Detour Magazine September 1997 On The Green writen by Michael Krugman Cornershop “IM LOOKING AT THE ELECTIONS QUITE PESSIMISTICALLY, IN THAT I hope Labour gets in, but people are just too thick to realize that whatever way it is run, people have got to be involved,” says Cornershop’s Tjinder Singh, sitting cross-legged in a small park behind the North London venue, the Garage. It is Election Eve in England, and Singh is dispersing slips of paper reminding recipients to “Use Yr Vote, Change Yr Life” as he and guitarist/co-founder Ben Ayres pull on a large hash-filled spliff. “It’s just scary in terms of the stuff the Tories have got away with, in terms of immigration, in terms of not allowing people to smoke shit. No one seems to give a shit.” From their beginnings as aggro-punk agitpropsters to 1995’s sonic redefinition , Woman’s Gotta Have It, Cornershop have blended Eastern attitudes and instruments (like sitar, tamboura, and dholki) with more traditional Western pop sounds. An Asian punk rocker in class-and-color-obsessed Britain, Singh’s music has always reflected his outsider status, a sense of not being accepted in either of the cultures he inhabits. Their new When I Was Born For The 7th Time may well give him popular acceptance. The record is Cornershop’s finest moment to date, a dizzying and delightful melding of hip-hop and pop, reggae and rage. The subject matter remains resolutely political and tinted with sadness — for instance, the giddy “Funky Days Are Back Again” is not as happy as it sounds, as it actually chronicles the 1979 election of Margaret Thatcher and the subsequent riots and workers’ strikes — but the record’s overall vibe is a gospel-inspired joyousness, all summery and lighthearted. Or is that lightheaded? “Well, we did smoke a lot,” Tjinder says. “And I suppose that has had an influence.” Oh, yes, When I Was Born For The 7th Time is as permeated by spliff smoke as any Cypress Hill record. From the swaying psychedelic “It’s Indian Tobacco My Friend,” to the ultra-groovy anthemic ode “Good Shit,” the album is indeed one for the head, intellectually and otherwise. “If people smoke to it,” Singh says, puffing, “I think they’re going to have a fucking good journey.”
	Read What the critics have to say about Cornershop: Rolling Stone Spin Details Detour Paper Magazine

[an error occurred while processing this directive]