DRMFA 1: No Thank You For The Music
Sep 22,2006
One of the perks of working at a CD shop is the free swag that will occasionally flow my way. I had the recent opportunity to hear the advanced single "Music" from Cornelius and see the brand new Kiyoshi Kurosawa horror film "LOFT" in the last couple of weeks, two of my favorite artists in their respective fields. Since I was left a bit underwhelmed, I'm going to look a gift horse in the mouth and go ahead and give you my reviews. This is volume one of my "Depressing Reviews for My Favorite Artists" series, focusing on Cornelius's new single "Music."
For the first few minutes I was anticipating how this song would develop, for the rest I just wished it would. Like half the other college-age kids at the end of the nineties, I was introduced to Japanese music through Cornelius's influential, experimental "Fantasma" album. "Music" is definitely less "Fantasma" than "Point," but where "Point" had the settled ambience of a recently married man with child, "Music" has the slightly cool but slightly stale presence of a man with the seven-year-itch. I can hear Cornelius reaching back to his roots for edgy, experimental stuff. But if Cornelius is trying to reach the dial for edgy, it seems he's grabbed the dial for pan.
"Music" is the type of song extremely creative people write in a rut: there's some innovative ideas, but no passion to hold your interest. Instead, the song meanders along ambiently, but boringly. Cornelius seems to have lost his muse, and "Music" without muse is merely ick.
The ever intelligent Momus has a fantastic review up on his site, so if you're interested I suggest you check that out. The far-more-interesting music video is also viewable on YouTube, so if you want to check it out just do a search for "Cornelius Music."
As an aside, while Cornelius's minimalist sound doesn't work so well for singles, it does make for excellent BGM for a puzzle game. Conveniently, Cornelius has done the soundtrack for minimalistic Nintendo bitGenerations game "Coloris." You can hear music and see video from the game at the link above.
Next week, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Loft."
For the first few minutes I was anticipating how this song would develop, for the rest I just wished it would. Like half the other college-age kids at the end of the nineties, I was introduced to Japanese music through Cornelius's influential, experimental "Fantasma" album. "Music" is definitely less "Fantasma" than "Point," but where "Point" had the settled ambience of a recently married man with child, "Music" has the slightly cool but slightly stale presence of a man with the seven-year-itch. I can hear Cornelius reaching back to his roots for edgy, experimental stuff. But if Cornelius is trying to reach the dial for edgy, it seems he's grabbed the dial for pan.
"Music" is the type of song extremely creative people write in a rut: there's some innovative ideas, but no passion to hold your interest. Instead, the song meanders along ambiently, but boringly. Cornelius seems to have lost his muse, and "Music" without muse is merely ick.
The ever intelligent Momus has a fantastic review up on his site, so if you're interested I suggest you check that out. The far-more-interesting music video is also viewable on YouTube, so if you want to check it out just do a search for "Cornelius Music."
As an aside, while Cornelius's minimalist sound doesn't work so well for singles, it does make for excellent BGM for a puzzle game. Conveniently, Cornelius has done the soundtrack for minimalistic Nintendo bitGenerations game "Coloris." You can hear music and see video from the game at the link above.
Next week, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Loft."
DRMFA 1: No Thank You For The Music Comments
I was introduced to Cornelius the same way. Fantasma's an awesome album and I was kinda depressed to hear Music be so....eh. It's nice but it just goes nowhere. I'm hoping Breezin' will be better although I've yet to watch my copy of the PV for it.
by Aaron H! : Sep 25,2006
Yes, after "Fantasma," "Point" was kind of dissappointing--but at the same time it was kind of what I expected from Cornelius at that time in his life. I hoped that "Music" would see him move back towards rock or in an entirely new direction, but, like Momus says, it sounds like a B-side from "Point." Definitely not bad, but not interesting either.
The video is pretty cool in a mesmerizing sort of way. Think children's band class on psychodelic drugs.
The video is pretty cool in a mesmerizing sort of way. Think children's band class on psychodelic drugs.
by Dan : Sep 25,2006
