Two new YMCK cover albums out now

Yesterday saw the release of two new mini-albums from YMCK, a quirky Japanese Chiptune trio which has already performed outside of Japan multiple times. Though they feature intricate 8bit compositions and silky smooth female vocals, both minialbums are sort of side projects until their next full length album. The first is the appropriately titled 「-songs before 8bit-」 compilation of 9 classic Japanese pop tunes remixed using their own software plugin. I'm not gonna lie and pretend I know any of them; but a quick Youtube lookup reveals that they indeed went for rockin' picks. Essentially, this is the same deal as Momo-i gave us with her two Famison albums, except you replace anime themes with classic Japanese folk songs.

The other one is a split CD with De De Mouse, which is totally awesome. I thought splits were limited to the punk/hardcore scene, now they're invading 8bit JPop. I guess De De Mouse is pretty far from textbook denpa, but his totally weird songs and videos sure get my attention. Look at this crazy motherfucker go! This is another cover album, but given De De Mouse's style, the overall feeling should be substantially different from 「-songs before 8bit-」. Whereas Midori does all of the singing on the YMCK songs, DDM has different vocalists for all three of his contributions, including the gorgeous moumoonのYUKAさん on 「ルージュの伝言」.

Good news, everyone! You can listen to short samples from all of both album's songs on Natalie.mu's Power Push, which also features an extensive 4 page interview for your perusal. Are you hungry for more YMCK? Check out their fantastic retro music videos on their myspace account.