Sensory overload met beatnik jazz yelps as the Japanese Beck kicked off an exclusive five-date extravaganza at the Windy City’s Metro last night (Jan. 23). A strobe flashed “The Cornelius Group…Sensuous…Synchronized Show!” across a giant white silkscreen, and a fuzz-heavy riff off the Mario Brothers‘ theme song teased fans before Cornelius, a.k.a. Keigo Oyamada, opened things up with “Breezin’,” a cut from his latest LP, Sensuous.
Spawnedfrom crisp and clean studio magic, the latest addition to Cornelius’oeuvre was recorded on the highest bit possible, 96 kHz, which made forinteresting live adaptations, notably the album’s title track, whichwas used as the set’s capstone, while the pop-noise tech geniussimultaneously plucked and detuned his guitar as the strings slunk off.
Butsimilar to Cornelius’ career, most of the near 20 songs performed weretechnicolor beasts of morphing genres — one minute it was a ravingdiscothèque, the next a heavy metal thrasher; Cornelius skewed electropitches on the baton-clink hymn “Like A Rolling Stone” (not the Dylansong) before putting the kibosh on the dizzying spectacular with acampy, synth version of Dean Martin’s crooner, “Sleep Warm,” sans thetop-secret tech tricks.
We asked: On Sensuoustrack “Toner,” Cornelius threads a song from a noisy ink-jet printer.If forced to make a song from an unconventional item, what would yourock and why?
