hit their stride. When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a cohesive, finely crafted LP in which the last album's low-fi funk expands into low, fat grooves, and Singh's pancultural, anti-racist lyrics become more sophisticated but no less impassioned. The band's latest lineup – Singh; guitarist, tambourist and keyboardist Ben Ayres; percussionist Peter Bengry; sitar player and keyboardist Anthony Saffrey; and drummer Nick Simms – has honed its musicianship, blending a rich assortment of traditional Asian instruments with pop guitar, sample collages and DJ scratching. Best of all, Singh now toys with difference instead of merely acknowledging it: On "Good to Be on the Road Back Home," he performs a droll country duet with Tarnation's Paula Frazer; on "Candyman," produced by the Automator (of Dr. Octagon fame), Singh follows rapper Justin Warfield in a hopscotch between Indian and African-American styles.

Yet for all its stylistic pleasures, politics are the heart of When I Was Born for the 7th Time. "Funky Days Are Back Again" begins as a playful poke at being retro ("The party's got a double e at the end again/Happy days are here again, my friend") but closes with a reminder that "funky days" can be less than carefree ("Zip-zap guns are back again/Worker strikes are back again"). And a wicked rereading of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" brings pop colonialism full circle as it mimics the song's sitar signature while 'Singh gleefully sings the Lennon-McCartney lyrics – in Punjabi. You've got to hand it to Cornershop; even their covers are incendiary. (RS 767)

NEVA CHONIN