Star Fruits Surf Rider

Wowee wow wow wow. The erstwhile "Japanese Beck" Cornelius really brought it at El Corazon the other night. Keigo Oyamada (as his mama calls him) and the other three members of his fashionable group made sure that the "Sensuous Synchronized Show" lived up to its name. They put on a performance that was multimedia to the extreme, with scrims and colors and lights and videos that were a little more than the venue could handle. Seriously, the last time Cornelius was in town ('01? '02?), he played a sold-out set at the Showbox (which featured some of the same visuals, btw), and this time around he's at an all-ages and not-close-to-being-packed El Corazon? Look, we haven't been to that club since before the name change, and with good reason--it sucks. Anywhere else in town and this show would've been sold out (or at least people would've been aware of it). But we digress....

Cornelius primarily played from his first album in five years, but he threw in enough from Point and Fantasma ("Count Five or Six") to make us happy. All four band members were equipped with wind chimes, which they used on nearly every song. There were plenty of syncopated rhythms, guitar riffs that referenced Super Mario Bros and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, music collages that ran the gamut from soft pop to noisecore, heavily accented Engrish vocals, and shouts from the crowd for the theramin. The show closed out with the chick drummer playing the flute for a cover of Rat Pack lullaby "Sleep Warm." And that's how Cornelius tucks you into bed.

A special mention must be given to openers Honeycut. We weren't sure what to expect from the blue-eyed electro/soul/goodtime band from the Bay Area, but we certainly weren't expecting funky dance moves and well-choreographed jumping from the French keyboardist. Good on you, sir. (And confidential to Josh: the lead singer of Honeycut dresses right.)