.
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 even Reggae and Soca could usually be heard 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 music. 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 throw down Detroit influenced Techno, Jacking Chicago style sounds, soulful and deep House, minimal tracks, disco, and sometimes even a combination of these.
As with his Djing style, Stuart’s music can swing from lush and soulful Detroit inspired numbers to crunchy jacking beats or smokey deep house (with hints of above aforementioned influences). He has released music on respected labels such as Philpot, Mathematics, Mule Electronic, Versatile, Ostgut Ton, Créme Organization, New Kanada, Iwanai and Left Of The Dial. His remix work has also garnered some critical praise including his rework of the classic Arnold Jarvis song “Take Some Time Out” or his remix for Jacob Korn on Panorama Bar reisdent Steffi’s Dolly label. Basic Soul Unit has been getting played and charted across a spectrum of music enthusiasts from deep house heads to techno aficionados.
Stuart’s journey as a DJ has taken him to places like Berlin (Panorama Bar), Japan (Yellow, Loop), Sweden, Spain, Switzerland & New York.