Nodoame the Best
Artist: Nodoame
Release Date: 1/23/13
Price: 1714 yen
Akiba Koubou’s first release of the upcoming new year will be a collection of Nodoame’s best works. 1,800 yen for just 8 songs is hardly a bargain, especially when at least half of them will be repeats.
What better way to celebrate Christmas than with classic Christmas carols like “Shots,” “What the Hell” and “Give Me All Your Luvin'”? Okay, at least the lead and final tracks are actually related to Christmas. Available on iTunes Japan.
Digital only album from FARM, released in October. I guess the theme was songs you play during your Halloween Party? The track lengths suggest that these are full versions, so I’m not really sure what the point was since most of them were already available in full on the House Flavor R&B ~Original Best~ series. Available on iTunes Japan.
New Vocaloid 3 voicebank from Exit Tunes featuring Mayu, who is presumably voiced by the one and only Mayumi Morinaga. The package comes with 2 CDs + CD-ROM. The music CDs will contain 33 tracks performed by popular Vocaloid producers, while the CD-ROM will have the Mayu voicebank. First-press copies come with a mousepad (1 of 6 designs) and cell phone strap (1 of 6 designs). You can visit the official site for more details. There are also retailer-exclusive presents including lunchboxes and mugs.
Sakura Luminance
Artist: Ryu*
Release Date: 12/5/12
Price: 1905 yen
Final track list for Ryu*’s 4th album has surfaced on his official website. In addition to songs from Bemani, there’ll also be a number of new songs.
Bonus items include a holographic cover, cell phone strap, pass case, clear file, and poster. Konamistyle is offering a special Sakura Luminance set with exclusive goods, including a muffler towel, smart phone sticker, and an exclusive remix CD featuring “Sakura Luminance (kors k Remix)”. Not to be outdone other retailers will offer their own exclusive bonuses. Animate, Tora no Ana, and Tsutaya will each get their own exclusive remix CDS. WonderGOO gets a can badge, while ordering from Shinseido will net you an LED strap.
First UTAU compilation from Exit Tunes, featuring Kasane Teto. Bonus items include a cell phone strap and mouse pad. There are also retailer-exclusive bonuses available, mostly clear files and bromides. Visit the official website for more info.
Sequel to R&B ElectRock, which was released in July of 2011. Prolific FARM artist, Minimum Cox, will produce all of the songs on this album. There’ll no doubt be a few repeats from over the last year or so, but there should also be some new tracks, including a new cover of “Gangnam Style” as well as an LMFAO cover.
Fourth release in the now-annual series. Features newly commissioned songs from popular Vocaloid producers. First-press copies come with a jacket sticker, cardboard sleeve, and guitar pick. There are also retailer-exclusive bonuses available, including a 17-track karaoke CD from Animate. Visit the official website for samples and more info.
Hit anime themes remade in an 80s disco-pop style. Got my copy a few days ago and it’s mostly enjoyable. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t immediately recognize what served as the inspiration for most of the tracks. Many of the songs on the first Anim80s used rather distinctive synths or beats that made their inspirations clear. For example, “Cat’s Eye” was unmistakably modeled after “Beat It” while “Shuuketsu no Sono e” imitated the synths from “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” The songs on Anim80s 2 don’t quite have the same recognizable hooks. However, there were many times when I was listening to the album and thought, “Wow, this sounds really familiar,” but couldn’t place the source material. In some ways it’s better that way in that it lets the productions stand on their own, but I kind of miss the fun in comparing the songs to the originals, so to speak.
Hopefully this will lead to Anim90s, as unpronounceable as that may be. I’d love to hear the themes in classic 90s eurodance style.
The album is available on iTunes JP and other Japanese download services, but as with the first Anim80s it’s mixed, so no full versions. 🙁
A special compilation that will celebrate the works of Go Nagai, famous for creating Devilman, Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey and other mangas. 2012/2013 is the 40th anniversary of the Devilman and Mazinger Z anime series and movies, so this CD will feature Exit Tunes artists reinterpreting popular theme songs from those works. CD Japan’s description specifies “Exit Tunes” artists, so while I would expect something from Exit Trance producers, most of the album will probably be populated by Vocaloid producers. Still, this is the kind of random themed release I miss from the glory days of Exit Trance. Announced bonus items includes a B2 poster and clear file.
6th release in the digital series, which collects fulls versions of songs from various FARM compilations. Once again, it’s exclusive to iTunes Japan. Quite a few recent tracks on this one, many of which were featured on Extra Party Best.
FARM are doing their best to capitalize on the recent EDM boom in Japan. They previously released this single digitally in early 2011, but now they’re releasing in in physical form, with fewer tracks to boot. -_- It’s kind of a missed opportunity to have their own DJs do remixes. I would’ve loved it if Daiki x ZK, Minimum Cox, or DJ U*Hey? did a remix. Anyway, FARM set up a mini site for the single: http://www.farm-records.com/afrojack/