Album of the Day

With a name that skewers the stereotype of British Asians as shopkeepers, Cornershop has been making music that defies categorization since 1991; sophomore album WOMAN'S GOTTA HAVE IT is a distinctive fusion of Bollywood, noise-pop, dance, hip-hop and more. Frontman Tjinder Singh proves a gifted songwriter here, lacing social commentary through these originals while peppering them with hooks drawn from around the world – lead single “6am Jullandar Shere” is sung in Punjabi and “My Dancing Days Are Done” in French, while the droning guitars of “Looking For A Way In” are straight out of the New York underground. The Expanded Version of the 1995 set adds “Rehoused” and four alternate mixes. Cornershop would garner acclaim a couple years later when “Brimful of Asha” topped the U.K. singles chart, but WOMAN'S GOTTA HAVE IT shows the Leicester band had already found its distinctive voice.