Cornelius A tireless soundscaper, this musical polymath blends electronica with a musical kleptomania reminiscent of Beck — but madder
"Ideas come out just through living life," says Keigo Oyamada, 39, who goes by the stage name Cornelius, after a character in the movie Planet of the Apes. Indeed, the Tokyo-born producer and musician manages to squeeze inspiration from even the most mundane corners of existence — the song Toner on his Sensuous album, for instance, is built around noise recorded from his inkjet printer, and it's exactly this kind of aural experimentalism that has made Oyamada a hot name among fans of electronica, and prompted bands like Bloc Party and the Go! Team to ask him to remix their songs in his explosive, multilayered and brilliantly eclectic style. Oyamada's unconventional approach to music extends to his live performances. His current Sensuous Synchronized Show is a hypnotic, hallucinogenic synthesis of sound and light, with lavish visuals created by friend and video artist Koichiro Tsujikawa. The seamless combination of music, color, avant-garde projections and live sound sampling tends to leave audiences grasping for adjectives.
Cornelius has toured the show around the U.S. and Europe, and brought it to international music festivals including California's Coachella, Barcelona's Sonar and the U.K.'s All Tomorrow's Parties. But performances will end this year. "Once the tour is over I'll start recording again on my own," he says. It's amazing that they make discs big enough to hold all his ideas.