Point January 22, 2001

And now for something completely different...

Point is the long-awaited (it’s true) new release from Japan’s most innovative and respected musician, Cornelius a.k.a. Keigo Oyamada. It is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius which forges a very different path from his 1998 US debut ‘Fantasma.’ Where ‘Fantasma’ was an exaggerated media collage which deconstructed the history of pop and reassembled it into a breathtaking tangle of sound, ‘Point’ is altogether more atmospheric, involving mood-driven soundscapes. Rather than cramming all his influences onto one record, ‘Point’ shows Keigo taking a more organic, personal approach to his art; he tells us he approached Fantasma like a 5th grader—all cut & paste—but approached this one like a grandpa, where everything has to have meaning and relate to each other. Cornelius takes his inspiration from the world around him (not always musical), creating a dizzying environmental sound. The same musical influences are still there, but toned down and mutated into a more cohesive and mature album.

‘Point’ was a year in the making, recorded solely in a small private studio above the Cornelius office. As well as providing all of the music, Keigo also self-produced the record, joined only in the studio by sound engineer Mishima, who also helped with the programming. There are some spectacular songs such as the danceable “Drop,” the retro-Hawaiian “Brazil” (by Barosso) and the pseudo-metal of “I Hate Hate.” This is Japanese pop at its most eclectic, invigorating, and sexy.

Cornelius, while being hailed as a genius and as the future of rock and roll by many, is also just as interested in design, fashion, video, conceptual and pop art, and live extravaganzas (there will be no less than five music videos for Point). His performances incorporate a multimedia blowout complete with 3-D lights, video and kitsch gimmicks like karate spacemen and fantasy apes. He contributed an art DVD piece from ‘Point’ to The Barbican’s JAM exhibition earlier this year which was part of London’s Tokyo Life festival. He is involved with every aspect of his own record designs as well as the abundance of other merchandise on offer (mainly in Japan) such as the limited edition DIY cardboard turntable, watches, and even a pair of headphones which was included in with the original Japanese release of Fantasma.

It has been four years since the release of Fantasma, and during this time he has toured the world extensively and collaborated with many different artists on remixes etc. such as Blur, Beck, Sting, K.D. Lang and most recently two Australian bands The Avalanches and Gerling. Cornelius will be bringing his delirious live show to North America this spring.

“Brilliant—Cornelius’s innovations will definitely excite futuristic B-boys and rockers alike.” —Vibe
“Sounds like a record store’s entire contents pushed through a meat grinder.” —Spin
“A Phil Spector for the post-rave generation.”
—London Telegraph
“Unwittingly, Cornelius presents a challenge to American music criticism, which often sacrifices pop’s pleasure, its international language of imagination and inspiration, on the altar of portent.” —Village Voice

FM: Fantasma reMixes & CM: Cornelius reMixes March 9, 1999

Keigo Oyamada, a.k.a. Cornelius, has had quite a year in the States. His first US perfomance at South by Southwest early last year successfully jammed his arena-sized rock show into the 500-person Electric Lounge. Folks stumbled away ecstatically afterward, blown away by the multi-media collision deftly spanning the history of rock and pop as heard through the ears of one of its most devoted fans. It neatly set the stage for the arrival of his American debut, Fantasma, which received an avalanche of accolades and impressive sales in the year since its release. His two brief sold-out tours in the US helped establish the new Japanese rock as a commercial force Stateside, while offering visceral proof of the genius that has made Cornelius a multiplatinum superstar in his homeland.

If the remix album is the ’90s equivalent to the the powerhouse live albums of the ’70s, then Cornelius has upped the ante on the concept and delivered his Intensities in Ten Cities. Over the past year, Cornelius has been doing a series of remixes for friends and mutual admirers alike. All he asked for in return is for them to do the same with material from Fantasma.

Now, he is releasing the two separate sets of remixes as a pair of full-length albums. FM (Fantasma Mix) draws together the mixes done by other artists from his US debut. CM (Cornelius Mix) is a collection of the remixes done by Cornelius. Both releases are of obvious appeal to fans of Cornelius as well as the various participating artists.

Fantasma March 24, 1998

Fantasma is the most surprising album we’ve heard in years. A tribute to stadium stardom by a Japanese pop idol, it unselfconsciously melds beats, guitar heaviness and orchestrated arrangements into an unbelievably catchy, joyous rollercoaster ride through rock music history.

For 27-year-old CORNELIUS (Keigo Oyamada), this history moves smoothly from 1960s songwriting outfits like the Beach Boys and the Music Machine through the Clash and Wings to late ’80s British outfits like My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream. As if that’s not enough, Oyamada sees no disparity in incorporating the hard excesses of late-’80s Japanese hip-hop and a plethora of spoken-word and soundtrack samples into this guitar-and-melody-based sound. This isn’t contrast for the sake of contrast: in CORNELIUS’s hands, all this music flows seamlessly together into a new kind of rock, a new kind of pop. He plays every instrument on the album. He doesn’t see the genre boundaries that restrict most performers in pop, classic rock or electronica alike; and after hearing this album, neither will you.

Fantasma is CORNELIUS’s third album. Released in Japan last fall, it has sold close to half a million copies in his home country, making it a multi-platinum record. Originating in the same Shibuya-kei bubblegum pop scene that spawned Pizzicato Five, CORNELIUS has now moved well beyond his origins--although he has managed to take his young fans with him

CORNELIUS’s musical growth has been paralleled by the explosion of his own Trattoria label, whose roster well illustrates the breadth of his vision: the chanteuse Kahimi Karie, Eye Yamataka’s seminal noise band Hanatarash, the sunny pop of Bridge and the scuzzy blues of Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her. In addition, he has released such overseas acts as the Apples In Stereo, Papas Fritas, even the "Planet Of The Apes" soundtracks and the Bill Wyman back catalog.

CORNELIUS (named after the simian hero of "Planet of the Apes") recently completed a sold-out tour culminating with a riotous performance at Tokyo’s prestigious Budokan stadium. His amazing design concepts married album artwork with crazy tour production--a multimedia blowout complete with 3-D lights and video, karate apemen and a $50 concert program that featured two different kinds of 3-D glasses, Vasarely-style psychedelic acetate layouts and different colored buttons that play fizzy electronic sounds right out of the book. A local radio station broadcast an extra rhythm track simultaneously with the concert, so attendees were encouraged to bring their Walkmans and tune into 88.1 FM while watching the show. The average age of the fans? 17 or so.