Asian Dub Foundation- Speed of LightI found Asian Dub Foundation after I read Londonstani by Gautam Malkani, an excellent novel about second and third generation Asian youth culture in Britain, which makes it sound painfully dry when really it’s fast-paced and very entertaining (I mean, a guy gets his face kicked in on the first page). But this is a music review, not a book report, and the point is that I started Googling bhangra music to get more of an idea what Malkani was talking about. That led me to several very different but wholly enjoyable groups, one of which was Asian Dub Foundation. Their sound is such a mix of influences that I really couldn’t try to label it, but I’d say the flavors that jump out at me are hip-hop, electronica, and bhangra.
“Speed of Light” is off their second-most-recent album, Punkara, the only album of theirs I’m really familiar with (though what I’ve heard of their previous work hasn’t struck me as quite so catchy). The song starts almost gently, easing you in with a light beat that slowly begins to build up. It takes about two minutes before the song really gets going; the beat picks up, gains layers, and the vocals, which contrast the female singer’s airy melody with the male vocalist’s spoken delivery, take on a new urgency. “Speed of Light” is about resisting the hectic pace of modern society (I seem to have a knack for making things sound painfully dry, huh?), and even when the tempo picks up, it stays relaxing rather than frantic. The song feels uplifting, determined, and hopeful, one to listen to when you wake up in the morning, and you know that you are just going to live that day. This is a song that puts its foot down, and it’s putting that foot down to dance.
P.S. (post-script, or post-song, you choose): Punkara also contains an absolutely rockin’ bhangra-fied cover of “No Fun” performed with Iggy Pop himself. While I don’t really have much to say about it as far as a review goes, aside from, “Hell yes, this!” it is way too great not to share. Crank it up in the car, oh yes.
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