Pitchfork

According to Matador Records, Japanese pop/rock/electronica superstar Cornelius (aka Keigo Oyamada) is readying Point, his fourth LP and follow-up to 1998's brilliant Fantasma, for release on January 23rd, 2002 (just in time to get over your New Year's hangover).

Oyamada has kept himself as busy as 12-year old child in a Thailand sweatshop in the wake of the aforementioned Fantasma, which went multi-platinum in his native Japan. He's since done sold-out tours both in the U.S. and overseas, and in 1999, he released two separate remix albums: FM (Fantasma Mix), which compiled mixes of songs from the Fantasma record done by other artists, and CM (Cornelius Mix), which included some mixes that the man himself did. In addition, he's done various remixes for friends, family and groupies and contributed a track to the Powerpuff Girls soundtrack.

Cornelius is also managing his own label in Japan, Trattoria, whose roster includes American acts like Apples in Stereo and Papas Fritas, as well as Japanese groups with such loin-stroking names as Hanatarash, Bridge, and Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her (a semi-obscure reference to the XTC song of the same name). Rumors that Cornelius will be releasing a Christmas album with Charlton Heston have been denied by both camps.