Day 0850 - When I was Born for the 7th Time

Cornershop “When I was Born for the 7th Time" (1997)

Cornershop was formed in Leicester by Tjinder Singh.  The book suggests that as time went on, Singh started to incorporate elements of Indian music into the band, but I listened to a compilation of their first couple of EPs and that influence was already pretty clear even back then.

"When I was born..." features production from Dan the Automator, and definitely track "Butter the Soul" has his sound all over it with its mix of retro kitsch and unconventional turntablism.

"We're in your corner" in a full on raga drone, while "Indian Tobacco"  takes elements of drone but puts them in more of a triphoppy frame.   "Candyman" is pure funk, but most of the rest of the album is generally a nice beat-heavy form of indie-pop with "Brimful of Asha" being the most known track.

The album closes with a cover of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" that takes that band's experimentation with Indian music and puts a spin on it by performing the song in Punjabi.

Day 0445 - Entertainment

Gang of Four "Entertainment!" (1979)

 
A band from (my one-time home) Leeds named after a group of Chinese Communist Party officials... hinting at the band's left-wing sympathies.

Another one of those bands that mixes the attitude and melodic minimalism of punk with a bit of white-boy funk (though here the funk element seems to have been ramped up considerably). Another of those bands that most likely stylistically inspired some of the early 00 indie rock bands like Bloc Party or Gossip.

Listening to the angular funk sounds here, I wouldn't be surprised if the Gang were listened to by Les Claypool or his band Primus.  They were certainly an influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who drafted the Gang's guitarist Andy Gill to produce their first (self titled) album on the basis of the "Entertainment!" album.