Anthoney J Hart makes noisy, experimental electronic music as
Imaginary Forces, but he reserves the
Basic Rhythm moniker for his most DJ-friendly material. Directly influenced by his formative years as a pirate radio DJ, he contorts grime, jungle, and garage rhythms into abstract yet kinetic club tracks. True to the project's name, these cuts are focused on rhythm more than anything else, and while Hart leaves a lot of space in his productions, his beats and bass tones are so warped and angular that his productions never seem too minimal. Some of the tracks, like opener "St. Fabian Tower," have a gradual, unhurried pace, constantly mutating the beats and cycling through wave-like synth patterns and snatches of ecstatic diva vocals. Other tracks are a bit more blunt, such as the bludgeoning attack of the brutal "Slice Neck" and the menacing "Buss It." "The Kru" seems to hint at a peaceful atmosphere with its diced synth pad, but the fractured rhythm upsets it, and then a totally damaged beat pattern crashes in halfway through. "The Light" has the most straightforward, rave-friendly beat pattern and a tense, growling bass loop, and the familiar vocal sample ("Have to stay alive living in the light") expresses a mixture of passion and struggle. By listening to his
Basic Rhythm records, one can tell that Hart was attracted to U.K. bass styles for the way that they constantly pushed sounds forward while keeping the energy level through the roof, and while there's a bit of an art-school pretense to his deconstructions, his excitement outshines anything else. ~ Paul Simpson