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Point (Cornelius album)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Charts

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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

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  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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "Point by Cornelius Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Phares, Heather. "Point – Cornelius". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  11. ^ "Cornelius: Point". Alternative Press. No. 163. February 2002. p. 68.
  12. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Burr, Ty (February 15, 2002). "Point". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  14. ^ a b 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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