WRECKingCReW Yoru to Taiyou no DNA Mass of the Fermenting Dregs S/T Acidman Life Blotto Singles Collection 2004-2007 Boris Smile Electric Eel Shock/ASAKUSA JINTA Transamerica Ultra Rock/Sky ZERO Mugen Minus Shinda Hazu no Boku no Tabi BREAKfAST Classic Six Packs Sokabe Keiichi blue Pistol Valve Tsunamic Girls From Tokyo		Cornelius Sensuous Released: 2006.10.25 (WPCL-10367) Label: Warner Music Japan Reviewer: Patrick South (2006.11.01) Tracklist 01 – Sensuous 02 – Fit Song 03 – Breezin' 04 – Toner 05 – Wataridori 06 – Gun 07 – Scum 08 – Omstart 09 – Beep It 10 – Like a Rolling Stone 11 – Music 12 – Sleep Warm Review With 2001's Point, Cornelius crafted an aesthetic very much his own: a crystalline fusion of jazz, funk, and the sounds of nature bolstered by rock chords, choruses, and sunshine melodies. This wasn't the fuzzed-out, cartoon pastiche of 1997's Fantasma; this was a new, carefully constructed Cornelius for a post-Shibuya-kei world. In a time when indie rock was floundering, Cornelius neatly clipped and cut through the fickle, fatty trends and pointed the way toward the future. Five years and one child into the future, Cornelius retains the meticulousness of Brian Wilson, but The Beach Boys and their catchy tunes have jumped ship. There will be no rushing the Internet for guitar tabs: Keigo Oyamada's signature pluck-hard guitar style has become increasingly avant-garde and ambient. He offers his usual agreeable, soft vocals, but they are used sparingly, more as an instrument, a layer, a tool, than a melody to memorize and sing along to. Rather than a collection of approachable pop songs, Sensuous is music for producers. It's an album of deconstruction, where ideas, sound, and style topple song—and substance. Matador's decision not to release the album speaks volumes. Sensuous could have been a great album. Cornelius has got his sound down pat, and he's got the detail to keep listeners interested. The problem is that too many of these tracks are like streams that trickle along, building in momentum, racing around a few jutting rocks, but never quite reaching climax at a waterfall. I don't demand verse-chorus-verse song structures, just changes. There is tension, but no real release. And, for an album that is five years in the making and only twelve tracks long, there are far too many filler ambient tracks and interludes. Yet, after the album's marked subtlety and restraint left my initial high standards unmet, I found upon closer inspection a handful of compelling songs, and a fistful that break new ground, almost making the wait worth it. After the sparse, meditative guitar intro, the album's most polished gem takes form as the complex "Fit Song," whose concept seems to be to tastefully fit as many sounds as possible into the span of exactly four minutes without sounding cluttered. It may be an experiment, but it's an experiment gone very right. Cornelius showers with intermittent synth washes a tight network of muted guitar, impossibly timed and ever-evolving drum patterns, and heavy slabs of Prince-like pitch-bending synths—never once sounding retro or kitsch. In fact, next to Tokyo Jihen's wacky carnival ride "Toumei Ningen," it's the most forward-thinking song I've heard all year. This is what Cornelius is capable of. This is future pop. Guitarless (and, tragically like the rest of the album, bassless) second single "Breezin'" would have made a better first. With its warm, buzzy stereo synths, handclaps, chimes, and light jazz keyboard, the track soothes listeners in its weightlessness. Indeed, as a song, it carries little weight: though pretty on the surface, it and especially first single "Music"—which offers little sonically that can't already by found on Point—are structurally repetitive and dry. Luckily, "Wataridori" makes up for lost ground. It is akin to "Fit Song" in its math-rock complexity, where the web of guitars and drums are treated with a misty reverb, suggesting a Vangelis-esque, dystopian world that is clipped to Cornelius's liking and lacking only in saxophone emoting from a distance. Other notables include the lone punk rocker, "Gum," which, though fun in its own right, feels disruptive in the context of the album and sadly fails to employ Cornelius's trusted wammy bar. Emerging as the clear late-album winner, "Beep It" takes a "Billy Jean" beat and turns it into a slow-build electro-pop anthem. Finally, the album comes to a graceful close with the Dean Martin cover "Sleep Warm," a hazy, tropicalian lullaby that features heavily processed vocals and synthesizers for optimal lushness. The rest, I'm afraid, consists of found-sound Halflings and folky, electroacoustic meanderings. And so the album, though beautifully, uniquely, and intricately arranged and produced, is distinctly lacking in terms of composition. Compare single "Music" to Cornelius's out-and-out brilliant cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Cue" (which completely reinterprets the original techno-pop classic as de-synthed and orchestrated down to the occasional pizzicato, and which should have been included on the album rather than relegated to the Breezin' EP). Both sound great, but only one is memorable. Yet I recommend the album. Regardless of the lapse in songwriting, Cornelius remains one of the most visionary artists working today, whose remixes, session work, and productions are always stellar. Suggestion: why not let others return the favor? With all the time Cornelius spends holed up in that studio of his, surely he could use a little company...a little musical accompaniment. Because if Sensuous portends, as the album's subtitle states, la musique du 21° siècle, then the future of music sounds too carefully controlled, and a little stale. --Patrick South back to reviews
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