Cornershop & The Double 'O' Groove Of

Following up Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast in exceedingly timely fashion — a mere two years compared to the seven that separated that 2009 effort from 2002’s Handcream for a Generation — Cornershop capitalize on their Indian tradition, bringing in Bubbley Kaur for a collection of pop with a Punjabi punch. The vocals and flourishes are strongly Punjabi — songs are often sung in the language, not English as they usually are on a Cornershop LP — but these are essentially trappings for a collection of multicultural dance-pop not too dissimilar from the group’s albums since 1997. As on Judy Sucks, this is a blessing and a curse: Cornershop’s blends are still rich and flavorful yet they have the whiff of old fashion, still tied heavily to the post-rave years of trip-hop and Brit-pop, trends they fought and embraced in equal measure. Kaur’s presence gives The Double-O Groove just enough of a different tone to make a difference — it doesn’t feel comfortably recycled as Judy sometimes did — yet it doesn’t quite open doors to new avenues either. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine