Basic Rhythm

London’s Anthoney J Hart reconfigures his pirate radio influences into stripped-down yet rhythmically complex club tracks with his work under the aptly named Basic Rhythm moniker. Sharing the moniker with an obscure breakbeat hardcore act from the early ’90s, his work nods to jungle, garage, and grime without sticking to a particular formula. In addition to his own Basic Rhythm releases, such as 2021′s Electronic Labyrinth, he’s also released several DJ mixes that chronologically chart the history of early-’90s U.K. hardcore and jungle.
Hart was born in Hastings in 1979. While the rave scene played a major role in his musical upbringing, he eventually began making experimental music influenced by noise, musique concrète, and the darker side of drum’n’bass as Imaginary Forces, releasing material on labels such as Ohm Resistance, Fang Bomb, and Halcyon Veil throughout the 2010s. Revisiting his roots, he began making angular, ecstasy-spiked tracks as Basic Rhythm, debuting with the Raw Trax full-length on Type in early 2016. This was followed by the Slewage EP and 2017 album The Basics.
In early 2018, Hart’s grime project East Man released their debut full-length, Red, White & Zero, on Planet Mu. Later in the year, Basic Rhythm’s Dough Boy 12″ appeared on Warp’s resurrected Arcola sublabel. New Style EP followed on Sneaker Social Club in March 2019. Shortly after, Basic Rhythm’s third full-length, On the Threshold, was issued by Planet Mu. The label released his EP 2 Da Core later in the year. Several more singles appeared on Sneaker Social Club and Raw Basics, then Basic Rhythm returned to Planet Mu in 2021 with the full-length Electronic Labyrinth. ~ Paul Simpson