If you haven’t heard of Cornelius, the culprit is probably not your source of music news or Cornelius’s lack of fame, but rather the enormous ocean separating Japan—where he’s huge—from our country. Used to filling arena-sized venues in his homeland, the stop on May 7th at the Park West (like most of his shows this side of the Pacific) would be like stuffing Radiohead into a dive bar.
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Cornelius
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 Entertainment
 Art
Park West
Chicago, Ill.
May 7, 2007
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Fortunately the result for Cornelius was an amazingly well-practiced and explosive surprise without the dreadful sound and often extreme distance associated with an arena act.
The Cornelius Band started the show playing behind white screen backlit by vertical bands of colored light. The bands shifted positions, revealing each band member striking a silhouetted rock star pose as they shredded on their instruments. Text shone on the curtain welcoming us to the “Sensuous Synchronized Show,” which seemed at first like a joke. When the curtain fell, they started right into “Breezin” from their newest album, “Sensuous”.
As the show progressed, it turned out that “Sensuous Synchronized Show” is really the best choice of words to describe what unfolded. Each track was perfectly in synch with complex videos playing on large screens behind the band and on either side of the stage. The videos ranged from an array of chomping mouths to stop-motion animation to live-action. Each video matched every chop and nuance of the music without a single stumble. The feat was not merely impressive, like a parlor trick, as it is with some bands. Instead, the audio-visual barrage felt like a unit—as if each part existed for the sole purpose of melding with the other.
The song selection derived mostly from the latest album, “Sensuous”, and included highlights such as the almost psychedelic “Wataridori” (synchronized to a shadow animation of birds migrating across the world) and the album highlight “Fit Song,” a scatterbrained and choppy-metered demonstration of just how orchestrated a Cornelius track can be. The band also played a few songs from their most popular album, “Point”, including “Smoke,” “Point of View Point” and “Drop.” They even played a few songs that have not been released officially in the States. One of these had a Hawaiian tone, and was complimented with glitchy edits of old Hawaiian performances, each with a man’s head covered with an animated anemone.
I realize this show may sound very bizarre in print, but it actually felt natural and welcome to be in the hands of Cornelius. Much like the band Nine Inch Nails, Keigo Oyamada is the Trent Resnor of the band, the man behind the pseudonym “Cornelius.” Oyamada played his part as a fantastic frontman—both incredibly serious and still clearly excited to be on stage. His sparse lyrics (either in Japanese or simplistic English) did not detract from his connection to the audience. He pulled a fan on stage to puppeteer him into playing a theramin (one of the earliest electronic musical instruments created in Russia), and his occasional smile felt very sincere. His abilities on guitar were stunning, especially for a man known for his work with programming and producing instead of his playing ability.
The “Sensuous Synchronized Show” may have changed the way I choose my music. If this is what happens when a huge act plays outside the country of their fame, I might go hunting for more foreign acts. Until then, I’ll just keep Cornelius on repeat and wait patiently for his return.
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