Last year, Japanese crazy artist Cornelius' American debut, Fantasma, found itself at or near the top of hundreds of critics' lists. How did this happen? Simple: people like the silly. Of course, Cornelius has more going for him than just the silly. First off, he's a pretty awesome producer-- Fantasma was clear evidence of the fact that he's got skillz in the studio. Secondly, he's an even bigger star in Japan than he is in America (there, he moved half a million copies of Fantasma, and sold out his own multimedia concert event at the Budokan with tickets going for a mere $50 a piece). Third, he's got connections.
Connections? You read right, sweetheart. Dig some of the names remixing his work on FM: Money Mark, the High Llamas, Buffalo Daughter, the Pastels, Blur's Damon Albarn, UNKLE, Coldcut... the list goes on. And, honestly, it's a pretty decent remix record. (With names like that, how could it not be? Honestly!)
Naturally, some of these mixes stand out more than others. Damon Albarn's remix of "Star Fruits Surf Rider," despite its serious conceptual theft of the talking Macintosh voice from Radiohead's "Fitter, Happier," is pretty cool-- you'll dig the added vocals and the spacy, moog- laden groove. As could be expected, the High Llamas' take on "The Micro Disneycal World Tour" is, not surprisingly, Llama-ized-- it actually sounds more like a Cornelius remix of a High Llamas song instead of the other way around. Pizzicato Five mastermind Konishi Yasuharu's tops "Count 5, 6, 7, 8" with an ass- crazy pre- programmed piano part that gives new meaning to the term "really, really fast." Coldcut also make a nice comeback from their mediocre remix of Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" from the Reich Remixed compilation-- they get down with their bad selves on "Typewrite Lesson," adding elements of drum-n-bass, instructional records, laughter, documentaries, turntablism, and lots of typewriters.
On the other hand, UNKLE's mix of "Free Fall," while boasting DJ Shadow's trademark nasty rhythmic assaults, shows our man Josh Davis slipping further out of his shadow of talent and into a bottomless pit of self- indulgence and wankery. Buffalo Daughter somehow manage to make "New Music Machine" sound like an awful PJ Harvey cover, and Money Mark's version of "Mic Check" is, to put it nicely, dreadfully boring. I wonder if its companion disc, CM, is any better... I guess we'll find out later.
