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With each new album and concert performance, the initials ADF have come to
stand for integrity, political engagement and the fusion of musical styles. Ever
since the release of their first album
Facts and Fiction in 1996, the collective - a label that fits them
more snugly than ?group?- has been constantly evolving towards ever more
ambitious projects, from giving rabble-rousing performances and drawing
attention to sensitive issues, to adding new layers to its alloy of sounds.
ADF?s trajectory recalls those big boys of the British rock scene, The Clash.
Although their early output failed to grab their public?s imagination, the ?midi
warriors?, as they call themselves, now generate enthusiasm across the board.
With the inaugural sound system line-up including bassist and teacher Dr Das, DJ
and civil rights activist, Pandit G, and Deedar Zaman, a brilliant MC from a
London music school, Asian Dub Foundation established the building blocks of its
cross-cultural identity in 1993. Soon joined by guitarist Chandrasonic and
programming prodigy Sun J, the group moved from playing at anti-racist gigs to
becoming major challengers on a British music scene still gripped by Britpop
fever. ADF?s members were all born in England to immigrant parents and share an
open-minded approach to musical culture, from the latest electronic vibes and
traditional Eastern sounds, to rebellious rhythms of punk rock and hip hop that
express their everyday struggle for respect and tolerance.
Their charisma and social conscience have won praise from a whole host of major
names in the music industry: ADF toured with Primal Scream after the release of
their second album
R.A.F.I. (1997), before being invited to provide the warm-up
act at a David Bowie concert. The campaign for the release of Satpal Ram, an
immigrant worker convicted of murder after defending himself from a racist
attack, thrust them into the spotlight.
ADF was asked to perform at the Fuki Rock Festival in Japan, where the group
has always enjoyed an enthusiastic reception, before hitting the road with the
Beastie Boys. After the release of their third album,
Community Music (1999), the group was joined by drummer Rocky Singh
and Pritpal Rajput (who plays the Dohl, a traditional Panjabi drum), securing
their reputation for high energy live stage performances. Struck by the social
message of La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz?s film about the lives of three teenagers
in the Paris suburbs (Ghotika), ADF re-wrote the soundtrack, which they
performed live at screenings of the film. Their most moving performance was on
31 March 2001 at the Barbican in London when Satpal Ram, released just the day
before, joined the band on stage.
When Deedar decided to call it a day, ADF invited two MCs (Aktar and Spex),
graduates of the same music school as them, to join them on their latest
adventure: the recording of their fourth album
Enemy of the Enemy (2003). Heavily influenced by world events - the
opening of Europe?s borders and September 11 ? the album also portrays the
production skills of one of the pioneers of British dub, Adrian Sherwood, boss
of the On-U Sound label. The album also featured an unexpected guest artist,
Sinead O?Connor, who tackles the issue of domestic violence on the track 1,000
Mirrors. Radiohead guitarist Ed O?Brien cut in on the sessions and the two
groups teamed up for a landmark European tour. ADF also joined French activist
Jos? Bov? at an anti-globalization rally in the Larzac region of southern
France, in August 2003.
Keep Bangin' on the Walls, their highly-charged live performance,
was released in the heat of the moment as a CD and a DVD.
Reluctant to stick to the distinctive sound that had made their name, ADF chose
to reinvent itself by inviting a number of new members to join the team. Ghetto
Priest, an artist on the On-U Sound label, was the first to arrive on the scene,
infusing the tracks on Tank with a whole new flavor. Priest?s steady flow
recalls the great Jamaican vocalist Horace Andy, a stark contrast with the more
hip-hop inclined Spex. By hooking up with Ben Watkins (composer of the
soundtracks for the Matrix trilogy and member of Juno Reactor) and Adam Wren
(Leftfield?s sound engineer), ADF has steered a more electronic course as
revealed by the irresistible dance rhythm of the first track, Fly Over. It sums
up ADF?s calling to make music that gets the mind and body moving by raising
awareness on the dance floor.
As the title suggests,
Tank is an album created in a world at war. Oil makes a stark
reference to the economic interests at stake for the countries involved, Take
Back the Power is an attack on the abuse of power by dictators, Warring Dohl
focuses on the situation in Pakistan and Bangladesh, while The Round Up sounds a
particularly grim warning: ?When you hear the marching drum/You know your time
soon come?. As in their previous albums, the lyrics are shot through with
meaning, while the album?s enormous energy prevents it from sliding into dogma.
ADF remains first and foremost a musical laboratory overflowing with ideas,
drawing on sophisticated programming, deep bass sounds and searing riffs to
create its one-of-a-kind kick.
The collective reveals once more that it is open to new sounds: Mad Mike from
the Detroit Underground Resistance (founded with Jeff Mills), another great name
in the realm of integrity, collaborated on Powerlines while Tomorrow Begins
Today takes an original reggae stance. Melody 7, the album?s closing
instrumental piece, recalls the group?s work on the soundtrack for La Haine,
which they have taken up again with La Bataille d?Alger, a film banned in France
on its release in 1965 because of its political stance. And it?s still hot
stuff: the Pentagon viewed the film in 2003 as part of its fight against rebel
groups in Iraq.
After a number of performances in England and just finishing the recording of
Tank, ADF plunged head first into a new project. The English
National Theatre has commissioned the collective to compose and perform an opera
on the life of Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi. The project poses a new challenge
for which this inventive and ambitious group are particularly well suited. In
the same dynamic vein, ADF recently teamed up with Chuck D., the conscience of
Public Enemy, for three explosive tracks (including two remixes of Black Steel
and Fight the Power) that may feature on the tracks on the open-disc menu
offered exclusively to buyers of the album. |
