Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

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.

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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.

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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.

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Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen

I…what? Huh? Is this real life? In late May, EMI will release a new compilation titled, “Enka Speed.” Now, keep in mind that it’s not yet confirmed that this will be a Dancemania release, but after Speed Buyuuden no theme would surprise me. Enka is a style of Japanese pop ballads that’s primarily popular among older generations. In other words, it’s the complete opposite of Speed, so it’ll be interesting to see how they combine the different styles. If this is indeed a Dancemania release, then hopefully it’s produced by Saifam or Ventura, and isn’t just a bunch of pitched up repeats from Akiba Koubou like those abominable Utatte Mita Speed releases.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Saifam Speed – March 2013
Artist: Various Artists

Another pair of Speed tracks for March. “Children” is a cover of the classic Robert Miles song, while “Try” is a P!nk cover.

SPE213 – [3:56] Children (The Factory Speed remix) / Speedogang
SPE214 – [4:33] Try (The Factory Speed remix) / Speedmaster
SPE214 – [4:19] Try (32 Counts version) / Speedmaster

Edit: As pointed out by Vincent in the comments, there’s also a new Interdance cover of Dancing Queen by Tipsy & Tipsy, the first new Interdance song since last October.

Hyper Funkot ~ Chousoku Dance Tracks
Release Date: 6/19/13
Price: 1886 yen

Speed returns to EMI in the form of…funkot? EMI’s newest compilation features funkot, or Indonesian happy hardcore. There’s a good chance DJ Jet Baron will be mixing and selecting this compilation, as he’s currently living in Japan and has collaborated with EMI in the past.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Saifam Speed – February 2013
Artist: Various Artists

Another pair of Speed tracks for February. “Follow You Down” is a cover of the Gin Blossoms song from 1996, while “Let’s Go Crazy” is a Prince cover.

SPE211 – [5:15] Follow You Down (Factory Speedo version) / Speedogang
SPE212 – [3:51] Let’s Go Crazy (The Factory Speed Team mix) / Speedmaster

Saifam Speed – January 2013
Artist: Various Artists

Another batch of Speed covers. Kind of surprised to see the new “We Will Rock You” remix being labeled as “Alternative Sound Planet remix.” My first thought was that it might be related to the Planet remixes from Dancemania Speed, but that seems unlikely given how long it’s been since the last Planet mix. I do wonder who did the remix, though. The other new track is a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright).”

SPE209 – [4:09] Uptight (Everything’s Alright) (Factory Speedo remix) / Speedmaster
SPE210 – [4:29] We Will Rock You (Alternative Sound Planet remix) / Mazerati

Saifam Speed – November/December 2012
Artist: Various Artists

Another batch of Speed covers, including songs by Bruno Mars and PSY.

SPE204 – [4:09] Whole Lotta Love / Speedogang
SPE205 – [3:59] Runaway Baby (The Factory Speed mix) / Speedmaster
SPE206 – [3:53] What I Like About You (The Factory Speed remix) / Speedmaster
SPE207 – [4:09] Gangnam Style (Speedo mix) / Speedmaster
SPE208 – [5:04] Locked Out of Heaven (Speedo mix) / Speedogang

Saifam Speed – October 2012
Artist: Various Artists

Another batch of Speed songs from Saifam. First up is a cover of the Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez song, “One & The Same.” The next song is a cover of the Neon Trees song, “Everybody Talks.” Finally, there’s a cover of “Freeze Frame,” originally by J. Geils Band. I guess they always have to have an old-school cover in each batch.

SPE201 – [4:15] One & The Same (The Factory Team Speed mix) / Speedmaster
SPE202 – [4:22] Everybody Talks (The Factory Speed mix) / Speedmaster
SPE203 – [4:19] Freeze Frame (The Factory Hardcore remix) / Speedogang

Saifam Speed – October 2012
Artist: Various Artists

Wow, Saifam’s been prolific lately. October has barely started and they’ve already released 3 new Speed songs. The first is a cover of the Three 6 Mafia song, “It’s a Fight.” The second is a cover of the Tiffany song, “I Saw Him Standing There,” which itself was a cover of The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” Finally, their latest Speed creation is a cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s inescapable “Call Me Maybe.” It actually turned out really well. o_O

SPE198 – [5:30] It’s a Fight (The Factory Team Speed mix) / Speedogang
SPE199 – [4:23] I Saw Him Standing There (The Factory Team Turbo remix) / Speedmaster
SPE200 – [5:01] Call Me Maybe (Factory Team Turbo remix) / Speedmaster

Saifam Speed – July/August/September
Artist: Various Artists

New covers of tracks from LMFAO, The Hooters, and Poison.

SPE195 – [3:32] Sexy & I Know It (The Factory Speed mix) / Speedmaster
SPE196 – [4:23] And We Danced (The Factory Speed mix) / Speedogang
SPE197 – [4:43] Talk Dirty To Me (Factory Team Turbo mix) / Speedmaster

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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