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Point

Cornelius

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Customer Reviews

The Evolution Begins

Point, the follow up to Fantasma was at first a shock, with my expectations being that it would have the kinetic energy of its predecessor, but after I realized that this was just a generational artist growing and expanding, I've learned to love it. Fantastic songs like "Drop", "Smoke" and "Tone Twilight Zone" are the highlights, as well as an AMAZING cover of "Brazil". Give it a listen, you'll love it. Now having heard the follow up Sensuous, I see that this was just the beginning of his musical evolution. Can't wait to hear what comes next!!

On Point

Cornelius, born Keigo Oyamada, represents all that Japanese pop culture is infamous for -- quirkiness, eclectic sampling and complete discombobulation of the mind. Oyamada first entered the music business at the age of 19 as part of the pop duo Flipperʼs Guitar, whose musical stylings are known for launching Tokyoʼs Shibuya-Kei genre (a style best described as a cross between electropop and jazz). After Flipperʼs Guitar disbanded, Oyamada began his solo career under the alias ʻCorneliusʼ. The name comes from a computer scientist of the same name in 1968ʼs Planet of the Apes. Much like Apeʼs Cornelius, Point (2002) represents and embellishes upon Oyamadaʼs journey as an artist, as well as his ability to develop something both wholly experimental and harmonically pleasing.

Point (2002) succeeds at creating visceral dissonance by mixing classic Western pop melodies with loose guitar pangs, modulation frequencies, stereo imaging, voice sampling and ʻfound recordingsʼ (among others). The result some kind of shuffleboard gesture, as seen from the perspective on an Eastern musician. In a way, Cornelius brings to music what Haruki Murakami does to literature -- surrealism, brevity, and an exercise in Eastern postmodern melody. The albumʼs first track “Bug (Electric Last Minute)” serves as both its introduction and synopsis. Its thirty-eight second duration begins with a single note (time shifted) and continues with grains of stereo imaging, random guitar pings, and sparse vocalization...all the way until its abrupt and sudden end. The next song on the album, “Point of View Point” consists of a looped vocal sample paired guitar harmonics that layer upon one another. Itʼs an audibly pleasing song, but probably one thatʼs less nuanced than the others. “Drop” stars with a water droplet spatialization that eventually secedes into a background of falsetto singing and guitar stringing. The droplets complement the rest of the song beautifully, mixing feelings of spatial dislocation (near an ocean) with the calming effect of choral voices and subtle guitar chords. Itʼs an aural delight. “Another View Point” almost sounds like a continuation of “Drop” -- beginning with a few last droplets, but quickly evolving into a frenetic piece that sounds like itʼs taking place in a machine factory. It follows with some frequency looping, and a drum beat that gives way to rock & roll. The song gives off a feeling of urgency. “Bird Watching At Inner Forest” is probably one of the most experimental tracks on the album and my favorite. There is something soothing about the mixing of chirping birds and Japanese singing overlain above a clockwork rhythmic track. “I Hate Hate” is maybe the first example of metal pointillism, mixing short, but intense metal chords with modulation frequencies and drum beats, and ending with the calming sound of cicadas chirping. It is a stunning contrast to “Brazil” a song that draws “Mac-Speak” sound clips with whistling, and a soothing island ode. This type of styling extends to “Fly” a piece charged by computer-talk, rock, and heavy bass lines.
! ! From a musical standpoint, Point draws upon many techniques infamous in the technosonics genre. Like Fantasma before it, his recent work might best be described
as a post modern take on the mixed Musik Concrete / Elecktronische Musik made famous by Pierre Schaeffer/ Henry and Karlheinz Stockhausen respectively. The listener can hear acoustical recordings of animals (birds, cicadas) and nature (water), as well as some tape reverb in “Bug”, “Brazil”, “Bird Watching at Inner Forest” and “Drop”. Cornelius also toys around with some modulation frequencies, pitch, and psychoacoustics -- the kind reminiscent of Jean Claude Rissetʼs work. The songs “Brazil” and “Fly” also draw upon some of the electronic techniques of the same era. Cornelius samples computer voice (Macintosh computers) in both of these songs and shows an interest in the kind of computer singing pioneered by Max Matthews in “Bicycle Built for Two”. It also draws upon (but also expands) the type of musical engineering and intermixing that James Tenney was infamous for (i.e. “Blue Suede Shoes”). He does this a lot with his vocal selections.

As a whole, Point (2002) poses a question - is Cornelius simply an imitator or a pioneer of sound synthesis? From my viewpoint he is a little bit of both, borrowing some techniques from the industry, and mixing it into fresh, soothing, Eastern progressive pop. The album is an invitation into Bandai-synths (he wrote a song for the handheld gaming system) and an exaltation of Japanese spirit and melodics. 5 out of 5.

Hmm....

Weird. Cornelius got split into two artists. I hope iTunes fixes this.

Biography

Born: January 27, 1969 in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '90s, '00s

Japanese pop-noise savant Cornelius was born Keigo Oyamada in 1969; a self-taught guitarist inspired early on by Kiss and Black Sabbath, his musical alias was later chosen as an homage to the Planet of the Apes film series. A product of the same Shibuya-kei bubblegum scene that also gave rise to Pizzicato Five, Cornelius debuted in 1993 with the EP Holydays in the Sun, the first release from his own Trattoria label. He became a national teen idol in the wake of the release of 1994's full-length The...
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