Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Saifam Speed – January 2012
Artist: Various Artists

January’s selection of speed songs brings us a Cali Swag District cover as well as a Fallout Boy cover. Again, kinda random choices.

SPE180 – [4:47] Teach Me How To Dougie (Speed remix) / Speedmaster feat. MC Joe & The Vanillas
SPE181 – [4:38] Thnks Fr Th Mmrs (Speed mix) / Speedogang

Also available is a new Zippers track from their Interdance label. Apparently it’s a cover of a song by Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette.

DAN19055 – [4:57] Hello (Bubble Speedo remix) / Zippers

Nana Mitani Golden Best -Vocalo Kyoku o Utatte Mita-
Artist: Nana Mitani
Release Date: 3/14/12
Price: 2190 yen

First album from Nana Mitani, most famous for her cover of “Luka Luka Night Fever.” At the moment it’s scheduled to have 15 songs. I imagine most of them will be Vocaloid covers, but hopefully she’ll get some new material, too. Anyone else freaked out by that picture of Nana?

http://www.avexnet.or.jp/mitaninana/index.html

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Growth
Artist: Vic:cess
Release Date: 11/23/11 ? 1/25/12 ? 2/1/12
Price: 1905 yen

Mini-album from the dance pop idol group. Sumijun of Akiba Koubou produced at least one of the songs on their first mini-album, but it’s unknown if AKBK are involved with this release. And really, 2000 yen for only 6 songs?

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Luv Euro 2
Release Date: 2/22/12
Price: 1886 yen

Updated cover art and a likely final list have been revealed. The are 5 new songs out of 18 total. That’s absolutely awful. As much as I want to hear the new DJ Kazma and Kei songs, it’s just not worth treading through the same old repeats.

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Ama no Jaku (Single)
Artist: Mayumi Morinaga
Release Date: 2/1/11
Price: 1238 yen

3rd maxi single from songstress Mayumi Morinaga. Technically it’s the fourth if, unlike Quake, you count “Drift of the Wind”. Producers include 164, 40mP, Kusoinaka P, and Another Infinity. First-press orders come with a B2-size poster and strap.

Visit the newly redesigned official Mayumi Morinaga website for samples.

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It’s been a while since since the last one, but I’m hoping to make this a more regular feature in the future. Today the spotlight is on my current obsession, Daiki × ZK. This duo comprising DJ Daiki and Ace Closer have captured my attention with their addictive electro/house/trance remixes of pop hits, and I think they’re worthy of your attention, too. Check out the feature for some biographical info and a discography.

https://www.dancemania-ex.com/artist-spotlight/daiki-×-zk/

Edit: It looks like R&B Boutique -in the party- 2nd Floor, which I posted about yesterday, will see the debut of Daiki × ZK’s cover of “The Lazy Song.”

Nyan Cat
Artist: daniwellP feat. Hatsune Mikue, Momo Momone
Release Date: 1/18/12
Price: 1905 yen

First major album from daniwellP, best known for the song, “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” Limited bonuses include a cellphone strap and poster. Retailer-exclusive presents include mousepads, bromides, coasters or microfiber cloths.

Visit the official website for samples and more info.

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R&B Boutique -in the party- 2nd Floor mixed by DJ Kenkaida
Release Date: 2/22/12
Price: 1800 yen

Fourth release in FARM’s R&B Boutique series. Once again features a non-stop mix of R&B house songs mixed by DJ Kenkaida.

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Utatte Mita J-Pop
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 1905 yen

More repeats from Akiba Koubou. Again, there had better be new arrangements or this’ll be another waste of space. If you didn’t notice, “Ginga Tetsudou 999” is listed on this as well as the Anison album. Maybe they’ll do both “Ginga Tetsudou 999” as well as “The Galaxy Express 999.” Or maybe they’ll put the same song on two different albums. :{

Announced utaite include Kouhey, Yuge, Yamadan, Usa and Priko.

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Utatte Mita Anison
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 1905 yen

Sigh, here comes “Zankoku” again. Almost all of the tracks announced so far have been covered by Akiba Koubou in the past. At the very least we’ll get some resings, but the description provided to retailers did mention house, techno and trance remixes in addition to the usual euro so perhaps we’ll get new arrangements as well. Announced utaite include Kouhey, Yuge, Yamadan and Usa.

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Koi Euro Best
Release Date: 3/21/12
Price: 1886 yen

Early list is out and it’s surprisingly not too horrible. There are two new Sunplaza Nakano Kun tracks planned, with one of them being a resing of “Resort Lovers.” It seems like there’ll be a number of new tracks from DJ Fukui’s Harofuku project, so this really will be like a continuation of Buchiage Trance/Parance. Let’s see if this lasts more than one release. 😀

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Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Chanbara Hen
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 2000 yen

There go my hopes of Sengoku Basara covers. It looks like AKBK are sticking strictly to the J-Drama theme, as the only songs announced thus far are from live-action, jidaigeki dramas. Whatever, as long as I don’t have to hear “Zankoku” again.

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Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Deka Hen
Release Date: 3/7/12
Price: 2000 yen

Early list is out, and so far it looks like it’ll be mostly new material. “Taiyo no Hoero!” and “Seibu Keisatsu” should be familiar to Speed Deka fans. No “Rhythm & Police” yet, though. 🙁 I was afraid they’d attempt to shoehorn Lupin the 3rd into this, but right now it looks like they’re staying true to the theme and sticking to live-action J-Dramas.

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Koi Euro Best
Release Date: 3/21/12
Price: 1886 yen

Breaking news! We now interrupt this string of Akiba Koubou news to bring you… more Akiba Koubou news! Somehow DJ Yossy has convinced yet another label to release a Wa Euro Best clone. This time the label is Victor Japan, and the release will be titled Koi Euro Best (Love Euro Best). The announced artists so far imply that there’ll be a few Buchiage Trance repeats. They’ll also be inexplicably sourcing a few tracks from Dreamusic’s Nikonikouhaku release from a few years ago, so don’t be surprised if “Zankoku na Tenshi no These” appears. I’m going to guess this will have 60% repeats. Hopefully DJ Yossy proves me wrong.

The Wa Euro and Kiwami Euro series have been dormant for a while now, but I wonder how this will affect the Chou Euro Best series. And how long will it be before Universal comes out with Ai Euro Best? I’m starting to think DJ Yossy has compromising pictures of all the Japanese label executives.

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Geki Atsu! Anime Euro Robot Hen
Release Date: 2/8/12
Price: 2000 yen

In contrast the mostly new School Edition, the Robot Edition is a fiery cesspool of repeats. All of the usual repeat offenders are here, including the worst offenders, Sousei, Zankoku, and Shangri-La. Gekitei gets a pass because it’s full of awesome. Oddly, “Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta Mama” is being credited to Kohana instead of Hanatan, even though they’re supposedly the same person and it’s been credited to Hanatan in the past.

Anyway, it’s not all gloom and doom. There are 4 new tracks from Usa, Anima and Kei. 4/15 is a pretty lousy ratio of new tracks though. Excessive repeats killed the Anime Euro Best series. Let’s hope Tokuma don’t follow the same path.

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