New nao single 「シンクロしようよ」 out now!

5pb. just released 『CHAOS；HEAD らぶChu☆Chu！』 on the XBOX360 (March 25th 2010) and like any self-respecting visual novel game out there, it comes with an OP/ED single CD. Although the CHAOS;HEAD series is known for its Yan/Tsun/Kuu-dere characters and generally being a gory delusional murder mystery affair, it is definitely drenched in fan service and slice-of-life elements. So it should come as no surprise that 5pb. would throw a "☆" in this most recent iteration's subtitle (automagically invoking 萌え feelings) and let their new protégée nao handle OP/ED duties in her own unique way.

Although her two C77 albums were well-received, they were still knee-deep in doujin world. Now, 「シンクロしようよ」 is officially nao's solo debut release, ever since her fripSide breakup in 2009. The opening theme, as sampled above, is fast, furious and definitely a strong continuation of her fripSide NAO project! days. There's a ton of HAIHAI, CHUCHU and LALALALABURI screams in there... incoming ave;new projecto collaboration confirmed?!? Most definitely denpa, either way. The second track, bit slower but still 100% nao stuff, was composed by vin-PRAD founder and all-around wacky guy アラケン. You might remember him from his multiple fripSide NAO project! collaborations, as well as a couple of contributions to the fantastic ピコ萌え！Future8bit series. Heck I think he's behind a couple of Touhou 8-bit albums, but I can't confirm that right now. Dudebro recently got a little excited with this online bukkake generator, but who wouldn't? Fun for the whole family, ah tell you hwat!

EXIT TRANCE wants your denpa dollars

I don't think EXIT TRANCE/TUNES needs to be introduced anymore, as they've already released a trillion albums since the start of 2010. But in case you've been negatively influenced by their not-so-stellar earlier offerings, then it is high time for another chance. Myself, I wasn't too hot on DJ UTO's first anime trance album back in 2007, which unfortunately made me skip the 「ウマウマできるトランスを作ってみた」 (hereafter UmaUma) series until I discovered it for the first time in mid-2009. As you can probably gather from the name, the UmaUma series strays a little bit from their usual アニトラ norm. The mood is much lighter and they won't shy from covering "obscure" Niconico memes / viral videos.

Case in point, the seventh volume in the UmaUma series which came out on February 3rd 2010 features toilet-boombox-chan on the cover and a Ryu☆ Remix of 「ぽっぴっぽー」 (sung by 初音ミク) as the opening track (compare it with the much slower but just as catchy original). Earlier volumes featured sweet Capsule, Perfume and KOTOKO remixes as well as an hilarious Japan Break Industries cover, among other things. Furthermore, the third volume holds my absolute favourite DO-DAI remix of all time... which I consider to be more denpa than trance.



Oh! I guess DJ UTO thought the same, since EXIT are about to launch into a brand new 電波トランス (denpa trance) series, with the first volume dropping on February 17th 2010. Unfortunately, there are no samples just yet, but it seems like a couple of the featured tracks are making a repeat appearance (such as the aforementioned DO-DAI). Well, you could always check out all of the original versions until the album comes out.

1. (2:40) 妄想☆ふぇてぃっしゅ！ / MK feat. CAMRY+mi-mi
2. (3:21) やっぱり世界はあたし☆れじぇんど！！ / Hommarju feat. MAKI
3. (3:09) プリップリン体操 / MK feat. mi-mi
4. (3:57) 撲殺天使ドクロちゃん / Acid=Stone Valley feat. Ma15
5. (4:20) 片道きゃっちぼーる / Dizzi Mystica feat. R.Cena
6. (3:07) Do-Dai / Acid=Stone Valley feat. MAKI
7. (4:09) 四角い宇宙で待ってるよ / Rev feat. MAKI+R.Cena
8. (4:19) 空耳ケーキ / kinoto feat. R.Cena
9. (3:34) 大魔法峠 / B.U.S feat. MAKI
10. (3:03) いままでのあらすじ / MK feat. MAKI+mi-mi+TAKANORI
11. (3:30) ナースウィッチ小麦ちゃんマジカルて～愛のメディスン～ / Icon feat. MAKI
12. (2:48) 天罰！エンジェルラビィ / MK feat. MAKI
13. (2:50) ぷにぷに伝説っぽい☆ / Starving Trancer feat. yumemi
14. (3:55) なのです☆ / Icon feat. MAKI
15. (3:48) ハナマル☆センセイション / Icon feat. Ma15
16. (4:09) ワンダーモモーイ／ナムコ / Dizzi Mystica feat. mi-mi
17. (3:33) 魔法少女マジカルたん！ / MK feat. 405+mi-mi
18. (3:49) 超妻賢母宣言 / Hommarju feat. R.Cena

See anything you like in there? How about two MOSAIC.WAV and three 桃井はるこ songs? Yeah, chances are this is going to fucking rule. Also looking forward to the fripSide cover, but I think we've had enough Dokuro-chan remixes by now. BTW guys, don't go busting too many nuts over Ma15's sweet voice. Yeah she's a killer singer, but also only 11 years old. Fucking hell, Japan!

C77: From fripSide to DystopiaGround, nao's "graduation" complete

We all expected nao to bounce back after her separation but other than a lone (though brilliant) eroge OP, nothing concrete came out of that fateful day. Well worry no more, nao fans, as she is definitely back, but not in the way you'd expect. Spearheaded by 志倉千代丸 (of 5pb. fame, yes the Ketsui publisher), DystopiaGround is a new doujin circle that focuses on nao and her songs, much like what fripSide used to be. They will release two mini-albums called 「Euclidean」 and 「Fermion」 at Comiket 77, with 4 tracks on each. Click "Play Music" on the flash-only website for demos of each song.

The main difference so far is that DG is not limited to a single composer but rather a ton of them, including superstars 桃井はるこ and motherfucking 伊藤賢治 of SquareEnix fame. Yes, the one and only Kenji Ito, how the hell did they get this guy? But according to his blog, it's not the first time he works with Momoi (they were teamed up on this effort). One of the "fripSide NAO project!" composers is back too, and you can tell from the samples that they won't shy away from denpa stuff. Either way, their mantra is "No A-Pop, No Life!" which greatly pleases this writer. There is a lengthy interview with nao about this new project up on Famitsu. Exciting stuff! Let's hope for more DystopiaGround stuff in 2010.

Nao still doing eroge theme songs for Visual Art's

In related news, the Earth still revolves around Sun.

Some "graduation", eh. On to greener pastures, you say? Nuh-uh. Once an eroge singer, always an eroger singer. But I'm not complaining! 「咆哮！ド田舎ちゃんねる５」 is a decent theme song tinged with just enough craziness to remind me of fripSideNAOproject!'s greatest strengths (considering they were a total SHORT CIRCUIT ripoff). Of course, being the new and improved person that she is (now that she left sat to rot), she probably wants to avoid any and all comparisons to her former work. Maybe a good start would be NOT including old fripSide songs at the beginning of a completely unrelated eroge.

It does seem like this is her first new song since 「my graduation」 which appeared on the monstrous 10-disc compilation of the same (sorta) name. At the very least, it is her first collaboration with composer 新井健一 and experienced lyricist 下地和彦. She is also doing the ending theme with 新井健史, who actually composed the very last fripSideNAOProject! track. 「プール・バケーション」 was an OK song, but my money's on sappy for this one. Since I can't find Nao's blog right now, that's all the details I have! But I wouldn't mind more of the same in the future. Also, the game in question features voice work by 民安ともえ! Is she intense or what?

Monstrous fripSide Anthology includes unreleased Project! songs

Megalomania. Delusions of grandeur. Malignant narcissism.

Call it what you will, but the sheer gigantism of fripSide's upcoming 「nao complete anthology 2002-2009 -my graduation-」 is both an exercise in self-excess and blatant fan exploitation. Slated for release on July 17th 2009, the 10-disc anthology bears a weighty 19,740円 price tag (over 200$ USD) that basically represents 20$ per disc. When you consider the fact that their target audience (?) most likely already owns the greater majority of their songs in one form or another, this just begs the question: who the fuck's gonna buy this?

But that said, this anthology paradoxically represents the proper way to actually put a goddamn collection together. CDs have tons of space and are meant to be filled to the brink, not populated by a song or two. Take that I've Sound and your crappy, denpa-ignoring 「Departed to the Future」 boxset. At least fripSide aren't ashamed of their eroge past, as they included the full-length album 「Rabbit Syndrome」 in its entirety, clearly acknowledging it as an integral part of their lengthy existence, not a dark chapter best forgotten.

But therein lies the biggest fallacy of this so-called Complete Anthology: it's not complete by any means. It is missing (among others) the whole 「やっぱり世界はあたし☆れじぇんど！！」 single which was released in Summer 2008. I'd assume they somehow weren't able to obtain the publishing rights, but that's still quite the omission, given how much of a progression these songs represented over the previous ones. But at least 5 unpublished Project! songs will be available on the ninth disc. Four of them are out there in Bonus Disc format, but Red Data Girl does sound as though it's completely unreleased.

In related news, SAT said that this anthology officially marks the end of the fripSide Nao era and that the second phase is well under way. Sounds awfully Death Star-ish, but I still wish him the best, especially if more Project! songs are to be worked on. Hey, Rita's on board now, isn't she? Despite her septuagenarian pseudonym, she's got quite a few kickers under her belt, especially one that asks the fundamental question: What are little girls made of?

Don't wait for the next fripSide NAO Project! song

Don't hold your breath, because you're just going to pass out and die a useless death. Singer Nao and composer Satoshi "sat" Yaginuma (don't you dare write his name in kanji!) have parted ways on March 15 2009, with nao leaving a dark and gloomy suicide note-like message plastered on the official fripSide website for good terrorizing measure. Just kidding, it's more of an articulate death threat to her numerous fans-gone-stalkers. The cited reason for the breakup is the cliché "artistic differences" excuse, but we'd like to think something more ominous happened.

Now nao can get by on her good looks alone but the same can't really be said of Mr. Sat (no offense man). He is, however, a rather prolific composer (whether he's a also good one is up to your judgment) so of course he quickly regrouped and hacked up a teaser page to make sure we know he intends to keep the fripSide brand alive and strong despite nao "graduating" her way out of the stagnating duo. Again, don't wait for that page to load! Way to piss all over GUI conventions, I'll never look at a progress bar the same way.

That said, Sat and Nao pumped out quite a few denpa tunes that [editorial] did profoundly irritate me at first given how much of a SHORT CIRCUIT ripoff I perceived them to be, but eventually found their way into my heart. In particular, the song "Happy Generation" is full of taurine-powered energy and still hasn't gotten old, despite having listened to it a few hundred times. [/editorial] They even performed these songs live a few times and thus helped further the denpa cause in their own way. So in honor of the fallen sound unit, here are a couple of Youtube videos that will take office of a belated elegy on this solemn day.

First we have their second-to-last song ever released, 「やっぱり世界はあたし☆れじぇんど!!」 which ironically came out on their first single in August 2008 (talk about a short-lived career). The last one they released was 「ないしょ思春期」 (October 2008) which was too slow and boring for me to bother talking about (but judge for yourself). In stark contrast, you'll notice that this one is chock full of energy, with an unrelenting tempo that's backed by strong bursts of generously distorted electric guitar. If those multiple HAI HAIs and overall singing style don't remind you of KOTOKO (especially the fast parts), you might want to check your ears. It's painfully obvious what they were going after.

Then we have 「あっせんぶる☆LOVEさんぶる」, which most people like to think of as their flagship song, since it's the first one that was made public. It not only opens the "RABBIT SYNDROME" album (January 2008) but also closes it with a "hype" version that contains quite an extended 8-bit intro. It's a lot more tame than what's on the previous video, sure, but this strong progression in such a short span of time only adds insult to injury for those of us looking forward to more material from them.

And finally here's a digest of all songs featured on said "RABBIT SYNDROME" album. Gotta admit I'm sad to see NAO Project! fall apart like that. They weren't the most creative sound unit, but they were still a lot of fun to listen to. Here's hoping that mr. Sat doesn't completely ditch denpa with his future project.