Handcream for a Generation
For the pessimists who thought 1998's "Brimful of Asha" might have made Cornershop one-hit wonders,Handcream for a Generationacts as a dazzling Technicolor rejoinder. This fourth album by Tjinder Singh's group is a sure-footed survey of international party styles. Through 13 tracks, they manage to locate the secret connections between funk, hip-hop turntablism, boogie rock, roots reggae, French house, Punjabi folk, heavy psychedelia, and, yes, good old-fashioned indie-pop. On paper it looks dauntingly ambitious, and in the hands of any other band it probably would be. But Singh has a talent for finding universal accessibility at the heart of any genre as well as a pathological fear of the clichéd and portentous. SoHandcreambegins with deep soul singer Otis Clay making the introductions on "Heavy Soup," cranks up a hoary old Stones riff for an extended rant about the music biz on "Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III," and even finds a use for Noel Gallagher on the 15-minute soaring raga of "Spectral Mornings." Best of all, the whole album's imbued with a spirit that's both celebratory and contrary, one that challenges and stimulates even while it's making you dance on the table.--John Mulvey