“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.
new kanada
LWE Podcast 06: Adam Marshall
September 5, 2008 – 12:44 AM
Beyond producing quality house music for Thema, Cynosure, and Dumb-Unit (among others), Adam Marshall is also the head honcho for the up-and-coming New Kanada and KUJI labels. So when he sent LWE this exclusive new mix which seamlessly spans deep-house and techno with personalized edits, we knew it needed to be shared with the world.












