East Man - Red, White & Zero [Planet Mu Promo]

Scheduled for release on February 16th, 2k18 via the ever active Planet Mu-imprint is "Red, White & Zero" - the new, and first ever, album by Anthoney Hart a.k.a. Basic Rhythm under his freshly introduced artistic moniker East Man. Focusing on and influenced by the sparse, raw and skeletal nature of early Grime productions we see Hart presenting a menu of twelve tunes, twelve collaborations with a wide array of mc's from the London underground including Darkos Strife, whose lyrics atop "Cruisin'" are amongst the highlights of this longplay piece, Killa P, Kwam, Lyrical Strally and others all spitting their bars on a foundation that's way closer to a sonic aesthetic once pioneered by the likes of Vex'd, Ruff Sqwad, Virus Syndicate or Plastician - then: Plasticman - than to the more polished, oftentimes mass market-reaching Grime productions of more recent days, even crossing over into Speedhall / Industrial Dancehall territories with "War", an East Man / Irah collab, whilst the eerie, intense "Drapesing" opens the window into the thoughts of and happenings in rough inner city areas and housing projects in a quite unusual, yet touching way. If you've been into Grime since early on, this one album will be of interest for sure.