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Firing The Truth by FC Apatride Utd
Firing The Truth by FC Apatride Utd
Not for reggae purists or the easily offended.
Sampler
Downcast leftfield outsiders on the Euro-reggae scene FC Apatride Utd have returned with their third, and most mature-sounding, album to date. But despite a relaxed and rural feel to this trim ten track set, released by “Fair-Trade” label Urban Sedated, their sober anti-frivolity and politically-engaged anger are as provocative as before.
Singer Abdel’s unique perspective (fixated on minor key 70s UK roots reggae, anti dancing and ganja, revolutionary Marxist, Muslim, anti Western permissiveness) is expressed through his most articulate lyrics yet - always a striking feature even if you disagree with their thrust. And there is much to agree and disagree with amid the clusterbomb of missives against Obama – called an “Uncle Tom” - Bush, the BBC, MTV and the IMF to name just a few.
FC's views, particularly on homosexuality and incitement, have made them a hot potato product in a world of "peace love and i-nity, dude" non-Jamaican reggae practitioners. Fortunately, the focus has been taken off these sentiments in favour of topics like Israel (as the clamour for an international boycott gathers pace) and the cultural tensions in the Netherlands. A sample of the right wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders introduces Throw Down Your Guns, whose chorus carries the caveat, “because if I take them up you know you’re gonna fall”. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is honoured during Hugo Boss, while European Youth looks askance at young’s penchant for hedonism and their bourgeois support of a free Tibet. Kings and Queens questions monarchy and takes a pot-shot at Haile Selassie as a “dead king in Ethiopia” – an issue that has caused controversy among the Rasta community for the group in the past. The token love song, African Woman, gives an Islamic update to the “humble natural woman” roots reggae tribute, recalling Cornell Campbell’s Ultrasonic release of the same name.
Recorded in solitude in the hills of their homeland Serbia, the music seems to have drunk in the secluded vibes. The bluesy element to their work, previously communicated through a rather MOR Dire Straits or Chris Isaac type guitar sound, now finds form in acoustic slide doodlings that sit well with the hobbling just-about-to-drop-out-of-time interplay between drum and bass.
2008’s 12 inch A-side Rural hinted at a move towards a more orthodox reggae approach. Instead Firing The Truth sees FC return to the bean stew melting pot of their own influences, albeit with increasingly sophisticated harmonies than on previous album Them. In a European scene where many outfits make "authentic" roots without originality, this group are the opposite: true originals who don't care for what comes out of Jamaica in the slightest. For FC Apatride Utd are not a reggae band in any conventional sense - they are simply themselves. As with prior albums this is not for reggae purists or for the easily offended. But if you fancy something different and like to be challenged by the opinions you hear, give this brand of truth a try...
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| Posted by PhillipineTrueVibe on 06.13.2010 | |
| Let ya voice to be heard! Many of them aren't aware. How many people die during one single day! All the best! Bless |
|
Comments actually desactivated due to too much spams
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