Point
Studio album by
Cornelius
ReleasedOctober 24, 2001 (2001-10-24)
GenreShibuya-kei
Length45:27
LabelTrattoria
ProducerKeigo Oyamada
Cornelius chronology
Fantasma
(1997)		 Point
(2001)		 Sensuous
(2006)
Singles from Point
  1. "Point of View Point"
    Released: September 5, 2001[1]
  2. "Drop"
    Released: October 3, 2001[2]

Point is the fourth studio album by Japanese musician Cornelius.[3] It was released in Japan on October 24, 2001, by Trattoria Records,[4] and in the United States on January 22, 2002, by Matador Records.[5] Point peaked at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart.[6] The album was reissued on CD by Warner Music Japan in 2019 with a second disc containing the Five Point One music video collection.[7]

Composition

Drowned in Sound's Samuel Rosean described Point as a Shibuya-kei album, albeit "in only the most abstract and contextual manner", noting that its "spacey guitar and synth-heavy production" was more comparable to that of works by artists such as Stereolab and the Notwist.[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Alternative Press8/10[11]
Blender[12]
Entertainment WeeklyA[13]
The Guardian[14]
Muzik4/5[15]
NME8/10[16]
Pitchfork7.8/10[17]
Q[18]
Spin7/10[19]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Point received an average score of 82 based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly described Point as "11 irresistible sound collages that feature driving beats, amiable guitar acoustics, and a quadraphonic sense of aural play that encourages rampant headphone abuse."[13] LA Weekly's Dan Epstein found it to be a "consistently whimsical and inventive" record,[20] while The A.V. Club's Noel Murray called it "a magnificent piece of pop architecture."[21]

AllMusic editor Heather Phares found that while Point eschews the "stylistic about-faces" of its predecessor Fantasma, "the restraint and cohesion [Cornelius] brings to the album make its louder and crazier moments... that much more distinctive."[10] Blender's Alex Pappademas deemed it an improvement over Fantasma, with less "stylistic range" but a more refined pop sensibility.[12] Fiona Sturges of The Independent found that Cornelius had "honed his cut-and-paste sensibilities into something more coherent and utterly beautiful."[22] Nick Southall of Stylus Magazine said, "More rounded and less determinedly schizo than Fantasma, Point is a great album of delicious odd-pop made by a whimsically modest genius."[23] Guardian critic Garry Mulholland was more critical, panning the music as "noises in search of a song, a groove or, indeed, a point."[14]

Music videos

For the album's tour, Cornelius and his band created music videos for each song, which played behind them. In The Daily Telegraph, Richard Wolfson said of the overall effect: "A Cornelius show is a blur of precision-perfect stops and starts, visual gags, unusual camera angles and sudden visceral leaps into new musical and visual styles."[24] On July 23, 2003, the Felicity and Polystar labels released a DVD titled Five Point One containing all the songs' music videos.[25]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Keigo Oyamada, except where noted

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Bug (Electric Last Minute)"  0:38
2."Point of View Point"  3:54
3."Smoke"  5:48
4."Drop"  4:53
5."Another View Point"  5:35
6."Tone Twilight Zone"  3:39
7."Bird Watching at Inner Forest"  4:22
8."I Hate Hate"  1:43
9."Brazil"
Barroso3:27
10."Fly"  5:40
11."Nowhere"  5:48
Total length:45:27

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[26]

Charts

Chart (2001–2002) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[6] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 124
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 18
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[29] 47
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[30] 17

References

  1. ↑ "Point Of View Point | CORNELIUS" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  2. ↑ "DROP | CORNELIUS" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  3. ↑ McClure, Steve (February 27, 2002). "Signs of the times". The Japan Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  4. ↑ "point | CORNELIUS" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Cornelius – Point – This Day In Matador History". Matador Records. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "CORNELIUSのアルバム売り上げランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Cornelius / コーネリアス「Point」" (in Japanese). Warner Music Japan. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  8. ↑ Rosean, Samuel (December 29, 2018). "A Beginner's Guide: Shibuya Kei". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Point by Cornelius Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Point – Cornelius". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Cornelius: Point". Alternative Press. No. 163. February 2002. p. 68.
  12. 1 2 Pappademas, Alex (February–March 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Blender. Vol. 1, no. 5. p. 111. Archived from the original on August 18, 2004. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  13. 1 2 Burr, Ty (February 15, 2002). "Point". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  14. 1 2 Mulholland, Garry (February 22, 2002). "Cornelius: Point (Matador)". The Guardian. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  15. ↑ Bell, Duncan (January 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Muzik. No. 80. p. 60.
  16. ↑ Johns, Darren (January 26, 2002). "Cornelius: Point". NME. Archived from the original on June 12, 2002. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  17. ↑ Abebe, Nitsuh (January 31, 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Cornelius: Point". Q. No. 188. March 2002. p. 117.
  19. ↑ Winter, Jessica (February 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Spin. Vol. 18, no. 2. p. 110. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  20. ↑ Epstein, Dan (March 13, 2002). "Cool Schmool". LA Weekly. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  21. ↑ Murray, Noel (March 29, 2002). "Cornelius: Point". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  22. ↑ Sturges, Fiona (February 15, 2002). "Cornelius: Sing something simian". The Independent. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ Southall, Nick. "Cornelius – Point". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on July 10, 2003. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ Wolfson, Richard (February 5, 2004). "Visions of the future". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Five Point One | CORNELIUS" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  26. ↑ Point (liner notes). Cornelius. Trattoria Records. 2001. Menu.241.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  27. ↑ "Chart Log UK: Chris C. – CZR". Zobbel.de. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Cornelius Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Cornelius Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
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