Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Dancemania -20th Anniversary Special Edition-
Release Date: 10/11/17
Price: 2160 yen

Edit (8/25/17): As I feared, the release is now showing up as canceled on CD Japan and other retailers. I’m hoping it’s just a delay at worst.

Edit (8/22/17): Well, this is a worrying sign. Universal have removed any mention of the 20th anniversary release from their website. This could mean that they’ve canceled the release outright. However, it’s also possible that they canceled it in favor of something else (perhaps a 2-disc set?) instead. Right now the original release is still available for pre-order at a number of retailers, so we’ll see if those pre-orders get canceled.

Edit (8/14/17): Early list is out, and so far 4 of the 6 songs already appeared on Sparkle and Party. I had forgotten that EMI/Universal had reacquired the AATW license from Avex at some point, and it looks like they’ll be drawing quite a bit from that catalog. The lack of Smile.dk, Me & MY, or Captain Jack is a bit concerning. On one hand, we’ve heard the same songs dozens of times. But it wouldn’t be a proper celebration of Dancemania without them.

01. Mamma Mia / A*Teens
02. Samba de Janeiro / Bellini
03. Jump / Bus Stop
04. Santa Maria / DJ Milano feat. Samantha Fox
05. Eyes on Me featured in Final Fantasy VIII (Almighty Mix) / Faye Wong
06. I Wanna Dance with Somebody / Flip & Fill

Original Post: Dancemania-EX.com lives!!! Apologies for the complete lack of updates, but I’ve been busy the past year. I also lost a lot of motivation for continuing the site given that Universal didn’t bother releasing anything during it’s 20th anniversary in 2016. It seemed that Dancemania was all but dead…

Then today, out of nowhere, I noticed a listing for a new Dancemania album! That’s right, this October will see the release of Dancemania -20th Anniversary Special Edition-. At first I thought the title didn’t make any sense, since the first release was back in April of 1996. But then I realized that if the 1st anniversary was in 1997, then technically 2017 would indeed be the 20th. Of course, this doesn’t explain why the 10th anniversary was celebrated in 2006.

But I digress, the important thing is Dancemania is back! Presumably Atsushi Sekimoto is still at Universal and spearheaded the effort to commemorate 20+ years of Dancemania. Details are sparse on the release. CD Japan’s description mentions it’ll once again feature the best of ’90s dance music. Unfortunately, it’ll only be a single disc release. Since Universal lost the rights to many EMI artists when they bought out EMI, it’ll be interesting to see exactly what tracks they’ll include.

Meanwhile, Japanese Dancemania fans continue to keep its spirit alive. Earlier this year they held another Dancemania Birthday party and even had the one and only Mitsugu “Red Monster” Matsumoto as a special guest. You can see videos of the event here: https://twitter.com/hashtag/dancemaniabirthday?f=videos&vertical=default&src=hash

Pre-order at CDJapan.

EDM Anthem -The Ultimate-
Release Date: 5/11/16
Price: 2200 yen

EDM Anthem gets a reboot for its 2016 entry. In other words, another excuse to use repeats. To be fair, the early tracklist has quite a few new tracks, and the description claims it’ll only feature the best EDM from 2015-2016. 25 tracks in all.

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EDM Anthem -The Ultimate-
Release Date: 5/11/16
Price: 2200 yen

EDM Anthem gets a reboot for its 2016 entry. In other words, another excuse to use repeats. To be fair, the early tracklist has quite a few new tracks, and the description claims it’ll only feature the best EDM from 2015-2016. 25 tracks in all.

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Dancemania Springs 2
Release Date: 4/10/16
Total Length: 1:19:42

Happy 20th anniversary, Dancemania! It’s been 20 years to the day since the first release in the series, and while the series hasn’t been too active in recent years the great memories will always remain. Thanks for the music that always kept my spirits up!

Unfortunately, it looks like Universal won’t be releasing an anniversary CD any time soon. Instead, celebrate with a fan mix I did a while back that features the best in bubblegum dance pop. A play on the Summers/Winters series, Dancemania Springs 2 is a bubbly mix of artists like Smile.dk, Me & My, Bambee, and E-Rotic, with some Almighty thrown in for good measure. Apologies in advance for the amateurish production; I originally just did it for something to listen to during my commutes. ^^; If you’ve been following me for way too long you’ve probably already heard it 😉

Also a quick reminder that a special, unofficial 20th birthday event will be held in Japan today: http://tweetvite.com/event/DancemaniaBIRTHDAY

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Anison Mix Laboratory ~Second Report~
Release Date: 5/27/15
Price: 3800 yen

About a month after the CD came out, Universal made both Second Report and the First Report available in FLAC on Mora.jp. It’s cool to see them embrace lossless, but unfortunately, they charge double compared to the 320kbps AAC versions.

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Vocalo EDM Super Hits
Release Date: 6/24/15
Price: 2000 yen
Total Length: 31:38

EDM arrangements of popular Vocaloid songs. A bit expensive at 2,000 yen for only 8 songs. Also available on iTunes Japan and other digital storefronts for slightly cheaper, at 1,400 yen.

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EDM Wave -Best Hits- mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah!
Release Date: 1/27/16
Price: 1800 yen
Total Length: 1:17:04

New tie-in series from Universal Japan, celebrating the best of the EDM Wave events. Mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah! Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s a digital version available.

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EDM Ultimate Hits
Release Date: 9/17/15
Price: 700 yen

Special digital release to coincide with Ultra Japan 2015. Features full versions of EDM hits.

Available on iTunes Japan.

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EDM Greatest Hits
Release Date: 6/17/15
Price: 1300 yen

Digital release to accompany EDM Anthem – Best Mix. Features full versions of songs from the CD. However, due to licensing issues some songs have been replaced.

Available on iTunes Japan.

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Tokyo Party Collection TGC Best Party! mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah!
Release Date: 8/5/15 (7/24/15 Digital)
Price: 1886 yen
Total Length: 1:18:21

Sequel to Tokyo Girls Party. Interestingly, the iTunes/digital version actually came out a week earlier than the physical version. The digital version also includes both full versions as well as the same non-stop mix featured on the CD, but is only 1100 yen. I’m glad to see that trend continue.

Available on iTunes Japan as well as other digital storefronts.

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The 20th anniversary of Dancemania 1’s release is just a couple of months away. And while Universal don’t yet have anything planned to celebrate, a bunch of dedicated Dancemania fans will be holding an unofficial event to commemorate the momentous occasion. The event will be held at Stella Asakusa in Tokyo on Sunday, April 10, with an entrance fee of 2,000 yen (or 1,500 if you bring the flyer or a Dancemania CD). More details can be found here: http://tweetvite.com/event/DancemaniaBIRTHDAY

Expect a myriad of styles to be played, including classic eurodance, eurobeat, bubblegum dance, trance and hardcore. DJs include Hyuji, kazpulse, B, Anvil, DJ KIMO, DJ mAsa, Takahiro Aoki, and StackStorm. It seems that the DJs will also bring their personal Dancemania collections, so this is a chance to see all of the Dancemania CDs lined up, and perhaps even some special promotional releases as well. It should be a great time for Dancemania fans!

Dancemania -Let’s Party-
Release Date: 11/11/15
Price: 1000 yen
Total Length: 1:17:03

Dancemania lives! Oh, and so do I 😀 As you may or may not have noticed, the blog hasn’t really been updated for a few months now. In addition to a lack of motivation and being busy, there just hasn’t been all that much to write about. I intended on starting things up again next year with a renewed focus (sorry, no more non-dance Exit Tunes releases), but had to break my hiatus to bring news of a new Dancemania release!

That’s right, after a break of its own, Dancemania comes back with a new digital release. The last release in the series was Zipmania All Best Mix almost two years ago exactly. And while a digital release isn’t exactly ideal, it’s nice to know that Universal still think that the Dancemania brand still has value. The album art even has the squiggly mascot! Here’s hoping this means that there’ll be a proper anniversary release next year, which will mark 20 years since the release of Dancemania 1 back in 1996.

Now for the bad news: the tracklist. It’s mostly EDM, which is fine since that’s what dance music sounds like today. What’s not okay is including tracks like “Beauty and a Beat” or “Hangover” from 2012. Thankfully, there are some more recent tracks that actually debuted in 2015, but they’re too few and far between. I wouldn’t mind if Dancemania returned as an EDM mix series, but put some effort into it, Universal!

The album is available on iTunes Japan as well as other Japanese digital stores.

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EDM Anthem – Best Mix
Release Date: 5/20/15
Price: 2200 yen
Total Length: 1:11:38

The good news is that EDM Anthem is still alive. The bad news is that the next release will be a best mix, even though I Love EDM -Hits & Anthems- already served as one. No early list yet, but hopefully they’ll sprinkle in a few new tracks.

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Chou Ultra Anison Cover Mix!! 4 mixed by DJ mixa
Release Date: 5/20/15
Price: 1800 yen

The fourth release in the Chou Ultra Anison Cover series. The title is tentative for now, I’m sure there’ll be a ludicrous sports subtitle added later, like “Super Drive Spike.”

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EDM Extreme
Release Date: 7/1/15
Price: 2300 yen

New EDM compilation from Exit Tunes. When I first saw the cover art I thought it would be a spiritual successor to Quake Trance Best, but instead it’ll feature “Japanese EDM” from artists mostly associated with J-Core like Ryu*, kors k, and Redalice. Visit the official website for more info.

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