Denpa no Sekai 2011 Sampler

Here we go again! Last year we kicked off the article by taking a look at the Japanese poll, but it seems this year's event was cancelled due to lack of time by the owner (I know that feel, bro). Still, a crying shame when you consider that this website held polls every year since 2003. Here's hoping someone takes over for 2012. However, that still leaves the 2ch 2011 Eroge Poll with a few Denpa picks, but mostly total domination from KOTOKO, Duca and of course 榊原ゆい. Here's the video compilation on Nicovideo.

So, short of having a Japanese top 10 to compare with, we thought we'd invite a Japanese writer to give his comments on our picks! Introducing our good buddy mossya, who's been a fan for quite some time. He contributes to a great blog (take-subの日記) on which he posts his M3/Comiket gets, as well as multiple MoeElectroDenpa mixes which are quite popular. Obviously this guy knows what's up so Mandi and I are glad to have him on board. That said, here's our 2011 sampler!

Title:	ろり☆ぱら! (opening song)
Singers:	天城あくる & ココ & mega
Composer:	ちゃぼ
Album:	ちびロリっ！
Released:	M3-2011春
Comments:	denpanosekai: Zero-Shaft had a tremendous year and really, any of their ロリっ！ songs could have been a contender. This one just happened to have a nice intro and ココ on vocals, which is always a big plus. mandichan: The dark humor of the lyrics balances out the cuteness of the vocals. A fun song that makes a good representative for the series as a whole. mossya: ロリっ！ソングに定評のあるZero-Shaft。完全合法です！2011年、素晴らしい企画力と物凄い作曲量で萌電波ソングを量産してくださいました！納得の一位です。この曲に関しては何より語りが致死的ですね！ココさんに罵られたい！お兄ちゃんとか呼ばれたい！！！ほああああ！！！！

Title:	電波LOVE～でんぱあいす～
Singer:	ちぃむｄｍｐ☆
Composer:	さつき が てんこもり
Album:	電波LOVE～でんぱあいす～
Released:	C80
Comments:	denpanosekai: Another year, another big album for the beautiful ちぃむｄｍｐ☆ girls. How will they be able to top this one in 2012? Time will tell! In the meantime, they've also released a couple of drama albums which are also worth checking out. This song was composed by Lord Satsuki and nicely conveys the feeling of a playful day at the beach. mandichan: ちぃむｄｍｐ☆ has been a blessing for denpa fans, continuing the welcome trend of original denpa groups, as opposed to those focused on Touhou or other derivative works. mossya: 桃箱さん＋愛原圭織さんのユニット。作曲はさつき先生！いつもよりキラキラしてます。歌詞もきゅんきゅいで素晴らしいですね。作詞は七色ビタミンのちなさん！このアルバムには"らじおONAIR♪"って曲も入ってるけど、桃箱さんのラジオはM-waveで金曜夜８時からです！ネットでも聴けるよ！(桃箱のmofumofuらじお)

Title:	なめこのうた
Singer:	おでんぱ☆スタジオ
Composer:	ベイビー・レモネード
Album:	ろりーたプラネット★ミ
Released:	C81
Comments:	denpanosekai: After a collaboration with とろ美, おでんぱ☆スタジオ didn't skip a beat and released a new single featuring 井上みゆ. We went with this one because they released a PV along with it, but it also highlights BB.Lemonade's unique style. mandichan: This song can and will get stuck in your head! Just be careful about singing it in public! These guys have some of the wildest lyrics I've ever heard. mossya: 性的ですね！！！所謂キャラメルダンセン的なループ→廃人コースの電波ソング！なめこを知らない海外の人がこのPVをみたら発狂しますね。知ってても発狂しました！！！最近のアルバムはゲストボーカルも豪華だけど、トラックのクオリティも高くて素晴らしいです。

Title:	オシエテスキシテ♥773
Singer:	白石なごむ
Composer:	きくお
Game:	ナナミの教えてEnglish DS ～めざせTOEIC®TESTマスター
Released:	February 2011
Comments:	denpanosekai: 白石なごむ and きくお are a dream team in my eyes, so here's hoping songs like this (and the ones featured on 『ぱらのいあ☆らヴ』) are just the beginning. The gratuitous abuse of the はいはいはい singalong is pure icing on the cake. mandichan: Nagomu is great, and this song makes a fine introduction to her currently unfortunately small library of music. I would love to hear this one live! mossya: マジでもっと評価されるべきユニット！！！でも一般受けしづらいのもなんとなく分かるのです。むっちゃ濃いからね！やっぱエロゲとかとタイアップしつつも今まで通り商業主義に絡めとられない曲を作り続けてほしいですね。応援してます！

Title:	飛び出せ! Sweet Sweet Magic☆
Singer:	ななひら
Composer:	nana(sevencolors)
Album:	プチリズムさん！
Released:	C80
Comments:	denpanosekai: Not really familiar with nana(sevencolors) as a composer, but when samples for this album were first released, I remember being blown away by the opening track! Of course with ななひら on vocals, you're in for an out-of-this-world experience. The プチリズム had two great albums this year (as well as a re-release of the first one) so that's a lot of songs to choose from, but this one was a no-brainer. mandichan: As always, this series is full of memorable songs, making it tough to chose. The arrangement builds up well and showcases Nanahira's voice to its fullest. mossya: プチリズムシリーズは神…！

Title:	Future Diver
Singer:	でんぱ組.inc
Composer:	小池雅也
Arranger:	前山田健一
Album:	ねぇきいて？宇宙を救うのは、きっとお寿司…ではなく、でんぱ組.inc！
Released:	November 2011
Comments:	denpanosekai: Perhaps what I like most about でんぱ組.inc is that they bring a human dimension to denpa songs. The girls are real and in-your-face, which is not something you can get from your favourite doujin vocalist. It's been a long road to the debut full album, but it was worth it! Having 小池雅也 and 前山田健一 on board kinda helps, too. mandichan: Although Dempagumi.inc has been around for a while, this year it feels they finally really came together as a group. I'm glad that they finally released an album so those who can't come see them live can join in the fun... but if you have the chance, come see them, or at least check out their newly released live DVD! mossya: 2011年はアイドルが日本の一般社会で市民権を得た年でしたが、それでもでんぱ組がオタク的なアンダーグラウンド感を保って活動しているのには好感が持てますね。この曲をAKBが歌ったとしても決して電波ソングには為り得ないのです！！！

Title:	オンナのコって♪マジ☆超えんじぇる!!
Singers:	あべにゅうぷろじぇくと feat. 佐倉紗織 & 白沢理恵
Composer:	どれちゅ
Anime:	快盗天使 ツインエンジェル
Released:	August 2011
Comments:	denpanosekai: Not sure what can be said about ave;new projecto that hasn't been said already. どれちゅ has this formula down to a science, even though we've been seeing more and more experimentation lately. While somewhat more "traditional", this Twin Angel OP is still absolutely insane and great primer material for those new to the genre. mandichan: I would prefer to feature 気まぐれ?つんでれ～た～, but me and denpanosekai couldn't see eye to eye on that one. Still, this one is fun, especially live when you can chant "Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!" Plus it marks ave;new project's first anime single.

Title:	two of us～姉さん、それは事件です～
Singer:	doubleeleven UpperCut (akari)
Composer:	山下航生
Album:	NUMBERS!! -Do you like Upper Cut?? 3!!-
Released:	C80
Comments:	denpanosekai: Love these guys! Pedal to the metal, one album after the other! Now they've even started focusing on live concerts, which is a rare feat considering 100% of their songs are eroge OP material. mandichan: Fun spoken lines sprinkled in pump up this relatively calm (hey, i said RELATIVELY) production from deUC! mossya: deUCの電波ソングはホントにライプで聴きたい感じのが多いですね。煽りがまじパナイ！この曲もそうで、イントロの合いの手とかのあざとさといったら！！歌詞も結構アレですがエロゲソングはやっぱこうじゃなきゃっていう。

Title:	ヒャダインのじょーじょーゆーじょーで
Singer:	ヒャダイン
Anime:	日常
Released:	August 2011
Comments:	denpanosekai: You might be surprised to see Hyadain pop up in a denpa sampler, but you have to admit this song is insane. I've had nothing but respect for this guy ever since he started releasing his video game remixes on youtube sometime ago. These wild anthems were really a form of denpa, if you think about it. Not to mention the whole female/male dual vocals thing... mandichan: Hard to resist the temptation to feature a male vocalist, lots of shock element there. Impressive how he can make such wacky songs and still come off as a "cool" guy. He's awesome in my book, and so is this song. (And Nichijou!) mossya: 上のでんぱ組.incの曲もそうだけど、2011年は前山田さんがむちゃくちゃ強かったですね。トラックもいいけど、ヒャダインの場合はピッチ編集で男でも電波ソングを歌えるんだ！歌っていいんだ！っていうのを示した功績も大きいと思いますｗ早速"ARM子"とかフォロアーが生まれてるしｗ

Title:	えっへん≦(￣^￣)≧どやどす天狗自慢
Artist:	MOSAIC.WAV
Album:	えっへん≦（￣^￣）≧どやどす？天狗自慢
Released:	C81
Comments:	denpanosekai: The Giants of Denpa strike again with a wonderful Uju theme song! These are always deliciously over-the-top and this year's edition is no different. They had a solid album earlier in the year, as well as a fantastic "best of" album with some sweet new songs... but this is their wildest stuff yet! mandichan: MOSAIC.WAV is still keeping their Uju themes fresh while keeping them (somewhat) unified in sound. I love the smug looking emoticon in the title to match the "Doya!" theme!

Title:	なむ×きゅん
Singers:	とろ美 & きこうでんみさ
Composer:	ARM
Album:	なむ×きゅん CD
Released:	C80 (DVD), C81 (CD)
Comments:	denpanosekai: Here's some math for you: 仏教 + IOSYS + とろ美 ＝ 電波!! It doesn't get any simpler than this! With Jester Misa by their side, Queen Toromi and Lord ARM rule the World of Denpa with an iron fist. We're not worthy! This blood-pumping hymn is quite memorable, but make sure you check out the CD for even more. mandichan: A worthy sequel to Ryohoji's previous theme. I just hope Toromi doesn't forget all about making her own original songs too!

Title:	ゆるしてあげないもん (ending song)
Artist:	U
Album:	ULTRA☆U -GALAXY-
Released:	September 2011
Comments:	denpanosekai: U has had a pretty big comeback in late 2011, let's just hope she won't make us wait so long for another album! Her unique voice and innate songwriting ability usually translates into timeless classics. I still remember quite vividly her 2005 songs as if I heard them yesterday and I'm quite confident this album will have the same effect! mandichan: This year we were truly blessed to have a new album release from U, as well as have her make lots of great songs for others. Although her works for the anime probably YuruYuri received more exposure than her solo works, it's her solo stuff that will always be best to me.

Honourable Mentions

denpanosekai's picks ※ 天然ジェミニ - お月見うどんてゐ! ※ cello - 通称！デンパリ娘 ※ nanano - 小町ちゃんの超すごい三途の川ツアー ※ 月葉 - じゃあ僕もう二度寝の歌作り増すよ! ※ BeatMario+ARM - ゆめゆめよめめ

mandichan's picks ※ 桃井はるこ - ジェットスマッシュ! ※ ave;new feat.白沢理恵 - 気まぐれ？つんでれ～た～ ※ おいでよ!妖精の森 - gdgd妖精s ※ Os-宇宙人 - エリオをかまってちゃん ※ 33.turbo - uta-oh

mossya's picks ※ しゅな(藤森ゆき奈＆上田朱音) - 恋向聴 ※ リズナ - Sakuramichi Overdrive ※ Chia - 幽谷ラップ!おはよーごじゃいます! ※ ココ - Subconscious Trip ※ メトロポリちゃんV - てゐのデート大決戦脳内戦略会議室!!

Twitter Cluster: Best of December 2011

Happy new year to all denpa fans and artists! December was packed with unbelievable albums and events. Not only did we have a great Comiket 81, but でんぱ組.inc delivered a splendid full-length album just before the year ended. Mandi and I will be working hard on our 2011 Denpa Sampler, which we hope you'll enjoy and post on many message boards to annoy/entice as many people as possible. Let's shoot for late February, which is usually when the fine Japanese folks pick their best songs of the previous year. Who knows, maybe we could run a poll next year as well, but that's a heck of a lot of songs to track. Until then, here's what we posted on our @denpanosekai twitter account during December 2011.

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December 3rd 2011

• Our buddy @moss_me has a seventh MOElectronicDempaMix!! Fantastic selection and nice transitions as usual, great work!

December 6th 2011

• 【告知】TANO*Cとぱぞソロ出るよ！！！むしろ2枚同時だよ！！　"Songs for X Girlz" & "Bright Colors" Release Party
• ぜるだのでんせつ打ち込んだよ Zelda 25th anniversary chip-mix on #SoundCloud

December 7th 2011

• konami & ave;new collaborating for a new song in "pop’n music 20 fantasia": あべにゅうぷろじぇくと feat.佐倉紗織 『恋はどう？モロ◎波動OK☆方程式！！』

December 9th 2011

• FOURTH プチリズム compilation 『プチリズムふぉお///』 out at C81, 2011/12/31 w/ ななひら、なゆ、ゆきまめ、kana、Nimo、ココ +++ tons of godly composers!

C81: ALBATROSICKS, ForestPireo, Zero-Shaft, InnocentKey +++

Don't be fooled by the low volume of C81 updates on 電波の世界, it's not about the lack of quality albums coming out, oh not at all. It's all about us being a bit busy and quite frankly, lazy! Still, here are a few must-get albums which are poised to be released during the eighty-first edition of the world's finest otaku event. As usual, some of these CDs can be ordered from stores like とらのあな for a slight premium... while quantities last!

Before we go on, here are the other albums we covered:

• IOSYS 『東方エレクトリック電波少女』
• ポヤッチオ 『プチリズムふぉお///』

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

C80: ユウノウミ, beatlogic & 天然ジェミニ have かめりあ in common

Although some of his songs were briefly mentioned in the past, consider this article a proper introduction to the work of かめりあ (aka cametek). He seems to have been active for a couple of years, with two 初音ミク albums self-produced within the past 10 months. The first one 『ハニージンジャーエール』 came out in late 2010, while 『TRIPPERS』 was released recently in May 2011. Sampling both albums as well as his nicovideo and soundcloud accounts should convince you of his various skills: drum and bass, dubstep, techno, trance, 8bit and even eurobeat!

But of course... this guy can also do denpa songs! He's pretty tight with our good buddy さつきがてんこもり, in fact they're collaborating on the debut major album 『ニコ生モラルハザード』 (more on that after C80). Earlier this year, the pair also tag-teamed the song 「恋色マジカルフライト」 on ForestPireo's 『Party Poche』. Finally, he's had multiple tracks on most of the fine CDs from Guunone Sounds. Now as luck would have it, cametek is featured on four Comiket 80 albums that we were already planning to cover and since his contributions are such standout tracks, he definitely earned today's spotlight!

First off, we have the ridiculously awesome 『シュミックトリガ！ -New wave of A-POP-』 from the brand new circle beatlogic. What a great way to kick it into high gear right out of the gate! Tons of big cannons shooting loosely on this one, just check out this tracklist!

1. 寝ル娘は育つ / MAX VEGETABLE
2. 続々☆熱中症っ！ / ボークP(azuma)
3. 夏休みYummy / さつき が てんこもり
4. 48 / デッドボールP
5. ソーサラー98 ～ The end of the known story / ぶっちぎりP
6. MoFmOf Days! / かめりあ
7. 通称！デンパリ娘 / cello
8. 恋人サンディは明後日笑う / 盛るP
9. マスシス / ふなむし
10. HOME MADE HERO / Phasma

That's right, Satsuki's on here, DeadballP too. And even if the other names aren't as familiar to you (yet), just give them a shot! This is a surprisingly high-quality 初音ミク/電波ソング/A-POP compilation that honestly feels long overdue, unless you count 『HeartsNative』 by MOSAIC.WAV. Difference here is that this is still within the doujin realm and some of these songs are batshit insane! The ぶっちぎりP and cello tracks in particular... man!

Next up is 『俺のチルノがこんなに天才なわけがない』 from ユウノウミ, also known as 夕野ヨシミ, aka the in-house IOSYS lyrical mistress (of doom). This is her fifth Touhou arrange album and much like the previous ones, there's a good mix of bonkers and softer songs (if you're into that). We're big fans of 未来派 and he's been on this series since the second album, so it's always good to get our fix. But the big news here is the fabulous opening track 「恋のパーフェクト微分方程式」 composed by かめりあ and performed by 山本椛 (momiji). It sounds like something ARM would come up with and that's probably the biggest compliment for an up-and-coming denpa composer these days. There's also a bit of eurobeat flavour which makes this track even more interesting.

天然ジェミニ is yet another IOSYS offshoot but we've covered them countless times in the past, so you know they're good! This time, they have two brand new albums for C80 and guess what? かめりあ is on both of them! Actually, he has two contributions on the "primary" release 『東方オールナイト幻想郷』 including opening track duties once again. He did work with them on 『東方マジカル☆コミカル』 so that explains his presence. Another repeat composer is Irus who brings in a harder edge, but he once worked with ななひら so he gets our eternal support! What sets 『東方多目的多世界』 apart is that it's a 神波千尋-only album. Part of what makes 天然ジェミニ special is the constant exchange between the two girls and their frequent guests, yet this actually works better than you'd expect. Once again there's a good mix of denpa, rock, jazz and pop, so there's absolutely no reason fans of the duo would pass up this solo effort!

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This concludes today's spotlight on かめりあ! These tracks are pretty impressive and definitely catchy, so we'll be keeping an eye on his future endeavours. We do have one more big article lined up before C80 hits this weekend so stay tuned! Remember to check out our Twitter feed @denpanosekai for the absolute bleeding edge news reports!

例大祭8 roundup: Innocent Key, IOSYS, 天然ジェミニ, Siestail

We've done roundups for M3-2011春, M3-2010秋, M3-2010春 Comiket 79 and hell, even 東方紅楼夢6. But nothing on Reitaisai, the grande messe of Touhou? Originally, we were planning on helping you build your shopping list back in early March, but the event was postponed to May 8th 2011 because of y'all-know-what. Of course you could always visit doujinongaku for the complete list of participating circles, but we've hand-picked some of the best (denpa-related DUH) albums which are coming out this weekend.

Note that many of these may already be available in stores, but they still deserve coverage nonetheless!

Let's start this round-up with Innocent Key... how often does that happen? Well, this is actually the first time in four years that we're taking a good long look at an Innocent Key album! We did select a song from 2010's superb「ココボク」as a "top denpa song of the year 2010" but of course the main draw was ココ and her awesome voice. Still, thanks to that album and now 「東方スクール」 (a full-on denpa album), it's finally time to give Innocent Key credit where credit is due.

The titular track dictates the pace and tone, playful and cheery tunes abound! Only "transmigration" takes a more serious turn, but it still somehow fits in just well. ココ is featured on most songs of course but dare we say this is yohine's most focused album? 溝口ゆうま also did a fantastic job arranging timeless Touhou themes with flair and panache. Somehow Lord ARM makes a welcome guest composer appearance. It also helps that most of the male vocals are downright hilarious! While 「リリーの花粉最前線！」 may just be the strongest song on the album on all accounts, you just have to LOVE Innocent Key parodying ULTRA-PRISM with 「収穫イモ娘」... really clever cover which we're sure put a smile on aniki's stern face!

Can somebody please tell ForestPireo that 「Party Poche」 can mean "boring party" in French? In certain parts of the world, at least. Regardless, this is not a boring party by any stretch of the imagination... especially when it has girls like ななひら, なゆ and ココ!!! This wild trio will light up any social gathering, but the other girls aren't exactly Debbie Downers either. Not to mention we have a couple of ikemen in さつき が てんこもり and Innocent Key's 溝口ゆうま. For once, we have a ForestPireo album that is mostly upbeat so... pretty awesome shindig after all!

Comiket 79 saw the release of the IOSYS mega-denpa-album "Touhou Unfufufu" which, among other highlights, had Queen とろ美 singing the opening track composed by Lord ARM. The dream duo is back for more, just as IOSYS have gone back to a more variety-oriented album format. Regardless, 「東方メレンゲ少女夜行」 is another worthy offering and still features tons of crazy denpa songs to sink your teeth in. Next to 「エンドレス・てゐマパーク」, miko's 「少女さとりのさとりったー」 is the album's other heavyweight. あゆ and her friends t+pazolite and Coda contributed a new ACT track which frankly is not as memorable as the material from their first single, but still highly entertaining. Speaking of ACT, they will release a full album at C80!

Lord ARM's remix album 「リ:キャンディッド! ARM東方リミックス」was the other big IOSYS release just a couple months ago. They've announced a few new ones since then, but this is still fresh hotness as far as we're concerned! This one remixes eight different songs from various IOSYS "eras", including some pretty old stuff. Any attempt to describe the album's genre is futile. After many coffee pots and a couple Red Bulls, Lord ARM let himself loose in his studio, kicked a bunch of computers+keyboards around and this is the result. It is not as "focused" as his own album 「ワァオ！ハイパー電波チャン -ARM商業作品集-」 in fact it's quite the opposite. "Fucked up" comes to mind but the real descriptor should be "incredible variety". This feels like a love letter to his fans so if you want to support Lord ARM, speak with your wallet.

monoROSETTA's 「GREATEST HITS(予定) Vol.1」 is one of the many albums that weren't available for the original Reitaisai 8, rather it was announced in mid-April 2011. Despite the "greatest hits", don't be fooled. It's more of a "retro" kind of joke (if that makes any sense), which honestly is in line with some of the music. These are all brand new songs, with only a few already published (?). Once again, there is a lot of variety at hand, from borderline disco (妖怪ディスコウサギのテーマ) to straight-up denpa (危ないカリスマ☆恋のスカーレット！ and a couple others) and even some good-old fashioned Ramones-esque kind of anthemic punk.

This new unit consists of two DearStage girls on vocals (夢眠ねむ (also a DenpaGumi member) and レナ) as well as VOID and a couple other IOSYS dudes writing songs and lyrics. Yours truly was lucky enough to see these girls perform live at the MegaPeer event in early January 2011 and judging from the crowd reaction at such an embryonic stage of their career, they surely have a number of years ahead of them. But since all songs here are high quality arrangements of Touhou classics, the real test will come in the form of an original album.

Although 天然ジェミニ (tenjemini) consists of 愛原千尋 and 愛原佑季 at its "core", they change their voices so much and bring in so many guest vocalists that it can be kind of hard to tell them apart from other similar units. But when one of these vocalists is ゆきまめ... it's time to party! Along with yet another guest (愛空アキハ) she sings the first song 「可愛いなんて言わせない!」which does a great job of setting up the new album 「東方マジカル☆コミカル」. We love Yukimame and hope she appears on more circles, but she needs her own album like Nanahira!

Compared to the former album 「東方女乱演舞」which had a couple of snoozer tracks, this new effort is overall quite pleasing to the ear. The two tracks from KANZAKI (yes, one of the TAMUSIC dudes) are extremely well-crafted but the real standout here is Loser Kashiwagi's delightful 「にとりときゅうりと謎の技術！」 which almost sounds like it was composed with real Genesis/MegaDrive hardware. It's good to see/hear one of denpa's OGs still kicking it old-school!

Rounding out today's roundup is Siestail with「ザ・ベストちぇん」their second Best Of album in two years; the first being 2010's 「ザ・ベストてゐ」. Now you might be thinking "two best-ofs in two years? that's fucking nuts!"... well, you're right. The thing is, Siestail's circle-master Spelunker is not human; it is a Touhou Arrange Machine From Hell (TAMFH). But at least, it has the decency of selecting fantastic vocalists for its admittedly uniques remixes. We're talking リズナ, 小宮真央, ココ, ℃iel, haru*nya, papico and a bevy of other awesome girls with awesome voices. Oh, you haven't heard of papico? We secretly posted her picture in a previous post, so there's a late Easter Egg Hunt for you.

No but really, Spelunker is doing its fans a major service by doing these compilation albums on a yearly basis. You see, between the original release of 「ザ・ベストちぇん」 (early March) and today, SEVENTEEN new songs were published on four different singles which we won't discuss today, despite being packed to brim with the great singers listed above. There's always next year... until then, do give this double-CD a chance. Surely one of the 32 tracks will do it for you, and as good as she sounds with t+pazolite, it's good to hear Miss リズナ under a different producer once in a while!

Japan Firsthand: Comiket 79 Part 1 - Rants & Reviews

So, Comiket 79. That happened. Click images for larger resolution. CDs from left-to-right, top-to-bottom:

Row 1

• ココ 「ココボクMUSICPARTY」: 11 brand new songs featuring the hyperactive ココ, no way in hell I was gonna pass this up! I actually picked it up at とらのあな, which had it on sale one day before it was released at Comiket. The Innocent Key website has samples for each song. さつきがてんこもり is one of the guest composers, therefore it's a must-buy! Lots of denpa and wacky pop. ココ goes waaaay over-the-top with her voice on this one... and we finally get official confirmation that ココ＝ボク.
  
• t+pazolite 「RESetup;」: I picked this up from とぱぞ himself and just had to tell him that I loooove his songs, especially when リズナ is involved. Although this new CD only has her singing three songs, it's an absolute rager. There's no doubt about it, this guy has a gift when it comes to fucked up hardcore-denpa music (not to mention he's probably the only one out there). I also got to see him perform live at the MegaPeer event, where he tore shit up in front of about 25 screaming fans. Intense!!!
• ヒゲドライバー 「3UP」: This didn't actually come out at C79, but it was released in late November 2010 so it's still very new. While checking out the booth babes in the business area, I spotted this dude walking around with an Higedriver sign. Since I love his unique brand of Chiptune Rock (and wasn't aware about a third CD) I had to ask what was up. An interesting Engrish conversation ensued with the president of LOiD Records, who was thrilled to learn that a gaijin knew about his label and the release of 「コスモドライバー∞ＵＰ」.
  
• ALBATROSICKS 「MERGE THE STRAWBERRY!」: I own all of the ALBATROSICKS albums released so far, so I felt like I had to get this one too. It includes 5 remixed tunes from each of their five previous albums, as well as a bonus track which features a seemingly drunk MIKO screaming her ass off. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure she handed me the CD herself but she wasn't all dolled up I couldn't really tell. She did have a similar voice. Quim was there too, unfortunately his attempt at making an English joke failed hard (sorry dude). This is a decent CD for the price, especially for the REDALiCE and DJ Command remixes. The others are kind of boring though.
  
• とろ美 「とろみ仕立て」: YAYYYYY I MET TOROMI. Mandi was right, she is incredibly small in person. She was dressed up as とろ弁天, her Ryohoji character. It was definitely cool to see in person, especially since I didn't have time to visit the shrine. She was very excited to meet me and I made sure to thank her for her years of lovely denpa music. This new album is by far her best, not to mention it has two tracks composed by ARM! This brings their total collaborations to four (in 2010 alone). The artwork is fantastic and I still can't believe she does everything herself. What a girl!
  

東方紅楼夢６ round-up: new 天然ジェミニ and IOSYS albums

Today (October 11 2010) is 体育の日 (Health and Sports Day), a national holiday in Japan. But diehard Touhou fans won't let a little forced exercise get in the way of their quest to acquire more items for their never-ending collection. For its sixth edition, the Osaka Touhou Festival 東方紅楼夢 is hosting hundreds of doujin artists, many of which will be launching their latest work for the occasion.

Of particular interest to 電波～萌え fans, the recent duo (trio now?) 天然ジェミニ will be releasing their second album 「東方女乱演舞」! If you are not familiar with 愛原佑季 and 愛原千尋 (and big-sister あんな?), please read this previous article. It almost looks as though this is a direct sequel to their C77 album 「東方香辛甘味」, right down to the composers: さつきがてんこもり, 未来派 and 24 bit lolitas all make greatly appreciated returns. Some of the texts were written by master lyricist ユウノウミ, with whom the duo collaborated on multiple occasions in the past. You can check out the demo MP3, but no PV so far.

To be perfectly honest, we haven't really covered IOSYS albums in the past because it feels like they can't bring themselves to focus on quality over quantity. They have great songs, but they're diamonds covered with so much sand. With all due respect to the composers involved, it seems that the chances of one of their albums being memorable is directly proportional to the ratio of songs that feature ARM/void in some capacity. Hate to pick favourite sons, but it is what it is (and feel free to disagree).

That said, while this album features at least five ARM-related tracks out of 12 (medley included), the previews for 「東方浮思戯革命」 seem to indicate that this is a well-balanced album. But just as interesting is the inclusion of three tracks from uno... a.k.a RoughSketch. The young Hokkaido-based DJ has collaborated with IOSYS in the past, notably writing lyrics for "Border of Extacy". But with these three new arranges and a whole remix album in 「東方IO-BEST BEATS」, you might as well think he's a full-time member.

The new album does include a couple of denpa songs, as well as splendid vocal talents from MIKO, the monotone girls and... ゆっくり (The Best Vocaloid Ever). Actually it's just some Windows App called SofTalk, but it sure suits the take'r easy attitude. All this to say that track #9 「 信仰を　集めて生やし　うしろあし」 probably takes the cake in terms of wackiest song of the album, and niconico bullet-hell commenters seem to agree.

Like IOSYS, Forest Pireo could use a little more focus when it comes to putting together compilations. Their latest album 「Memory Melodies」 has a couple of fantastic moe~denpa tunes that are unfortunately drowned out by the other tracks. Three of the ten songs feature ななひら and/or kana on vocals, which also means spirited and energetic music to back them up. Unfortunately the rest of the album sounds glum and dreary, which works against the small dose of energy mustered up on tracks 5, 6, 7. Still, for the ななひら completist in all of us, this one can't be skipped!

And now for some bite-sized news regarding today's event:

C.H.S 「蟲と東方と純血(ストロベリー)ジャム」

t+pazolite is back for more madness! Well, it's not like he ever stopped. This funky trip down strawberry lane redefines T.U.I (Touhou Under Influence). I gotta say though, his "Shitty Night" song is totally fucking gross.

ゆきまめ + more 「Digitalic -L+R- Party "Preview ver."」

ゆきまめ is a favourite here at 電波の世界, but it's an absolute shame that she hasn't had her own album yet. Hopefully she'll take a cue from her friend ななひら and this summer's splendid 「ゴキゲン77ﾟ↑」, but until then we'll gladly accept whichever small-time compilation on which she chooses to grace her presence.

k6project 「Thank you "Lotus land"」

Last but certainly not least, we have the mammoth "Thank you Lotus land" compilation from k6project, which packs 46 tunes, 21 manga and 265 illustrations onto a DVD. While you can't sample any of this beast online (it's only 100円 but good luck getting a copy), what's interesting to know is that one of our dear readers, namely cYsmix from Norway, is making his international debut on this compilation. While he is mostly known for his Touhou remixes on Youtube, the guy is also a bit of a denpa fan. To wit, this splendid 狂乱家族日記 ED remix with a hardcore spin.

C77: Witness the best of the rest (IOSYS is everywhere)

Comiket 77 ends today and so will our coverage with this final entry (unless we've missed anything glaring). Interestingly, most of the remaining entries are linked together in ways other than they feature denpa music to some degree... all of them can be traced back to IOSYS.



When you think of IOSYS, does the ARM/miko duo come to mind first? That may change soon, since they have another denpa unit in the works (and let's not forget the underrated Dear Chocolat series). Enter VOID/ayu and their first "solo" album 「*antipasto*」, which features 4 new tracks and remixed versions of the two Princess Party opening themes. Check out the crossfade sampler to get a good idea of what the pair is capable of.



「東方ラブストリーム」 （MP3） is C77's flagship touhou release for IOSYS, but it is also Countess Younomi's second entry in her own series (follow-up to 「東方ヘクトパスカル」 (MP3)). The four-track mini-album offers an interesting mix of gothic metal, flower-pop and hyper-moe-denpa, for serious. Calling all Albatrosicks fans: quim sings on the third track. If you're aching for more material from IOSYS's lyrical powerhouse, you can also check out 「定概テクトニクス」, (MP3) which offers straight up JPop tinged with just enough moe goodness to make it worth your time.



Date Course is linked to IOSYS too, because Countess Younomi wrote a few of their lyrics. The hypersexual trio (blame it on MILK) is currently the star of the most recent Dance Mixer DLC, but what we're mostly interested in today is their C77 mini-album-slash-eroge-single 「いちゃいちゃプリンセス！」, which compiles all FOUR of the songs they've done so far. Yeah I know, not a lot, but still good stuff. Let's just hope they'll focus on new material in 2010, now that the whole handshaking business is out of the way. The trio is also proud to announce that they've won the 2009 Moe-GameAward for best... topic (話題??) thanks to the game Marginal Skip, out of which the sound unit came from in the first place. No MP3 samplers here but you can always refer to our Under The Scope feature for all the info you need.



2-dimension is a circle from circa 2006 with quite a few earlier releases, but based on their slick new website, their C77 release 「parade」 (MP3) seems to be their "reboot" effort... and what an album this will be. The composer behind all songs is this guy "task", who seems to be the 2-dimension head honcho as well. A quick look at the album cover and the assembled talent will show you just how much flair this dude has. The miko/ARM duo leaves its mark here, although on two separate songs. More interestingly, you have cosMo＠暴走P on arrangement duties, better known 'round this blog as one half of cosMoDRIVER. Then yet another veteran shows up on vocal duties... talking about 茶太 (chata) who's been out and about since 1998 and is still kicking with tons of stuff for C77. Most will agree that she is mostly famous for her Growlanser VI OP, but the couple of denpa songs she did with her own circle ウサギキノコ sure turned me on to her music. Anyway, this looks like yet another winner even though it will probably fall into obscurity as soon as C77 is over.



Now for something even more under the radar, yet still totally IOSYS-related: a new moe-denpa duo 天然ジェミニ (shortened to tenjemi) featuring the lovely 愛原佑季 & 愛原千尋 are releasing their first CD 「東方香辛甘味」 (Touhou Spice and Sugar) (MP3) at C77. This is more or less completely denpa (or at least totally cute stuff) so it comes highly recommended from your friendly neighborhood 電波の世界 overlord. No seriously, check that shit out. The first sign of quality is that the two ladies have been featured on a number of IOSYS albums in the past, mostly on the really good ones too. Their about page has all the stalker info you need. The second sign is that さつき が てんこもり (Satuki Studio) composed the very first track of that album, with his signature deep bass groove prominently featured. 未来派 (iDOLM@STER lover) and 24 bit lolitas (likely another IOSYS byproduct) have a couple of marked contributions as well. Yes, this is another Touhou remix album, but one totally worth going out of your way to obtain (wonder how I'll be able to get my hands on this one...)



Aaaaand we're gonna end today's fun-tastic update with our good buddies at Studio Satuki. Yes I know, this isn't quite IOSYS-related, but bear in mind the previous paragraph and BEHOLD, a vague connection appears! Their C77 release 「ファミマ秋葉原店に入ったらテンションがあがった」 (When you enter the Family-Mart in Akihabara, tension goes up!!!) has a really long title, but is a little short on contents. All it basically does is collect their two most recent NicoNico hits (minus their splendid Hatsune Miku song) as well as the instrumental versions, a glitch remix of "ファミマ" and a bonus track from LOLI.COM. Hardcore Satuki fans will snap this up, but let's hope a real full-length album is on the way! A cross-fade sampler MP3 is available, but full-length versions of both songs can be checked out on our Under The Scope feature.