Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music (FFRR)

Releasedate: Mon 20.March 2000

Thirty years after Tom Wolfe, Asian Dub Foundation have redefined the art of radical chic, says BARBARA ALLEN, The Times

Say what you like about Asian Dub Foundation, they have a bit of class. As their new album "Community Music" shows, they don’t promote themselves as black ghetto gangsta animals for the white community to fear, objectify, and ultimately neuter. These are the pavement polemicists who reserve their contempt for the "ho’s" who crave and abuse political power, not the women they might bed. This is the voice of revolutionary dissent, only with seats given up for pregnant mothers and old people helped across the road. These are the radical refuseniks who bothered to do their homework, racking up a bit of street knowledge before opening their mouths.

It certainly says something about them that when their noisy, angry, complicated album "Rafi’s Revenge" was nominated for the 1998 Mercury Music Prize, ADF were automatically suspected they were not the token "dangerous" choice, nominated for kudos’s sake but never seriously destined to win. So they said as much, calmly but sternly, in their filmed Getting To Know You nominee interview, traditionally an occasion for bashful false modesty and industry toadying.

It was one of ADF’s finest moments-they should put it out as a single. It certainly made me sit up, take notice and make a mental note to go out and buy the albums made by these bolshie characters with their anti-schmooze aura and shape changing sound. That’s the thing about ADF: while their stance is pure soapbox, their music (Rap? Rock? Punk? Hip Hop? Urban Bhangra? Indian Classical? Disco-ragga) is becoming increasingly difficult to classify. You think you’re getting the Asian Chumbawamba, but then you get the Brick Lane Public Enemy, the Bhangra PIL, the Dub Clash, or even the Dead Kennedy’s from Mars.

"Community Music" hits the ground running, opening with the excellent current single "Real Great Britain". This politicized, energised, erupting volcano of a track simply has to be heard to be believed. It’s not so much that ADF choose once again to have a militant pop at British political mores, but that they manage to be so slinky and exciting while they’re doing it.

Political music doesn’t usually sound like this-political music usually sounds like Weetabix tastes without milk. However, on tracks like "Real Great Britian", "Colour Line", "Judgement", "New way New Life" and the revamped oldie, the epic, the poetic, "Rebel Warrior", ADF manage to make integrity and righteous anger sound like the sexiest, freshest ideas anybody ever had.

There are certain moments here and there, when you begin to suspect that this is merelt crude sixth-form political studies paranoia run riot. Indeed there are many out there who would say that ADF would probably be a better pop band if they could just leave the poll-tax riots behind for one second. However, stripped of their politics, their racial sophistication and their sense of injustice, ADF would be just another bunch of spoilt attention junkies pushing their race as a gimmick.

Anyway, while political dissent might remain terribly unfashionable, it can sure sound good. The instrumentals on "Community Music" are just stunning, from the abstract, experimental "Riddim I Like", through to the raw, wistful "Taa Deem" and the closing aural blizzard of "Scaling New Heights". Spoken word segments and other samples are used well, and Catalisa’s dignified vocals on "Truth Hides" turn a pleasant, socially aware track into a spiritual odyssey.

Huge thanks to my friend Saurav for this review:)