What to do with corrupt, ‘fattypuss’ politicians who grow ever plumper as they watch their people die? At a time when vast coils of razorwire still sit menacingly at many a street corner, watched over by uniformed minions brainwashed into bludgeoning first and questioning later (if at all), one band has the answer: “Fie upon dem!”
Dub Addiction, voted best band in The Advisor’s Best Of Phnom Penh awards last year, are solidifying their role as social agitators with the their latest EP, Cambodia. The five-track album, released by Hong Kong-based label Metal Postcards, is a tapestry of two very distinct sounds: Khmer saravan being the weave, Jamaican dub the weft. And the loom upon which the album has been crafted is one that transcends boundaries both geographic and political: liberty, that most precious and relentlessly exploited of all human rights.
Cambodia, the title track, is a seven-minutes-and-two-seconds lullaby of the most potent order. Farfisa organ bubbles over a lilting roots-reggae beat as French vocalist Khae Lassan sighs a single word, over and over, her voice gently rising and falling like the prow of a long-tail fishing boat in open water: “Cambooooooooodiaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh…”
Close your eyes and the music cocoons you like a sagging hammock, rolling you first this way then that. The voice of Nigerian MC Okoro Elias Jefferson is deep and resonant; DJ Khla’s dances high above it, his toast – delivered in Khmer – more nasal and piercing. At 02:50, Chenn Chantrea tears through the sing-you-to-sleep smog with a visceral guitar solo, the organ weeping and wailing in existential anguish alongside. French toaster Ras Simons poetically laments the status quo with the leisurely, loping gait of a heavily dreadlocked Rastafarian.
There’s more. The EP includes not one but three remixes of Cambodia: the Dubberman remix, edit version (short, Khmer only) and radio-ready master. Dubberman (real name: Cyril Boussais) is a French artist who puts a spaced-out, dubbed-up spin on the title track, making it sound as though it’s being stretched by the gravitational pull of a giant black hole that hasn’t eaten a decent meal in a few millennia.
And more. From Babylon To Saigon, the ‘bonus’ track, is a four-and-a-half-minute testament to the resilience of greater mankind in the face of official mismanagement. ‘Do what you will’, it warns the Powers That Be, but ‘Every day every day every day we uprise (not ‘eat rice’, as you could be forgiven for thinking on first listen). Here, East meets East: ‘Middle’ and ‘Far’, to be precise. A Japanese semi-acoustic harp conjures tendrils of smoke spiralling lazily into searing heat; camels sprawled beneath vast canvas tents; the sun-soaked cradles of much-needed acts of popular revolt.
The sound is equal parts ancient Mesopotamia and the Southeast Asia of today. Five MCs – Simmons (France), Sistaya (Switzerland), Jefferson (Nigeria), Phil Milkyway (Germany) and Professor Kinski (Germany) – and almost as many languages evoke an intoxicating blend of exoticism and Orientalism. The message is simple: from Babylon to Saigon, we’ve had enough political nonsense. It’s time The People took back The Power: ‘This is the sound of freedom: take care of your soul and soon your time will come.’
Cambodia, by Dub Addiction, is on sale now for $7 at metalpostcard.bandcamp.com.
WHO: Dub Addiction
WHAT: Jamaican dub vs Khmer saravan
WHERE: Otres Beach, Sihanoukville
WHEN: 9pm February 4
WHY: ‘This is the sound of freedom: take care of your soul and soon your time will come.’