'When I Was Born For The 7th Time'

I remember seeing the video for "Brimful of Asha" at my mother's house a year or so before going to college. There was something I liked, but there was even more that I thought was missing.

In hindsight, I wonder if it was my first ever real exposure to independent music that sounded like independent music. I'd heard of unsigned bands constantly. But nothing that had the aesthetic of Cornershop or Belle and Sebastian.

The album is interesting mostly because none of it really sounds like "Brimful of Asha." It's a mishmash of hip-hop beats, turntable scratching and a host of Indian staples from the tabla and the sitar. The founding brothers are actually of Asian descent although growing up in England. Although never leaving behind their ancestral sounds and picking up hip-hop beats, the pair fully embraced the sensibilities of the Stone Roses and Oasis to pair the sweet of the sour.