THE MULTIRACIAL band Cornershop have returned with a brilliant new album, Handcream for a Generation. Cornershop are known to a wider audience for their huge hit single ‘Brimful of Asha’. They chose the name Cornershop to subvert the stereotype of Asians only running newsagents and grocers, not performing in indie bands.
Their music is a mix of disco, rock and Indian music. One of their first acts was to burn a picture of former Smiths singer Morrissey when he flirted with fascism in the early 1990s.
Handcream for a Generation is a tuneful and interesting album. Some songs seem to be influenced by the growing anti-capitalist movement. ‘We’re going to take this movement to the streets,’ sings Tjinder Singh, Cornershop’s main figure, on ‘People Power’. ‘Music is the halfway to full discontent.’
Unfortunately some songs, such as ‘Wogs Will Walk’, fall into the trap of using racist language while trying to attack racism. But despite this Handcream for a Generation makes you think and dance.
The words Ilham Tohti left behind
Is nuclear energy the way to go?
