Cornelius'
CM EP applies his whimsical, eclectic sound to songs by artists like
Buffalo Daughter,
the High Llamas, and
Coldcut. The results range from a jazzy electro-pop reworking of
Money Mark's "Maybe I'm Dead" to a thrashy, monster-movie version of
U.N.K.L.E's "Ape Shall Never Kill Ape" to the surfy, cyber-funk breakdown on the remix of
Buffalo Daughter's "Great Five Lakes." Fragmented as this may seem,
Cornelius' flexible mixing style holds these divergent sounds together. Most of the remixes also use samples from
Fantasma, providing added sonic cohesion. The analog synth and theremin noisefest on the remix of
Coldcut's "Atomic Moog 2000" features snippets of "Star Fruit, Surf Rider"; different samples from that song also pop up on the synthetically pastoral reworking of
the Pastels' "Windy Hill," which mixes chirpy electronic noises and breezy synths with the original's sweetly hushed vocals. The electro-tropical makeover of
the High Llamas' "Homespin Rerun" and the garage-inflected kraut rock on the remix of
Salon Music's "Galaxie Express" reflect the extremes of
Cornelius' sound while presenting different sides of those groups. Though it's not quite as captivating as his own music,
CM is an interesting and entertaining experiment that will please rabid
Cornelius fans.
–
Heather Phares, Rovi