Fantasma (Gate)

Double vinyl LP pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve with bonus tracks. Japanese pop-noise savant Cornelius, a self-taught guitarist inspired early on by Kiss and Black Sabbath. A product of the same Shibuya-kei bubblegum scene that also gave rise to Pizzicato Five, Cornelius became a national teen idol in the wake of the release of 1994's full-length The First Question. Released in 1997, Fantasma was his creative and commercial breakthrough, a kaleidoscopic, genre-hopping joy ride through contemporary musical history that became Cornelius' first American release when it was reissued by Matador a year later.