| Point | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 24, 2001 | |||
| Genre | Shibuya-kei | |||
| Length | 45:27 | |||
| Label | Trattoria | |||
| Producer | Keigo Oyamada | |||
| Cornelius chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Point | ||||
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]
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]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100 [9] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Alternative Press | 8/10 [11] |
| Blender | |
| Entertainment Weekly | A [13] |
| The Guardian | |
| Muzik | 4/5 [15] |
| NME | 8/10 [16] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10 [17] |
| Q | |
| Spin | 7/10 [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]
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]
All tracks are written by Keigo Oyamada, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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" | Barroso | 3:27 | |
| 10. | "Fly" | 5:40 | ||
| 11. | "Nowhere" | 5:48 | ||
| Total length: | 45:27 | |||
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. [26]
| 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 |
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