Before we go on, here are the other albums we covered:
Just like this summer's Comiket, ARM contributed less to the mainline IOSYS album in order to focus on the latest ALBATROSICKS album! 『rebirth era』 is the eight album, but it only has three new songs out of six tracks. That's still a better tally than say, 『MERGE THE STRAWBERRY』 but just a heads up as the other three are remixes. At least it feels a bit more focused with upbeat melodies present on most tracks. It's good to hear some new miko songs, as she hasn't been all that active lately.
In a related note, RUSTY GEARS does have a C81 single 「平和バカ二代」 with three new tracks, so that's another way to get your miko fix.
In a related note, RUSTY GEARS does have a C81 single 「平和バカ二代」 with three new tracks, so that's another way to get your miko fix.
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| All samples available on website |
Forest Pireo may have started pumping out Touhou arrange albums two years after IOSYS did, but that won't stop them from catching up in terms of number of releases! Case in point, they have two new albums for Comiket 81. Although both are excellent, one of these two will be of greater interest to this readership. 『Girl's Festa! 01』 will be their 18th release and even though it's an all-original album, it's still very much in line with their previous efforts.
What's different is that it's packed with cute and powerful songs from well-known composers such as さつき が てんこもり, 未来派, かたほとり and our boy かめりあ. On the mic we have lovely ladies such as めらみぽっぷ, 桃箱, ななひら and kana. Highlights include 「ただいま参上！ 電波シスター☆」 from y0c1e and みぃしゃ as well as the explosive cocktail 「ご先祖様は君を見守っている！」 from 未来派 with an explosive ななひら+kana duet! Frankly all songs stand out on this amazing compilation.
If you can't get enough of Touhou arranges, that's ForestPireo's bread & butter so don't worry. 『妹紅 ～mokou the best～』 is a bit more serious in tone (jacket art is a dead giveaway) but still has its share of silly tunes from さつき が てんこもり, y0c1e, ななひら, kana and others. It'd be awesome to see ForestPireo go for an all-denpa album, but until then they include a serviceable amount of them on each of their albums, so it's worth supporting them!
What's different is that it's packed with cute and powerful songs from well-known composers such as さつき が てんこもり, 未来派, かたほとり and our boy かめりあ. On the mic we have lovely ladies such as めらみぽっぷ, 桃箱, ななひら and kana. Highlights include 「ただいま参上！ 電波シスター☆」 from y0c1e and みぃしゃ as well as the explosive cocktail 「ご先祖様は君を見守っている！」 from 未来派 with an explosive ななひら+kana duet! Frankly all songs stand out on this amazing compilation.
If you can't get enough of Touhou arranges, that's ForestPireo's bread & butter so don't worry. 『妹紅 ～mokou the best～』 is a bit more serious in tone (jacket art is a dead giveaway) but still has its share of silly tunes from さつき が てんこもり, y0c1e, ななひら, kana and others. It'd be awesome to see ForestPireo go for an all-denpa album, but until then they include a serviceable amount of them on each of their albums, so it's worth supporting them!
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Zero-Shaft is quickly becoming a force to reckon with, releasing quality idol/moe/denpa albums one event after the other. Just a couple months ago, they released 『 まほロリっ！』 to great acclaim, but they're back with a cross album that includes element from their ロリっ！ spinoff with their mainline THEiDOLST@GE series.
『ZeroShuffle』 features 14 tracks performed by 19 singers and created by 12 composers! There's an equal mix idol/moe so it's like getting 2 albums for the price of 1. Whatta deal! Especially when you're talking vocalists such as ゆきまめ, ななひら, なゆ, 愛空アキハ and way, WAY more. Highly recommended.
『ZeroShuffle』 features 14 tracks performed by 19 singers and created by 12 composers! There's an equal mix idol/moe so it's like getting 2 albums for the price of 1. Whatta deal! Especially when you're talking vocalists such as ゆきまめ, ななひら, なゆ, 愛空アキハ and way, WAY more. Highly recommended.
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| All samples on website |
Innocent Key is ココ's home circle so that's reason enough to include them on our bi-annual comiket preview. But more and more these days, they've focused on quality denpa songs over boring regular arranges. 『東方スクール』 was the turning point, and now we're getting a denpa hotpot to warm ourselves up for the coming winter.
『東方闇鍋』 is chock-full of tasty ココ tracks, deliciously arranged by the likes of yohine and 溝口ゆうま. Other key collaborators include デッドボールP, D.watt, Nimo, めらみぽっぷ, 大瀬良あい and many more. This album is a lot darker than March's school rumble, but still knee-deep in twisted melodies and tongue-in-cheek writing. Highlights include 「Magical Shooting Star!」 and frankly, anything involving ココ's megami koe.
『東方闇鍋』 is chock-full of tasty ココ tracks, deliciously arranged by the likes of yohine and 溝口ゆうま. Other key collaborators include デッドボールP, D.watt, Nimo, めらみぽっぷ, 大瀬良あい and many more. This album is a lot darker than March's school rumble, but still knee-deep in twisted melodies and tongue-in-cheek writing. Highlights include 「Magical Shooting Star!」 and frankly, anything involving ココ's megami koe.
Here's something that'll blow your mind, yet it wasn't completely unexpected. ARM and BeatMario have collaborated in the past, but 『スペシャル俺たち!!!!』 is the apex of those partnerships. Manly, hot-blooded, intrepid... beefcake? (wtf thesaurus.com) All of these synonyms apply. There isn't much to say, we'll let the sampler do the talking. Out of the 10 tracks, 6 are tunes composed by ARM and the other 4 are drama, likely with BGM. This one seems like it could become 2011's best-kept secret!
Looks like おでんぱ☆スタジオ are in a guest vocalist mood! After inviting とろ美 to sing with them this summer, 井上みゆ was invited to participate on their sixth single 『ろりーたプラネット★ミ』. Who's it gonna be next time? This is another dream collaboration to be sure, but their other new song 「なめこのうた」 is nothing to scoff at! The odenpa girls are climbing up the ranks and getting noticed all over the world while composers ひろてー and BB.Lemonade are constantly invited by other circles. Looking forward to a third album in 2012!
Last but certainly not least is the new 天然ジェミニ album 『東方Little Bloom』! We've been fans since their first album, but one of their best moves was to sign up explosive arranger かめりあ for 3 tracks out of 8, including the fantastic PV seen below. He's really a good match for this unit, it's good to see him take on a bigger role. Otherwise, expect more of the same, which is exactly what we're looking for anyway. Some denpa, some high-tension pop, some rock, some eurobeat... actually that's kinda new!
