SallyCherry19 debut maxi single 「Very☆Lucky☆Sally☆Cherry」

ave;new's resident princess 佐倉紗織 is at it again with SallyCherry19, a brand new series that aims at mixing sounds of "Cute punk", "Dark gothic" and "Vivid girly" in her own words. Truth be told, the first two samples released on the official website don't sound too different from the average ave;new song, except devoid of any of this oddly enjoyable pseudo-trance/techno sonority most of their tracks are laden with, replacing it instead with catchy TommyHeavenly6-styled JPop. And whether they like it or not, I'm gonna slap the denpa label on this one because it's pretty messed up stuff overall. CHIHUAHUA PUNKISH? WHAT THE FUCK KINDA DRUGS ARE THEY ON? Wait, what's that sound? Oh yeah, Sid Vicious rolling over in his grave. Once again.



On the other hand, I'd expect no less from ave;new. Just hope SallyCherry19 doesn't take away too much from the recent spotlight they've been shining on the ave;new projecto series in 2009, (somehow I doubt it will). They don't seem to be aiming for anime/eroge theme production yet, strictly music for music's sake. If you scroll down the news box, you'll run into promotional videos for both Chihuahua Punkish and Usagi The Darkness, generated with the iDOLM@STER knockoff Dance×Mixer. The maxi single features two other songs, Very☆Cherry and Lucky☆Sally but they might as well be spoken tracks for all I know as there are no demos. Let's hear it from the Chiwakura fanclub!

New MOSAIC.WAV うじゅ song 「天真爛漫にゅばばばばーん」

Oh shit, I posted about MOSAIC.WAV's upcoming Uju/Eigamura concert but forgot to mention their new song 「天真爛漫にゅばばばばーん」 (MP3 / TXT). Thanks to Sham Studio for the reminder. This is most likely going to be the B-Side (or A? anything's game) to 「断罪あっぱぁくゎっと～秘伝飴鞭土下座道～」 (aka the DANZAI! song). There's little to dislike about NYUBABABABAN... it's fast, furious and definitely in line with the other Uju songs. But fuck these yearly singles, they're gonna have to do a full-on album sometime or other. At least compile all of these wonderful songs so us foreign devils can get our hands on all of them at once.

New Holic Service, U eroge theme songs; MOSAIC.WAV live dates

Bit of everything for you guys today. Let's start with an eroge OP twofer, beginning with Holic Service's first commissioned work! Congratulations to the budding duo... but is it just me or does this sound strangely similar to KOTOKO's timeless classic 「覚えてていいよ」? Nah, it's not just me, I ran it by a few knowledgeable sources and I'm not out of left field on that one. Run the two of them side-by-side and you'll see what I mean. That said, Holic Service's 「恋色CLOVER」 came out earlier this year on a sampler titled "KuKuDoDo feat. Gumi Works 3", but the theme song itself was only used by doujin company CLOVER in mid-August. Finally, Holic Service (along with Birdtune's mirin) will perform at 東方異変　～真っ只中～, a rather large Touhou-oriented musical event this Sunday in Nagoya. The organizers put together a pretty awesome crossfade youtube video of all performing artists, some good stuff in there.

Let's go from newcomers to scene veteran. My favourite aspect of U's music is also what makes her boring to other people: it's damn consistent. She rarely puts out "bad" songs... or she rarely has good stuff if you're on the other side of the fence. Her "Program of Love" (「あいのプログラム」) is absolutely no different. Unlike HolicService though, U is not one to perform, not even on internet radio shows. That's kinda sad, but I wonder if I could get her to answer a few questions for Denpa no Sekai... hmmm...

Speaking of live events, one cannot ignore the huge efforts MOSAIC.WAV have been putting into claiming fans all over Japanese cities this year. According to mi~ko, they've played at least one gig per month since they launched 「Superluminal Ж AKIBA-POP」 on April 20th 2009. As predicted, they will perform at Toei's movie village on October 3rd in support of their third Uju single. A sample was released right in the peak of C76 frenzy, so you're forgiven if you missed it.

Finally, more details and artists have been confirmed on the subject of the Milk Lariat vol. 2 mega-event on November 29 2009, which has all of us foreigners foaming at the mouth. Milk Lariat opened up a complete website for this event (and its sequels), which now bears the subtitle "MOE COMPLEX" along with the mantra "MOE IS NOT DEAD!". It sure isn't, not with a quality lineup like that anyway.

C76: E-penis embiggeningation, MOSAIC.WAV photobook impressions

Click photos for much larger versions. From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

1. melo9 「めろめろ☆さま～ちゅ～ん」, melo9 「めろめろ☆きゅ〜と」, みりん 「ピコピコ電波予報」
2. Birdtune 「れいん ＩＯＳＹＳリミックスＣＤ」, ave;new projecto 「あらら、ど～も☆CHUぅ」, みりん 「プルプルおもちゃ箱」
3. 紅魔城伝説　緋色の交響曲 AKA Touhouvania, Albatrosicks 「STAR CRACKER」, Impetuth
4. とろ美 「SECRETORO×MEROCONCERT」, とろ美 「エトロジィ」, Holic Service 「エネルギー冷麺　もうこはんっ！」

Missing from this picture is Veil's 「Veil ∞ DENPA!!!」 CD because... well it was sold out. But it shall be mine one day, yes it will. On the other hand, I got my hockey gloves on an elusive copy of MOSAIC.WAV's JapanExpo "photobook". Yes, "book", because while it's still an extremely cool collector's item, it's still nothing more than a glorified brochure (18 pages). It seems quite a few of the pictures were taken directly from mi~ko's blog and from a few professional sources that you've all seen by now.

The booklet describes their trip to Paris in a chronological order, with the actual concert occupying the middle pages. It's interesting to see their reaction to the armed soldiers patrolling the airport. As could be expected, they hit a bunch of so-called Japanese restaurants to see how different the food would taste. There are a few sections dedicated to their exchanges with the French fans. Another interesting blurb is about how she was surprised to sign an Amusement Pack CD, even though they didn't have any for sale. Then they spent some time visiting landmarks such as La Tour Spirou Eiffantasio and L'Arc de Trimeuf. Since I'm such a huge fan of his, I would have liked Kayapi to share his own account of the concert and event, but overall I'm satisfied with this photobook.

Good luck getting yours! SUCKERS.

Extra-special thanks to an extra-awesome someone!

MOSAIC.WAV, 桃井はるこ and ave;new to meet on stage again

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS MOTHERFUCKING WEBSITE. The flyer itself speaks volume so there isn't anything else on the page but more info will surely pop up in the future. We've got the holy trinity of "moe denpa akiba-pop" sharing the same stage with none of the bullshit Animelo time limitations, so pardon my excitement. But if this doesn't come out on DVD, there will be carnage.

C76: MOSAIC.WAV & Various Artists 「Apathy Sounds Collection」

I wanna say weird, but this is much actually closer to what the "official" definition of 電波ソング outta be. Sure, the video that accompanies 「パライソハレルヤスンバラリア」 amplifies that odd feeling, especially when the creepy-ass guy with a squid for a face kicks in at the 1 minute mark. That opening theme was made public sometime in late April 2009 but the full song came out at C76 packaged on 「Apathy Sounds Collection」, a mammoth 32-track CD from doujin game studio 七転び八転がり.

That CD also includes 「花一匁」, another new MOSAIC.WAV-composed track that was seemingly composed exclusively for the occasion. In contrast with the title of said compilation, this is one of the most involved MOSAIC.WAV songs I've heard in a while. Feel those blast beats!

Hey, today's 9/9/9! Happy Dreamcast day everyone!

C76: Pictures from live MOSAIC.WAV performance

Comiket is the Grand Ole Opry of nerd counter-culture so it only made sense that MOSAIC.WAV would play a formal concert there one of these days. It doesn't have the same mainstream appeal as appearing on the Animelo stage, but regardless Famitsu and Pachinko Vista both recently featured blowout articles on the performance. Yes, that Famitsu, the one that breaks out all the fresh gaming news from Japan. It seems MOSAIC.WAV have gotten on the revered publication's good side ever since they announced their Hatsune Miku album and I suspect we'll see an interview there in due time.

So while Famitsu's article is pretty good overall, Pachinko Vista's coverage has some slightly more interesting pictures, including a bevy of cosplay photography that clearly illustrate Japan's superiority when it comes to dressing up like your favorite anime characters (although I spot a few brave foreigners in there). It's interesting that although the Bikini Pai song that sparked the event is a mi~ko venture (not even sure kayapi composed it!), MOSAIC.WAV as a band would still get to reap the benefits. Oh well, this is a sure win-win situation for everyone involved, plus you can bet your sweet ass there will be a third Pachinko theme song before long.

C76: こなぐすり or how to milk a one-trick pony

I guess you could say that Conagusuri are Yet Another Touhou Arranging Circle (YATAC!) but they actually did try to roll out their own songs in the past, as well as publishing a killer Rockman arrange album. That all changed at C75 when they released 「東方對魔薬」 and its hugely-popular 「チルミルチルノ」 opening track. So popular in fact that they decided to hit C76 with nothing less than TEN different remixes of the same song. Although the above video features nine of those remixes, the doujin circle also had a "heavy metal" version of the song available on a separate CD.

The original song and video were a blast to listen to and watch respectively, although (especially since?) the composers clearly got influenced by we-all-know-who. But this so-called tenth album just feels like a wasted opportunity as ten versions of the same song is a lot to stomach, even for their diehard fans I'm sure. For a proper comparison, you should check out the original version, although it feels kinda cheapened by the sudden influx of remixes now.

Legend of Face is Miko's new mystery band

Miko is one busy gal, but apparently found enough time to be the face... err, make that the mask of Legend of Face, a new band of facially-covert folks. Nevermind the fact that Miko actually showed her face at last year's Animelo concert. Legend of Face also features Tissue-Hime on bass, the internet phenomenon real-life anime trap. The trio is completed by the mysterioius 桃知みなみ, who doesn't appear to be surfing the wave of internet stardom, but I wouldn't rule out he/she being one of the Anigao people.

They've only released a 30-second sample of their debut song 「Love&Face」 which clearly indicates the band-oriented pop/rock direction they're headed in, as opposed to something more electronic. ARM and the rest of IOSYS don't appear to have a hand in this, yet. Legend of Face have actually already played a gig (at the Animelo 2009 outside stage, no less) and made a few TV appearances, so they're on a roll. They're actually encouraging their fans to download and print out their own masks, so that everyone can enjoy the anonymity of the internet in real life. And look real stupid in the process, too.