REVIEW: Fun^da^mental Seize the Time (Mammoth/Atlantic)

- Martin Bate

Fun^da^mental are "Aki Nawaz (Propaghandi) and David Watts (Impi D) and whoever else cares!". They are a product of the collision between western and eastern cultures - where hip-hop and dance beats and rapped vocals (everything from laid back monologues to aggressive rants) mold with Indian and Asian music, instrumentation, and percussion. To say this album sounds awesome, scary and beautiful is an understatement. To point out that *this* is an album which takes rap, maybe even *music*, another step forward in nothing less than 90 minutes, is probably justified.

Fun^da^mental exist to educate and instigate support against the right-wing organizations trying to gain a hold in the UK (and further) today. Their songs are cut with sampled speeches from politicians, leaders and everyday people, from both sides of the fence and (as someone somewhere else pointed out) bring this album close to Chuck D's (Public Enemy) vision of rap being used as a CNN news broadcast to disseminate information to youths everywhere.

Yet the band are so much more than the 'rap' tag - they know when to back off and let the *music* talk. In addition, they often let the tracks relax into a flow, and grow and expand in a way that the best ambient and trance does.

This album opens with a vitriolic answerphone message a BNP/Combat 18 (UK fascist organisations) supporter left for the band and illustrates exactly why this band exists and what fuels them.

In particular, the centerpoint of the album is two non-rap pieces: "Mother India" which is a soothing pro-woman monologue over a backing of sitars and dub bass; and "Bubbleman" which is a hypnotic, repetitive babble over tribal drums.

The album ends abruptly with the anxious ticking of a clock...but with this outstanding album, time won't be running out for Fun^da^mental.