Re: Cornelius/Keigo Oyamada/Kahimi Karie

Ben List (ben@eugine.ludens.co.jp)
Thu, 12 Oct 1995 17:50:21 +0900


At 11:28 PM 95.10.11 -0700, D Alexander Bailey wrote:
>I'm looking for feedback and recommendations regarding Cornelius (Keigo
>Oyamada) and Kahimi Karie.

>My previous exposure to Oyamada is from Flipper's Guitar's "Three Cheers
>for Our Side" (which doesn't impress me all that much), and from a jamming

Flipper's early stuff is purely inspired by El pop, so it may be
"jazzy" but more mellow than "funky." The vocals are also rather weak.
Latter works, specifically "Dr. Head's World Tower" are funky, but more
comparable to Primal Scream than "Acid Jazz."

>track, "Into Somethin'-More Mission" by Mo' Music off the Trattoria
>compilation "Jazz Jersey." I know that he's got a number of releases as
>Cornelius on trattoria (and somehow I get the impression that he is a
>central figure at that label?), but I wouldn't know where to start.

Cornelius "first question award" came out in Feb. of 1994 and was his
first solo album. His next album is being released here within a couple
months. Incidentally, he also produced El Malo's second album, and for those
familiar with El Malo, Oyamada's presence took them out of "funky jazz"
and put them into a funky rock/blues/jazz realm. Their later projects are
still uniquely "El Malo," but far more "pop" than ever. I still like them,
but find their first album far superior.
Also, Oyamada is in charge of Trattoria releases and is recently involved
in creating the Trattoria home page (together with local freelance writer
Kawasaki Kazuya (credit where due)) which I hear should be up fairly soon at:
http://www.eccosys.com.jp/PEOPLE/trattoria
(BTW, this is the same site for ele-bugi)

Incidentally, his former Flipper's partner, Ozawa Kenji, is doing some fairly
interesting stuff recently too (those who know SDP's "Konya ha Boogie Back"
have heard his voice in the chorus).

>I've got a great ep by Kahimi Karie, "I am a Kitten" on Crue-L records
>(the nicest packaging I've ever seen on a cd single, by the way), which is
>produced by Momus and is very different to the track with Oyamada on the
>soccer compilation. I understand that she has a new Momus produced single
>due out anytime now, but I haven't the foggiest idea what else she's done.
Karie has three EP's on Crue-L, all nearly impossible to get outside of
Tokyo or Osaka (Crue-L's distribution is awful, even for an indie label).
"???" (I thought I'd remember this title, but it escapes me now) "Girly,"
(which includes "Lolita Go Home" with a fat backing track produced by El
Malo") "I Am a Kitten," (joint project with Momus, who apparently bought one
of her EPs on a trip to Tokyo and approached her about doing this one),
and a full album on Trattoria "My first Karie" which is, of course, produced
by Oyamada.

Oyamada and Karie are said to be cohabitating.

-b

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