Hi guys! It's been a while, but I'm back to feature the upcoming denpa related music releases for C86!
This entry is only the first in a series to feature what's on the way!
Albatrosicks triumphantly returns after 2 whole years of silence with their 10th album, "DEKKAINO". And don't forget, they're also doing a live performance on 2014/09/15! The crossfade sounds promising.... This is gonna be a big one!
Kurimiya Maron is no stranger to DnS, (At the very least, you should remember her track on HOTO-graffiti, or maybe from her teaming up with らめる for Love Live cover group ラブライバル) but since her CDs are mostly only sold at her lives, they have been pretty hard to get a hold of... But she WILL be attending C86! Check out track 4 "Secret☆Diary!!" Word has it らめる will also be there to help sell the CD! If she brings her other CDs, make sure to check them out, in particular 追憶のフリューゲル is recommended if you already heard 仮想現実のシューティングスター.
Toromi brings us a children's music themed CD of self proclaimed denpa songs. Any Toromi CD is pretty much a must have so be sure to check it out! ベイビー・レモネード once again takes over the arrangement / composition duties on this one, with the other tracks by "the usual" あいかわらずな.
Also, although it's not a CD, any fans of Toromi's awesome music are probably also fans of her awesome artwork. She's also releasing an original manga, 「ササクレ」, so why not pick it up too?
Another Puchirizm release, another set of masterpieces from our favorite composers and vocalists! On the composer line up, we've got さつき が てんこもり, U-ske, かめりあ, 柏木るざりん, まろん, and of course かたほとり.. and more! Joined by the lovely voices of kana, 片霧烈火, 桃箱, なゆ, ココ, ゆきまめ, まめこ, miko, なつき/ねこめ/ほたる（ of おでんぱ☆スタジオ）, and ななひら (of course!)
ちぃむdmp☆ is back with their 7th full album, and usual it's packed with goodness, with lots of great composers backing up this super duo. 山下航生 of double eleven uppercut, まろん, かたほとり, オワタP... and more, of course!!
A deadly denpa duo that's definitely gonna leave a mark on denpa history! Composer かめりあ and vocalist ななひら provide every track on this album, with old favorites, new tracks, and remixes. Loving the album art too! What else is there to say? Get it!
ave;new's Sakura Saori is back with a new manga - and a new bonus CD to go along with it. It's time for the summer time adventures of her mascot, Chiwakura-san, and the manga comes bundled with a lullaby CD. Sakura Saori herself is proving the composition and arrangement too! Plus she'll also be selling a cute keychain of Chiwakura-san!
The M3 of spring 2014 hosted a suite of fantastic circles, both old and new.
The quality of denpa and moe song releases this time around was staggering!
With the recent 例大祭
also having quite a number of strong CDs, 2014 is truly shaping up to be
an incredible year for denpa fans worldwide!
First of all, a short introduction: I’m fruitcake and I’m an Australian
currently on exchange in Japan for about a year. M3春 was my first 同人音楽 event,
and it was honestly one of the most memorable days I've had since coming here!
Because of the sheer quality of the releases, I decided to write up a mass
review of my purchases!
A lot of albums have finally been added to online stores fairly recently, so
the time is ripe to send in a batch order if you haven't already! Foreign fans
can use proxy services like Goody Japan,
FromJapan or dv8cag.
I've used the first multiple times with no hassle and have heard great things
about the latter two!
At any rate, here are the albums I bought at my first ever M3!
Row 1: おでんぱ☆スタジオ「メインヒロイン(仮)」
The first four albums make up what I’d like to call ひろて～'s
gauntlet ... boy, was he busy this M3! Being directly responsible for three of
the albums here and a contributor to the fourth deserves massive props, what a
heroic effort!
First up is the new, ゆなfocused single by おでんぱ☆スタジオ.
Of the two songs included the first is new: a bouncy, fun song bound to make
you pay attention to ゆな
– it seems like she’s (temporarily) conquered her lack of presence that
has caused so many problems, like in the 2012 song 「LOVEってなんだ!?」スペシャル!!
It's thematically similar to the ゆるゆり
character song 「私、主役の赤座あかり」 and
just as good! The second is a remix of one of my personal odenpa favorites, ろり☆ぱんつ.
Great single, and I have a feeling that we're going to be getting more singles
focusing on each おでんぱ☆スタジオ
character. Fun times ahead!
えんじょぃ「えんじょぃ☆えんじょぃ」 えんじょぃ’s first single 「ごきげんよーじょ」
was one of my most anticipated C85 releases, but I wasn’t able to listen
to it because it wasn’t sold in stores! Luckily, the two tracks from the first
single feature in えんじょぃ’s
fantastic first album. There are a lot of recognizable names in the staff list:
odenpa’s ひろて～and ほたる, 33. turbo’s いのっち,
遥風啓司¸ 木下いちご,
星野あず(You might
recognise her as AZU from the holic service vs. birdtune album).
All the tracks on this album are incredible, from the slower paced childrens’
choir-style 「まほうのおはこ」to the highly energetic title track 「えんじょい☆えんじょい」 and
super catchy 「未来の申し子」. 「おふろ de しゃぼん」is
also a fun entry in this incredible CD, where have I seen that naming scheme
before?!! This loli-style album was definitely worth every yen, and I'm eagerly
looking forward to whatever えんじょぃ pops out next. I fully
expect every coming release to be just as thoroughly enjoyable as this one.
Twinkle 「ぱじゃま deあ・そ・ぼ 」 Wonder duo Twinkle release yet another glorious single! Last time around it
was school uniforms – this time the theme is pyjamas! ちょこ and
みるく
wearing matching pyjamas and handing me this single while exclaiming ありがとう、お兄ちゃん～
was one of the most memorable moments of M3 for me! The first and last
tracks are the fast-paced, highlight addictive tunes that I'm sure everyone has
come to expect and love from Twinkle (and the middle track is extremely cute
too!) Personally, 「ぐどもにもーにんっ☆」is a strong
contender for the 'best denpa song to set as your alarm' award, which I made up
just now. Waking up to Twinkle every day? Sounds good to me!
The first mini-album from the newish duo うさみみりぼん! I say newish because they've actually released a song together two
years ago, from Zero-Shaft's 「なつぴよ」! うさみみりぼんwere actually one of the first groups to release a
crossfade for this M3, so their album was at the top of my mental checklist! All four songs have
sufficient amounts of denpa and are, to be frank, catchy as hell! ひろて～makes an appearance in the first track, it's the
peppy and upbeat song you'd expect from him. The highlight of this mini-album
for me, though, is 「Program
Error」, a song with plenty of interesting, futuristic, ピコピコsounds as well as a great bass line and extremely
cute chanting. It's slightly off-kilter, which means it's the perfect amount of
kilter! I'll have to keep my eye on かそかそfrom now on, hopefully he decides to make some more
similar songs. Incidentally,「Teleportation」is quite similar to 「Program Error」-
this mini-album truly is loaded full of impressive tracks! Buy it quickly while
you can, I can't recommend this enough!
とろ美 「艦これ やりました。」
It's a holy union of the two main とろ美circles, とろみせ屋さんand ぷねうまレコード. ひろて～’s
gauntlet sort of continues
because his good friend ベイビーレモネードsomehow makes an appearance here (which means that
even astromyu- is represented in this album!) Don't let the kancolle theme
dissuade you if you haven't played it, because I sure haven't and I sure as
hell enjoyed it regardless. Mainstay あいかわらずな's tracks are, as usual, fantastic. 高速なブラ's track,「奇跡の駆逐艦雪風ちゃん」is also dangerously incredible – it reminds me a lot
of 「僕の仏陀のプロペラは、素晴らしきかなメイドインニルヴァーナ」from one of とろ美's
了法寺albums. All in all, a great album worth checking out
especially if you're a fan of ぷねうまレコード's style of music as it does tend to lean more to that side more than the とろみせ屋さん side.
STAR CROSSED LOVERS - STAR CROSSED LOVERS 2!!
Second demo of STAR CROSSED LOVERS, a rock band with vocalists by 井上みゆ.
Not much to say, the second track is pretty cute.
If they'd ever meet, あかりんand ゆなwould certainly be the best of friends!
Row 2:
Confetto - 「らぶちゅ！」
Put together ココ, ななひら, 11 songs and a suite of
fantastic composers: what do you get? A must-buy album, らぶちゅ！We've
gotten two 桃箱/ななひらreleases, but this is the first
time for this particular combo. かめりあleads the
lineup with an energetic, high-tempo song,「アメリカ語Supar
Lectyaa」which
features some cute English. What I really want to know is how かめりあmanages to keep churning out absolutely amazing songs (and he's
showing no signs of slowing down!). Speaking of continuously churning out
amazing songs, かたほとり's 「そんなんじゃダメダメ」is incredible: it seems
like a かたほとりsong with ダメダメin the title
is a recipe for success! Recently I've been listening to Task's contribution
quite a bit: 「ななひらさんだいすきのうた」. It's a glorious composition which features
ココsinging a love song for ななひら, with energetic 合いの手by ななひらherself. The ending is guaranteed
to melt your heart! It's nice to see veteran SAM/samfree with a track. It's also nice to see はるばなcompose more 同人音楽songs, I've
been following him since his song on minamototrance's Sparkle of Voices – and
the song he composed this time around,「狙えイチコロ☆アサルトくっきんぐ!」is one
of the craziest on the album! Truly, everything about this CD is amazing, from
all the songs to the familiar BGM used the drama tracks. Definitely worth a
buy.
桃箱 「ふあふあガールフレンド(仮)」
Not one to be outdone by her partners from Shaking Pink, 桃箱releases yet
another solo album! This time it's a collection of image songs from a smart
phone game「ガールフレンド(仮)」.
Spearheaded by 華飯, this album is fairly similar
to 桃箱's last album 「ぴぃちぼっくす」.
Check out the insanely amazing song 「フレンチ★KiSS desuyo.」by
ざにおwhich has been uploaded to youtube (embedding doesn't seem to work for this video, but please click it - you won't regret it!) Familiar names muhmue and ニゴロウround out
the roster. 桃箱also sings a song in a mature voice
– although we've heard her mature voice several times before it's still as
surprising as ever! All the songs here are fun and a blast to listen to, this
CD is a welcome addition to my 桃箱collection!
Buy online: toranoana, melonbooks ポヤッチオ「HOTO-grafitti」
Bask in the slap-bass, catchy choruses and cute vocals! It's a かたほとりsolo album! Included are new かたほとりsongs, songs
from previous releases and other circles as well as remixes of older songs with
new vocals! The vocaloid remix selection is great – みかん汁sings「ヒミツのキモチ」, which was actually a submission by かたほとり for the oreimo ２ ED songcontest. ななひらcovers the classic 「ぎゅ～っ☆とね」...
for the second time (the first was in a 2009 ポヤッチオalbum, the
Five Sisters Story). This time around is a bit more peppy, great song! Shaking
Pink also play backup for 松下in another vocaloid
cover, the extremely cute「隠れオタクでごめんなさい」.
Speaking of groups playing backup, three of the おでんぱ☆スタジオ
girls show up to support 桃箱 in the incredibly catchy 「ふぉ～りん↓だ～りん☆だるまおとし」...
I'm honestly shocked that I hadn't heard that song before listening to the CD!
Anyway, the highlights of HOTO-grafitti for me are probably the original songs:
「SUUDON盛ル☆テンカス」sung
by ななひら
is an energetic tune that maintains a high tension from beginning to
end, just my type of song! The final track, 「シグナル:ラブパワー」is
probably my favourite... the vocalist list is truly ポヤッチオ top
quality: 愛原圭織, kana, 内緒妹, ななひら,
ひなうさ,
桃箱.
There's no way you can go wrong with singers of that calibre, and the song
delivers: it's an enthrallingly cute track with adorable singers, all wrapped
in the nice ribbon that is a かたほとりcomposition. Bravo!
(Also, anyone who hasn't heard the ちぃむｄｍｐ, Honey Came Lab and プチリズムsongs
included in this CD should probably do so as soon as possible).
Buy online: toranoana, melonbooks 末広アンテナ 「ラブギガヘルツ」
I don't think this was originally an M3 release, but it's really good so I'm
including it. This was actually sold out by the time we made it around to さつきがてんこもり's
booth, so we went to Tower Records after M3 to buy it. It was cool to see
someone picking up the CD before us, hopefully more denpa singers can get their
albums sold in mainstream CD shops! Anyway, as I'm sure everyone already knows
this single is by the new idol unit 末広アンテナ-
ななひら and
有野いく. The
single itself is amazing, and both songs were uploaded quite a while ago on
youtube!
「ラブギガヘルツ」is
unfathomably addicting, and has great lyrics to boot. It has the perfect amount
balance between the vocalist's voices and the instrumentals, and there are
numerous subtle shifts in tone that make me keep coming back to the song! 「うるせえ黙れ」is
just as amazing - I have a soft spot for repetitive choruses, and while I'm
usually not a fan of 'wubby' instrumentals it just works in this song
(actually, it seems to natural work with a lot of denpa songs). It's worth
buying the single for high quality and y0c1e's sweet remix.
MOSAIC.WAV 「2015年に起こること」
Yet another mindblowing single by MOSAIC.WAV, it's sort of amazing how they
can still pump out incredible songs one after he other. In all their years of
activity, has there even been a period when they seemed weak? I guess not, and
the new song in this single is just as amazing as any other MOSAIC.WAV song!
It's one of the type of songs with a rolling, endless amount of energy that
doesn't slow down one bit, and it features super enthusiastic chanting.
It feels sort of like a mixture between 「洗脳・搾取・虎の巻」and 「SPACE！WAVE！AKIBA-POP！！」but I guess comparing it to previous songs doesn't do it
justice. Grab it when you can!
Buy online: Mosaic.WAV eStore
Wisteria Magic - 「マリナVS メカマリナ」
As a foreign denpa fan, Wisteria Magic is one of the circles that I haven't
been able to listen to much (read: at all) because they don't sell their songs
at online shops! It's a mixture of drama tracks and songs sung by 藤原鞠菜about the defence of
earth against mecha enemies. I haven’t had time to properly listen to the album
in full yet, but I love conceptual CDs so I'm definitely going to sit down with
the booklet sometime and listen to it properly! The actual songs are great, 「メカマリナのテーマ」is
a fun song with a lot of interesting electronic sounds and a cool chorus. 「so
much, too much, but I want it!」is a fast-paced song rock song, I
really enjoy the guitar in it! I fear for my wallet, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up buying a lot of
Wistera Magic's older releases next event.
Row 3: denpa*garden 「早く二次元になりたい!」
It's been a while since denpa*garden's first mini-album,「HEROINES」. Since
then, both ほのかand らいねhave contributed to last years' awesome album, 「Parallel Honey」. In 「早く二次元になりたい!」they
finally sing together, and it... is... amazing! The omnipresent 塚越雄一朗 busts out the tile track, yet another highly
addicting song that features compliments ほのかand らいね's vocals
with a wicked electric guitar and lyrics I'm sure everyone can identify with. I
love how it captures the alternative feel of 「Parallel Honey」while the
second track, titled 「アンチヒロイズム宣言」,captures the jumpy, catchy mood of the two faster
songs of 「HEROINES」. It's no surprise that the composer of 「アンチヒロイズム宣言」and the two aforementioned songs from 「HEROINES」is the same:
frequent denpa contributor ニゴロウ. All in all, this is a stellar single and one of my
favourites from this M3. Full album when?
Zero-Shaft 「ちびキュート！」
Zero-Shaft didn't release any full-length original albums in 2013 so I was
pleased when they announced「ちびキュート！」. Notable tracks include
long-time Zero-Shaft composer ねぎとろ's bright, peppy contribution with
なゆ「Let`s☆Botti」,
as well as the extremely cute duet by りこ。and ゆきまめ, titled 「幼妻教育ダブルLOVE!」.
しのalso pops out a sugary
tune sung by ななひら「春爛漫私色キャンバス」, which is a perfect start to the album and
sets up the sweet, happy mood that Zero-Shaft always goes for! Another
important mention is 小宮真央's cover of the memorable「ダイエット☆ガール」which
originally featured in Zero-Shaft's 2012 album, 「あどれっすんす」.
Buy online: toranoana
ぉこランチ! 「ぉこランチ!」
The amount of amazing duos that showed up to this M3 is actually pretty
mind-blowing, now that I think of it. Every duo I've mentioned so far (Five,
count them!) have had incredible releases, and 「ぉこランチ！」is definitely no
exception! This cute pairing features がきコ, who you might now from her work
on Zero-Shaft as well as her solo mini-album released last year. The other half
of the pair is すずしろ, who I wasn't aware of beforehand... or so I thought!
According to a good friend, she's sung as ののな, who you might also
recognise from Zero-Shaft!
Anyway, all five tracks on this mini-album are very good! The three tracks
with both girls singing are all upbeat and fun songs. Two of these, 「WEEKLY→WEEKLY」by
むちゃand 「働いて勇者おにいちゃん」by
かたほとり,
serve as a strong one-two punch to lead the album, which had me hooked from
the get-go! Task's song this time around is his catchy style of arrangement
that always reminds me of colorpop, good song ! The final track is by U-ske and
it's everything you'd expect from him – a feel good, unfathomably cute song
that is easy to relax to. すずしろ's solo vocals are perfect for his
style of composition! All in all, a great mini-album and hopefully the start of
much much more.
Buy online: toranoana 夏冬TOHKA
「ACT」｜「Trial」｜「denpa la mode」
The first is actually a collaboration between three different circles, but I
haven't really listened to it much! Same deal with the second CD here, a 夏冬TOHKA
only mini-album. None of the tracks really jumped out at me after the first
listen, sorry! 「denp
a la mode」isn't an M3春release, but I decided to lump it together with
the other 夏冬TOHKA albums here. I've actually listened to the
crossfade of this one quite a bit (ever since C85)! It warmed my heart to
finally be able to listen to the CD in full, and what a CD it is! All 3 tracks
grow on my every time I listen to them, and they all have their strong points.
I love the small build-up to the final chorus in the third, 「Heart
burst」.
Definitely a feel-good song. 木下いちご's 「クライアントの問題」is
very catchy, and the great duet「〆〆ダイナマイト」has a really nice
atmosphere, complimented by a great percussion line. I hope夏冬TOHKA
decide to release more similar CDs!
When I went to Tokyo I brought with me a small suitcase filled with clothes
and food – When I returned back to Osaka it was full of music, manga and other
related goods! Trip successful!
Row 4:
33.turbo 「電波deわっしょい♪」「ガチムチかるた」
You can always rely on 33.turbo to make some great denpa, and this
festival-themed CD is definitely no exception! As usual, いのっちand なおひらhave composed a host
of high quality songs, like the energetic「カーニバルフェスティバル祭」and 「キャベツまつり」.
The second half of the latter song is crazy, I love it! (Also both songs get a
cover by the usual 33.turbo male vocalist. Glorious as always!) The excessively
cute and catchy cat composition「ごはんは猫の最大のイベントです。」also deserves a
mention, it's absolutely addicting! This may be a bold statement, but I'm
starting to think it's one of the cutest songs that 幼女A has
sung! It's the type of fun song that I'd gladly play over and over again.
Actually, I'd gladly play the whole album over and over again – every song is
up-tempo and a blast to listen to, beginning to end! 「ガチムチかるた」was
an extra CD with a lot of 5-8 second tracks, all random sentences. They're
pretty funny, and I think they're meant to be for a karuta variation or
something? Not too sure.
Apparently there were only 15 copies of these brought to M3! 第二生徒会室is pretty hard to buy
without going to events, so I was happy to be able to pick these up as well as
an older album. The first is a mix of various 第二生徒会室songs, the flow from track to
track is nice! The second are three cool instrumental songs. I really like the
home-made feel of these CDs – they were pretty much hot off the plate when we
got them, and we watched the titles be written onto the discs with a marker
before receiving them!
香花すうとピンキーロケッツ「おにいちゃんだして」
This band has a really, really nice alternative-rock feel with a little
splice of denpa/anime-style song thrown in. I actually went to their booth
because I sampled one of their older albums and liked it. The M3春release was alright,
but to be honest I think I prefer their older releases! I feel like this is one
of those CDs that might take a while to grow on you. Anyway, good news is that
you can get their older works on bandcamp.
Hell, you can sample all of the songs in full for free. Take a listen and buy
the HQ if you enjoy it.
ゆりあ*「YURIAPOT type EURO*」
To be honest, this CD didn't really do anything for me when I listened to
it... until I reached the third track! It was actually the reason I wanted to
buy it (because of the cross-fade), I just had forgotten!The single is worth
buying for「LOVEってぺったん肉球」alone, it's an enjoyable
denpa composition with plenty of cute sounds and an infectious chorus! The
other two tracks are by no means bad compositions, so you might like those too!
Buy online: Amazon
Row 5: Lilith Lolita 「MirrorDoll」|はにーみるみる 「HONEYGIRL」 浅倉小春is half of Lillith
Lolita and is the solo vocalist for はにーみるみる, which is why I picked these
up. Of all the songs here, I really like 「からふるはーと」from 「HONEY
GIRL」.
It's the fastest of the lot and a sweet song. The spoken word sections are
incredibly cute, and the chorus is fairly catchy! An enjoyable listen.
Alternative Ending 「One」
Not really denpa or moesong so I won't write much here, but I liked this
much more than I thought I would! miko's voice never ceases to amaze me and all
three songs are very cool. 溝口ゆうま's compositions compliment the full range of miko's serious
voice!
Buy online: akibaoo
テンカツ！「テンカツ!テンショクカツドウ」
Great first release by this new unit! The CD is very enjoyable, especially
the tracks where all three members sing together. 「Rainbow
in the sky」is a very solid starter to the album, and I really enjoyed
REDALiCE's bright composition「make me HAPPY!」. It's
not exactly often that it happens, but it really is nice to listen to a happy
and fun original composition by him. The bonus track「働きたくないでござる」by
溝口ゆうまis amazing and probably
the highlight of the release for me. So much energy!
Buy online: melonbooks しなもんしゅがー☆「サクラ☆レボリューション」
This is a circle I've always read about but have never had the chance to buy
from because the albums aren't available at online shops! I'm truly glad I've
finally gotten a chance to buy しなもんしゅがー☆'s 'soft denpa'
singles, of which this is the fourth! The first song,「サクラ☆レボリューション」is a
ear-catching track with a great, catchy chorus... and the single only gets
better from there! The next song「SUN!SUN!決闘!イライラを越えて輝く太陽よ」is
an exquisite composition that is a brilliant listen from beginning to end– the
tempo shifts from a high-tension, breakneck speed to a calm dolcissimo (and
then back again!) are amazing! I love the electronic sounds scattered
throughout! The final track 「ちゅっちゅっちゅちゅるるる」is
very alternative, yet another addictive track and great composition. The song's
title is repeated frequently, and it's been thoroughly hammered into my mind! I
love it! All in all, a fantastic single – I wouldn't have minded paying 4 or 5
times the 300 yen it cost me!
仲村芽衣子 「こいなか ～ぎゅっしてハピネス～」
Opening theme single for the Game 「こいなか」.
The OP song is a feel-good, catchy song that is very easy to listen to. There
isn't much else to say, it's just a fun song! A pleasant acoustic was also
included.
MIA:
Birdtune
and Holic Service couldn't make it to this M3, which made me a little bit sad
because I was probably most excited for their releases! The silver lining is
that we have more awesome music to look forward to in the future! In addition,
the space was being used to sell previous releases, so I ended up buying a CD
and got a sweet ナナノ☆マジカル poster as a bonus!
ねこじゃが actually
made it to M3 but their new album wasn't ready in time! A sizable queue formed
at their booth about half an hour before the end of the event, it was quite
intense waiting with everyone wondering if the album would arrive (it didn't!).
Again, at least we have that to look forward to!
Extras:
So on top of all the new releases I was tempted
at every other booth or so with a host of older releases! I actually just ended
up buying most things I felt like, which was a huge blow to my wallet, but it
was worth it! Finally getting my hands on physical copies of
masterpieces like 「アタラセカイ」
and 「ちびロリっ!」made me
feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In addition, I at long last managed to complete
my Zero-Shaft Princess Vocal Collection!
In short, M3 is basically a vortex that sucks in money and spits out happiness.
I'd go every time if I could!
The "little moe-denpa series that could" is back on December 31st 2013 with an amazing eighth volume 「プチリズム∞」 that brings in a few surprises! The big news is that miko (yes, that miko!) has a song for all you meat-lovers out there, courtesy of かたほとり who I'm sure is quite proud of this achievement. とろ美 is back for a second プチリズム appearance, this time backed by しの (and lyrics by ひなうさ!). Quite a few interesting songs and singer/composer combinations, hear for yourself!
不思議の国の３姉妹
ひみつの放課後アイドル
ドレミファソLOVEなきもち
素敵なはにぃ・たいむ！
私の料理で世界はきっと幸せになる
ランナーズ・ハイ
twinkle star
カレーおいしいのうた
TOKIMEKIおにく☆カルビレーション
よふかしノエル
Love,,,very important…
SHAKING PINK have the opening song, a mysterious-yet-splendid figment straight from the imagination of 塚越雄一朗 who has yet to disappoint me. ななひら teams up with y0c1e for another アイドル song, another sure-fire winner. ココ working with task is nothing new (I think!) but what's that, lyrics are from 久猫あむ? I love that girl! Another mindblowing combination is ぺこる＆ココ with beatmario's ultra-hyperactive friend 狐夢想. I love that guy! Once again this is a must-buy ポヤッチオ album, get it from Master Katahotori at Comiket for a bonus tote bag.
Just six months ago, Lady ななひら and her good friend 桃箱 teamed up for yet another side project, uniting their perpetualoli personalities and releasing the (now sold-out) mini-album 「ちっちゃいのっ！」. Nothing fancy here, just a good old mix of moe/denpa/drama tracks with the main selling point being the two girls' world-famous beautiful, cute and sexy voices! This second volume 「もーっと☆ちっちゃいのっ！」 starts with the same base recipe and improves upon it by giving us more of everything!
かくれんぼごっこ（/ω＼）
Ping pong Girl's
らびゅ！青春ロケット
えんどれす☆冒険Day!
ラブ♥ふぁくとりー
ワンダフル オブ ザ・ワールド - ticktack -
ある日のももなな (drama)
ももななラジオ☆ (drama)
ごろごろにゃんこ (drama)
３分間数えるだけ☆ (drama)
There's a pretty good selection of composers here, most of whom have contributed to ななひら or ちぃむdmp☆ albums in the past. Of course Master かたほとり will follow these girls to the depths of hell, he's always had appropriate tunes for them and this is no exception. ねぎとろ and ニゴロウ have also previously pitched in and they both provide sweet and entertaining tracks. 塚越雄一朗 (NanosizeMir) delivers yet another stunningly professional track full of unpredictable moments, I just can't wait to hear the full version!
The major surprise is CHEEBOW whom I've been following since his fantastic caramel paradox album, good to see him on board as he's a pretty good fit. まろん is the other odd man out, but he adheres to the theme just fine! His solo album 「Be Happy!」 reminds me of P*Light's style, but then again he also entirely composed the decidedly denpa 塩りんご single in December 2012, so keep an eye on this guy!
Lady ななひら actively started contributing to the doujin music scene sometime in 2008, which really isn't that long ago. Still, she's come a long way these past five years and it's absolutely not surprising that ポヤッチオ would already release a best-of album featuring 14 of her very best hits, especially from the プチリズム series. She's appeared on every single album, even the first one which had a bit of everything. This compilation does feature 3 new tracks, which bumps up the total to 17. Whether you're a new fan, or you supported her since day one, there's something for everyone on 「プチリズム７♭」!
恋に恋してメリーゴーランド
sweet summer day
かるあみるく☆せんせーしょん 7th mix
絶対的！夢はSUPERアイドル
Love ＆ KiSS
Cookin'CookieS
わがままな子は好きですか
爆発！ラブパニック
きょう、あす、あさっぷ！
Ａ杯
萌えっと・めいど
オムライスのうた
ふっくらふわあまけーき
飛び出せ！Sweet Sweet Magic☆
Right Now!
月夜とたいやきと池の鯉
ナナプラス＋
nana(sevencolors) opens this best-of with a brand new track, highly energetic with a slight hint of makina (or maybe I'm going crazy). Another "new" song would be 「かるあみるく☆せんせーしょん 7th mix」 which Master かたほとり actually composed back in 2009. This guy totally has a never-ending supply of vocaloid denpa songs just waiting to be remixed with real singers! The other new song would be 「わがままな子は好きですか」. Same story here, cute Rin song which came out in 2010 on VL-SCRAMBLE, yet another perfect track for Lady ななひら!
All of the other tracks have been discussed at some point or another in our previous プチリズム coverage, but I will say that I'm glad to see 「絶対的！夢はSUPERアイドル」 featured again, because that song is killer! Do note that this was originally a SHAKING PINK song, but she goes it alone on this one. Otherwise, this compilation makes me (sadly) realize that neither きくお nor さつきがてんこもり have written new ななひら songs in some time. What gives, guys?
It's been forever and a day since I last reviewed some of my spoils of war, having mostly focused on album previews recently. Judging from the picture, you might think this event's selection was slim pickings. In fact there were quite a few releases, but I did show som restraint for once and went for the highest quality items. I did forget to pickup 「おんがくのじかん」 from new unit twinkle, that's an oversight from my part. Sorry Mandi! From left to right, top to bottom!
Row 1:
SHAKING PINK 「ももいろHoliday」
This is five new tracks and one voice drama from the three Ladies of Denpa. Actually, the last track 「ふわり、ピンクの恋」 is a Touhou arrange but I couldn't even tell until I looked at the tracklist. かたほとり and かめりあ (かめほとりあ？) each provide two superb tracks, including 「We are SHAKING PINK!」 which features heavy slapping bass as the girls introduce themselves, must be awesome live! ふくＰ and yohine provide the background music to a mysterious and luscious tea party. Really lovely mini-album, especially for ココ fans since she's not doing much new music outside of SP these days. Obviously real fans need to buy this CD, but newcomers will probably get a bit more bang for their buck with the full album from C83.
ななひら 「FreePl@ying」
I already covered this album in depth, so my opinion based on the crossfade still stands. All ななひら albums are worth buying but this is a very good one to start with, if you're new to this thing. Musically I think かめりあ once again comes out on top with a mind-blowing track, but NanosizeMir really surprises with their epic "hunter game parody" (yeah, I wonder what they mean). The duo even provides some guest vocals on this grandiose adventure. As for かたほとり, he definitely provides the most recognizable tune out of everyone! Extremely impressive composition and very much in line with his musical influences growing up. Of course it's really surprising to see REDALiCE contribute to this album (or is it?), this is basically a light-hearted version of his usual hard style. Very interesting and I hope to see more collaborations! Why not t+pazolite next time??
Row 2:
木下いちご 「でんぱれっと~いちご色になぁれっ!!~」
It's really cool to see 木下いちご making tangible progress, but the autotune on the first track is a little overbearing. I want to hear her real voice, imperfections and all. Thankfully the other tracks aren't as saturated with this dreadful effect. Another nice aspect is that all four tracks have nice pacing and tempo, no ballads here or otherwise boring filler tracks. Orphe Knights is doing a pretty good job providing 木下いちご with splendid mid-2000s denpa songs. Intentionally or not, this album feels like early MOSAIC.WAV and the first SHORT CIRCUIT compilation, at least musically. Looking forward to more!
おでんぱ☆スタジオ 「おでんぱ☆夏祭り～でらっくちゅ～」
Woah, I actually haven't even listened to this CD yet! But I liked what I heard from the crossfade, besides I wasn't gonna skip this. In fact I'm pretty sure my Odenpa collection is complete so far. Got nothing but love for this studio!
がきコ 「ロコモコ！」
Yikes, make that two CDs in a row which are still shrinkwrapped! I got acquainted with がきコ thanks to her various Zero-Shaft participations, but she doesn't seem to have that many original songs to her name overall. I was starting to worry about her but this CD proved me wrong. Three brand new tracks which hopefully mark the beginning of something much bigger.
C.H.S 「108 Sketches 3」
There's a little something for everyone on here. Of course this is an absolute must for t+pazolite fans and his bleeding-edge sampling and high-speed hardcore abilities, but Roughsketch is also amazingly versatile. In fact he has developed a few aliases over the years and they're all featured on this album. My favourite songs on here are definitely "GRK Spice", "UK HARD #SEAPUNK", and "Artistic Bondage" but the entire album has a great flow and there aren't really any weak moments. This is by far the best "108 Sketches" release, it's pretty awesome how much better they get each time. I don't suppose we'll see a fourth for another couple years, so enjoy the moment!
Delinquent 桃箱! Gotta love that pompadour.
Row 3:
ちぃむdmp☆ 「電波CHU×違法」
I may be a ちぃむdmp☆ fan for life, but even in my blind love for duo I can be critical. Here I come... 「電波CHU×違法」 is fucking awesome from start to finish! Yup, nothing bad to be said here. It's a miracle this duo is still providing us with classic denpa after all this time, so I feel it's really important to support them in return. I thought I'd be annoyed about the repeat song, but it's just so good and since the first album is out of print, it's a nice gesture towards new fans. Besides, NanosizeMir strikes again with the splendid opening track CHU＊LIP which might just be the best thing about this album. But really, everything here is pure audio crack. Master かたほとり also surprises with さくらんぼ旅館は移転しました which I feel is a spiritual sequel to a previous song, but I haven't really spent much time looking at the lyrics, or listening to the album for that matter...
The CD-ROM contains two high-quality WAV tracks (さくらんぼ旅館 and ジュウナンザイのうた) which both sound incredible, but more interesting is "収録風景", which shows both girls recording vocals at Naked Note Studio with a bit of playful banter sprinkled throughout. Unlike their previous CD-ROMs, this one doesn't have a music video... did MMDs already drop so much in popularity?
Honey came Lab 「practice!」
I loved their debut mini-album 「Honey planet」 so of course when HCL announced their C84 album, it went right on my shopping list! Even their first three songs were enough to provide a clear sign of things to come. This unit is definitely on par with ちぃむdmp☆, two beautiful voices (one way brattier than the other) with feel-good lyrics and addictive singalongs. Once again, the extremely busy Katahotori reinvents himself and provided 「Summerちっく☆ほりでぃ」 as a memorable opening track. Those who bought the album shouldn't forget about downloading the bonus track 「はっぴぃ にゅう にゃあ」 by MOMO_nga who normally deals in J-Core but provided a surprisingly catchy tune here (almost suspiciously sounds like きくお, that's a compliment!) I for one welcome any denpa dabblers!
桃箱 「mofumofu」
After teasing us for what seemed like ages, 桃箱 finally released her solo album at C84! This is basically a ちぃむdmp☆ mini-album with a single vocalist, so that should tell you everything you need to know. However, tracks like 「我☆猛獣ちゃんなり(`・ω・´)＜にゃー」 are clearly tailor-made for 桃箱, I'm not sure where Kaori would fit in! "Cat songs" are a denpa staple, but this one is pretty... aggressive. She almost sounds angry during the chorus, and I'm loving every minute of it! Although there are 10 tracks, only 5 of them are actual songs. Fans of her radio show will be well served with three drama episodes but personally these don't do much for me.
Beatlogic 「シュミックトリガ2-PsychoCrush A-POP!!-」
Last but not least, possibly my most anticipated record of the past 2 years! The followup to 2011's 「シュミックトリガ！ -New wave of A-POP-」 does not disappoint one minute. It's impossible to pick a favourite here, but I'll admit that かめりあ hits hard with his opening track 「電波、受信チュウ...」. This wonderboy definitely has his own style, but you can also hear some Tenkomori and きくお influences in there (both of them seem to have dimished their denpa output recently). Anyway the track is full of shiny, glittery and unexpectedly scrappy moments. Even a jazzy breakdown! With 盛るP, you only know one thing for sure: you'll be blown away. The rest is pure silky smooth mystery.
azuma's track is extremely professional sounding as usual, no wonder it was selected by SEGA. Special mention goes out to ふなむし and his masterpiece which oscillates between metal, loud indie rock, minimal techno and everything in between, while keeping a somewhat cute theme with the lyrics... I think! And of course my bro Cello, whom I can't praise enough, gives us straight-up Akiba-pop. I really hope this guy can gather the courage to work up a third compilation, but better yet a sequel to the criminally overlooked 「eLekSoNicRusHeRRRRRR!!!」. Go Go Go, you can do it Cello!
