C85: doubleeleven UpperCut 「CONCERTO!!-Do you like Upper Cut?? 5!!-」

Since their one-man live and best-of CD earlier this year, deUC have diligently pumped out enough songs for a fifth full album! 「CONCERTO!!-Do you like Upper Cut?? 5!!-」 releases on December 31st 2013 with nine new songs, including a special collaboration with 民安ともえ who's been real chummy with softhouse-seal's top musical contributors these days.

1. Overture ～一歩踏み出せ！Dash&Run～
2. Magic Augment ～Grow up for the future～
3. Security con moto ～SeiCoM夏の治安維持キャンペーン～
4. Sister Triad ～がんばれワタシの恋ゴコロ～
5. サイミン・フリーケンシー ～あの娘にバレずにこそっとSo! New!～
6. 夜桜神楽忍唄～ニホンノミナサンコンニチハ～
7. Allegro!! Non-Limit!! ～オトウト激LOVE MAX％～
8. S×Mかぷりちお！～ヤバすぎ世界 SpecialなHigh～(民安ともえ feat. deUC)
9. finale -CONCERTO!! mix-

I think long-time fans know exactly what to expect from this album, but I'd still like to point out that I feel the quality of this album has increased over the previous releases! There's more variety, I really like the punk rock feel in "Magic Augment" with the silly bells and akari's over-the-top fast singing. "Allegro!! Non-Limit!!" has great high-tension moments and I really like to hear 山下航生 drop some vocals here and there, even if it's just for a はいはい or two!

In related news, deUC have a concert lined up next year so if you're in Shinjuku on April 19 2014, better look into scoring some tickets to P.C.M LIVE. As always, deUC-superfan ketsuage has a great crossfade video for the occasion. God, these softhouse games are just ridiculous!

Twitter Cluster: Best of March 2013

Remember our Twitter Cluster series? Yeah... we completely forgot about it too. Can't believe it's been over a year since the last installment. We'll give this another spin, but of course the best way to stay informed is to just follow us on Twitter!

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March 1st 2013

• ave;new feat.佐倉紗織 brings us 『My Little Glory』, the OP for 学☆王 -THE ROYAL SEVEN STARS- ＋METEOR for PSP!
• doubleeleven Upper Cut announced their first solo live! deuc/deUC on stage 2013 "DEUCHOLIC" on 5/18 at 渋谷Star Lounge!
• New book 「ボカロP生活」 featuring interviews with きくお and さつき が てんこもり +more! Info, CDJapan

March 2nd 2013

• "Love Me Love La Bride!!" is the OP for ラブらブライド, with music by void of IOSYS fame and vocals are 青葉りんご!

March 3rd 2013

• New MOSAIC.WAV theme song for PSP game 「雀聖学園クロノ★マジック」

March 4th 2013

• Akiba Ranger season 2 OP announced: 「アキバレンジャー シーズン痛！」. 桃井はるこ and 山形ユキオ return, along with classic tokusatsu vocal MoJo!

March 8th 2013

• New IOSYS album 「Stellar Nursery」 out 2013.03.31, produced by Uno (RoughSketch)
• Brand new 「民安★ROCK Remixプロジェクト」 samples from Shot Music! Sounds like a must-buy album!

March 9th 2013

• Interesting! Keep an eye on 「PUNK IT! TOUHOU! -IOSYS HITS PUNK COVERS-」 by IOSYS out 2013.3.31
• Today's Tune: 【初音ミク】eLekSoNicRusHeRRRRRR!!! by cello. Beat goes on!!!

March 14th 2013

• でんぱ組.inc's new "single" has a whopping NINE versions! でんでんぱっしょん c/w ORANGE RIUM or 先生！次はバトルの時間です。 and 少女アンドロイドA!

March 18th 2013

• Ever wanted to know all the songs Funta / U have contributed to? Check out this impressive list! Great research!
• Vocaloid fans might wanna take a look at ハロー！いろは feat. 猫村いろは. Denpa-ish tracks 4 and 5 in particular. On sale 3/29.

March 21st 2013

• Our friend @moss_me just released MOElectronicDempaMix13! Keep 'em coming bro!
• Another crazy cool mix from @moss_me! This one's for the nana, koko and momo lovers! shay-pee-mee!!
• Today's Tune: 愛原圭織 「ＧＯ　ＭＹ　ＷＡＹ！」 (composer: Clean Tears)
• OK @emamouse it's been three months since your last song "☆ラーメンスター★"! We demand more!!!

March 22nd 2013

• Wow! Ask and you shall receive! A new @emamouse masterpiece appears! 「大好きお江戸ベイビー」 Thank you!
• New game from our friends at M2: Ahoge Chanbara! Out March 2013.

March 24th 2013

• Tons of new 「民安★ROCK Remixプロジェクト」 demos from @noriken, @uno_roughsketch and @m1dy! Another killer @shotmusic album!
• Today's Demo: 「サカレサマー (IOSYS @uno_roughsketch Remix)」 from "民安★ROCK Remix Project"
• 「PUNK IT! TOUHOU! -IOSYS HITS PUNK COVERS-」 comes out March 31st and has 8 blazing tracks w/ guitar by void!

March 31st 2013

• Lots of great remixes came out today (A-Remix Nation 6.5 + 7) courtesy of For You Sounds. Free download!
• Today's Tune: 高槻やよい - キラメキラリ（Yayoi Birthday Remix)【Long ver. A-remix Nation 7】 by @Uhardcore
• ARM fans put this on your calendar 「すぺしゃアニ研Vol.1 feat. 福原香織 and ARM」 out this coming M3

C79: Cat-punching doubleeleven UpperCut set for round 2

Well, do you?

doubleeleven Upper Cut are about to change the game with their upcoming next-level denpa maneuver. How? Of course you would ask that question, hater. STOP HATING. And start playing this fatherfucking crossfade sample below (or download it), taken from the new compilation CD 「Do you like Upper Cut?? 2!!」. See how they don't mess around with punctuation?? That's SMART!! Here's the track list; 7-12 are karaoke versions.

1. White Purity ～純白純真恋模様～
2. Virgin Scarlet ～真紅の恋愛魔術師～
3. Dawn to Azure ～決戦の夜明け、群青の空～
4. shoot the bullet, silver bullet ～裏切りの鈍色銃弾～
5. Yellow Sensation ～秋深し 黄色く染まる 修学旅行生（トラベラー）～
6. Ring My Golden Bell ～聖夜に響け 黄金の鐘の音～

Let's back the fuck up. Like foxes on a henhouse, they stealthily released their debut album back in May 2010. As hard as I jocked them, the merciless slaughter was so abrupt that nobody noticed the ravage. But this writer, THIS writer right here, he still pumps those sick jams on a daily basis. The first volume had "LOVE" as a theme, with song titles such as "Love Infinity", "Love Messenger" and "Love Climax". Joan Jett said it best, Love is Pain, so get ready for a world of HURT if you haven't heard the first album yet... WAKE UP!

For the second album, they're gonna mix things up with an avant-garde concept: COLOURS. That's right. Let your perverted imagination run wild with tracks such as "White Purity", "Virgin Scarlet", "Yellow Sensation" and my favourite, "Ring My Golden Bell". As a reminder, these are eroge opening songs. If you still don't get it, hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband then check out Softhouse-Seal, the game studio which ordered all of these fantastic tunes.

To wrap things up, how about this nice 1-hour long radio show they just uploaded? It focuses specifically on the second volume (breaking it down song-by-song) along with all kinds of hilarious digressions. Finally, they managed to woo/trick 民安ともえ into inviting them to perform at her birthday show, where they will cover some of the long-standing moe diva's songs, presumably the more denpa ones. Already looking forward to the third volume in mid-2011, so don't let us down deUC!

Gaming news: BOSS FIGHT, FALCOM x XSEED and 3D Dot Game Heroes

First of all, MO (one of my childhood friends) has released a beta version of his upcoming browser-based SHMUP "Boss Fight". Right now it only features a single one-on-one battle, but it may remind you of the legendary Raiden. You should really check out the manual, especially if you grew up with NES and SNES games as I did. As far as I know, he did everything in the game but the hard rock music, which was gracefully provided by Saitama doujin circle S.S.H. By the way, the Vitalize plug-in is absolutely safe to download and install -- but there's only a Windows version. If you like Touhou for the games themselves and not just for the crazy spinoff music, then check this out ASAP!



Although Siliconera have been hinting at this for almost a month, it's now official. XSeed have formally announced their partnership with Nihon Falcom, which will initially include 6 PSP games and extends until late 2012 at the very least. The six announced games are: Ys Seven, Ys: Oath in Felghana and Ys I&II Chronicles, as well as the Sora no Kiseki trilogy (renamed The Legend of Heroes in North America). Check out some sweet interviews for all the nitty-gritty. Although this is great news (except for the glaring lack of Brandish PSP), perhaps the best part is that at least one new job has been created in this partnership, and it went to the greatest Falcom fan I've ever known (no, it isn't me). Congrats dudebro, you really deserve this!



Retro gamers, you owe it to yourselves to go out and purchase 3D Dot Game Heroes. Atlus USA are not kidding when they say this is the ultimate love letter to old-school gaming fans. They have jam-packed their localization with references to other games, from the venerable Ys series to From Software's own Demon's Souls. The gameplay itself is a charming throwback to Zelda 1, with all the added conveniences of modern gaming (shortcut keys, in-game map, save anywhere, etc). But perhaps more relevant to this blog is the absolutely stunning chiptune music featured in 3DDGH. Interestingly enough, the soundtrack was produced by the legendary Shinji Hosoe who (among MANY other things) arranged a track on nao's DystopiaGround debut mini-album Euclidean. It turns out the guy also owns SuperSweep Co. Ltd., a record label who published both TECHNO RIDER TAMMY albums in 2007 (techno-pop denpa with vocals by 民安ともえ). Oh, and he composed most of these Tammy tracks! Pass the awesome sauce, there is a denpa connection with 3D Dot Game Heroes!

Under the Scope: Everyone, let's DATE COURSE get!

It's a small interwebz, and an even smaller erogeworld after all. Earlier this year I was talking with I've Sound blog owner 愛撫 about a new fishtone (former I've member) OP tune. We both concluded that the song sucked balls and that this would be the end of that. Enter デートコース (Date Course) who actually had a decent song on the game's CD (抱きしめて欲しいよ, featured below), which I didn't bother checking out because of the totally lame fishtone OP. Shame on me, but no time like the present to catch up on past mistakes.

Although Date Course only officially started sometime in January 2009, the girls have at least a decade of experience combined. It's worth taking a look at the unique lineup behind this new band, namely: 民安ともえ the veteran, みるく the hypersexual strumpet and finally 加瀬愛奈, the regular girl who wants you to fly her "to the over the rainbow". No shit, hop in my Nissan and I'll take you there. OR WILL I?!?! They don't have a particularly explosive discography to this day, in fact this page will do a much better job at summarizing everything than I ever could. Some of their songs are pretty sappy, but the good ones are upbeat and borderline denpa. They seem to be closely related to (sponsored by?) game studio MoonStone and promotional agency Dwango (home to Akihabalove Records).

Together they make for a good balanced trio capable of producing fantastic (see above), average (see below) and mediocre stuff (see キラキラッ☆-twinkle star light- on the Princess Party album). The fact that 民安ともえ/Tami/Tammy/Tomoe/whatever you wanna call her is at the helm bodes well for Date Course's future. Here's a girl who's been working in the eroge industry for the past 5 years and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. Certainly one of her most well-know album is 「TECHNORIDER TAMMY」 but right now I'm "looking" for 「アイドルKiss! 無敵ッス☆」, her latest split single with 織姫よぞら, whose deep booming voice always impressed me, considering how tiny she seems! (eyes excluded)

Here's a rather unique objective Date Course have set for themselves this year: they want to shake 10,000 hands. It's a bit ill-advised with the A(H1N1) scare we're going through recently, but it's still an clever promotional ploy. As it stands, they have accomplished a little over 80% of their goal. But with only two months to go before 2009 runs out, methinks they'll have to offer a little more than a handshake. Might I suggest みるく upping the ante with a more enticing incentive? Or... chances are they'll have something new for C77 and that will seal the deal. So let's keep an eye out for our new favourite maid trio!

Mandi noticed an interesting fact: the lyrics to both songs featured on this entry were penned by none other than Countess YOUNO, who usually writes for IOSYS and Albatrosicks. It's a nice coincidence, but I wouldn't come to the conclusion that IOSYS and Date Course are in cahoots just yet, as the dog-loving author actually does this for a living.