Cornershop | ||
| Allmusic Biography : It may have taken Cornershop a few years to perfect their innovative hybrid of Indian music, British indie rock, and contemporary dance, but with the release of a third full-length album, When I Was Born for the 7th Time, the groups multicultural fusions made it an instant critics darling. Taking their name from a common stereotype of Indians in England -- that they all own small, corner grocery shops -- Cornershop were formed by singer/songwriter, guitarist, and dholki player Tjinder Singh and guitarist, keyboardist, and tamboura player Ben Ayres after the 1991 breakup of a previous group, General Havoc. The remainder of their initial lineup featured Singhs brother Avtar on guitar and former Dandelion Adventure drummer David Chambers. Following their first gig in Harlow, they signed with the small indie label WIIIJA. Cornershop issued two EPs over the course of 1993 (In the Days of Ford Cortina and Lock Stock & Double-Barrel, later collected as Elvis Sex-Change), but attracted more attention for their strong anti-racist politics -- specifically, their public denunciation of indie icon Morrissey. In response to Morrisseys flirtation with skinhead imagery, the group blasted him in the press and took to burning pictures of him in concerts, at press conferences, and even outside the offices of his record label. The backlash in the British music media suggested that Cornershop were nothing but publicity hounds, pointing to the amateurish, messy qualities of the bands music as evidence (indeed, the group members even took a certain pride in their lack of technical know-how during their early days, although they would later become much more accomplished). Fairly or not, Cornershop were, for the most part, dismissed as incompetent. Through all the controversy, the group kept honing its sound, adding sitarist Anthony Saffery (who also played keyboards and harmonium) and guitarist Wallis Healey for its 1994 debut album, Hold on It Hurts. Chambers and Avtar Singh both left the group in 1995 and the new, reshuffled lineup brought on drummer Nick Simms and percussionist Pete Hall. The same year, David Byrnes worldbeat-oriented Luaka Bop label signed Cornershop to a deal and released Womans Gotta Have It, the groups first widely accessible album. Singhs playful humor and English/Punjabi lyrics spoke to the inclusiveness of the bands vision, and hypnotic tracks like "6am Jullandar Shere" attracted positive word of mouth from critics and luminaries like Brian Eno, helping land the group on the second stage of that years Lollapalooza. Healey and Hall both left following the records release, however, and percussionist Peter Bengry took the latters place. The reception afforded Womans Gotta Have It set the stage for the breakthrough of When I Was Born for the 7th Time. Released to hugely positive reviews in 1997, the album mixed pop songs with hypnotic, hip-hop-flavored instrumentals and featured guest spots from Allen Ginsberg and Tarnations Paula Frazer, plus production contributions from Dan the Automator. The catchy single "Brimful of Asha," a tribute to the prolific Indian film singer Asha Bhosle, became a genuine hit in the U.K. after a remix by Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) and actually hit number one on some charts in early 1998 -- a far cry from several years before. The success led to an opening slot on Oasis American tour, and Spin magazine named When I Was Born for the 7th Time its Album of the Year. In the wake of this success, Singh and Ayres put the group on temporary hiatus and returned to their more dance-oriented side project, Clinton, which had released a couple of singles in 1995-1996. The debut Clinton full-length, Disco and the Halfway to Discontent, was released in the U.K. in 1999 and picked up for American distribution by Astralwerks the following year. The long silence from Cornershop gave rise to rumors that Singh had broken up the band, but he and Ayres finally returned (with Bengry, Saffery, and Simms in tow) in early 2002 with Handcream for a Generation. After Handcream for a Generation, Cornershop entered a quiet period, surfacing briefly in 2006 with a single called "Wop the Groove," but their real comeback came three years later when they released Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast, their first album in seven years. It was also their first album to be released by their new label Ample Play, which the band would continue to run for years, putting out their own music and lots of interesting neo-psych artists as well. The band quickly followed that with a collaboration with Punjabi singer Bubbley Kaur called Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of, and their eighth record, Urban Turban, arrived in the summer of 2012. Running their well-regarded label seemed to take over the bands time until the release in 2015 of Hold on Its Easy, an easy listening meets big band reimagining of Hold on It Hurts, with music provided by the Elastic Big Band. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 11 Title: Hold On It Hurts Released: 1993 Tracks: 14 Duration: 45:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Jason Donovan/Tessa Sanderson (02:31) 2 Kalluri’s Radio (04:14) 3 Readers’ Wives (03:44) 4 Change (01:57) 5 Inside Rani (03:22) 6 Born Disco; Died Heavy Metal (03:40) 7 Counteraction (02:42) 8 Where D’u Get Your Information (03:15) 9 Tera Mera Pyar (02:04) 10 You Always Said My Language Would Get Me Into Trouble (07:04) 11 England’s Dreaming (03:36) 12 Trip Easy (02:59) 13 Summer Fun in a Beat Up Datsun (01:31) 14 Breaking Every Rule Language English (03:14) |
| Hold On It Hurts : Allmusic album Review : Although Cornershops first album rings with some of the fevered scrappiness prominent in U.S. indie bands of the early 90s (like Unrest), its also a throwback to leftist post-punk groups of the late 70s (Gang of Four, Au Pairs). Spiking their songs with social commentary and balancing it out with an infectious sense of playfulness, the spirit and passion overrides the obvious amateurism that the band makes no attempt to hide. Theyre having fun, they have something to say, they love disco beats just as much as they love atonal shards of guitar and traditional Indian instrumentation. It all makes for a bold, exciting mix, even if its sloppy and lacking direction every now and then. It also sounded little like anything else released at the time. The American version of the album, released in 1995 on Merge, adds the bands Lock, Stock and Double Barrel EP from 1993. "Englands Dreaming," taking its name from Jon Savages book on punk rock, is one of their strongest songs overall. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 11 Title: Elvis Sex-Change Released: 1993 Tracks: 8 Duration: 24:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Waterlogged (04:00) 2 Moonshine (02:31) 3 Kawasaki (More Heat Than Chapati) (03:00) 4 Hanif Kureishi Scene (03:26) 5 England’s Dreaming (03:36) 6 Trip Easy (02:59) 7 Summer Fun in a Beat Up Datsun (01:31) 8 Breaking Every Rule Language English (03:14) |
 | Album: 3 of 11 Title: Woman’s Gotta Have It Released: 1995-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 51:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 6am Jullandar Shere (06:23) 2 Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu (03:24) 3 Roof Rack (03:48) 4 My Dancing Days Are Done (03:31) 5 Call All Destroyer (02:25) 6 Camp Orange (03:47) 7 Wog (03:13) 8 Jansimram King (03:36) 9 Looking for a Way In (07:48) 10 7:20am Jullandar Shere / [untitled] (13:15) |
| Woman’s Gotta Have It : Allmusic album Review : Tjinder Singhs Cornershop has created the perfect hybrid of Western indie rock and swirling Eastern traditional music: Hindi-pop. Its not like what the Beatles did with sitars nor is it classifiable as worldbeat: Cornershop is unique. "Jullandar Shere" opens and closes the album on an Eastern note but with a hip-hop twist. Its an adventure in lo-fi noise pop with the drone of tamboura, native percussion, and processed vocal sung in Punjabi providing the rhythm. "Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu" conveys indignation through its angry guitar and spit-sung lyrics. "Call All Destroyer" has Singh leading on funky bass like old-school political rockers Gang of Four. The anti-melodies are similar to stock indie rock, but the sonic dissonance created on dholki, harmonium, and flute separates Cornershop from the pack as they reclaim a racial stereotype (that every Asian in Great Britain tends a corner shop) while creating their very own roots music with a message. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 11 Title: When I Was Born for the 7th Time Released: 1997-09-08 Tracks: 15 Duration: 54:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sleep on the Left Side (04:06) 2 Brimful of Asha (05:17) 3 Butter the Soul (03:19) 4 Chocolat (01:24) 5 Were in Yr Corner (05:47) 6 Funky Days Are Back Again (03:41) 7 What Is Happening? (02:15) 8 When the Light Appears Boy (02:41) 9 Coming Up (01:03) 10 Good Shit (04:40) 11 Good to Be on the Road Back Home (05:45) 12 Its Indian Tobacco My Friend (04:51) 13 Candyman (03:49) 14 State Troopers (03:07) 15 Norwegian Wood (02:27) |
| When I Was Born for the 7th Time : Allmusic album Review : When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a remarkable leap forward for Cornershop, the place where the group blends all of their diverse influences into a seamless whole. Cornershop uses Indian music as a foundation, finding its droning repetition similar to the trancier elements of electronica, the cut-and-paste collages of hip-hop, and the skeletal melodicism of indie pop. Tying all of these strands together, the band creates a multicultural music that is utterly modern; it is conscious of its heritage, but instead of being enslaved to tradition, it pushes into the future and finds a common ground between different cultures and musics. Like Womans Gotta Have It, large portions of When I Was Born for the 7th Time are devoted to hypnotic instrumentals, but the music here is funkier and fully realized. Cornershop hits an appealing compromise between detailed arrangements and lo-fi technology. There may be cheap keyboards and drum machines scattered throughout the album, but they are used as sonic texturing, similar to the turntables, synthesizers, samplers, sitars, and guitars that drive the instrumentals punctuating the full-fledged songs. When it chooses, Cornershop can write hooky, immediate pop songs -- "Sleep on the Left Side" and "Brimful of Asha" are wonderful pop singles, and "Good to Be on the Road Back Home" is an impressive, country-tinged tale -- but what makes When I Was Born for the 7th Time such a rich, intoxicating listen is that it balances these melodic tendencies with deceptively complex arrangements, chants, drones, electronic instrumentals, and funky rhythms, resulting in an album that becomes better with each listen. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 11 Title: Handcream for a Generation Released: 2002-03-29 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:00:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Heavy Soup (03:21) 2 Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform (04:35) 3 Music Plus 1 (04:46) 4 Lessons Learned From Rocky I to Rocky III (04:24) 5 Wogs Will Walk (04:53) 6 Motion the 11 (05:45) 7 People Power (03:54) 8 Sounds Super Recordings (01:30) 9 The London Radar (04:07) 10 Spectral Mornings (14:24) 11 Slip the Drummer One (03:41) 12 Heavy Soup (outro) (02:13) 13 Straight Aces (03:15) |
| Handcream for a Generation : Allmusic album Review : First things first -- this is hardly the song-intensive, globe-tripping platter When I Was Born for the 7th Time was. Handcream for a Generation is a record that finds its tone and grooves, even as it segues from post-Beck sonic collages to boogie rock to endless jams. No matter how they dabble in different styles, it never affects the foundation, its just highlights. Strangely enough, for all the dance, techno, and hip-hop here -- all the club-culture clashes careening off the tracks (they obviously learned from their 2000 detour side project, Clinton) -- Handcreams predominant spirit is that of post-Brit-pop, hard-boogieing trad rock. Tjinder Singh publicly derided this sound in 1997, but his subsequent friendship with Noel Gallagher must have affected him on a deep level, since Noel not only lays down guitar on the 14-minute psych epic "Spectral Mornings," he hauls out former Oasis bassist Paul McGuigan for "Lessons Learned From Rocky I to Rocky III"; adopts Gallaghers guitar sound throughout the record; and winds up with a record that is hipper, looser, and funkier than Be Here Now, but weirdly reminiscent of it all the same. Perhaps this is what happens when British bands stretch into contemporary psychedelia, mixing all the past into the present -- they wind up with a record that is pretty entertaining in how it flits from sound to style, all with a sly wink and loving, exacting replication of production techniques, all married to beats that are surely contemporary, but contemporary club beats are often built on the past anyway, giving the whole thing a weird but appealing out-of-phase feel. This all flows well and is quite a good piece of mood music, yet theres no hiding that for all their political stances and past reputation, Cornershop doesnt really have all that much to say this time around, nor have they delivered more than a handful of songs to have all this stick. Sure, moments bubble up from the sleek, stylized surface, such as "Lessons," but for as infectious as that song is, its really about nothing, as evidenced by its chorus of "the overgrown super-sh*t," which means jack-sh*t. Since 7th Time not only had consistency of sound, it reached further and delivered fully formed songs, its hard not to be disappointed by the linear, surface-slick nature of Handcream, but, hey -- it sounds good, it boogies, its good for a night on the town -- and sometimes, thats enough. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 11 Title: Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast Released: 2009-07-27 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:00:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Who Fingered Rock ’n’ Roll (03:47) 2 Soul School (03:32) 3 Half Brick (00:52) 4 Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast (05:15) 5 Shut Southall Down (01:13) 6 Free Love (05:37) 7 The Roll Off Characteristics (Of History in the Making) (04:38) 8 Operation Push (04:17) 9 The Mighty Quinn (03:31) 10 The Constant Springs (04:09) 11 Chamchu (03:24) 12 The Turned on Truth (The Truth Is Turned on) (16:43) 13 Waterloo Sunset (03:28) |
| Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast : Allmusic album Review : Given Cornershops extended seven-year layoff, its not unreasonable to expect Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast -- the groups first album since 2002s Handcream for a Generation -- to be somewhat of a reinvention for a group that specialized in ever-shifting change in the 90s. As it turns out, Judy finds Cornershop riding a very, very comfortable groove, replicating the sound of feel of the bright, boogying Handcream while stripping away any of its intensity. That means that this is the friendliest batch of neo-glam to come down the pike in quite some time, never catching fire but never really striking a match, either, and its the least adventurous dose of eclecticism, too, with nary a sitar, Mellotron, or sample out of place. Familiarity may often breed contempt, but not here, because theres a palpable sense of happiness running through the music -- not something thats exuberant, but rather mellow and colorful. By now, Cornershops blend of 60s pop, 70s rock, and 90s multi-culturism feels as retro as their inspirations, but thats only because the world has moved on to other fashions while the band has not. Instead of redefining their world, theyre happy to cultivate their own little garden, and when the fruit is as pleasing at this, it makes sense. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 11 Title: The School of Soul E.P. Released: 2010-05 Tracks: 3 Duration: 13:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Soul School (03:32) 2 Something Makes You Feel Like (04:31) 3 Lets Make Forever (05:11) |
 | Album: 8 of 11 Title: The Battle of New Orleans Released: 2010-11-02 Tracks: 4 Duration: 14:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Houston Hash (03:12) 2 Soul School (School Dinners mix) (03:47) 3 The Battle of New Orleans (02:49) 4 Lynndie England (04:14) |
 | Album: 9 of 11 Title: Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of Released: 2011-03-14 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 United Provinces of India (03:26) 2 Topknot (03:39) 3 The 911 Curry (03:32) 4 Natch (02:34) 5 Double Decker Eyelashes (04:13) 6 The Biro Pen (04:28) 7 Supercomputed (03:44) 8 Once There Was a Wintertime (03:14) 9 Double Digit (03:38) 10 Dont Shake It (05:42) |
| Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of : Allmusic album Review : Following up Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast in exceedingly timely fashion -- a mere two years compared to the seven that separated that 2009 effort from 2002’s Handcream for a Generation -- Cornershop capitalize on their Indian tradition, bringing in Bubbley Kaur for a collection of pop with a Punjabi punch. The vocals and flourishes are strongly Punjabi -- songs are often sung in the language, not English as they usually are on a Cornershop LP -- but these are essentially trappings for a collection of multicultural dance-pop not too dissimilar from the group’s albums since 1997. As on Judy Sucks, this is a blessing and a curse: Cornershop’s blends are still rich and flavorful yet they have the whiff of old fashion, still tied heavily to the post-rave years of trip-hop and Brit-pop, trends they fought and embraced in equal measure. Kaur’s presence gives The Double-O Groove just enough of a different tone to make a difference -- it doesn’t feel comfortably recycled as Judy sometimes did -- yet it doesn’t quite open doors to new avenues either. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 11 Title: Urban Turban: The Singhles Club Released: 2012-05-14 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 What Did the Hippie Have in His Bag? (04:09) 2 Who’s Gonna Lite It Up? (03:49) 3 Non-Stop Radio (Extended Play) (04:12) 4 Solid Gold (04:25) 5 Beacon Radio 303 (03:09) 6 Milkin’ It (04:26) 7 Concrete, Concrete (03:47) 8 Something Makes You Feel Like (04:31) 9 Inspector Bamba Singhs Lament (04:29) 10 Dedicated (03:44) 11 What Did the Hippie Have in His Bag? The High Slung Satchel (05:15) 12 First Wog on the Moon (03:27) |
| Urban Turban: The Singhles Club : Allmusic album Review : Continuing a rebound into kaleidoscopic psychedelic dance after the happy retro vibes of 2009s Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast, Cornershop concentrate on big elastic multicultural rhythms on Urban Turban. Much of this reflects some sounds from Cornershop & the Double-O Groove Of, their 2011 collaboration with Punjabi singer Bubbley Kaur, but here the Indian influence is matched with a heavier Western dance influence. Big rhythms pump throughout Urban Turban, with Tjinder Singhs sharp pop classicism fading to the background -- only the opening "What Did the Hippie Have in His Bag?" plays like a traditional pop single -- as Cornershop emphasize several different guest female singers. This feels modern but in a distinctly 90s fashion: the melds and mashups of club music and psychedelia forecast a future straight out of 1996. In 2012, this means Cornershop are on an island of their own, yet they still offer some distinct pleasures, particularly in the juxtapositions of East and West that can be heard throughout Urban Turban. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 11 Title: Hold On It’s Easy Released: 2015-02-02 Tracks: 10 Duration: 32:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Jason Donovan / Tessa Sanderson (version) (02:42) 2 Kalluri’s Radio (version) (03:38) 3 Reader’s Wives (version) (02:43) 4 Change (version) (02:42) 5 The New York Minute (03:47) 6 Born Disco; Died Heavy Metal (version) (02:36) 7 Counteraction (version) (03:08) 8 Where D’u Get Your Information (version) (03:10) 9 Tera Mera Pyar (version) (02:30) 10 You Always Said My Language Would Get Me Into Trouble (version) (05:56) |
| Hold On It’s Easy : Allmusic album Review : The 20th anniversary of a landmark album is something most bands take pains to celebrate, traditionally with some kind of reissue packed with rarities, reminiscences, and fanfare. Not Ben Ayres and Tjinder Singh, the reliably iconoclastic lads of Cornershop. Not only are they two years late in paying tribute to Hold on It Hurts, on 2015s Hold on Its Easy they reimagine their energetic blast of riot boy rock & roll as a swinging 60s big-band album, played with all the smarmy joy they and their crew of brass, winds, and percussion can conjure up. Working with the Elastic Big Band, the pride of Preston, Lancashire under the direction of Alan Gregson, Cornershop turn the punky, anger-fueled album into something defiantly square, far more Henry Mancini swing than Kathleen Hanna sass. Its hard to say why they thought it was a good idea, but somehow it works to demystify the band further and prove that they really are up for anything. Whether its the cheesy lounge lizard disco of "Born Disco; Died Heavy Metal," the silly knees up of "The New York Minute," or the TV theme funk of "You Always Said My Language Would Get Me into Trouble," Cornershop sound like they are having a literal blast sending up the album, the bands history, and the idea of rock & roll in general. Sure, most fans of the duo will reach for the original album 9.99 times out of ten, but its hard to look askance at the playful spirit behind the album and the thoroughness of Cornershops complete deconstruction of one of their career highlights. | ||