experience they become more refined, introducing more melodies and cleaner production. Toronto's Basic Soul Unit has moved in the complete opposite direction.

Known to friends and family as Stuart Li, Basic Soul Unit dropped his first single in 2003: laid-back, melodic tech house, with at least one foot firmly planted in the deep house scene. His new techno album Under The Same Sky, which comes out November 9 on Dekmantel, makes his house roots feel like a distant memory. Crunchy distorted drums dominate the mix with sparse, moody synths floating on top; a decidedly dark and tense feel carries across all ten tracks.

"I think even when I do raw stuff, though, I do it in a more refined way," Li says, as he sips his pint of beer. "I'm just bringing in bits and pieces of all my influences and pulling things from my past."

The new album does feature some reminiscent elements of his prior work, most notably an abundance of broken beats punctuating the four-on-the-floor techno thump. It might surprise some of his European fan base to know that before he started producing, he was best known in Toronto for DJing jazz funk, and until this year, was still playing soul and disco as a monthly resident at the long-running Footprints party.

While he doesn't get a chance to show off that side of his personality when opening up for people like Surgeon, he still tries to delve into those record crates when the opportunity arises.

"I think I was playing Switzerland once a few years ago, and this girl came up to me and told me she didn't want to hear any vocals. But now you'll have gigs in Berlin where you'll see Four Tet, Gilles Peterson, or Floating Points and it's totally acceptable. Things are changing there, and you're seeing it across the rest of Europe as well."

Similar to his unconventional move towards noisy minimalism, he's also sidestepped the analog modular synthesis arms race that many of his peers have been drawn into. His live shows and productions once included a variety of hardware drum machines and synths, but Under The Same Sky was written and recorded completely digitally; his current live show is similarly in-the-box.

"Partly it was me being lazy and never plugging all the gear back together after playing live shows and partly it's the family thing. I just don't have the time to sit in the studio and noodle all day," Li says. "I do want to bring a little bit of gear back into it back into it, but I don't think it's going to be all-analog. I don't think that's ever going to be me. I'm really comfortable with software, because that's what I've always been doing."

That family factor is a big part of who Li is; he comes across as a calm and reserved dad rather than a party monster. Instead of relocating overseas like so many other Toronto artists of his generation, he's stayed in town and maintained a division between his day-to-day life and his musical career. It's maybe that separation that has allowed him to carve out a uniquely versatile brand for himself as an artist.

"Maybe when we first had our baby it might have been possible to move to Berlin, but right now with the kids in school and my parents getting older, it seems like we'll stay put. Your life totally changes when you have a family. For me, seeing my daughter grow up is really important for me. It's kind of nice to have that balance between Toronto, where things are normal, and then being in that music world when I'm over there."

That attachment to Toronto is also at the heart of his label Lab.our, which he founded three years ago with his longtime friend J-UL (a.k.a. Jason Ulrich). Like Li, Ulrich is also best known locally for soulful sounds, but Lab.our has provided an outlet for him and other emerging Toronto producers to explore harder textures.

"Starting Lab.our came from something that a lot of artists want: to have some creative control by having their own label," says Li. "It was also to give a platform for Jason and other people I know from Toronto to try to push things a bit. Even if it's grimey, even if it's distorted, there's always some kind of groove and some sense of soul. Not necessarily soulful, but a deeper feel."

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