Asian Dub Foundation - 'Keep Bangin' On The Walls' (Labels UK)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
In a world of toil and torment, it's at least nice to have something to rely on. Wherever, whenever, for whatever reason, you can always be assured that two things will be the case. One - the world will be an unjust place. Two - Asian Dub Foundation won't ever be happy with it.
In essence, they aren't too pleased about a lot of things. But their political hybrid of ragga-punk-hip-hop-jungle-dub-bhangra (we'll stop there; it is, after all, actually easier to name the genres that ADF don't dip into) is one with an overtly positive message, that being in short - 'do something about it'. This is their attempt.
And a valiant effort it is too, fifteen tracks that showcase where the band are rumoured to be in their element - that is, of course, in front of thousands of like-minded individuals, whilst attempting to turn a room-full of strangers into a communal mass of musical power, each one more than willing to obey the commands of 'jump for justice' that emanate from the stage.
Never ones to let deep-rooted moral issues ruin a good time, 'Keep Bangin' On The Walls' is littered with up-tempo tunes, anthems of non-violence and good times. Unsurprisingly, it's the scathing guitar-riff of their most political statement, a brilliant 'Free Satpal Ram', that causes the biggest desire to try and overthrow government rulings (Mr Ram could have given your mum a clip round the ear and after listening to this, you'd still be campaigning for his release), but their lighter moments such as past singles 'New Way New Life', a preceding 'Riddim I Like', are equally musically worthy, in fact necessary to break up the diatribes and give their heated issues more impact when they do arrive.
So there we have it - essentially, the very things about ADF that make them great. The problem with the live-album is that regardless of the quality of the tunes, at times it takes a certain degree of vivid imagination to picture just how this would kick off if you were in the audience. For their more experimental moments, take 'Cyberabad' or the thought-provoking but slightly deaden plod of the spoken-word 'Assatta Dub', would you be 'jumping for justice', or, indeed, just standing looking puzzled?
Regrettably, 'Keep Banging On The Walls' isn't the document of Asian Dub Foundation's live power that it could have been. But in a way, it's done its job rather well. You leave the record with a certainty that in a real live context, with the hustle, bustle and political muscle of the band in full force, this would be improved immeasurably. What you get here is a hint; one that we'd suggest is worth following up.
Artists in this article: Asian Dub Foundation
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