Parker's Pick: Cornelius - Point (2001)

Keigo Oyamada (yes, another Japanese artist, I like their music) is an experimental ex-pop band member who adopted the name Cornelius after the monkey in the movie Planet of the Apes. His album, Fantasma, which many consider to be his magnum opus, was recently reissued, and a few bonus tracks were added. This got me listening to him again, and it made me realize that Point would be a wonderful album to share with you all. 

A big part of what makes this album stand out for me is how the sounds are arranged. The songs are mostly composed of layered rock instrumentation, samples, and vocals from Oyamada. There are also plenty of electronic instruments on this album. There is prominent use of a drum machine, and a robotic vocalist even makes an appearance. It is important to listen to this album with good headphones or speakers to get the full experience. This album has its high and low points, but overall it has some very relaxing tracks. It's a great album for driving or just lounging around in late summer.

Favorite tracks: Drop, Bird Watching At Inner Forest, Nowhere

9:46 AM

Katie Dey is an immensely creative Australian artist currently involved in the "bedroom pop" scene alongside artists like Mat Cothran of Elvis Depressedly and Sam Ray of a Teen Suicide and Julia Brown. This community of musicians consistently puts out music that I like, but not always anything I think is really that interesting or progressive. A lot of their charm is that they are all very active on twitter, so I sort of feel like I know them personally sometimes. I get to see their conversations with each other and they're all small enough acts that I can talk to them after shows. That being said, this album from Katie is different. Even disregarding my bias I think this is an beautiful and fascinating album. 

The album starts off with the best 1:30 song I've ever heard, flows effortlessly from song to song using stunning interludes, and by the end somehow makes me incredibly nostalgic for the last half hour I spent with it. It's layered and unpredictable and the effects on Katie's voice make it simultaneously eerie, beautiful, and sad. The mixing is also stunning so make sure to listen with some nice headphones. My favorite songs are "All", "Fear O' The Light" and "Debt", but really every second of the album is excellent. Enjoy!

7:48 AM