#mellow waves

Patatap: Mellow Waves

Patatap is a portable animation and sound kit. With the touch of a finger create melodies charged with moving shapes. Warning: contains flashing images.

CORNELIUS - The Spell of a Vanishing Loveliness (Official Video)

9:30 INTERVIEW: Cornelius

Between spearheading a genre of his own (Shibuya-kei) and earning the laurel wreaths of “the Japanese Beck” and “the New Century’s Brian Wilson,” Keigo Oyamada a.k.a. Cornelius is the coolest dude you’ve probably never heard of - yet! Luckily, the ever-talented enigma (via his translator, Riki Domen) took the time to answer a few of our questions below ahead of his 9:30 Club return next week. 

Quinn Koches [9:30 Club]: It’s been 11 years since your last album and 10 since you last played 9:30 Club. What have you been up to, aside from creating Mellow Waves?

Cornelius: I’ve been working on various projects, remixes, collaborations, and producing, which include recording, producing, and touring with salyu x salyu, recording and touring as a member of Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, recording the score for Ghost In The Shell: Arise, along with recording for a national television education show for children on NHK in Japan.

Matt Doherty [9:30 Club]: You collaborated with Lush’s Miki Berenyi, who’s also a recently-discovered distant relative of yours, on the new album. How did this collaboration come about, what was it like, and how did you discover you are related?

My father passed away about 10 years ago and many relatives came to visit him. My parents had been divorced so I never had the chance to see my father’s side of my relatives.

So at that time, I first met Miki’s mother and heard about Miki (Lush) and I knew of her and was listening to Lush back in the days. During the Sensuous tour, Miki came to see the show in London and we started to get in touch from then.

MD: The timbre of Mellow Waves is vast yet comforting, not unlike the ocean. What was your favorite piece of gear or equipment to use while recording and developing the album’s sound? Conversely, what’s your favorite or “must-have” piece of equipment to use while touring?

The tremolo is a consistent connection with the songs on the album along with the electric piano, vocals, and strings which create a wave-like sound.  

I need all the equipment but I play guitar on tour. Yumiko Ohno from Buffalo Daughter has joined the band this time and she plays the Minimoog, which is quite important in the overall sound.

QK: 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the release of your breakout album, Fantasma. What is it like looking back on that album now?

20 years went by just like that… Time flies…

QK: Visual arts seem to be a major component of your work. What inspires you visually? How do you go about constructing the visual components of your live show?

Especially when performing overseas, it helps to share the theme using visuals then just singing the lyrics.  

There’s a couple people involved in making the visuals for the show, but I have them listen to the songs and explain the theme and create it. I’ve had a long relationship with these people so they understand what I would like, whereas in the beginning I was making the visuals/videos myself.

MD: You recently earned your driver’s license - congratulations! Besides Andy Shauf’s The Party, are there any other albums or songs you think pair particularly well with driving?

Choosing from something that I listened to recently, I’d say Reginald Omas Mamode IV Children of Nu and Laraaji are great while driving.

QK: What’s next for Cornelius?

I’m going to be touring overseas. In Japan, I’ll be releasing new track(s) for an exhibition in Japan. I also work with a children’s tv show making music in Japan, so I’ll be releasing some music for that.

-Quinn Koches and Matt Doherty

CORNELIUS 『未来の人へ』(Dear Future Person)  [Official Video]

Cornelius 

"いつか / どこか" Sometime / Someplace　

Cornelius 

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