Asian Dub Foundation’s live performance of their soundtrack to La Haine at the Royal Festival Hall was an immersive and captivating experience. The combination of the film’s powerful narrative and ADF’s dynamic music created an evening that felt nostalgic yet relevant.
Known for their genre-defying sound, Asian Dub Foundation blends elements of dub, dancehall, and South Asian music with rock instruments like electric guitar and bass, drawing on punk rock influences. Their signature style—featuring dub-inspired basslines and guitar riffs reminiscent of the sitar—brings a unique energy to everything they do, and this live performance was no exception.
From the opening scene, the music set the tone perfectly, carrying the audience through the intensity and emotion of the story. The live soundtrack added layers of depth to the film without overshadowing it, enhancing key moments like the breakdancing scene, where the music amplified the raw energy of the moment, and the chase scenes, where it heightened the tension and urgency.
The balance between film and music was seamless, with ADF’s performance complementing rather than competing with the visuals. The result was a cohesive and thought-provoking experience that underscored the film’s themes of resilience, and cultural identity.
This event also served as a reminder of ADF’s versatility and longevity as artists. Their recent release, 94-Now: Collaborations, celebrates 30 years of their ground-breaking work, featuring collaborations with icons like Iggy Pop, Sinéad O’Connor, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The performance was a fitting tribute to their legacy while showcasing their ability to keep evolving.
MUSIC PREMIERES
Four years on from the ‘Actual Life’ series lifting him into the mainstream spotlight, Fred Again.. continues to feel unavoidable. The London producer and DJ born Fred Gibson has moved at a relentless pace, bouncing between sold out stadium dates in New York and surprise appearances at Sheffield’s 1,000 capacity Forge, while also making history as the first electronic artist to top the bill at Reading and Leeds in 2024.
Where the ‘Actual Life’ releases and his fourth album, 2024’s ‘Ten Days’, leaned into warmth and joy pulled from ordinary moments, Gibson has also sharpened his instinct for high impact club weapons rooted in garage, dubstep and jungle. That side of his output lives on ‘USB’, an “infinite album” first imagined in 2022 as a home for tracks that exist outside any fixed universe, including defining moments like ‘Rumble’ and ‘Jungle’.
‘USB002’, the second vinyl only chapter of the ‘USB’ project, brings together 16 recent tracks, many of which surfaced gradually on streaming services over a ten week stretch. The music was shaped live, in step with ten unannounced DJ appearances across the world from Dublin to Mexico City. Even with a Glastonbury style registration system in place, The Times reported that 100,000 people tried to secure tickets for the opening night in Glasgow.
Appropriately, ‘USB002’ feels alive and constantly in motion, helped along by contributions from close collaborators such as Floating Points and Sammy Virji. The rigid, techno driven pressure of ‘Ambery’ echoes elements of Floating Points’ 2019 album ‘Crush’, while Gibson’s take on ‘The Floor’ builds like the slow climb of a rollercoaster before dropping back to earth without warning.
The guest list stretches beyond the usual dance circles, with two Australian guitar bands popping up in unexpected ways. ‘You’re A Star’ reworks Amyl and The Sniffers’ ‘Big Dreams’ into a breakbeat driven rush, while ‘Hardstyle 2’ pulls the experimental post punk edge of Shady Nasty into an Underworld adjacent space alongside Kettama. Gibson’s real trick is his ability to connect with anyone. These tracks are not reinterpretations but full takeovers.
The visual world wrapped around the ‘USB002’ rollout reinforces the instinct behind the music. Phones were prohibited at shows staged in vast warehouse spaces under sweeping light rigs, while Gibson’s team shared striking black and white footage and created artwork for each single on site. Bottling that sense of urgency, the project is rooted in the thrill of the present moment, something Gibson seems able to summon simply by turning up.
If the ‘Actual Life’ series and ‘Ten Days’ captured passing snapshots of experience, ‘USB’ is defined by constant movement, a space where boundaries are removed entirely. Sitting somewhere between an album and a playlist, ‘USB002’ underlines why Fred Again.. feels so dominant right now, and suggests that his current run may only be the beginning of something much bigger.
