M3-2010春 電波ソング round-up

The spring edition of M3-2010 is just around the corner (May 5th), so here are some of the upcoming denpa-related albums worth checking out. Note that I've probably overlooked a bunch of them, so feel free to throw in your comments. As always, M3 runs a solid news page that gets pretty busy once the event approaches.

The first item on our shopping list is certainly the most curious one: it's a MOSAIC.WAV arrange album!!! At first I was like Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ but then I was like （￣へ￣）. See, 「もざいくりこーだーvol.1」 features 8 MOSAIC.WAV songs played... on recorders. In fact, various flutes were used and they're all described in the opening minute of this sampler video. Do you like what you hear? I may end up buying this to support my fellow fans, but I'm just not that enticed by the results. But whether or not flute is your thing, you can't deny that the folks in the とらふえ circle are extremely talented, as this is actually their fourth album. Furthermore, the jacket artwork by Candy5 is pretty damn cool and this thing is just 600 yen!


Remember unMOMENT? Yeah, I miss them too. They had a ton of potential, but just drifted off into nothingness after the release of their one and only album 「萌魂 ～moe spirit～」 in 2006. オカザキシュン (OKAZAKI Shun) and 新堂真弓 (SHINDOU Mayumi) were backed on guitar by none other than 小池雅也 (KOIKE Masaya, aka big brother) and collaborated with MOSAIC.WAV among others. Both songstresses are still active but Okazaki is pretty much dedicated to BGM composition with 4-EVER. This brings us to Shindou and her brand new compilation album 「新堂真弓 AKIBA SOUND BEST」. While available for public consumption on May 21st, 100 copies will be sold at M3 (presumably a limited edition). The CD features a whopping 17 tracks, with her most popular song 「SHE SEE LOVE」 appropriately starting it all. Samples and commentary available on Candypop's website. Denpa fans: this is a must-buy!


I love me some 桜ふみ (SAKURA Fumi) and so will you once you get acquainted with her music. As cute and innocent as she may seem, some of her songs have been used for hardcore R-18 OVA titles such as 「RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!」. So yah, raep is bad, but the song is great. Her M3 CD does not include that one song though, it features some far lighter material that definitely fits under the 萌え umbrella. The three tracks are 「booster」, 「LOVE MOTION+POTION」 and 「Kiss~Kiss~Kiss」; the full cover art can be seen here. I couldn't find samplers for the first two songs, however 「booster」 can be downloaded from C:DRIVE (note that Toromi also has an ED track up for grabs). You can also check out her latest song 「cherish」 to get a better idea of her style.

Toromi usually has something for M3, and this time is no different. Her own offering is still being worked on, However, Pneuma Records has recently confirmed that she will be contributing two songs to their latest compilation CD 「ましん・ぽっぷVol:2- We Are Pneuma -」. According to mandichan, the first one (track #2) was previously featured on another compilation, but the second one (track #5) may be a new song because I can't find any info. Not gonna comment on the lyrical contents, because it is a little odd from this cultural perspective. Then again I just wrote about a rape OVA. Either way, I'll update this paragraph later once Toromi published info on her new release, but I'm expecting a new single.


Ever heard of doubleeleven UpperCut before? That's OK, neither had I until today, but they started in November 2009 and this will be their first release. Prepare to be blown away, especially if you're a fan of SHORT CIRCUIT and ave;new projecto (and why wouldn't you be?) because this is clearly what they're going for. The unit proudly describes itself as "high speed denpa" and is actually a sub-division of the doubleeleven undercurrent circle. Its members are 山下航生 (producer) and akari (vocals), with seemingly no prior experience.

Still, deUC (that's how they want to be abbreviated) already has 6 songs and judging by the streaming sampler, this is some high quality stuff that is a cut above the rest. Their artwork is highly professional, which leads me to believe that they are in fact associated to softhouse-seal, the eroge company which ordered all 6 of these theme songs in the first place. If you wanna see some kooky English lyrics, head over to the latest game's homepage for a few laughs. Isn't one game a month quite the turnover? Not that I'm complaining! Keep your eyes on doubleeleven UpperCut, the latest denpa sensation!

vivid'sB is another "new" circle, in the sense that I've only found out about them recently. But it's not like their main singer and apparent head honcho 西沢はぐみ has been around forever either as she released her very first album in late 2009. The album can be sampled in full on their website (no direct link, sorry), but you can also check out some of her previous work. Now the above song 「combination somebody！」, in all of its Dragon Quest lookalike glory, will obviously not be up for sale at M3 as it was just made public on April 22nd 2010. However, they will most likely repress some copies of the first CD and now's the chance to get your hands on it. Oh wouldn't you know, 柏木るざりん (Loser Kashiwagi) was a guest composer on track #7 「しゅこしゅこぼーん」, no wonder it's ultra-funky! Don't know the man??? And you call yourselves denpa fans... for shame.


And now for the BEST NEW CIRCLE NAME OF THE YEAR DECADE, introducing...... ODENPA STUDIO!!!! Yes, not joking one bit. First DenpaGumi, now おでんぱ☆スタジオ. They have so many good things going on that I don't know where to begin. Well, the awesome name, that's out of the way. Now if you head on over to their website, you'll notice that the illustrations they use are very sharp. They have their own domain name too, this says a lot. But the best aspect and not the least, is the quality of their music. The sampler MP3 for their M3 album is sort of tucked away on the main page. Then if you scroll down a bit, you'll notice there's another sampler for a C77 album that was "rejected" but was still sold at the graphic artist's own booth with an appropriate cover art.

Anyway, the name says it all, but the music ain't lying either. In their own words, this is "360 degree radiation moe-denpa" music. Too bad the website is very low on information, as most of the sections are incomplete. I can't even tell you who does what, other than this sounds too professional to be the work of a newly-formed circle. They do appear to feature two distinct vocalists. The fact that they have nearly a dozen tracks is also very suspicious... in a good way! Look forward to more details as I acquire this album.


33.turbo (pronounced mimi turbo) is yet another new denpa circle! Right now they have an M3-2010 booth, but their blog hasn't been updated since last year, so we can only assume that they're gonna have their first CD up for sale once again. 5 crazy tracks for 400 yen, I'm not complaining! Sample them for yourself, personally I'm slightly reminded of Melo9 and Toromi, so this is great! Their most recent post does mention something about the next release featuring multiple collaborations, we'll have to wait and see if they update the blog in time for May 5th.

Rapid-fire M3 news

• IOSYS has a Touhou brass band arrange album (produced by ARM) and a programYMG drama CD.
  
• Melo9 said they would have a new album for M3, but so far no news on their blog. At the very least they should have copies of their Valentine's Day CD.
  
• GWAVE have uploaded the second MP3 from Team Love Bullets' upcoming single. They also have a Chuable Soft compilation up for grabs.
• Siestail are not promising anything, but they are working on a full vocal album featuring Rizuna! If this is anything like their KERO album, this could be huge!!!!
  
• DystopiaGround (Nao's doujin circle) will have a new 2-track single, no samplers or credits yet.
• 夢月まりあ (aka maria-tan) will be selling her first mini-album 「CRAY04」 which includes four tracks listed here. No samples, but she has a million YouTube videos where you can check out her many guerrilla lives. This self-declared otaku has been known to bust out some crazy denpa songs, so this could be an interesting CD.
  
• ひげいち。うぇぶ sounds like an interesting circle in theory, but sound samples are nowhere to be found. The two main members are apparently totally crazy about denpa. They already have two albums and will release a third at M3-2010春. The fact that they have album themes and track topics seems to indicate that these are in fact drama CDs.
• Although they have an M3 booth, nothing new from Birdtune. They're probably still pushing 「すいーつぱれっと」, as they should. In related news, みりん☆ seems pleased to be featured on the 電波の世界 ~ 2009 sampler. She is working on a third album and will be playing some new songs at her upcoming concert this weekend.