It's hard to put your thumb on Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker. Ours is admittedly a world where things are constantly being examined, labeled, named, and methodically grouped neatly in one place or the other. When something comes along that won't be put under a thumb, what then? No, chaos doesn't consume the earth, but it does often leave people wondering where to place the duo with a sound that is equal parts science and art, a convergence of gentle melody and driving beat. Like a science experiment set to music, what they do melts down acoustic rock, EDM, Dub, Hip-Hop, Orchestral, and Pop transforming it into an entirely new element. It explodes, it implodes, and it is a pure chemical reaction.
Just know that if figuring out USS is your main concern, you might be waiting for a very long while. Vocalist/guitarist Ashley Boo-Schultz and hypeman/turntablist Human Kebab have always existed hanging in a sort of myth-like state, allowing the music they make together to first speak for itself, and empowering listeners to take from the sophisticated sound whatever they will. While USS is on a constant quest for meaning, the interpretation of it is largely up to you.
Hailing from the periphery of Toronto, at the edge of where the suburbs meet the country, there was an instant clash and connection between the two musicians when they met working at the same golf course in the mid-2000s.
"We're walking examples of simultaneous opposite juxtaposition," says Ashley. "When we met, Jay had just graduated university and I had just dropped out of college. He's a hyper-extrovert, and I'm a hyper-introvert. I'm always looking in, and he's always looking out. It became glaringly obvious right away that we needed one another: The message and the messenger."
Their creative collaboration that began in 2005 evolved naturally over time, but it wasn't until a friend issued them a challenge to take their music more seriously that things took a legitimate step forward. "Our friend Brian kind of said to us, ‘you know your friends love you guys, but it's time to stop messing around and do something,'" Ashley explains.
"So he dared us to record our best song and give it to everyone in Toronto who we possibly could. We did, and before you know it our music was being played in between Radiohead and Coldplay."
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