It’s hard to believe that Asian Dub Foundation are currently celebrating their thirtieth anniversary; maybe it’s because they’ve been a musical sidewinder and have existed outside musical trends, but there’s a timeless quality to this crew. However, three decades is a long time in any business (let alone in the cut-throat music industry) and the band celebrate this milestone with the release of 94-Now: Collaborations, a compilation of eleven tracks that finds Asian Dub Foundation hooking up with a diverse range of characters to deliver a collection of original and cover songs that are made in their own image.

I’ve always thought that there’s no point in covering a song unless you are going to radically rework it. It has always seemed a little pointless when artists produce faithful renditions that verge on facsimiles, I mean, we have the original for that. Therefore, this latest offering from Asian Dub Foundation is rather refreshing and opening track ‘No Fun’ (featuring Iggy Pop) acts as a kind of portent for the rest of the record. Originally appearing on the 1969 album The Stooges, ‘No Fun’ had a revolutionary zeal when first released and that’s something that’s been carried over onto this rendition, but otherwise, this is fresh and new; it has been given spring clean and spruced up for the new millennium. In this guise ‘No Fun’ is funky and jittery, and jumps around like a box full of mad frogs and whether you prefer this or the original is down to personal preference, but for someone like me who has heard ‘No Fun’ hundreds (if not thousands) of times, it is stimulating to hear the song with a fresh slant. They’ve retained the core of the song but on the whole the band have imparted their own personalities on this track, wrestling ownership and presenting ‘No Fun’ in a whole new frame.

Along with the heavy handed treatment of The Stooges ‘No Fun’ and Public Enemy’s ‘Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos’ (a version recorded live at Somerset House) Asian Dub Foundation also know when to use a lighter touch. Take their collaboration with Sinéad O’Connor, for example. A track from the band’s 2003 Enemy Of The Enemy, ‘1000 Mirrors’ is a sobering tale of domestic abuse on which the band apply a haunting, echoey dub that only adds to sobering quality of the song. The result is a troubling spectre that will haunt you long after the song has faded into the ether. Thankfully, an uplifting Dry and Heavy remix of ‘Raj Antique Store’ (featuring Likkle Mai) follows to lighten the mood somewhat. This might be a compilation album, but a lot of thought and effort has been put into its sequencing and it ebbs and flows like a proper album, lifting us up on wings at one moment before dropping us the next.

94-Now: Collaborations is a fine addition to the Asian Dub Foundation discography and one that honours an illustrious past, but also suggests that there’s much more to come.

• 94-Now: Collaborations is released via X-Ray Productions on 27th September 2024.
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Track List:

1. No Fun (with Iggy Pop)
2. Comin’ Over Here ft. Stewart Lee (ADF30 Remaster)
3. Broken Britain ft. Chowerman (ADF30 Special)
4. 1000 Mirrors ft. Sinéad O’Connor & EOB (ADF30 Remaster)
5. Raj Antique Store ft. Likkle Mai & Dry and Heavy (ADF30 Remaster)
6. Taa Deem ft. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (ADF30 Remaster)
7. Culture Move ft. MC Navigator (ADF30 Remaster)
8. Free Satpal Ram ft. Primal Scream (Brendan Lynch Remix) (ADF30 Remaster)
9. Toulouse ft. Zebda & Chandrasonic (ADF30 Rework)
10. Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos ft. Chuck D. (Live At Somerset House) (ADF30 Rework)
11. Collective Mode ft. Audio Active (ADF30 Remaster)