The latest record from "The Japanese Beck"-- Cornelius -- continues his trademark genre defining / defying trickery. "Point" starts with an electronic exercise entitled "Bug" which segues smoothly into the first track with an identifiable chorus (third one on the record) called "Smoke". And it's catchy as hell. Between lounge-y choruses punctuated by ringing hi-hat Cornelius issues some white noise from his guitar, before harnessing the chaos with more harmonious ear candy. Brilliant stuff.

The album has a definite pulse surging through it, making it much more danceable than anything Beck, or Cornelius for that matter, has ever done. The bubbly textures and pot n' pan percussion present on the AFX "Analogue Bubblebath" series of releases comes to mind, but the idea of IDM- or having to interpret the music to make sense of a rhythm-- is simplified considerably with the presence of jumpy basslines and a disco-like energy.

"I Hate Hate", the eighth track may be the fastest pseudo-punk song ever recorded, with shrouds of metal heaviness and spastic electronics thrown in for good measure. And as you may have guessed, Cornelius follows this with a serene keyboard / computer voiced meditation entitled "Brazil".

Keeping you guessing, well into the new millenium. That's the beauty of Cornelius.

--Karthik