Cornershop

Cornershop's breakthrough second album, Woman's Gotta Have It (1995), won most of its
critical plaudits on the strength of its bookend tracks, "6 a.m. Jullandar Shere" and "7:20
a.m. Jullandar Shere" – 16 minutes of brilliant East-West instrumentation that easily made up
for some of the album's less-successful forays into indie rock. The band's leader,
Anglo-Indian singer and guitarist Tjinder Singh, knew how to straddle his culture... More >

What's so disarming, and confusing, about Tjinder Singh is that he doesn't have a lot to say. Here he is realizing a historical inevitability a decade or three in the making--namely, an international pop so seamless that its fusion of Anglo-American alt-rock, Indian melody, international hip hop, and what-all is subsumed into its own song-based catchiness right up to the time Singh reclaims "Norwegian Wood" for the land of the sitar. And indeed, his lyrics vaguely express the proper liberal attitudes toward the weighty social issues his achievement implies. But there's no sense of mission, just a handsome dilettante enjoying his easy tunes and found beats; he's not even trying to go pop, especially. Which is why he has at least the potential to become a naturalizing force. (Grade - A)