Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)

I'll be honest, the first time Cornelius really clicked for me was hearing how he treats sound like a sculptor rather than a songwriter. Keigo Oyamada came up out of that Shibuya-kei scene in Tokyo, and instead of staying cute and crate-diggy he kept drifting toward something stranger and more precise. Records like Fantasma and Point feel almost obsessive, every little click, pan, and silence placed on purpose, and somehow it never sounds cold to me, it sounds curious. He's not a belt-it-out frontman, he's the quiet guy in the corner rearranging the air, and that restraint is exactly what hooks me. Mostly I just respect the patience. He makes me believe pop can still be a science experiment you can dance to.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Keigo Oyamada, known professionally as Cornelius, is a Japanese musician, producer, and composer born on January 27, 1969, in Setagaya, Tokyo. Emerging from the Shibuya-kei scene, he built a career as a solo artist under the Cornelius moniker, crafting intricately layered, experimental pop and electronic music. His meticulous approach to sound design and studio production has earned him recognition as one of Japan's most inventive musical artists. He maintains an official website at cornelius-sound.com and is active on social media under the handle corneliusjapan.

Name (English)

Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)

Name (Japanese)

小山田圭吾

Reading

おやまだ けいご

Born

January 27, 1969 (age 57)

Origin

Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

DJ / Singer-songwriter / DJ Producer / Composer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Rooster

Active years

1987 -

Spouse

嶺川貴子

Works summary

Appearances

434 (1970–2026)

By year

1970: 1, 1991: 1, 1992: 2, 1993: 2, 1994: 1, 1995: 6, 1996: 6, 1997: 3, 1998: 7, 1999: 9, 2000: 4, 2001: 3, 2002: 4, 2003: 13, 2004: 6, 2005: 7, 2006: 3, 2007: 5, 2008: 5, 2009: 11, 2010: 6, 2011: 10, 2012: 11, 2013: 21, 2014: 7, 2015: 6, 2016: 4, 2017: 9, 2018: 9, 2019: 12, 2020: 10, 2021: 6, 2022: 9, 2023: 29, 2024: 21, 2025: 18, 2026: 20

Debut work

TOSHI - 1970年代からロンドン音楽シーンを撮影し続けた日本人 - 写真家 トシ矢嶋

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://cornelius-sound.com
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/corneliusofficial/
• Xhttps://x.com/corneliusjapan
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B1%B1%E7%94%B0%E5%9C%AD%E5%90%BE
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q778539

Tags

• From Tokyo
• DJ
• Singer-songwriter
• DJ Producer

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.