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Flyover (Asian Dub Foundation)

Essa música ficou na cabeça esses dias. Já a conhecia, mas descobri hoje que faz parte da trilha de um jogo de corrida (a banda marcou muitos pela trilha do primeiro Need For Speed Underground):

"Mr. Transmetropolitan get out of my way
There ain't enough hours in my day
The city's on fire in the pouring rain
Steam is rising faster than a runaway train
In the battle on the streets you fight computers and receipts
In a bloody turf war between Prada Gucci"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr2NRkfiRi0

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Spirit In The Machine (Asian Dub Foundation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAsb_PvdaUM

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A History Of Now (Asian Dub Foundation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0cCsHTwymg

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Asian Dub Foundation Play “Comin’ Over Here” feat. Stewart Lee

Listen to this track by London-based genre-defying musical fusion collective Asian Dub Foundation. It’s “Comin’ Over Here”, a brash dance track full of punk energy that incorporates samples from comedian Stewart Lee who appears in the video as a guest frontman for the band. The track crosses the thin divides between comedy, social commentary, and rock ‘n’ roll while mixing several electronic and world music textures into a compelling whole. The track appeared as a single in September of 2020 taken from their Access Denied record, followed by 12″ versions in 2021.

Stewart Lee’s routine sampled here first appeared in Series Three of the intuitively-titled Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, originally broadcast in 2014. In it, Lee quotes UKIP representative Paul Nuttall’s position that the “best and brightest” of Bulgaria (and presumably any other country) should stay where they are instead of emigrating to Britain. This anti-immigration position was a clear act of political theatre to portray Nuttall’s and UKIP’s seemingly great concern for the welfare of Bulgaria having to make do without its best citizens. Stewart Lee hilariously takes that transparently disingenuous position to its logical conclusion with great intelligence and verbal dexterity.

Besides the thematic elements presented by Lee, it’s Asian Dub Foundation that turns it all into a song. The key ingredient they find to do that is in a basic building block of all music; rhythm. The rhythm of the spoken word dovetails nicely into that of the instrumentation. It helps that Lee has always been a music fan and models his delivery on an approach that’s been compared to jazz; cadenced phrases, repetition, call-backs, and verbal expansions that make up a series of riffs around a core theme that build momentum toward a satisfying conclusion. The band cut the samples in line with the beats of Lee’s delivery, matching them with beats and textures of their own that drive the song forward while also helping to underline its central themes.

Lee’s approach to comedy is very conducive to Asian Dub Foundation’s similar interest in Britain’s evolving social landscapes. That alone makes the collaboration an “of course” moment. Another aspect of this is that the band’s very existence rests on how immigration has affected British culture in the best possible ways. Musically speaking, their work on this track and as a whole is proof positive that culture only thrives when it evolves, taking on new influences to bring out the best in what’s already in place. The musical mélange of electronica, dub, and punk rock that lies at the heart of their music is an aural embodiment of that.

The sample of Stewart Lee’s routine in the band’s tune is in reaction to anti-immigration sentiments that were particularly virulent from the mid-2010s and only soured into an even more repressive direction by the 2020s. This collaboration and this song is a pushback against this troubling political tide that pits citizens against each other and stirs up fears of The Other to keep communities separated. But it’s also a representation of what happens when allies use their positions and their platforms to make points that would otherwise go unheard, or be misheard due to prejudice and racism; buttons that right-wing political interests love to push to keep people afraid of each other and therefore less likely to resist together.

Stewart Lee is a well-known comedian. But he’s also a figure who represents the traditional British mainstream, educated at Oxford and embodying what many consider to be Britain’s intellectual elite. That he expresses his perspectives to defend people who are not considered to be a part of that mainstream might be considered a pretty punk rock thing to do if it didn’t also make complete sense for someone who is aware of his own culture as a living thing that evolves.

With education at that level comes knowledge and wider perspectives, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, and their ilk notwithstanding. In this case, it’s deep knowledge of Britain’s history as a place where cultures have always mingled, converged, and become transformed together into something new and better. This makes the irony in this song, and in the original stand-up routine, so striking. Lee’s recitation of Anglo-Saxon poetry with the punchline “learn the fucking language” is a well-placed gut punch to the idea of any cultural landscape being immutable and unaffected by history.

Efforts to undermine diversity and the cultural evolution it brings isn’t isolated to Britain, of course. We’ve seen it in the United States, in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in Europe as well. These countries and regions have also benefited from mingling cultures to bring about transformation for the better; better food, better music, and wider perspectives. Yet we have our own versions of UKIP whipping up complaints and political dissent and laying it all at the feet of immigrants and those that support them.

Another takeaway here of course is that music itself is the result of cultural evolution, which is very well modelled by Asian Dub Foundation. Rock music in particular is what it is today because of a convergence of cultures and diverse perspectives. But this applies to all popular music, incorporating the best traits across genres to make new ones, expand on existing ones, and to create the way to open up the possibilities for what the music can be in the next era.

All artistic expression, like a culture as a whole, is also alive. It grows. It evolves. It reflects how society itself has evolved, or hasn’t. And ideally, it includes everyone as we evolve ourselves. Art of any kind is a binding force to keep us grounded, and to open doors to get a glimpse into other cultures, experiences, and perspectives too.

Asian Dub Foundation is an active musical concern today. You can catch up to their latest releases and dates on the Asian Dub Foundation Bandcamp page.

For more on the band and on their perspectives on British politics and other topics, read this 2022 interview with ADF founding member Steve Chandra Savale. In it and among other things, he talks about how Stewart Lee’s routine helped the band shape the song into an anti-Brexit theme.

Stewart Lee is an active performer today. Read this 2014 piece in the Guardian he wrote about his “Paul Nuttalls of the Ukips” routine layered in his signature brand of wry self-deprecation and irony. He expounds on the strange phenomenon of how a routine that he wrote in a specific context has somehow taken on a life of its own beyond him.

To learn more about Lee and his most recent series of shows, visit stewartlee.co.uk

Enjoy!

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Asian Dub Foundation:
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