M3-2010秋 round-up: iDOLST@GE, SteinGarCoo, 33.turbo + more

Compared to the spring edition of M3-2010 which spawned two large articles, this upcoming fall edition round-up is a bit lighter. Perhaps it has to do with the massive shift to Touhou arranges (which are more or less absent from M3), or perhaps circles are just focusing their efforts for Comiket 79. Either way, there are still quite a few interesting releases for denpa/moe fans. If you wish to purchase any of the following releases, note that doujincore.com is running an M3 group import until October 29th.

Let's start things up with something a little different, but still totally related to this blog. Doujin circle Zero-Shaft has been working on its iDOLST@GE series for around two years, yet they will finally release their first album this coming Sunday. The appropriately-titled 「FirstSt@ge」 packs 13 new songs and an intro, which you can sample on the official website. If you like what you hear, go ahead and download full versions of their 13 previous songs.

At first sight this might seem like an iDOLM@STER arrange album, but everything here is original... except for the concept of course. It's also worth noting that some of the singers have also been involved in denpa projects. There's the delightful ココ of course, who is regularly featured on  (the good) Innocent Key albums. Then you also have 小宮真央, who appeared on the quintessential denpa masterpiece 「エネルギー冷麺　お受験せんそ→☆」 from KuKuDoDo's Holic Service. But whether you know the girls or not shouldn't matter anyway; it's all about the execution and this doujin release certainly rivals Namco's own output.

したいがぁるくぅ (apparently romanized to Stein Gar Coo) is an interesting new unit. They've been around since August 2009 and have two mini-CDs under their belt, with a third one dropping this weekend. The first (self-titled) CD was created under the theme of "yanderock" and had a cute girl with a big pair of bloody scissors on the cover. For a debut, the songs are actually pretty good. You'd think they would have continued in that direction, but somehow they followed it up with a superhero drama CD...

Now they're back with a musical album, and a denpa themed one at that! Although they have offered very few details about the upcoming 「sweeCHU kiss」 mini-album, they have repeatedly stated on their blog that this will be denpa-kei. The imagery sort of gives it away, but this circle introduction video has a very short sample (we're talking less than 20 seconds). Either way, we here at 電波の世界 fully support new denpa units so let's give them the benefit of the doubt until they release longer samples.

UPDATE: They have released a sample MP3. Furthermore, ベイビー・レモネード from melo9/おでんぱ☆スタジオ will be a guest artist!

Good old おでんぱ☆スタジオ have been regular M3/Comiket fixtures ever since their late 2009 debut. Their discipline is second to none when it comes to releasing new music, let's just hope they keep working hard until they reach that next level. This time the odenpa girls are fighting it out at an athletic meet; school's back after all. There will be a "three-legged race" song, how often does that happen? No doubt countless (sexy) mishaps will happen during this brutal sporting event. Unfortunately, no samples are available right now, keep checking the official website for an eventual update.

33.turbo is a cute little denpa/moe unit that sporadically releases singles every now and then. For their M3 single, they took three "little sister" stereotypes (yandere, malicious, righteous) and created four songs out of them. Presumably the fourth one has the trio singing, but the niconico sample only lets us preview the first three songs. Their previous single featured four arranged K-On! songs, so it's good to see them go back to original compositions.

The last time 桜ふみ (SAKURA Fumi) was featured on this blog was also her first. This girl is all over the place: touhou arranges, iDOLM@STER DS, countless eroge theme songs... and don't you dare stop her. 「SIGMA] is her second full-length album, which features both commercial work and brand new songs. One of them is particularly interesting: track #3 「ウイステリア」 was composed by KuKu-motherfucking-DoDo himself. There's also a killer MUZIK SERVANT track; they're all pretty good anyway. If you're looking for some high octane pop/rock with mature female vocals, then this is definitely worth checking out.

That's it for now, but there are a couple more interesting releases in the "denpa watchlist" to your right. Toromi is supposed to have something new. nao/DystopiaGround has a third single coming out. We'll update this post with new releases as they are announced, perhaps even after M3 has passed.

東方紅楼夢６ round-up: new 天然ジェミニ and IOSYS albums

Today (October 11 2010) is 体育の日 (Health and Sports Day), a national holiday in Japan. But diehard Touhou fans won't let a little forced exercise get in the way of their quest to acquire more items for their never-ending collection. For its sixth edition, the Osaka Touhou Festival 東方紅楼夢 is hosting hundreds of doujin artists, many of which will be launching their latest work for the occasion.

Of particular interest to 電波～萌え fans, the recent duo (trio now?) 天然ジェミニ will be releasing their second album 「東方女乱演舞」! If you are not familiar with 愛原佑季 and 愛原千尋 (and big-sister あんな?), please read this previous article. It almost looks as though this is a direct sequel to their C77 album 「東方香辛甘味」, right down to the composers: さつきがてんこもり, 未来派 and 24 bit lolitas all make greatly appreciated returns. Some of the texts were written by master lyricist ユウノウミ, with whom the duo collaborated on multiple occasions in the past. You can check out the demo MP3, but no PV so far.

To be perfectly honest, we haven't really covered IOSYS albums in the past because it feels like they can't bring themselves to focus on quality over quantity. They have great songs, but they're diamonds covered with so much sand. With all due respect to the composers involved, it seems that the chances of one of their albums being memorable is directly proportional to the ratio of songs that feature ARM/void in some capacity. Hate to pick favourite sons, but it is what it is (and feel free to disagree).

That said, while this album features at least five ARM-related tracks out of 12 (medley included), the previews for 「東方浮思戯革命」 seem to indicate that this is a well-balanced album. But just as interesting is the inclusion of three tracks from uno... a.k.a RoughSketch. The young Hokkaido-based DJ has collaborated with IOSYS in the past, notably writing lyrics for "Border of Extacy". But with these three new arranges and a whole remix album in 「東方IO-BEST BEATS」, you might as well think he's a full-time member.

The new album does include a couple of denpa songs, as well as splendid vocal talents from MIKO, the monotone girls and... ゆっくり (The Best Vocaloid Ever). Actually it's just some Windows App called SofTalk, but it sure suits the take'r easy attitude. All this to say that track #9 「 信仰を　集めて生やし　うしろあし」 probably takes the cake in terms of wackiest song of the album, and niconico bullet-hell commenters seem to agree.

Like IOSYS, Forest Pireo could use a little more focus when it comes to putting together compilations. Their latest album 「Memory Melodies」 has a couple of fantastic moe~denpa tunes that are unfortunately drowned out by the other tracks. Three of the ten songs feature ななひら and/or kana on vocals, which also means spirited and energetic music to back them up. Unfortunately the rest of the album sounds glum and dreary, which works against the small dose of energy mustered up on tracks 5, 6, 7. Still, for the ななひら completist in all of us, this one can't be skipped!

And now for some bite-sized news regarding today's event:

C.H.S 「蟲と東方と純血(ストロベリー)ジャム」

t+pazolite is back for more madness! Well, it's not like he ever stopped. This funky trip down strawberry lane redefines T.U.I (Touhou Under Influence). I gotta say though, his "Shitty Night" song is totally fucking gross.

ゆきまめ + more 「Digitalic -L+R- Party "Preview ver."」

ゆきまめ is a favourite here at 電波の世界, but it's an absolute shame that she hasn't had her own album yet. Hopefully she'll take a cue from her friend ななひら and this summer's splendid 「ゴキゲン77ﾟ↑」, but until then we'll gladly accept whichever small-time compilation on which she chooses to grace her presence.

k6project 「Thank you "Lotus land"」

Last but certainly not least, we have the mammoth "Thank you Lotus land" compilation from k6project, which packs 46 tunes, 21 manga and 265 illustrations onto a DVD. While you can't sample any of this beast online (it's only 100円 but good luck getting a copy), what's interesting to know is that one of our dear readers, namely cYsmix from Norway, is making his international debut on this compilation. While he is mostly known for his Touhou remixes on Youtube, the guy is also a bit of a denpa fan. To wit, this splendid 狂乱家族日記 ED remix with a hardcore spin.

New ULTRA-PRISM anime OP「侵略ノススメ☆」

Big Brother 小池雅也 and his latest pupil 月宮うさぎ have upgraded from small potatoes eroge to prime-time TV in less than a year's time, as their quest for OP domination continues. ULTRA-PRISM (and don't you dare drop the caps!) released their first album 「inspiration」 in August 2009, followed by a single in March 2010 as well as a bunch of gigs throughout the year. Overall, their self-described "2.5Dpop" sound isn't too far removed from Koike's previous (UNDER17) and current (MOSAIC.WAV, でんぱ組 inc.) undertakings, which is great news for fans of the genre.

But for the latest song 「侵略ノススメ☆」, aniki trades in his trademark black suit and capskull for a sailor's outfit (somebody call Ryo Hazuki). The anime series 「侵略!イカ娘」 (Invasion! Squid Daughter) begins October 4th 2010 and looks like a fun time. Somehow I'm getting a Muteki Kanban Musume vibe from the opening sequence... anyone else? Gotta love that little Dragon Quest sequence!

On a completely different topic, denpanosekai.com has been kind of slow with the updates since C78. We will try our best to cover M3-Fall 2010 with a comprehensive round-up post when enough information's out there. Doujincore said they cover the event so we'll make sure you know what denpa must-buys should be on your list. All this to say that we do have some other articles coming up, but until then please subscribe to our twitter feed (@denpanosekai) for your daily denpa dose.