First of all a big, huge, enormous thank you to Cornershops Tjinder and Ben for letting me write this piece. To Marie from Ample Play for her help in contacting the band and to R Sargeant for the photo’s.
Ever since I wrote my article on the Impact of Social Media and Asian Music Industry where Tjinder gave me a quote; I have fallen back in love with Cornershop. Their music, their energy and vibes. I am slowly working my way through their back catalogue online. Who can forget the hit of 1997 Brimful of Asha? I was at school, bear in mind there were only 2 Asian people in my year at school, people actually knew who the Bollywood legend that is Asha Bhonsle was thanks to Cornershop. This excited me and my love for the band grew even more. I wanted to feature Cornershop who had a massive influence on my musical tastes growing up and share with the world what they are doing today.
Brimful of Asha
Cornershop are a British indie rock band with electronic and Indian influence. Cornershop made their big impression in 1997 with their 3rd album ‘When I was born for the 7th time’ but they had been around for quite a while before that and have produced some amazing music pieces from the beginning of their journey up till their last album ‘Judy sucks a lemon for breakfast’
Cornershop and Social Media
Tjinder kindly told me his thoughts about how social media impacts what the band does: “Social media has enabled us to connect with fans and fellow musicians in ways that we just didn’t have before, via Twitter especially we’ve connected with South Asians in the US and Canada. Also we started conversing with Tokyo artist Matsuki Ayumu on Twitter and ended up collaborating and mixing each other’s tracks.
Check out the tracks featuring Matsuki Ayumu here:
We’ve always liked experimenting and we are currently seeking funds to release our album through the crowd-sourcing platform PledgeMusic which interacts heavily with social media. Cornershop are the first British Asian band to use crowd-sourcing as far as we are aware.
Also social media sites are a good way of showcasing our back catalogue but the downside is that it is hard work and requires nonstop attention”
Cornershops new album featuring Bubbley Kaur on vocals should be released around March. But they need your help. This is where PledgeMusic comes in.
Pledge Music
Why not ‘Pledge’ something to Cornershop? By pledging for limited editions, video interview items, download of their forthcoming album and much more you will be able to help Cornershop to complete the album ASAP.
You could pledge on exclusive items such as incentives T-shirt, cool shopping bag, rare signed vinyl, and stranger items such as Tjinder’s Authentically Damaged Accoustic Guitar, as smashed into his own amplifier at a Festival on the banks of the Mississippi, after which he had a photo shoot with Joan Baez & Todd Rundgren for Spin magazine.
PledgeMusic enables music fans to pre-order the album from their own label Ample Play.
The Independent UK newspaper supported the Campaign this month: ‘the PledgeMusic method would seem like a reasonable deal for artists and music lovers alike. For the musicians in question, the end clearly justifies the means. Meanwhile fans aren’t simply paying through the nose for handshakes with narcissistic stars; they are investing in the future of the bands that they love. At last, everyone’s a winner.’
There is an album launch party in March and the last time I checked there are only a few tickets left so grab them while they last.
You can Pledge until the end of February so visit Cornershops Pledge Music website now: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/cornershop
You can keep up with Cornershop movements through many different mediums:
cornershop.com
facebook.com/tjinder
myspace.com/cornershop
twitter.com/cornershophq
twitter.com/tjindersingh
facebook.com/cornershophq
Hope you enjoyed that and thanks again to everyone who made this blog possible.
Priya Mulji…x
priyamulji.com 