M3-2011秋: Zero-Shaft's 「My Voice」 and 「 まほロリっ！」

Just six months ago, hard-working douijn circle Zero-Shaft gave us two great albums in 「COVERST@GE」 and 「ちびロリっ！」. The former was a pretty cool anisong cover album, but the latter was a delightful collection of ロリ-style songs performed by some of our favourite singers out there (talking about ココ, ななひら, 桃箱 and more!) Better yet, both were listed at a ridiculously low 500￥. Well guess what, they're at it again!

That's right, Zero-Shaft are bringing two brand new full-length albums to M3-2011秋 and they're pricing them at 500￥ once again. First, let's take a look at 「My Voice」 which is the fourth entry in their THEiDOLST@GE series (the first one was downloadable). As the name implies, this is an idol-genre album with 9 original compositions that are usually a bit more "serious" in tone. However you still have extremely cute songs involving singers such as りこ。 and 愛原圭織. Most songs are individual efforts, but there is a pretty interesting quartet on track #8 「レンアイREVERSE」. The above PV gives a clear indication of just how exceptional this album should turn out to be.

While THEiDOLST@GE is clearly Zero-Shaft's flagship brand, their ロリっ！ spin-off is clearly doing pretty well! The second installment is titled 「 まほロリっ！」 and is a 魔法少女-inspired album. Now here are some pretty mind-blowing facts about this album: a mere 500￥ will get you 14 tracks featuring 19 different vocalists! As if that wasn't unbelievable enough, we're talking about quality vocalists such as ななひら、なゆ、kana、ゆきまめ、ひななた、mega and many, MANY more! All of them got quality illustrations which range from lovely to kinky! This also includes SD characters from 大山チロル who also sings and regularly contributes artwork for ちぃむｄｍｐ☆ (what a talented lass). Let's not forget about the brave composers who wrote the songs, including しの、遥風 啓司、Yu and BBレモネード (from おでんぱ of course).

The bottom-line here is you're looking at 23 tracks for 1000￥ with 24 of the net's hottest singers, not to mention a great variety of earnest and downright silly music from up-and-coming composers. This thing's a no-brainer, get both! Those who buy the two albums at M3 will earn themselves unlimited praise from Zero-Shaft, as well as this cool reversible poster. Did we mention that 「 まほロリっ！」 ships in a white DVD case? WHITE! Sweet plastic ambrosia.

M3-2011秋: Second でんぱ☆スタジオ album 「ぴこみこ☆」

The Fall edition of M3-2011 is around the corner and as expected, a non-Touhou music event means a new おでんぱ☆スタジオ release! This time though, they're c-c-c-combo breaking their string of 4 single releases and going with a second album! 「ぴこみこ☆」 will have 5 new songs as well as the requisite でぱらじ segment. As if that wasn't exciting enough, how are we supposed to handle this news: とろ美 is doing guest vocals! Talk about a dream collaboration, check out a 1:50 sampler of the opening track:

Signature BB・Lemonade composition if there ever was one! Of course the とろ巫女ちゃん vocals are a perfect match for this song. As was the case in the past, the rest of the album will not necessarily reflect the "shrine maiden" theme set forth in the opening song. Note that a crossfade was not yet posted as of this article, however おでんぱ themselves just this morning previewed the album on their ニコニコ channel. It should be a matter of days, if not hours, before one's available for general consumption. Here is the full tracklist:

1. ぴこみこ＠オンライン～おでんぱ神社へようこそ～
2. うれしょんﾟ･*:.｡
3. ぽにっとふぁいやー☆
4. Girl Friend
5. けもみみDANCE！～もーっちゅ！りみっくCHU☆～
6. でぱらじ☆ふぃふす (radio show feat. とろ美)

What else, what else? The first 50 fans (although this may have been increased to 100?) to "preorder" the album will score a tin pin! Of course you'll need to pick up the album from the denpa unit itself at the M3 event in Tokyo on October 30th... or have someone pick it up for you! Otherwise, the new album (sans pin) should be available from fine stores such as あきばお～こく and とらのあな, just keep refreshing those links until it's up for grabs!

PARANOIA PARADOX goes 電波 with 「ぱらのいあぱらどくちゅ」

Doujin circle PARANOIA PARADOX is usually known for its trance/electro/serious business "Re" Touhou arrange series, including titles such as 「RE;FLECTOR」, 「Re:alize」 and 「Re:sonance」. That's pretty cool, but dig in just a bit deeper and you'll uncover some interesting facts. First, 桜ふみ (SAKURA Fumi) is actually the lead vocalist for this circle! Recently she's popped up on a couple of KuKuDoDo compositions, so that's a good start. Next, a quick look at head producer いたちま also reveals a long history of Vocaloid compositions, including the occasional denpa song. So there's definitely a lot more than meets the eye with this circle.

However, for the release of their 6th album 『ぱらのいあぱらどくちゅ』, they are taking a page from circles such as HolicService/InnocentKey/Birdtune and will release a full-on denpa/moe album! This 180 degree turn also brings about a grand total of 10 guests, not the least of which is メトロポリちゃんV making her grand Touhou vocal debut! Yes, you read that right. Metro-motherfucking-Pori-chan, full-time nurse, goddess of underground trains, born in 1941. Don't say you don't know who she is, or she'll fucking beat the crap out of you!

Regardless of your opinion of this shock-jock-idol, her performance on 「てゐのデート大決戦脳内戦略会議室!!」 is flawless. From the short sample posted, she comes off joyous and ecstatic. It's a wonder this is her debut doujin song after being a part of the underground scene for such a long time. Has she performed various denpa songs under a different moniker or is she really just that good?!? Let's hope for more collaborations in the future!

The other songs on the sampler are just as catchy. Regular PP vocalist 桜ふみ takes care of the third track 「たぬきにおまかせ☆」 (the first being a splendid instrumental introduction). Her unique and commanding voice radiates maturity and experience... gotta love her vibrato! Never gets old OR annoying! Track 4 「Blooming moon」 is a heart-warming 萌え ditty from 佳織みちる , who also writes her own lyrics.

Yet another highlight of this new album is 「うぇるかむ・とぅざ・なずーりんりんらんど」 sung expertly by 愛空アキハ. Y'all know her from her various Conagusuri hits such as 「チルミルチルノ」 and 「カパネットにとり」 of course. Once again she demonstrates her passion for the genre and delivers an intense performance. This is followed right away with another high-tension track 「アリアケ幻想」, this time from 田川まゆみ. The album ends lightly with another cute little moe song 「猫娘☆ぱらだい☆CHU♪」

As with all of their past releases, PARANOIA PARADOX have turned to 雪月佳 for the album artwork. The interesting connection here is that 雪月佳 also provided the illustration for the recent ななひら UTAU album 『なないずむ！』. Just one more element in making sure this becomes a memorable Touhou Denpa albums... since most of them are, so it's a tough crowd! The album comes out October 17th during the 7th 東方紅楼夢 event, but you can also preorder from Akibaoo.

Twitter Cluster: Best of September 2011

For better or for worse, our twitter account @denpanosekai has taken over this site for bleeding-edge denpa news delivery. Various factors are at play, but suffice to say those who use both Blogger and Twitter will agree the latter has a much snappier interface than the former. It's also pretty cool to connect with various Japanese artists, who never cease to be amazed some lowly foreigners would have any interest in their godly music. Finally, Mandi is behind a fair amount of the twitter posts while I, "denpanosekai" am in charge of blog stories, so it's a good way to share the workload.

That said, as an engineer I don't really trust twitter's ability to save messages forever and I don't appreciate how "old" tweets quickly get buried under new ones. For posterity, we will now be archiving tweets on a monthly basis. Although we have a very nice amount of twitter readers (let's go for 500!) this blog still drives a heck of a lot of traffic thanks to search engines (lots and lots of folks searching for denpa music torrents... and other weird things). At the very least, this will force us to have at least one post per month!

Note: format may change from month to month until we figure out a good way to do this.

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September 3rd 2011

• New @forestpireo remix CD 「Swap Swap」 out at 例大祭SP2 (2011.9.11) featuring ななひら, めらみぽっぷ, 実谷なな, @TENKOMORI and more!
• Some really cool artists (すぺらんかー, 柏木るざりん, @plusmonaka, @kikuo_sound +more!!!) on 「覚 -PERCEPTION-」 out at 例大祭SP2
• Today's Tune:「ソーサラー98 ～ The end of the known story」Composer @bucchigiri, Album: "-New wave of A-POP-", Circle: @cello39
• New nanahira cover song on niconico 「きゅんっ！ヴァンパイアガール」を歌ってみた＊ななひら
• Details on Denpa Gumi Inc's new 11/16 single "Future Diver" to be announced 9/9 during DearStage's renewal open event!

September 5th 2011

• ARM releasing his first Touhou doujinshi "レミリアのわんだー紅魔館" at ReitaisaiSP! Includes a bonus soundtrack CD! This guy does what he wants!

September 8th 2011

• MOSAIC.WAV's "best album" 「AKIBA-POP√RECOLLECTION」 goes on sale November 23rd 2011. Limited edition has 3 CDs!
• Here's the weirdest KOTOKO remix you'll ever hear "Let's do the sister! (elder sisters dubstep remix)"

September 9th 2011

• New Toromi / IOSYS collaboration PV featuring Toromi's art and singing【東方】真夏にハジケるインドアヴァンパイア【PV】
• Denpa Gumi.inc 11/16 "Future Diver" major debut single! Out on new label "MEME TOKYO". Arrange: Hyadain & Compose: Masaya Koike

Seventh Holic Service album 『二度づけ禁止塾！』 out today

A mere month ago, we were reporting on Birdtune's long-awaited return to form with the release of their new C80 album 『東方ピコピコ祭り』. Well Lord KuKuDoDo hasn't forgotten about his other label Holic Service either, although no one could predict the wait would be so short! Introducing 『二度づけ禁止塾！』, the seventh touhou denpa arrange album in a long line of acclaimed releases. Unlike pre-2011 Holic Service albums which saw guest composers such as 未来派 and t+pazolite, this one is 100% arranged by KuKuDoDo... the man is on fire! Here's the crossfade sampler and tracklist.

Track	Title	Vocals	Original
01	答え）マリアリ　←正解	小宮真央	恋色マスタースパーク
02	Bad DENPA Apple!!（実在する団体名とは一切関係ありません）	実谷なな	Bad Apple!!
03	片翼のアドベントチルノレン	Gumi	おてんば恋娘
04	この曲はβ時代の提供でお送りしました。	小岩井ゆづき	サニーミルクの紅霧変異
05	あの日見た巫女の名前を僕たちはまだ知らない。	桜ふみ	神々が恋した幻想郷
06	東方新奇（どうして僕はゆとりになってしまったんだろう　でも君が選んだのはTAOの道）	Gumi	リジットパラダイス
07	幽谷ラップ！おはよーごじゃいます！	Chia	門前の妖怪小娘

Quite a lot of interesting facts on this tracklist, so let's get down to it. You'll notice most of the songs have really long titles, there's definitely a lot of humor involved. The first track features 小宮真央 doing vocals in a range that's slightly surprising for such a light-hearted song, but still very fitting. Then we have 実谷なな doing "Bad DENPA Apple!!" with her trademark range, over a dark yet groovy arrange that stands its own in a sea of remakes. Next is a brutal re-imagining of おてんば恋娘 that features heavily distorted guitar and powerful drums, something which isn't traditionally associated with KuKuDoDo! Definitely an experimental track that ends up sounding pretty good, not to mention Gumi made sure to go with an appropriate singing pitch.

Track 4 goes back to wild denpa style with 小岩井ゆづき going crazy over an equally insane remix. Definitely seems like a highlight of the album based on the short sampler! But then 桜ふみ kicks in with her splendid voice. You can easily tell this girl has lots and lots of experience in the 'biz, it's good to see her and KuKuDoDo seem to be on good terms! Gumi then gets another slower track, although this one feels a lot deeper and upbeat than you'd expect. Finally, Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia brings the album to an end with a wacky rap on what feels like the most turbo-charged denpa anthem of the album. Great way to wrap up this party!


Another point of interest is the superb cover designed by 朱シオ, which features Cirno going commando with a mere ice shard conveniently getting in the way of a full pantyless upskirt... from a distance it definitely looks like... something else. Definitely going to attract lots of attention! This is a good thing!!! Overall this is definitely a worthy Holic Service album and it's good to see that KuKuDoDo manages to try new things while understanding exactly what his fans expect from him. It's not part of the "エネルギー冷麺" series, which sorely needs a revival after 2 years... but we're keeping our fingers crossed for C81!

For now, you can purchase 『二度づけ禁止塾！』 from the following websites (we recommend www.dv8cag.com for international shipping)

1. Akibaoo
2. Toranoana
3. D-STAGE

First major album for さつき が てんこもり 「ニコ生モラルハザード」

Our good buddy さつき が てんこもり (Satsuki ga Tenkomori) had a big hit on his hands when he wrote one the of ED themes for last years's blockbuster anime 「俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない」. In our exclusive interview, he revealed he had plans for more major endeavours in the future. The proverbial cat came out of the bag a couple weeks ago when his first major album was announced for release by Dwango Music Entertainment!

「ニコ生モラルハザード」 is set for September 7th 2011 and will include 10 tracks (all originals, some Nico favourites). If you've been following Satsuki for the past couple years, then you should know exactly what to expect. His distinct style can be described as hyperactive electro-pop with buzzing bass and groovy rhythm patterns. This album raises the bar with refined production and attention to details. The "denpa" moniker definitely fits the bill but if you won't take our word for it, publisher Dwango calls him a "電波系アーティスト" (denpa-kei artist).

As you likely noticed, all songs feature female vocals. Although he is a skilled vocaloid "manipulator", Satsuki's songs really come to life when sung by genuine, lovely 3D ladies. Normally he would team up with ななひら, kana or many other doujin vocalists, but this time Dwango paired him up with three equally proficient Niconico users. First we have the "bad girl" Hamar, who is actually a big fan of old Squaresoft games. She has a bit of a rougher voice, but can pull off some cute tones.

Next is ゆづか姫, who dresses as a maid and just loves those Bull Terriers (Don Cherry's dog Blue). More cute stuff from her, with a bit of a bossy attitude since she's a tutor. Last but not least is みかりん* who is 200% cute and delivers splendid upbeat performances. Their complete profiles can be found on the official website, so make sure you get to know them!

Additionally, take a look at this promotional video featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage! There's even a sneak peek at the "photo set" which will be included with first press copies. Looks like everyone had a great time recording this album!

Here is the final tracklist. All songs were composed by Satsuki, but tracks 5 and 6 were co-arranged with y0c1e and かめりあ respectively (very cool inclusion). Each girl gets to sing three songs, with the tenth being a group collaboration!

1. わこつ de 曼荼羅ビア ～小学生になりたい～ 【みかりん*】
2. Romance of rose 【Hamar】
3. UniUni♥SunSun 【ゆづか姫】
4. 団体一名True my voice! 【みかりん*】
5. 魔法変身！顔面ランドスケープ 【Hamar】
6. 契約と首輪、絶対の服従。 【ゆづか姫】
7. 男の娘メモラブル 【みかりん*】
8. ネトゲ廃人シュプレヒコール 【Hamar】
9. お断りします 【ゆづか姫】
10. レッツら破壊工作 【生娘モラルハザード】

Wanna support さつき が てんこもり and this site at the same time? Buy your copy through the following link. They might still have some first press copies if you act fast enough!

Nico Nama Moral Hazard

HAMER/Yuzuka Hime/Mikarin* feat. Satsuki ga Tenkomori