Basic Operations have been described as a multi-genre, crossover of style and substance, somewhere between soul and drum and bass. Their early influences are wide and varied but include Calibre and LTJ Bukem, especially his Logical Progression LP. The outfit hails from North Carolina and is a partnership between Nathan Hayes aka Atlantic Connection, and Kevin Focus aka Kevin Jekel.

They released their first 12” in 2001, with Phuturo Records which was met with critical acclaim and since then it has been a meteoric rise to become one of America’s top five selling drum and bass artists. With releases on labels like Renegade, Total Science’s CIA Records and Fabio’s Creative Source, as well as Good Looking, TCI’s Dispatches and Advanced, with whom they released their ground-breaking ‘Era Soul’, it was no surprise to anyone that they became stalwarts of the US club scene.

Fame, however, was not confined to the US and it was not long before they graced these shores, perhaps an indication of the parting that was to come. In 2005, BO was no more. Nathan took the creative leap into solo artistry and in 2007 ‘Westbay Recordings’ was launched, as the hub of ‘future soul music’. All in all the partnership lasted a good five years and over 30 singles were produced and released.

Drifting on Aspect (Liquid V) can still be heard on 1xtra and AO is rumoured to working on some new material for release later this year, you have been warned: watch out for ‘Tomorrow’s Not Enough’ (Westbay Recordings) sometime in May 08!
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