DanceMaster | 
05 19th, 2013| 
What’s Up Dance The Greatest Hits 2
Release Date: 6/19/13
Price: 3048 yen
The latest release in the What’s Up! series will be another 2-disc set focusing on dance.
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May
19
May
18
What’s Up Dance R&B Hip-Hop The Greatest Hits 2013
Release Date: 1/1/13
Price: 3048 yen
Universal Japan’s What’s Up! series has always followed musical trends. When it debuted in 2003, it was simply “What’s Up? Hip-Hop Greatest Hits,” reflecting Hip-Hop’s domination in the world music scene. In 2006, a separate sub-series, “What’s Up? R&B Greatest Hits” was released as smoother R&B began to capture the attention of audiences. By 2010, the two series had merged to become a yearly “What’s Up! R&B Hip-Hop The Greatest Hits” series (and eagle-eyed readers may notice the “?” was inexplicably turned into a “!”).
2012 brought a sea change in musical tastes, as EDM and dance dominated the charts worldwide. It’s only fitting, then, that the 2013 edition of What’s Up! finally adds “Dance” to the sub-title and features a selection of dance tracks on disc 1 while R&B/Hip-Hop tracks are shuffled aside to disc 2 to wallow in their own self-pity, remembering the good old days when they were number one.
May
17
What’s Up Dance The Greatest Hits
Release Date: 6/13/12
Price: 3048 yen
Universal Japan’s What’s Up! compilation series has been around for 10 years now, but up until recently has been outside the scope of this blog. As with EMI’s VIP series, What’s Up! used to compile only R&B/Hip-Hop. However, the recent EDM boom means that dance is once again in fashion, so in June 2012 Universal decided to release What’s Up! Dance. As with most releases in the series, it’s a 2-disc set and mostly features artists from the Universal stable. It skews a little too mainstream American Top 40 for me. :/
May
16
EDM ~Electronic Dance Madness~ 4
Release Date: 6/5/13 ? 6/26/13
Price: 2190 yen
The release date for this upcoming 4th release in the EDM series has been delayed a few weeks. The new release date is now June 26.
May
14
Driving Hits -Speed- mixed by DJ Roc the Masaki
Release Date: 5/15/13
Price: 1714 yen
New compilation from FARM Records. A few tracks licensed from Power Music, but the majority are done by in-house artists like Daiki × ZK, Straight Flush, and Minimum Cox. A lot of the new tracks from House Flavor R&B ~Original Best~ Vol. 7 will make their CD debuts here. It still remains to be seen exactly how fast this album will be, though.
Edit: Album is up on iTunes, and unfortunately the “Speed” part of the title was completely ignored. It sounds like the max BPM is 140. -_-
May
12
headliner
Release Date: 4/24/13
Price: 1050 yen
FARM’s digital Dirty Electro series has been rebranded as “headliner,” and this new release is only 20 tracks instead of the 30 that previous releases had. Available on iTunes Japan.
May
6
Love EDM 2 -In the Mix-
Release Date: 6/5/13
Price: 1900 yen
Sequel to Love EDM. No track list yet, though it is scheduled to include a kz/RE:NDZ remix of Afrojack’s “Take Over Control.”
Pre-order at CDJapan.
Apr
29
Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen
Update (5/7/13): Cover art is out! I have no idea what a bus (RV?) has to do with Enka. The cover does look like it’s by Mega Graphics, though it’s disappointing they’re not using the old, familiar SPEED logo.
I’ve also listed the original BPMs of the presumed 3 repeats on the album. The repeats originally ranged from 144-160 BPM. Needless to say, I really hope they rearrange them. Hell, I’ll settle for just increasing the tempo, but no way in hell should the last song on a Speed album be only 160 BPM.
Apr
27
Hamaraja Nights Vol. 1
Release Date: 2011
Price: $16
A doujin release by the doujin circle, T&Co. It’s an homage to the old Maharaja Night series, which featured disco-NRG songs. Disko Warp has a few copies of the CD up for sale on their Bandcamp.
Apr
26
Update! (5/31/13): Apologies for the slight delay, but winners have been chosen for the contest. Terezinha wins first prize for remembering the time when EMI tried to force “Rhythm & Police” on every Speed compilation possible. I used a random number generator to determine the second prize, and the winner is Saolo.
All other participants will receive one song download from Juno Download OR iTunes US OR Amazon MP3 US. Please keep an eye out for an e-mail from me shortly! Thanks to everyone for participating!
Apr
21
Funkot Anthem EP
Release Date: 1/7/13
Price: 1886 yen
An EP featuring full versions of songs from EMI’s upcoming Hyper Funkot compilation. Available on iTunes Japan.
Apr
20
Hyper Funkot ~ Chousoku Dance Trax (Hyper Funkot – Hi Speed Dance Trax)
Release Date: 6/19/13
Price: 1886 yen
EMI’s first Funkot (Indonesian house/happy hardcore) album will features tracks from prominent Funkot artists, including DJ Jet Baron, shisotex, and KazuyaP.
Apr
19
Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen
Update (4/24/13): It’s official! Enka Speed is being listed as a “Dancemania presents” release, meaning that it will be the first Dancemania Speed release since 2007’s Happy Speed, and the first to be released under EMI Records Japan/Universal. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ll be running a contest, with prizes ranging from Disko Warp downloads to iTunes/Amazon/JunoDownload/KingBeat credits. I’m still deciding on details, but keep an eye out in the near future for more information, or feel free to comment one what kind of prizes you’d like to see.
Still no details on who will be producing the album, though it’s confirmed that there are 20 tracks scheduled.
Apr
18
EDM ~Electronic Dance Madness~ 4
Release Date: 6/5/13
Price: 2190 yen
Early list is out, and EMI have already defaulted to repeat mode. “Titanium” is a straight up repeat, even though it’s Che’Nelle on vocals instead of Sia. “Don’t You Worry Child” and “Save the World” also make return appearances, albeit in remixed form. Coldplay’s “Paradise” also shows up again with a different remix. Of course, the list is still early, so hopefully the final list ditches the repeats.
Interesting that Coldplay and Kylie are still present despite the sale of Parlophone to Warner Music. Either the sale just hasn’t been finalized, or it doesn’t affect licensing deals in Japan. And with the exception of Rihanna (ugh), so far there isn’t much in the way of Universal.
Apr
17
Kaji ga 100-bai Hakadoru High Tension Song Best (Top 20 Cheer Up Songs (House Keeping Edition))
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen
The track list has been revealed for this upcoming “House Keeping” compilation, and it looks like EMI are making good use of the Universal catalogue. The original digital release was all EMI tracks, but the physical version is half EMI, half Universal.
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