Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Utattemita Anison/J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

As promised, I cooked up a little spreadsheet comparing BPMs, which you can find after the jump. BPMs were calculated using MixMeister BPM Analyzer, though I had to manually check some. The Anison album ranges from 160-180 BPM, while the J-Pop album starts at 150 and ends at 180 BPM.

DJ Hirocky did a great job mixing both albums, but in terms of energy Anison has a better selection of tracks. After all, half of the tracks on Anison were produced by DJ Command and many of the others were by Rayto/Tks. The J-Pop album suffers from starting off far too slow and, of course, having way too many repeats from the original album. If you’re new to Akiba Koubou, then these are certainly better options than the original Utattemita albums, but for long-time fans it’s yet another slap in the face.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Okay, EMI and AKBK are just straight up trolling now. This has 12 repeats from the original Utattemita J-Pop, and 6 of those are the same BPM as before. What the hell were they thinking when they made this? It’s a shame that all of AKBK’s “Speed” release have been so lazy and disappointing, because I LOVED the Geki Atsu! Drama Euro releases and thought this was going to be a banner year for AKBK. Instead, they’ve been running their repeats into the ground.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Somehow I got my copy a day early. I <3 CDJapan so much.

I’ll get the extremely bad, yet entirely unsurprising news out of the way first: there are no new arrangements. The slightly good news is that at least this time AKBK showed some effort by increasing the tempo of some of the songs. The minimum BPM on this album is 160, and a lot of these songs were previously in the 150-155 range, so it’s not a huge difference. However, many songs that were already over 160 BPM, including some that were already featured on the regular Utattemita Anison, are the same tempo as before. Sigh. The return of Dancemania Speed this is not. I’m working on a quick spreadsheet that compares the BPMs, which I’ll hopefully have up in a bit.

I will say that I enjoyed the mixing a lot, and it has my two most-loved AKBK productions ever, one right after the other. Oh, actually, I was lying about there being no new tracks. “Discotheque” is technically a new resing by Shihori. I don’t get why they didn’t just use the existing Prico version since she’s an utaite and would’ve fit perfectly. Also “We Are” is a resing of a track that originally appeared on Akiba Koubou presents Utatte Mita Collection Tsukareta Otoko.

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Utattemita Anison/J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

I knew it! EMI finally came to their senses and retroactively added all of the Utattemita Anison/J-Pop CDs to the Dancemania brand. They’re now part of the “Utattemita” series and are listed just above the Natsu Monogatari/Wa Euro Best releases. The two latest releases are also currently featured on the front page of the Dancemania website.

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V.I.P. presents Party Covers
Release Date: 8/1/12
Price: 2171 yen

Roll Deep’s Japan-exclusive “Poi Poi Poi” takes the lead on this collection of covers. Again, no mention of who will be providing the covers, but I hope EMI licenses at least a few of them FARM Records. I’d love to see Daiki x ZK on an EMI album. 😀

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Dancemania Party ~ Best of 90s Dance Hits
Release Date: 8/1/12
Price: 2381 yen

Early list is out, and thankfully there are no Sparkle repeats! The Aqua, Real McCoy, Robert Miles and Funky Diamonds tracks ended up being as predicted. The Spice Girls and Smile.dk songs were also safe choices, which is a bit disappointing since they’re not particular favorites of mine. Meanwhile, the A*Teens track turned out to be their debut single, “Mamma Mia.”

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V.I.P. presents Party Covers
Release Date: 8/1/12
Price: 2171 yen

In recent years the V.I.P. series has shifted from R&B/Hip-Hop to Dance/House songs, reflecting the increased popularity of dance music thanks in part to artists like Lady Gaga and David Guetta. There’s no doubt in my mind that those two artists’ songs will be heavily featured in this new compilation from EMI, but I’m very curious as to who will be providing the covers. A lot of Japanese labels have been licensing from US-based Power Music, but I’d love to see Saifam contribute.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Dancemania Party ~ Best of 90s Dance Hits
Release Date: 8/1/12
Price: 2381 yen

Dancemania lives!!! I was beginning to think that the Dancemania brand would only be revived for occasional anniversary releases every 5 years, but Dancemania’s sweet 16 will be celebrated with another collection of 90s dance hits. EMI picked up the rights to Solid Base, Mr. President and T-Spoon last year with the release of Dancemania Sparkle. They even regained the AATW rights from Avex, so it would’ve been a waste not to put them to good use.

No track list yet, but I’m hoping it’s not a straight retread of Sparkle. They used most of the best-known songs in Sparkle already, though, so it’ll be interesting to see what else they consider to be 90’s dance hits.

Update! (6/12/12): Some artists have been revealed, and I think it’s safe to say it won’t simply be a copy of Dancemania Sparkle.

01. Spice Girls
02. Smile.dk
03. Aqua
04. The Real McCoy
05. Robert Miles
06. Funky Diamonds
07. A*Teens

As far as I know only the Spice Girls and Smile.dk back catalogs are owned by EMI, so there seems to be a pretty heavy emphasis on non-EMI artists (unless EMI have since bought the rights to them as well). “Another Night,” “Children,” and “Get It On,” will probably be the Real McCoy, Robert Miles, and Funky Diamonds tracks, respectively. “Barbie Girl” was already on Sparkle, so the Aqua track may be “Roses Are Red” or “Cartoon Heroes” instead. A*Teens are an odd choice since they popped up in the late 90s. If they stick strictly to the 90s theme that leaves only ABBA covers. However, if they’re a bit more lenient we may hear “Halfway Around the World” again.

I think the track list is shaping up pretty nicely so far, but for the love of god, please include Bus Stop and Saifam. And ditch the annoying euro-reggae.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Magic ~ A Collection of Black Disco Classics mixed by DJ Kawasaki
Release Date: 7/25/12
Price: 2381 yen

A new compilation from EMI mixed by DJ Kawasaki. The album will include Disco and Salsoul classics from artists like A Taste of Honey, Chaka Kahn, Quincy Jones, and Diana Ross.

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Utattemita J-Pop Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

This has 11 songs in common with the original Utattemita J-Pop, so I’m thinking it’s less likely that they’ll be straight repeats. In fact, “Return to Myself” was originally done by Sumijun, but here’s it’s listed as a Beat Charger production.

Edit: Apparently it was just a typo, as AKBK’s official site still lists “Return to Myself” as a Sumijun production.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Final list has been released, and it’s still not clear if we’ll be getting new arrangements. “Discotheque,” one of my favorite AKBK productions, does get a resing by Shihori, but the listed artists and arrangers are same as before for everything else. There are even 3 repeats from the regular Utattemita Anison. I’m even more worried that this will be nothing but repeats yet again.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Okay, now I’m convinced that Akiba Koubou have to rearrange these tracks. “Tiger & Dragon,” for example, was originally 136 BPM on Geki Atsu! Drama Euro Kizuna Hen, so there’s no way they can just transplant it as is. Pleeaaaasseee don’t disappoint me again, AKBK.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Early list is out, and so far it’s all songs that have previously been covered by Akiba Koubou. If this ends up the same as J-Mach!! I’ll be extremely disappointed. I’m convinced that they’ll have to actually rearrange these, though, because many of the songs already appeared on the original Utattemita Anison, and there’s no way they’d just reuse the same arrangements again, right? Right?!

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

The other new Utattemita release will feature high-speed versions of J-Pop classics. Unfortunately, AKBK’s similarly themed J-Mach!! -Hi-Speed Dance Mix- is almost certain to become a source of tracks for this release. Please prove me wrong, EMI.

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Utattemita Anison Speed
Release Date: 7/4/12
Price: 1905 yen

Dancemania Speed…lives? This July will see the continuation of the Utattemita series with two new Akiba Koubou-produced CDs. This one will feature high-speed versions of Anison themes. You may remember that AKBK have their own Speed release coming up, J-Mach!! -Hi-Speed Dance Mix-, but that release has very few anime songs so I’m hopeful that EMI will commission lots of new remixes for this.

The first two Utattamita releases from EMI weren’t branded as Dancemania releases, but I’m hoping they retroactively add them and these two new releases to the series. It’d just be nice to say there’s a new Dancemania Speed release after 5 years.

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