Wednesday, 24 April 2013

M3-2013春: Highend Color 「ファンシー☆エレクトリカルパレード vol.1」


Even after five years of running 電波の世界, I'm still caught off-guard by explosive surprise reveals such as Highend Color's upcoming CD 「ファンシー☆エレクトリカルパレード vol.1」. It never fails, there's always at least one record which will completely blow me away both due to high-quality contents and unpredictable out-of-left-field factor. I'm not sure what's more impressive: the fact that Highend Color put together such an impressive set of songs for a debut denpa album, or the fact that they are ambitiously planning on releasing more like this in the future.

What makes this one so special? A quick glance at the tracklist will reveal some big names: IOSYS and ななひら will immediately catch your attention. Dig in a little deeper and you'll start to recognize some names which you might have seen before, such as あーたん and 彩 from 第二生徒会室 which released an amazing CD recently. Pumpkingdom has also been around for a while, but like many of the remaining names on the staff list, they aren't exactly known for producing denpa music. Here's the tracklist.

  1. 電波の国の国歌斉唱~春の日差しがやる気を奪う~
    Lyrics and Music: 倉田くらね a.k.a ゴリラの王子様 Vocal: 電波ガールズ (柊優花、ありすん、ななひら)

  2. パンク娘のパンチラパンLOVE
    Lyrics: 96(IOSYS) Music: void(IOSYS) Vocal: ちよこ(IOSYS)

  3. ピンクフルサタデーナイト
    Lyrics and Music: ジョー鈴木(Banana Factory) Vocal: ななひら

  4. 有明恋慕
    Lyrics: 久遠ゆん Music:EtherRyo Vocal: 久遠ゆん

  5. 家主の鏡
    Lyrics and Music: mesa&boogie Vocal: ひと里

  6. Lovely Girl
    Lyrics and Music:あーたん(第二生徒会室) Vocal:彩

  7. シバッテ↑サラッテ↓カンキンシチャウゾ☆
    Lyrics and Music:わゆき(Pumpkingdom) Vocal:ありすん(Pumpkingdom)

  8. 運命的ローリングダーリン~プラトニック編~
    Lyrics and Music:DJコミカル(Highend Color) Vocal:星名優子

  9. 再生回数↑マジage↑でざいあ☆
    Lyrics and Music: S.Y.U(Banana Factory) Vocal: 柊優花

  10. Welcome to the Dempaland
    Lyrics and Music:わゆき(Pumpkingdom) Vocals:ありすん、もえか、逢初夏乃、うる

So what made the good folks from Highend Color (倉田くらね, DJコミカル) and Banana Factory (ジョー鈴木, S.Y.U) decide to go all-out with a full original denpa album? Who knows, but I sure ain't complaining! The variety of genre is unbelievable. I don't think "enka-denpa" has been done before, but after hearing 「有明恋慕」 I would definitely be interested in a full album from EtherRyo and 久遠ゆん! With their contribution 「家主の鏡」, mesa&boogie feat.ひと里 are in charge of the "metal-denpa" but prepare for a surprise! The two Pumpkingdom songs 「Welcome to the Dempaland」 and 「シバッテ↑サラッテ↓カンキンシチャウゾ☆」 are extremely catchy and remind me of doubleeleven UpperCut with their high-tension sing-alongs.

Banana Factory member ジョー鈴木 composed an excellent track in 「ピンクフルサタデーナイト」 which Princess ななひら graced with majestic vocals. When the sampler kicks into high-gear at 3:30, you can tell this is a match made in heaven. His buddy S.Y.U has by far the sweetest track of the album with 「再生回数↑マジage↑でざいあ☆」 which shines thanks to high production values and a stellar performanced by 柊優花. DJコミカル feat.星名優子 surprise with a masterful track that sounds like it's from a big-budget anime OP.

This brings us to the two opening tracks. void (IOSYS) is well-known around these parts and brings with him ちよこ who has been extremely denpa-proficient as of late. Obviously 「パンク娘のパンチラパンLOVE」 will be a selling point for this album thanks to razor-sharp guitars, fast-paced riffs and of course beautiful female vocals. Finally, opening track 「電波の国の国歌斉唱〜春の日差しがやる気を奪う〜」 feels like nothing short of a patriotic masterpiece from creator 倉田くらね a.k.a.ゴリラの王子様, as the denpa girls 柊優花, ありすん and ななひら welcome us to Denpa Land.

Frankly, this is a must-buy for all denpa fans. At 1000円 for 10 tracks, it's an absolute steal. Congratulations to all involved staff! This monumental album will be talked about for years, mark my words.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline April 26th 7AM PST)
Title:ファンシー☆エレクトリカルパレード vol.1
Label:  Highend Color (A24a)
Price:1000
Link:http://highend-color.com/fancy-ep.html

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