Cornershop

Cornershop required several years of refinement before achieving their distinctive blend involving Indian musical traditions alongside British indie rock elements and quirky, rhythmic pop styles. Their breakthrough arrived with the 1997 album When I Was Born for the 7th Time and its popular single "Brimful of Asha", allowing the band's cross-cultural combinations to achieve widespread recognition. Early efforts found the group operating as raw, cheerfully unpolished agitators whose sound gradually expanded to include Bollywood soundtracks, hip-hop beats, T. Rex-style boogie, and any other ingredients they chose to fold into the mix. Following the success of "Asha", they explored disco through the Clinton side project before issuing occasional albums that highlighted their flair for cultural fusion on Cornershop & the Double-O Groove Of and for eclectic sonic experiments on Urban Turban. By the arrival of 2020's England Is a Garden, Cornershop had matured into a sharply focused rock & roll unit delivering a potent political statement.

The name Cornershop itself played on a familiar stereotype of Indians in England as proprietors of modest neighborhood groceries. Tjinder Singh, who handled vocals, songwriting, guitar, and dholki, formed the band with Ben Ayres, responsible for guitar, keyboards, and tambura, after the 1991 dissolution of their prior outfit General Havoc. The original roster also included Singh's brother Avtar on guitar and David Chambers, formerly the drummer for Dandelion Adventure. After debuting live in Harlow, they secured a deal with the independent label WIIIJA.

During 1993 the band put out two EPs, In the Days of Ford Cortina and Lock Stock & Double-Barrel, later compiled as Elvis Sex-Change, yet drew greater notice for outspoken anti-racist views, especially their vocal criticism of indie figure Morrissey. In reaction to Morrissey's use of skinhead imagery, they condemned him publicly and staged burnings of his photographs at shows, press events, and even outside his record company's offices. British music press reactions wrongly cast Cornershop as mere attention-seekers, citing the rough, unrefined character of their recordings as proof, even though the musicians embraced their limited technical experience at that stage. As a result, the group was largely written off as unskilled.

Amid the surrounding debate, Cornershop continued refining its approach, bringing in sitarist Anthony Saffery, who doubled on keyboards and harmonium, and guitarist Wallis Healey for the 1994 debut Hold on It Hurts. Chambers and Avtar Singh departed in 1995; drummer Nick Simms and percussionist Pete Hall joined the revised lineup. That same year David Byrne's Luaka Bop imprint offered a contract and issued Woman's Gotta Have It, the first Cornershop album to reach broader audiences. Singh's lighthearted wit and bilingual English-Punjabi lyrics underscored the inclusive spirit of the project, while tracks such as "6am Jullandar Shere" earned favorable attention from critics and figures including Brian Eno, securing the band a slot on the second stage of Lollapalooza. Healey and Hall exited after the release, with Peter Bengry stepping in on percussion.

Strong reviews for Woman's Gotta Have It paved the way for the success of When I Was Born for the 7th Time. Issued to widespread acclaim in 1997, the record combined pop songs with hypnotic, hip-hop-tinged instrumentals and featured appearances by Allen Ginsberg and Tarnation's Paula Frazer along with production input from Dan the Automator. The infectious single "Brimful of Asha", honoring the prolific Indian film singer Asha Bhosle, became a genuine U.K. hit following a remix by Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, and reached number one on certain charts in early 1998. The momentum yielded an opening spot on Oasis's American tour, while Spin magazine selected When I Was Born for the 7th Time as its Album of the Year.

In the aftermath Singh and Ayres paused Cornershop activities to focus on their dance-oriented Clinton project, which had already issued singles in 1995-1996. Clinton's first full-length, Disco and the Halfway to Discontent, appeared in the U.K. in 1999 and reached American listeners via Astralwerks in 2000. Extended absence from Cornershop fueled speculation that Singh had disbanded the group, yet he and Ayres resurfaced in early 2002 with Handcream for a Generation, accompanied once more by Bengry, Saffery, and Simms.

Following Handcream for a Generation, Cornershop maintained a low profile, issuing the single "Wop the Groove" in 2006 before staging a fuller return three years later with Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast, their first album in seven years. The release also marked their debut on the newly established Ample Play label, which the band has operated ever since to distribute their own work and material from various neo-psych acts. They swiftly followed with a collaboration alongside Punjabi singer Bubbley Kaur titled Cornershop & the Double-O Groove Of, then delivered their eighth album, Urban Turban, in summer 2012. Managing the respected label occupied much of their attention until 2015, when they released Hold on It's Easy, an easy-listening and big-band reinterpretation of Hold on It Hurts realized with assistance from the Elastic Big Band.

Subsequent years were devoted to personal and political concerns, including Singh's active opposition to Brexit, along with sporadic song releases. In 2018 they offered the disco-flavored single "Double Denim", the instrumental "Demon Is a Monster", and a two-song Christmas collection. Primary creative energy centered on a new album; the duo composed and tracked more than 40 songs before distilling them into twelve tracks. Released by Ample Play in March 2020, the resulting England Is a Garden presented a politically charged blend of styles and textures shaped by the group's assured production and artistic coherence.