Seventh Holic Service album 『二度づけ禁止塾！』 out today

A mere month ago, we were reporting on Birdtune's long-awaited return to form with the release of their new C80 album 『東方ピコピコ祭り』. Well Lord KuKuDoDo hasn't forgotten about his other label Holic Service either, although no one could predict the wait would be so short! Introducing 『二度づけ禁止塾！』, the seventh touhou denpa arrange album in a long line of acclaimed releases. Unlike pre-2011 Holic Service albums which saw guest composers such as 未来派 and t+pazolite, this one is 100% arranged by KuKuDoDo... the man is on fire! Here's the crossfade sampler and tracklist.

Track	Title	Vocals	Original
01	答え）マリアリ　←正解	小宮真央	恋色マスタースパーク
02	Bad DENPA Apple!!（実在する団体名とは一切関係ありません）	実谷なな	Bad Apple!!
03	片翼のアドベントチルノレン	Gumi	おてんば恋娘
04	この曲はβ時代の提供でお送りしました。	小岩井ゆづき	サニーミルクの紅霧変異
05	あの日見た巫女の名前を僕たちはまだ知らない。	桜ふみ	神々が恋した幻想郷
06	東方新奇（どうして僕はゆとりになってしまったんだろう　でも君が選んだのはTAOの道）	Gumi	リジットパラダイス
07	幽谷ラップ！おはよーごじゃいます！	Chia	門前の妖怪小娘

Quite a lot of interesting facts on this tracklist, so let's get down to it. You'll notice most of the songs have really long titles, there's definitely a lot of humor involved. The first track features 小宮真央 doing vocals in a range that's slightly surprising for such a light-hearted song, but still very fitting. Then we have 実谷なな doing "Bad DENPA Apple!!" with her trademark range, over a dark yet groovy arrange that stands its own in a sea of remakes. Next is a brutal re-imagining of おてんば恋娘 that features heavily distorted guitar and powerful drums, something which isn't traditionally associated with KuKuDoDo! Definitely an experimental track that ends up sounding pretty good, not to mention Gumi made sure to go with an appropriate singing pitch.

Track 4 goes back to wild denpa style with 小岩井ゆづき going crazy over an equally insane remix. Definitely seems like a highlight of the album based on the short sampler! But then 桜ふみ kicks in with her splendid voice. You can easily tell this girl has lots and lots of experience in the 'biz, it's good to see her and KuKuDoDo seem to be on good terms! Gumi then gets another slower track, although this one feels a lot deeper and upbeat than you'd expect. Finally, Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia brings the album to an end with a wacky rap on what feels like the most turbo-charged denpa anthem of the album. Great way to wrap up this party!


Another point of interest is the superb cover designed by 朱シオ, which features Cirno going commando with a mere ice shard conveniently getting in the way of a full pantyless upskirt... from a distance it definitely looks like... something else. Definitely going to attract lots of attention! This is a good thing!!! Overall this is definitely a worthy Holic Service album and it's good to see that KuKuDoDo manages to try new things while understanding exactly what his fans expect from him. It's not part of the "エネルギー冷麺" series, which sorely needs a revival after 2 years... but we're keeping our fingers crossed for C81!

For now, you can purchase 『二度づけ禁止塾！』 from the following websites (we recommend www.dv8cag.com for international shipping)

1. Akibaoo
2. Toranoana
3. D-STAGE

First major album for さつき が てんこもり 「ニコ生モラルハザード」

Our good buddy さつき が てんこもり (Satsuki ga Tenkomori) had a big hit on his hands when he wrote one the of ED themes for last years's blockbuster anime 「俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない」. In our exclusive interview, he revealed he had plans for more major endeavours in the future. The proverbial cat came out of the bag a couple weeks ago when his first major album was announced for release by Dwango Music Entertainment!

「ニコ生モラルハザード」 is set for September 7th 2011 and will include 10 tracks (all originals, some Nico favourites). If you've been following Satsuki for the past couple years, then you should know exactly what to expect. His distinct style can be described as hyperactive electro-pop with buzzing bass and groovy rhythm patterns. This album raises the bar with refined production and attention to details. The "denpa" moniker definitely fits the bill but if you won't take our word for it, publisher Dwango calls him a "電波系アーティスト" (denpa-kei artist).

As you likely noticed, all songs feature female vocals. Although he is a skilled vocaloid "manipulator", Satsuki's songs really come to life when sung by genuine, lovely 3D ladies. Normally he would team up with ななひら, kana or many other doujin vocalists, but this time Dwango paired him up with three equally proficient Niconico users. First we have the "bad girl" Hamar, who is actually a big fan of old Squaresoft games. She has a bit of a rougher voice, but can pull off some cute tones.

Next is ゆづか姫, who dresses as a maid and just loves those Bull Terriers (Don Cherry's dog Blue). More cute stuff from her, with a bit of a bossy attitude since she's a tutor. Last but not least is みかりん* who is 200% cute and delivers splendid upbeat performances. Their complete profiles can be found on the official website, so make sure you get to know them!

Additionally, take a look at this promotional video featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage! There's even a sneak peek at the "photo set" which will be included with first press copies. Looks like everyone had a great time recording this album!

Here is the final tracklist. All songs were composed by Satsuki, but tracks 5 and 6 were co-arranged with y0c1e and かめりあ respectively (very cool inclusion). Each girl gets to sing three songs, with the tenth being a group collaboration!

1. わこつ de 曼荼羅ビア ～小学生になりたい～ 【みかりん*】
2. Romance of rose 【Hamar】
3. UniUni♥SunSun 【ゆづか姫】
4. 団体一名True my voice! 【みかりん*】
5. 魔法変身！顔面ランドスケープ 【Hamar】
6. 契約と首輪、絶対の服従。 【ゆづか姫】
7. 男の娘メモラブル 【みかりん*】
8. ネトゲ廃人シュプレヒコール 【Hamar】
9. お断りします 【ゆづか姫】
10. レッツら破壊工作 【生娘モラルハザード】

Wanna support さつき が てんこもり and this site at the same time? Buy your copy through the following link. They might still have some first press copies if you act fast enough!

Nico Nama Moral Hazard

HAMER/Yuzuka Hime/Mikarin* feat. Satsuki ga Tenkomori

C80: IOSYS, Albatrosicks, Forest Pireo, Innocent Key +more!

Try as we may, we just couldn't write the following previews in time for C80, choosing instead to focus on the brand new hotness that you just had to know about. That's not to say this "best of the rest" list isn't worth your time, hell no. Anything that gets mentioned on this website is gold! *ahem* Besides, any 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 albums we previously covered:

• ACT 『First Aid Navigation』
• Birdtune 『東方ピコピコ祭り』
• beatlogic 『シュミックトリガ！ -New wave of A-POP-』
• ちぃむｄｍｐ☆ 『電波LOVE～でんぱあいす～』
• C.H.S 『Samplejunk』
• doubleeleven UpperCut 『NUMBERS!! -Do you like Upper Cut?? 3!!-』
• MOSAIC.WAV 『Hな国の教育事情』
• ポヤッチオ 『プチリズムさん！』
• 夕野ヨシミ 『俺のチルノがこんなに天才なわけがない』
• 天然ジェミニ 『東方マジカル☆コミカル』
• 天然ジェミニ 『東方多目的多世界』

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Did you really think IOSYS wouldn't have their 18th Touhou album launching at C80? Course not, that's their bread & butter. Are you surprised that it's a fairly even mix of denpa, pop, rock and drama? Well, even under the motto "no denpa, no life" they strayed a bit... gotta keep everyone happy. However, who out there expected that one day we'd find とろ美, REDALiCE and ビートまり on the same album? Well now, that is a nice surprise! Credit must be given to IOSYS for always finding a way to set themselves apart one way or another.

The first three tracks from 『東方プレシャス流星少女』 deserve a closer look. The album opens strong with とろ美 singing hilarious 夕野ヨシミ lyrics over a turbo-charged punk-as-fuck anthem from minami. We knew Toromi could be versatile, but this is just beyond expectations! This trio should seriously consider spawning a new unit. Next we have ARM and ビートまり teaming up for a brutal hot-blooded Byakuren parody (see video below). Actually the dream pair has worked together in the past but this high-profile, "marquee" kind of song is generating quite a lot of buzz!



Our third examination sees REDALiCE serve up one of his classic hardcore concoctions with a long and slow buildup towards an explosive climax. TANO*C and IOSYS are definitely not strangers, nor is this REDALiCE's first IOSYS track (notably "Taboo Tears You Up"). It's just really nice to have these three artists on the same disc. Most of the other tracks also make for fantastic ear candy, but we'll leave that exercise to the reader. There's a strong chance you'll get the same feeling listening to this album that you did listening to 2007's 『東方萃翠酒酔』 and that means a lot to some fans!

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Despite all these hot guests, notice someone conspicuously absent from the latest IOSYS album? That's right, miko didn't participate because she was so god damn busy preparing for a new ALBATROSICKS album! 『AERAS』 marks the seventh effort from the longest-running IOSYS offshoot. As always, it consists of sweet glittering picopico pop with Dr.ARM's ever-present denpa style deeply permeating all tracks. The mood swings on this new one are quite extreme, going from melancholy to ecstasy in the blink of an eye. No doubt about it, the supergroup hasn't lost its mojo... now where is the flash movie for this album?!

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All samples available on website

Believe it or not, Forest Pireo is now offering its 14th album. The impressive part is they only started in June 2008... so that's an average of 4.666 albums a year! That's one of the advantages doujin circles get from cooperating with various freelance composers, they can pump a lot more things out the door and keep the fans hooked until the next big event. And when some of your regular collaborators include さつきがてんこもり, kana, ななひら and ココ... we sure won't complain about this high turnover rate!

「Sing Summer Song」 can be fully analyzed just by looking at its title. It's happy-snappy and makes you want to go out for a pleasant walk under the sun, by the river (preferably accompanied by ななひら). Of course this being a Touhou arrange album, different folks will get different levels of enjoyment from different songs, but there's no denying that this site's readers will most likely get a kick out of tracks 1, 5, 6 (未来派!!!) and 7. That's a good 40% right there, and the rest is absolutely nothing to scoff at. There are some prime performances by まめこ, めらみぽっぷ and 実谷なな, the latter two can also be heard on the latest Birdtune CD 『東方ピコピコ祭り』.

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All samples available on website

We quite enjoyed Innocent Key's 例大祭8 album 『東方スクール』 since it had a high concentration of denpa songs and some of the best ココ performances to this day. Their C80 album 『東方スクール』 is a bit more in keeping with their regular style, which is to say high-tension pop, some softer stuff and even a bit of prog rock thanks to デッドボールP. For you see, Innocent Key is giving the Touhou girls an Idol CD, so they must test their various skills! The album's PV is based on the the song 「東方プロデューサー ～ミセパンアイドル大作戦～」 and features 5 vocals: めらみぽっぷ, 大瀬良あい, Nimo, ココ, 梨本悠里 and 岩杉夏!

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Our last recommendation would be 「Sweet Blue」 from そよかぜのおと with some pretty cool 萌え-esque songs from ななひら, ひななた and a great song from がきコ whom we think has a bright future!

That's it for our C80 coverage. There's still a bunch of other albums in our "denpa watchlist" and we're pretty sure we missed out on a couple ones! Otherwise there are a couple of REALLY exciting albums coming out in September, stay tuned for coverage on new albums from さつきがてんこもり and U!

C80: Celebrate KuKuDoDo with Birdtune's 『東方ピコピコ祭り』

It's been 1.5 years since the last Touhou arrange release from Birdtune and frankly, we were getting a little worried. Although the circle is relatively young having started in 2008, they've built an impressive legacy of fantastic albums (both original and touhou arrange) and frequent live appearances. But they've lost a bit of steam since their main vocalist みりん☆ "graduated" (read: hasn't done much since) shortly after the release of her May 2010 album 『アタラセカイ』. Since Birdtune is highly-regarded by denpa fans worldwide thanks to multiple creative albums, it would have been a shame for them to bite the dust so suddenly.

No way... do you think Lord KuKuDoDo would give up this easily? Enter their new in-house vocalist: nanano. Not much is known about the mysterious new singer, other than a couple posts on her blog and a hell of a debut! Actually she was also on HolicService's 『ニヒリズム！」 in May 2011 but let's not mix things up. She is officially attached to Birdtune and as you can see from the tracklist below, she's also very much in charge of lyrics. Otherwise she's also taking care of the new website and hopefully she'll be keeping KuKuDoDo's ass in gear to make sure he focuses on creating more albums!

Which brings us to 『東方ピコピコ祭り』, a full-on KuKuDoDo effort! His sharp, unique and refreshing style can be found on every single track, which almost turns this into a concept album compared to the previous compilations. As expected, there's a large percentage of straight-up denpa and ピコピコ songs, which this author would like to think is due to a personal request during our last meeting (hah!) Of course KuKuDoDo's requisite NewWave touch can be felt everywhere, since he's such a big fan of early eighties Synth Pop bands... but we already discussed all of his influences in the past!

Here's the awesome crossfade video, followed by the album tracklist. Feel free to download the MP3 as well. Please note that all instrumental tracks are included on the CD! A second promo video for the song 「小町ちゃんの超すごい三途の川ツアー」 (featuring nanano on vocals) should be uploaded just after Comiket 80.

Track	Title	Vocals	Arranger	Lyrics	Original
01	もうパソコンしかいらない人の歌	小岩井ゆづき	KuKuDoDo	nanano	もう歌しか聞こえない　～ Flower Mix
02	小町ちゃんの超すごい三途の川ツアー	nanano	KuKuDoDo	nanano	彼岸帰航　～ Riverside View
03	残っているほうの記憶の話	めらみぽっぷ	KuKuDoDo	KuKuDoDo	六十年目の東方裁判　～ Fate of Sixty Years
04	秋葉原での日常	実谷なな	KuKuDoDo	Gumi	春色小径　～ Colorful Path
05	魂魄妖夢のみょんみょん異変バスターズ☆	小宮真央	KuKuDoDo	Gumi	東方妖々夢　～ Ancient Temple
06	食物どっきゅんアレルギー	桜ふみ	KuKuDoDo	nanano	幽霊楽団　～ Phantom Ensemble
07	楽しいブラッディ夏祭り！！	nanano	KuKuDoDo	nanano	お宇佐さまの素い幡

How awesome is 桜ふみ singing on a Birdtune album eh? This collaboration is likely due to KuKuDoDo having composed a song on her second album 『』 back in October 2010. You might have heard 小岩井ゆづき on some of 2-Dimension's CDs, but still... WOW give us MORE! 小宮真央 is also a great fit for any Birdtune/Holic Service album, always good to hear her sweet little voice. Too bad Gumi didn't get to sing, although she did write some cool lyrics (especially 「秋葉原での日常」) Of course all the girls performed admirably but overall, we're extremely excited about nanano joining Birdtune and can't wait to see what's next!

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!

C80: Double your t+pazolite dose with C.H.S and ACT injections

For the past couple years, C.H.S (t+pazolite's circle) was pretty diligent in releasing new material at events like Comiket and even M3, so it wasn't a big surprise when 「Samplejunk」 was announced for  C80! In fact, we were kinda anticipating something new coming out, so here we are with the 10th official release in a long line of really cool and mostly fucked up albums.

As usual, this is a Touhou arrange album that doesn't really sound like one, unless you are a diehard fan of the original soundtrack and can pinpoint every little nuanced similitude. The rest of us will just blissfully listen to the album, especially due to quality vocal appearances from リズナ, ランコ (豚乙女) and Ayu/Coda (ACT) . At this point we're kinda hoping the next album will be a full-vocal follow-up to C78's brilliant 「Honey I Scream!」but in the meantime this'll do nicely!

And now for something which, in theory, would be a lot like t+pazolite's "regular" stuff but ended up sounding a bit differently. When we introduced ACT back in December 2010, it seemed obvious that his fans would automatically jump ship and follow him, Coda and Ayu on this new adventure. As good as their new album 「First Aid Navigation」 does sound, it's a lot softer and slower than we expected! Topazo's unique style is still heavily palpable, but this won't be for everyone...

The album features eight brand new tracks, including an intro and outro which the trio performs by itself. Then we have three tracks where patients come in with their problems, which in turn generates three "examination" collaboration tracks. At least, that's what the concept feels like. One of these patients is the lovely ゆきまめ, which is definitely an highlight of the album! Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how well this album resonates with the ACT fans. If you enjoyed brutalizing your ears with 「5分でわかるこれまでのACT」 then you might have to wait until their next offering to get your fix...