When I Was Born for the 7th Time - Cornershop (1997)
Over the past 30 years, Cornershop have released a new record every few years. Not a furious pace, but having a catalog of 9 albums over the span of 25 years (the most recent was the quite fun England Is A Garden from 2020) is an impressive feat.
Still, if you’ve heard of Cornershop it’s probably because of Brimful of Asha, the big single from this record that took the world by storm nearly 30 years ago.
The band’s early records are unremarkable except that they were wildly and unapologetically experimental. A band figuring out what worked more or less in real time. That all came together with this album, blending Britpop with danceable Madchester-style beats and the lo-fi plunderphonic style of cut-up. The sounds of south Asian instruments like sitar, dholki, and tambura make it a genuine fusion, not just a gimmick.
90s audiences–and, by extension, the 90s music industry–were interested in cross-cultural and cross-genre mixes, and this was a perfect fit. The pop tunes are great pop tunes, the more Goa-trance style numbers are still a lot of fun.
The band had a moment that they might have been chasing for decades since, but it was a great moment.
