sensuous

cornelius

everloving, 2007

Mood—Bouncy, jangly, and richly sensuous, obviously.

Sample: "Omstart"

Thoughts— Cornelius is one of my favorite musicians and consistenly creates the most unique and intriguing remixes I've ever heard. Do a quick search for "Cornelius remix" and you'll find his name alongside the likes of Sting, Blur, Kings of Convenience, Beck, and numerous others. His brand of self-sampled, ultra-panned, delay-saturated guitar just works really well with any sort of vocals.

Sensuous is perhaps the most appropriate album name for this collection of songs. Deep in layers and rich in content, the album flows from soothing tracks like "Omstart" (featuring the one-of-a-kind vocals of Erlend Oye) and "Breezin'" to anxious tracks like "Toner" (which samples a printer as its main instrument), "Scum" an abrupt and disjointed interlude, and "Gum", full of heavy, distored guitar riffs and drums.

Cornelius seems to build his tracks especially for headphones and surround stereo. Instruments bounce from left to right almost constantly, which alternately blankets the listener in warmth or shakes them violently from rest.

Most of his lyrics are Japanese (or heavily accented English) and serve as an instrumental layer rather than becoming the feature of a given track. A banjo flits in and out of the album, in the background, as a sort of counterpoint to the guitar and percussion. There's a lot to listen to in each track, and each listen uncovers a layer not previously heard.

Recommended? Yes, most definitely.

Link—cornelius-sound.com/

Tracklist
1. Sensuous
2. Fit Song
3. Breezin'
4. Toner
5. Wataridori
6. Gum
7. Scum
8. Omstart
9. Beep it
10. Like a Rolling Stone
11. Music
12. Sleep Warm