Search - Fun Da Mental :: Erotic Terrorism

A Musical/Political Manifesto and Masterpiece

DJ ProFusion - WorldFusionRadio.com | Evanston, IL | 02/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bottom Line: An amazing blend of Indian, Pakistani, jazz, rock, funk, folk music, samples, and spoken word pieces. Fun-Da-Mental are black and Asian English lads. I mention this only because it is so significant to their music and politics. Fun-Da-Mental's music is a shouted demand that we realize that racism and oppression is still very real and its perpetrators have no intention of stopping. Their message is on the trajectory of Ghandi, Malcolm X, and Bob Marley: stand up, demand your freedom. "Oh Lord!" Is built around the samples "Repression is of the devil" and "Devil would like a word." The message is clear: racism and oppression is the evil that plagues us. This message is set to a very catchy hard-edged tune with north-African styled horn, heavy drums and guitars. "Intensely absolutely there" - is the chorus of "Demonized Soul." The frustration and anger with social repression is expressed through massive jungle drums and punk vocals. Possesses all the energy and fury of true British punk. The rhythm of "GODevil" is catchy with spoken lyrics joined by south-Asian instruments. Between politically-charged verses, the song returns to the Ministry-like chorus: grating guitars, thundering drums and screamed: "Sin will merge with your reality." Those unafraid to get within the din will discern a layered sonic attack of voice, guitars, drums united for the purpose of winning through its message about racial oppression.A song of pure adrenalin, "Ja Sha Taan" samples Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. They very effectively overdub the vocals to make them almost fierce. A high-pitched cry creates an eerie wail that sounds like a cry to action. Further layers of sound are added: a tabla-styled rhythm line, drones, and western drums. The power of vocals, electronics, and drums blast forth in a wall of sound that stay true to the spiritual heart of the song, while generating an ecstatic dance anthem. "Blood in Transit" is bodily noises set in a crude melody blessfully only 1:23 long. After that brief intermission, "Repent" returns to music. Based on a tribal drum rhythm with a minimum of electronics, "Repent" tells the story of white colonial oppression through samples of a black preacher: "White folks haven't even acknowledged that they done you wrong
They have not REPENTED for what they did to your fathers." The drum beat is so infectious and so superbly mixed with the preaching that the song cannot be denied from entering into your soul. In the style of 70's funk comes "Deathening Silence." Lyrically the most complex of the songs on the album, it tells the story of how cries for justice fall upon the deaf ears of an apathetic culture. "And in the vastness there I saw,
Specks of dust creating laws,
Writing poems that lost ones never shared,
Spirits only dared,
Disturb the sound of deafening silence."Fun-Da-Mental sees the message of culture and the media as a deathening silence of non-acknowledgement. Industrial-metal fans will love "Furious." It's a song which, well, is pretty furious, directed at our complacent society: They believe it's a myth, it's internal death,
Lost children need strength but have no belief,
Their beliefs easily taken, no need for a thief,
Furious, Furious.Very heavy and loud, with lyrics shouted rather than sung. Nawaz concludes the song speaking: "Wherever fascism exists as a form of government, it deserves to be fought, whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Atheist." "See I A" speaks against war, how civilian causalities are only "dust on ants' feet," to the perpetrators of war. The music is a unique blend of American folk and south Asian rhythm. The tempo is a slow blues crawl. A banjo plays rhythm guitar to the vocals while percussion lays down a syncopated Asian beat. "The Distorted C" is nice blend of techno and classical Indian. Based on a Bhangra rhythm, synths add a secondary techno rhythm. On top of that is added long strokes of Indian strings, violin-like in sound. They mix readily forming a short but danceable mid-tempo song. "One Ness" is another track based on a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan song. Delightfully mellow, the vocals are kept true this time, adding only synthesizer accompaniment. The blend of classical and modern works very as Nusrat's organic vocals play off the high tech chords. A soothing, beautiful song. The beauty makes Nawat's after-song comments all the more compelling: "Changes? Think there's been a lot of changes? Nah, the changes that have come have come from the pure stubborn love and sacrifice of many, many black people. Just for that little bit of change. You can still see racism, you can still see it people's eyes. It just doesn't balance out: that amount of struggle for that amount of change. And I'm sure people are just accommodating. That's not change. Accommodation is not change." "Sliced Lead." opens with vocals from a south Asian love song then switching to light electronics and a rock backbeat. Whispered vocals sing to the backbeat with instrumental interludes of harmonium, sax, and another south Asian vocal sample. It's as close to radio-friendly song as is on this album; club-friendly too. I can see people dancing to this. "What bothers me is that bad things happen and no one does anything about them."That's how the final song, "Tongue Goes Cold," begins, read by a female child. It is followed by a funk bass rift layered with funkier electronics and jazz percussion. The half-spoken, half-sung lyrics are like beat poetry. "Oblivious to what it is,
Keep it curious,
Grown to a medical specimen,
Paranoid, mad, careless deviance."Erotic Terrorism ends with a series of samples from various sources - news, politicians, preachers, and activists. It culminates with Nawat calling for a vision of people looking at all us, finally, as one race - the human race. While many won't be able to stomach the politically charged message, Erotic Terrorism is an incredible example of how one can set the struggle against racism to some superb music."

Beautiful, Intense, and HARD

Sadhya | Baltimore, MD | 10/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The images on the insert of this CD say it all. With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights overlaid on the images. No excuses. No hidden messages. "Your brain is an instrument of torture or protest." Fun^da^mental's incredible hard driving rich exquisite mix of Asian, hard, fusion, and punk is difficult and wonderful. Buy this CD if you can take it. sadhya"

COMPLETELY CAPTIVATING

Sadhya | 07/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love the passionate lyrics, and vocals, and EVERYTHING! This music is awesome, this album is awesome, and i recommend every other cd of the band."