Cornelius: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

March 19, 2018, Lars Gotrich As Cornelius, Keigo Oyamada has stretched his vision across frenzied indie rock, lush 60sstyle pop, psychedelic funk and glitched electronics, all deconstructed and reassembled like a neon cubistpop sculpture. After a little more than two decades, no one can really imitate his complex cool. Sporting a pair of sunglasses (always), Oyamada recently brought his band from Japan to the Tiny Desk on a rare U. S. tour, including his longtime collaborator and former Pizzicato Five member Hiroshisa Horie, drummer Yuko Araki (MiGu, Cibo Mato s live band) and synthesist Yumiko Matsumura (Buffalo Daughter). They re all musicians who tease and poke at music s fringe territory, but still know how to make a song buzz and pop with gleeful curiosity. Here, Cornelius performs three very different songs from last year s Mellow Waves. There s the robotic groove of Helix, Spiral, which repeats and mutates the same phrase and melodic fragments in a delicate and strange dance. In a Dream is