Japanese pop composer Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada) emerged from the Shibuya-kei scene during the mid-'90s with a community of innovative pop musicians that included Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie, and Fantastic Plastic Machine.

Ever since he released his debut album, "Fantasma," in '98, he has primarily concentrated on running his record label (Trattoria) and remixing songs for Blur, The Pastels, Tahiti 80, and Arling & Cameron, among others. After hearing his many takes of songs by other groups, Cornelius fans were undoubtedly eager for new, original material.

And it's finally here, a tiny 3-inch single-track CD packaged in a cute black-and-white cardboard sleeve. The minimal, fuzzy black design suggests that the actual meaning of the word "point" is rather ambiguous. If you look it up in a dictionary, "point" has about a dozen definitions, all of them different!

The first single for the album, "Point," this song is as complex and strange as it is fun and playful. Mixing acoustic guitars and percussion with gorgeous vocal harmonies, Cornelius now uses fewer samples and fools around with the vocals only to create more prolonged sounds.

One facet of his compositions that hasn't changed is the impeccable production. Using an Apple G3 and Logic Audio (the powerful software program for digital audio and MIDI production), Cornelius experiments with the possibilities of the latest computer technology to edit his music, and the results are energetic and captivating. Please discover this little treasure.