Gadzooks! Below the words: two tracks, one of which was released in Her Majesty’s very own 2011. “That’ll silence those coldhearts who moan that I always play tracks from the same narrow tranche of 1997,” thinks me. “No it won’t: it’s Cornershop. Everyone knows you love Cornershop. You can’t pretend that you dwell at the sharp end of the zeitgeist’s hazy drizzle if you only feature bands you’ve liked for decades”. Hmm.
The Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of album is an unusual collaboration; many years in the making, it features Bubbley Kaur on vocals, an Indian folk singer / launderette operative from Preston, which gives Cornershop’s distinctive sound a lift, a different kind of playfulness that really works. Nowhere near enough people bought this album on release – apparently you kids are all downloading Ke$ha onto your iPob 3000s whilst you dance about naked in your crystal meth labs – so be a sport and purchase?
Track two is from a slice of psychedelic wistfulness from 1968. The United States of America released but the one album; the usual story of critical acclaim, poor sales, goodnight and thank you. Still, it’s an intriguing affair, sounding very much of its era, yet undercut with a strange and atmospheric otherworldliness, highly reminiscent of… well, no, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s instalment of the Fucked Up Festive Fifty for that, secure in the knowledge that I actually bother to research these out-of-focus word collections…
Cornershop / Don’t Shake It
The United States of America / Coming Down
Yes and yes.