Cornelius
Electronica / Pop
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.
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