Other Heights has been a label that we’ve been quietly yet incessantly keeping tabs on for about the last eight months, featuring artists like Ghostek, Kowton, Conforce & several others — and it’s now crystal clear that this once well-kept Belgian secret has been blown into techno taste-maker posterity. The reason for our sudden treatment today stems from this imprint’s latest offering, their eighth extended-player, featuring the masterful work of Toronto via Hong Kong DJ/Producer, Stuart Li, aka Basic Soul Unit, released earlier this week.
Adding to the well-documented fast & furious start to 2012 for Toronto-based electronic music artists, this one arguably represents the gold standard up to this point, offering two originals by Li himself, entitled “Come On” and “Growing Pains”, alongside two spaced-out renditions of each, by Unbroken Dub. The A-side begins with a lurching, and almost unorganized, kick, snare, clap ensemble that reluctantly makes its way toward a silent descension into the distorted, and much more aggressive lead, eventually layered with the mellifluous strings of a violin/cello. The B-side offers something much more in the direction of sultry house groove — ambient pads, pinhole synths, and charming wispy tech house percussion, all in a charmingly unconventional fold.
Basic Soul Unit – Northern Heights EP
