Asian Dub Foundation
Community Music

Frustratingly, even in the year 2001 the world is anything but the vision of racial harmony and ungrudging coexistence that so many have been striving towards for so long. It would be idiotic to expect the passing of an entirely arbitrary date to catalyse anything, but there’s still a symbolic resonance to the fact that here in Britain this year we’ve seen the least goodwill towards immigrants and asylum seekers for decades. A rash of ugly nationalism and racism has always festered under the surface and it’s still capable of gaining public acceptance when organisations like mainstream political parties jump on such bandwagons.

Fortunately, another thing that’s been growing steadily is Asian Dub Foundation’s reputation. Ever since their evolution from a London project designed to give underprivileged young people access to music technology, ADF have been mixing unambiguously politicised and unapologetically infectious releases with an admirably hands-on approach to activism. For instance, not only did their single Free Satpal Ram publicise the cause of a man jailed for defending himself against racist attackers, but the band numbered amongst those who protested by chaining themselves to gates of the Home Office building in London.

To focus entirely on these five young men’s political agenda, however, would be to do them a disservice, because ADF are equally accomplished musically. On the one hand, their fusion of madly accelerated dub basslines, exotic banghra and breakbeats is, when the tempo rises, capable of rabble-rousing in its own right, in the same way that even the most lyrically void punk songs can still send strange, rebellious thoughts rushing to the listeners head. On the other, Community Music makes it abundantly clear that this is only one side of the coin; whilst ADF have hardly betrayed their roots, this latest album displays an increasingly broad sonic palette. Whilst examples such the incendiary Real Great Britain still hit hard, symptomatic of this is the fact that one of the most frankly explicit songs here is a rather mellow piece of futuristic hip-hop featuring a calm spoken word lecture on the evils of economic imperialism.

None of the fury of 1998’s exhausting Rafi’s Revenge has been lost, though - the band have definitely not burnt out, but matured. To be honest, if Community Music had ended up sounding like The Platters it wouldn’t have compromised their integrity because when a message is expressed this well, there’s no need to be constrained by any narrow conceptions of revolutionary music.

This album is something of a triumph, then, and I’d urge anyone interested in musical multiculturalism or righteous politics to get their hands on a copy. Except, it’s worth noting, those of you in America won’t find it available for purchase anywhere. Is someone scared?

Reviewed by Robin Howells
04.09.01

[Note from Ed: While Community Music has not been released in the U.S., you can purchase it from our music partner, Djangos. To view a complete listing of ADF titles available from Djangos, click here.]