M3-2010秋 round-up: iDOLST@GE, SteinGarCoo, 33.turbo + more

Compared to the spring edition of M3-2010 which spawned two large articles, this upcoming fall edition round-up is a bit lighter. Perhaps it has to do with the massive shift to Touhou arranges (which are more or less absent from M3), or perhaps circles are just focusing their efforts for Comiket 79. Either way, there are still quite a few interesting releases for denpa/moe fans. If you wish to purchase any of the following releases, note that doujincore.com is running an M3 group import until October 29th.

Let's start things up with something a little different, but still totally related to this blog. Doujin circle Zero-Shaft has been working on its iDOLST@GE series for around two years, yet they will finally release their first album this coming Sunday. The appropriately-titled 「FirstSt@ge」 packs 13 new songs and an intro, which you can sample on the official website. If you like what you hear, go ahead and download full versions of their 13 previous songs.

At first sight this might seem like an iDOLM@STER arrange album, but everything here is original... except for the concept of course. It's also worth noting that some of the singers have also been involved in denpa projects. There's the delightful ココ of course, who is regularly featured on  (the good) Innocent Key albums. Then you also have 小宮真央, who appeared on the quintessential denpa masterpiece 「エネルギー冷麺　お受験せんそ→☆」 from KuKuDoDo's Holic Service. But whether you know the girls or not shouldn't matter anyway; it's all about the execution and this doujin release certainly rivals Namco's own output.

したいがぁるくぅ (apparently romanized to Stein Gar Coo) is an interesting new unit. They've been around since August 2009 and have two mini-CDs under their belt, with a third one dropping this weekend. The first (self-titled) CD was created under the theme of "yanderock" and had a cute girl with a big pair of bloody scissors on the cover. For a debut, the songs are actually pretty good. You'd think they would have continued in that direction, but somehow they followed it up with a superhero drama CD...

Now they're back with a musical album, and a denpa themed one at that! Although they have offered very few details about the upcoming 「sweeCHU kiss」 mini-album, they have repeatedly stated on their blog that this will be denpa-kei. The imagery sort of gives it away, but this circle introduction video has a very short sample (we're talking less than 20 seconds). Either way, we here at 電波の世界 fully support new denpa units so let's give them the benefit of the doubt until they release longer samples.

UPDATE: They have released a sample MP3. Furthermore, ベイビー・レモネード from melo9/おでんぱ☆スタジオ will be a guest artist!

Good old おでんぱ☆スタジオ have been regular M3/Comiket fixtures ever since their late 2009 debut. Their discipline is second to none when it comes to releasing new music, let's just hope they keep working hard until they reach that next level. This time the odenpa girls are fighting it out at an athletic meet; school's back after all. There will be a "three-legged race" song, how often does that happen? No doubt countless (sexy) mishaps will happen during this brutal sporting event. Unfortunately, no samples are available right now, keep checking the official website for an eventual update.

33.turbo is a cute little denpa/moe unit that sporadically releases singles every now and then. For their M3 single, they took three "little sister" stereotypes (yandere, malicious, righteous) and created four songs out of them. Presumably the fourth one has the trio singing, but the niconico sample only lets us preview the first three songs. Their previous single featured four arranged K-On! songs, so it's good to see them go back to original compositions.

The last time 桜ふみ (SAKURA Fumi) was featured on this blog was also her first. This girl is all over the place: touhou arranges, iDOLM@STER DS, countless eroge theme songs... and don't you dare stop her. 「SIGMA] is her second full-length album, which features both commercial work and brand new songs. One of them is particularly interesting: track #3 「ウイステリア」 was composed by KuKu-motherfucking-DoDo himself. There's also a killer MUZIK SERVANT track; they're all pretty good anyway. If you're looking for some high octane pop/rock with mature female vocals, then this is definitely worth checking out.

That's it for now, but there are a couple more interesting releases in the "denpa watchlist" to your right. Toromi is supposed to have something new. nao/DystopiaGround has a third single coming out. We'll update this post with new releases as they are announced, perhaps even after M3 has passed.

M3-2010春 電波ソング round-up (PART 2)

M3-2010春 has come and gone, leaving behind one of its most impressive sets of doujin/denpa offerings in recent memory. While the previous entry had a pretty complete round-up of the main releases, some interesting stuff escaped our vigilance and/or was completely unannounced. Yes, this post comes one week late... big whoop, wanna fight about it?



Good guy さつき が てんこもり (satsuki ga tenkomori) releases his own music through his studio皐 label but also takes care of side-project doujin circle ぐうのねサウンズ (GUUNONE sounds) which saw its third and four releases come out at M3.

「ミキューン！」 is a vocaloid compilation featuring satsuki and ラマーズP, a wildly popular Miku manipulator who got his very own full-length album on EXIT TUNES in 2009. All six songs are featured on this generous crossfade sampler, but you could also check out full versions of 「チョコレート」, 「ウインク・トランジ・スター」, 「STOMP THE ENEMY」 and probably the rest too if you look for them hard enough. All six tracks are extremely energetic and some of them were even tagged "denpa" by satsuki himself, so you know this is some good shit.

The second album is 「ACアダプターKICK-OFF！2」 which, as its title indicates, is the second entry in GUUNONE's "AC Adapter KICK-OFF!". Both this sequel and the original volume serve up wacky remixes of Nintendo classics such as Super Ghouls & Ghost, Mother 2 (Earthbound, motherfuckers!), Super Mario World and SimCity among others. Eight talented composers contributed a track, so this is a real treat for old-school gamers! Check out samplers for Volume 1 and Volume 2, but you should totally check out the full version of Satsuki's own track 「dead or die!」 which is a drum & bass remix of the first stage from one of the hardest games ever created!



There were a lot of great last-minute surprises at M3, but perhaps none greater than Birdtune's latest release: a new みりん☆ single CD!!! Don't let the fact that 「アタラセカイ」 was up against the clock fool you, its tracklist means serious business. We're talking brand new tracks from cosMo＠暴走P, studio皐, 未来派 and a KuKuDoDo remix, not to mention moemoe art from あじさ 飴, the underground idol's usual illustrator. This is not only her most varied collection of music to date, it's also her best. Check out the sampler below, or download the MP3 directly.

33.turbo did have something for sale, but it wasn't her first single like previously presumed (it actually sold out on the only day it was available, that is to say M3-2009-fall). This time around, she had a brand new K-On! arrange mini-album for sale! Whether you're a fan of the series or not, you can't deny the sweet arrangements 33.turbo have to offer. Some chiptune, some drum&bass, all badass. The production team is listed here; looks like we're dealing with a brand new bunch of artists here! She apparently sold out this new mini-album within an hour... it was a steal at 300 yen to be sure. Hopefully this success is not short-lived and mimi-turbo can cook up a first album in time for Comiket 78!



You thought the glasses fetish was dead? Not so, says programYMG. The IOSYS/InnocentKey/SoundOnline supergroup has a brand new 9-track mini-album (5 of them are dramas). The actual songs themselves range from standard JPop to straight-up denpa, with a twisted gothic-themed one right in the middle. Too bad they don't go for the picopico stuff more often than they do, because that's probably where they shine the most.

ココ is an up-and-coming moe/denpa vocalist who's mostly known for her incredibly cute Innocent Key contributions, but true hardcore fans will remember her sweet collaborations with Satsuki the most. That Persona Arrangement Album was pretty sweet too! For M3, she was featured on Senses Circuit's 7th CD, cleverly titled 「ココミク☆ミラクル」, which features 5 original tracks from hitoshi. The above PV will give you a pretty good idea, but you can download a much longer crossfade sampler for your enjoyment. Doubt this will be as popular as MOSAIC.WAV's miku album... a shame, because it's definitely a high quality release that deserves everyone's attention!

Rapid-fire post-M3 news

• Still no sampler from DystopiaGround's latest single, however you can check out some hilarious Engrish on nao's M3 booth. "This group of musicians is aiming at becoming the best A-POP artist in the universe"... or something like that? Wow, bold claim is bold!
  
• Denpa idol maria-tan had her new single for sale... entitled 「バスルームは浮かれビート☆」. LOL is all that needs to be said.
• Looks like Siestail delayed their Rizuna vocal album to C78.
  
• Melo9 were at M3 but only had a two-track drama CD for sale, as well as their Valentine Day's single. Note that melo9 and おでんぱ☆スタジオ share some staff members!!! More on that later.
• Twinkle Callion is another doujin circle that shares staff with melo9, one of the two singers this time. They're heavily on the moemoe tip, not so much denpa, but interesting stuff nonetheless. Their second single 「dream prayer box」 was up for grabs at M3.
  
• As expected of とろ美, she had a new single just for M3. The second track 「キミに贈る言葉」 is new stuff, but the titular track 「センセイ布告」 can be downloaded from C:DRIVE as it's an ending theme for one of their recent eroge titles. Don't worry, she's more than likely to re-release this stuff at one of the coming comikets. The fantastic cover art though... that's bound to be a one-time deal only!
  

M3-2010春 電波ソング round-up

The spring edition of M3-2010 is just around the corner (May 5th), so here are some of the upcoming denpa-related albums worth checking out. Note that I've probably overlooked a bunch of them, so feel free to throw in your comments. As always, M3 runs a solid news page that gets pretty busy once the event approaches.

The first item on our shopping list is certainly the most curious one: it's a MOSAIC.WAV arrange album!!! At first I was like Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ but then I was like （￣へ￣）. See, 「もざいくりこーだーvol.1」 features 8 MOSAIC.WAV songs played... on recorders. In fact, various flutes were used and they're all described in the opening minute of this sampler video. Do you like what you hear? I may end up buying this to support my fellow fans, but I'm just not that enticed by the results. But whether or not flute is your thing, you can't deny that the folks in the とらふえ circle are extremely talented, as this is actually their fourth album. Furthermore, the jacket artwork by Candy5 is pretty damn cool and this thing is just 600 yen!


Remember unMOMENT? Yeah, I miss them too. They had a ton of potential, but just drifted off into nothingness after the release of their one and only album 「萌魂 ～moe spirit～」 in 2006. オカザキシュン (OKAZAKI Shun) and 新堂真弓 (SHINDOU Mayumi) were backed on guitar by none other than 小池雅也 (KOIKE Masaya, aka big brother) and collaborated with MOSAIC.WAV among others. Both songstresses are still active but Okazaki is pretty much dedicated to BGM composition with 4-EVER. This brings us to Shindou and her brand new compilation album 「新堂真弓 AKIBA SOUND BEST」. While available for public consumption on May 21st, 100 copies will be sold at M3 (presumably a limited edition). The CD features a whopping 17 tracks, with her most popular song 「SHE SEE LOVE」 appropriately starting it all. Samples and commentary available on Candypop's website. Denpa fans: this is a must-buy!


I love me some 桜ふみ (SAKURA Fumi) and so will you once you get acquainted with her music. As cute and innocent as she may seem, some of her songs have been used for hardcore R-18 OVA titles such as 「RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!」. So yah, raep is bad, but the song is great. Her M3 CD does not include that one song though, it features some far lighter material that definitely fits under the 萌え umbrella. The three tracks are 「booster」, 「LOVE MOTION+POTION」 and 「Kiss~Kiss~Kiss」; the full cover art can be seen here. I couldn't find samplers for the first two songs, however 「booster」 can be downloaded from C:DRIVE (note that Toromi also has an ED track up for grabs). You can also check out her latest song 「cherish」 to get a better idea of her style.

Toromi usually has something for M3, and this time is no different. Her own offering is still being worked on, However, Pneuma Records has recently confirmed that she will be contributing two songs to their latest compilation CD 「ましん・ぽっぷVol:2- We Are Pneuma -」. According to mandichan, the first one (track #2) was previously featured on another compilation, but the second one (track #5) may be a new song because I can't find any info. Not gonna comment on the lyrical contents, because it is a little odd from this cultural perspective. Then again I just wrote about a rape OVA. Either way, I'll update this paragraph later once Toromi published info on her new release, but I'm expecting a new single.


Ever heard of doubleeleven UpperCut before? That's OK, neither had I until today, but they started in November 2009 and this will be their first release. Prepare to be blown away, especially if you're a fan of SHORT CIRCUIT and ave;new projecto (and why wouldn't you be?) because this is clearly what they're going for. The unit proudly describes itself as "high speed denpa" and is actually a sub-division of the doubleeleven undercurrent circle. Its members are 山下航生 (producer) and akari (vocals), with seemingly no prior experience.

Still, deUC (that's how they want to be abbreviated) already has 6 songs and judging by the streaming sampler, this is some high quality stuff that is a cut above the rest. Their artwork is highly professional, which leads me to believe that they are in fact associated to softhouse-seal, the eroge company which ordered all 6 of these theme songs in the first place. If you wanna see some kooky English lyrics, head over to the latest game's homepage for a few laughs. Isn't one game a month quite the turnover? Not that I'm complaining! Keep your eyes on doubleeleven UpperCut, the latest denpa sensation!

vivid'sB is another "new" circle, in the sense that I've only found out about them recently. But it's not like their main singer and apparent head honcho 西沢はぐみ has been around forever either as she released her very first album in late 2009. The album can be sampled in full on their website (no direct link, sorry), but you can also check out some of her previous work. Now the above song 「combination somebody！」, in all of its Dragon Quest lookalike glory, will obviously not be up for sale at M3 as it was just made public on April 22nd 2010. However, they will most likely repress some copies of the first CD and now's the chance to get your hands on it. Oh wouldn't you know, 柏木るざりん (Loser Kashiwagi) was a guest composer on track #7 「しゅこしゅこぼーん」, no wonder it's ultra-funky! Don't know the man??? And you call yourselves denpa fans... for shame.


And now for the BEST NEW CIRCLE NAME OF THE YEAR DECADE, introducing...... ODENPA STUDIO!!!! Yes, not joking one bit. First DenpaGumi, now おでんぱ☆スタジオ. They have so many good things going on that I don't know where to begin. Well, the awesome name, that's out of the way. Now if you head on over to their website, you'll notice that the illustrations they use are very sharp. They have their own domain name too, this says a lot. But the best aspect and not the least, is the quality of their music. The sampler MP3 for their M3 album is sort of tucked away on the main page. Then if you scroll down a bit, you'll notice there's another sampler for a C77 album that was "rejected" but was still sold at the graphic artist's own booth with an appropriate cover art.

Anyway, the name says it all, but the music ain't lying either. In their own words, this is "360 degree radiation moe-denpa" music. Too bad the website is very low on information, as most of the sections are incomplete. I can't even tell you who does what, other than this sounds too professional to be the work of a newly-formed circle. They do appear to feature two distinct vocalists. The fact that they have nearly a dozen tracks is also very suspicious... in a good way! Look forward to more details as I acquire this album.


33.turbo (pronounced mimi turbo) is yet another new denpa circle! Right now they have an M3-2010 booth, but their blog hasn't been updated since last year, so we can only assume that they're gonna have their first CD up for sale once again. 5 crazy tracks for 400 yen, I'm not complaining! Sample them for yourself, personally I'm slightly reminded of Melo9 and Toromi, so this is great! Their most recent post does mention something about the next release featuring multiple collaborations, we'll have to wait and see if they update the blog in time for May 5th.

Rapid-fire M3 news

• IOSYS has a Touhou brass band arrange album (produced by ARM) and a programYMG drama CD.
  
• Melo9 said they would have a new album for M3, but so far no news on their blog. At the very least they should have copies of their Valentine's Day CD.
  
• GWAVE have uploaded the second MP3 from Team Love Bullets' upcoming single. They also have a Chuable Soft compilation up for grabs.
• Siestail are not promising anything, but they are working on a full vocal album featuring Rizuna! If this is anything like their KERO album, this could be huge!!!!
  
• DystopiaGround (Nao's doujin circle) will have a new 2-track single, no samplers or credits yet.
• 夢月まりあ (aka maria-tan) will be selling her first mini-album 「CRAY04」 which includes four tracks listed here. No samples, but she has a million YouTube videos where you can check out her many guerrilla lives. This self-declared otaku has been known to bust out some crazy denpa songs, so this could be an interesting CD.
  
• ひげいち。うぇぶ sounds like an interesting circle in theory, but sound samples are nowhere to be found. The two main members are apparently totally crazy about denpa. They already have two albums and will release a third at M3-2010春. The fact that they have album themes and track topics seems to indicate that these are in fact drama CDs.
• Although they have an M3 booth, nothing new from Birdtune. They're probably still pushing 「すいーつぱれっと」, as they should. In related news, みりん☆ seems pleased to be featured on the 電波の世界 ~ 2009 sampler. She is working on a third album and will be playing some new songs at her upcoming concert this weekend.
  

C77: From fripSide to DystopiaGround, nao's "graduation" complete

We all expected nao to bounce back after her separation but other than a lone (though brilliant) eroge OP, nothing concrete came out of that fateful day. Well worry no more, nao fans, as she is definitely back, but not in the way you'd expect. Spearheaded by 志倉千代丸 (of 5pb. fame, yes the Ketsui publisher), DystopiaGround is a new doujin circle that focuses on nao and her songs, much like what fripSide used to be. They will release two mini-albums called 「Euclidean」 and 「Fermion」 at Comiket 77, with 4 tracks on each. Click "Play Music" on the flash-only website for demos of each song.

The main difference so far is that DG is not limited to a single composer but rather a ton of them, including superstars 桃井はるこ and motherfucking 伊藤賢治 of SquareEnix fame. Yes, the one and only Kenji Ito, how the hell did they get this guy? But according to his blog, it's not the first time he works with Momoi (they were teamed up on this effort). One of the "fripSide NAO project!" composers is back too, and you can tell from the samples that they won't shy away from denpa stuff. Either way, their mantra is "No A-Pop, No Life!" which greatly pleases this writer. There is a lengthy interview with nao about this new project up on Famitsu. Exciting stuff! Let's hope for more DystopiaGround stuff in 2010.