Weekly Roundup
Kind of a slow week for the top 100 until we get to today, where out of nowhere a barrage of amazing tracks has plumped up the numbers nicely. Even then, the top 100 of g_popular seems to be getting taken over by Touhou a lot, recently. It's moeblob pile vs. moeblob pile in the popularity war! Kind of a Miku centric week, sorry - it's more than even I expected, mostly thanks to the slow start. We'll start with the best of the week, then poke the lighter poppier stuff, and finish up with a burst of rockin'.
【ロリ MEIKO】 Nostalogic (single edit) 【実写PV】
(Nostalogic (single edit) (yuukiss), Meiko / Yumiko, Trance Rock)
I-is... is this utattemita? I can't tell. One of the most famous Meiko tracks gets a scorching and completely bizarre PV and remix courtesy of yuukiss and Yumiko, one of the more famous dancers and choreographers out there. If you know the song you'll know what to expect, but there's some very high recording quality on this track and it's ... well, it's really just a spectacle that needs to be seen.
【初音ミク】 白い雪のプリンセスは 【オリジナル】
(The Story Of The Girl And Her... / The white snow princess is... (noboru↑), Miku, Rock)
Not sure how I missed this last week, this is a tour de force track that's gotten a lot of exposure this past week, with good reason - as well as being a EXIT TUNES / Supernova2 track, it's also straight up fantastic, with a joyful bouncing sound to it and a triumphant air. Chock full of fantastic guitar - a searing solo, especially - and a great number of musical catches to tug your attention around. Absolutely fantastic.
【巡音ルカ】 Ferrofluid 【オリジナル曲】
(Ferrofluid (amyu), Luka, Electronia Rock)
The tags on this video are all over the place! I'd initially thought it was fatP, which is what got me to watch it, though I guess it's amyu after all? The penchant for making truly fantastic Luka videos certainly is on the same level as fat; this is a fantastic track full of verve and style and dark crunchy electronica solos that give way to chiptune melody lines and all sorts of stylish singing and effects wrapped around the whole thing.
【初音ミク】スノウライト【オリジナル曲】
(Sunlight (yuxuki), Miku, Easy Listening)
A track so adorable and gorgeous I get goosebumps just listening to it. The piano and acoustic guitar are breathtaking; the careful and well-limited use of guitar and lilting electronica only contribute to the delight. A chillout track par excellence, the appeal of this track is all in the musical catches and soft notes and look just go listen to it or I'll beat you up.
【初音ミク】Love Your Life【オリジナル曲】
(Love Your Life (suketch), Miku, Lounge Pop)
God, I'm a sucker for this song. It's bad enough that it's bouncy cheesy pop; that alone would pretty much get me to listen to it. But then you throw in the elements of a summery lounging beach track - an excellent set of brass highlights, a toe-tapping bongo beat, some very strong piano - and, well, I'm grinning like a foolish madman before we're even half through. It's not the most stellar track ever but it has a place in my twisted, black heart.
【鏡音リン】満月の実験室【オリジナル】
(Full Moon Laboratory (mothy), Rin, Creepy Pop)
mothy's contribution to EXIT TUNES / Supernova 2 could nominally be called a pop track, but since this is mothy you can understand where it might be a little different from the norm. Some fantastic harpsichord work and a decidedly atonal timbre combine to provide a macabre and dangerous tone that almost turns into some kind of gothic choral affair.
【初音ミク】スノートリック【オリジナル曲PV付】
(Snow Trick (scop), Miku, Pop)
This delightful piano-full wintry pop track from Miku has been taking up a lot of Nicovideo's attention span lately; the high notes provide a very floating, lilting air and scop's work is extremely solid. Nothing too ground-breaking here; just a nice track to calm the mood before we hit all our thrashy stuff this week.
【初音ミクオリジナル】 night drive 【PVつき】
(night drive (effe), Miku, Electronica Pop)
A gorgeous chill out track, this never gets particularly punchy or up in your face but instead prefers to sit there letting you drift on plinky electronic tones and a high, lilting Miku voice. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, especially as like much of this genre it can somewhat drag on or you just might not be able to take that register of voice, but if it's your thing it's a very pleasant listen.
【初音ミクAppend trial】 光と影の竜 【オリジナル】
(Dragons of Light and Shadow (uniMemo), Miku Append Ver., Ethnic?)
The latest attempt at previewing and using Miku's Append Trial software. The question of just what's going on in the impressive PV - something about dragons, and twins, and twin dragons, and Miku's mouth taking up her entire face as she eats - is left to the reader to figure out. I'm just going to sit back and listen to the absolutely astounding violins.
初音ミクオリジナル『妖艶な衣を纏った少女』
(Fascinating Girl In The Robe (PELIE), Miku, Lounge Pop?)
One last softer song before we slide headlong into the rock portion of this post. To be honest, I'm not sure what exactly's going on in this song - the music and the vocal line are kind of all over the place and very confusing at times. On the other hand, I'm a complete sucker for a good big band affair, and the trumpet and bass work wonderfully to produce a really quite unique track.
【巡音ルカ】Corruption Garden【オリジナル】
(Corruption Garden (Caz), Luka, THRASH METAAAAAAAAAAAL)
Let's get to the harder stuff, shall we, starting with this energetic Luka track combined with a scorching guitar line and some fantastic solos. Luka's voice is good but mixed a little low; it'd be nicer if she were more upfront, but that's a minor niggle in what is a perfectly good headbanging, stomping track.
【GUMI】 君と世界をつなぐもの 【オリジナル】
(The Things Which Connect The World And You (uz), Gumi, Rock)
Of all people, Gumi helps Luka steal the show for rock tracks this week with a thumping, bass-driven, angst-tastic track. Sadly, Gumi's voice isn't exactly made for this genre, and frequently gets lost behind too-loud guitar or just doesn't quite seem to fit very well. On the other hand, it's Gumi doing thrashy angry rock, which is more than unique enough for me to put it in a post anyday.
【初音ミク】ワタシハ・ヒミツキチ【オリジナル曲】
(I Am A Secret Freak (般), Miku, Rock)
The latest track from the maker of Whammy Anarchy, this thrashing, atonal, scratching rock track hasn't been getting nearly as much exposure as previous tracks and you can kind of sense why; while it's a solid song it just doesn't jump at your senses the way the others did, leaving it feeling a little flat; the music is somewhat muted and it's missing the solid punch of his other work.
【初音ミク】死にたがり【オリジナル曲】
(Wanting To Die (梨本), Miku, Rock)
Yeah, you can. You can probably figure out exactly how this song will sound from that title alone, but just in case you can't - this is a thrashing, high-speed, straight-up hard rock track with all sorts of thumping drums and energy to it. I'm ... I guess it's okay? I'm not sure how it's garnered 100k hits in a week, to be honest; it's good, but it's nothing too special to my ears.
【第4 回MMD杯遅刻】Prism Heart
(Prism Heart (samfree), Miku, Pop, MMD)
As a final video this week, an MMD entrant that popped up a little too late to include in the first post. Extremely well produced - and, I suspect, by the same person who did the Nekomimi Switch video a few weeks back - this is a straight-up PV to samfree's somewhat iconic Prism Heart from last year. The animation's very smooth and solid, and choreographed nicely to yumiko's take.
【がくっぽいど】 忘れてた 【オリジナル】
(Forgotten (deddosu), Gakupo, Easy Listening)
Okay, I lied. This is your last video for the week, an acoustic and harmonica vocal track with a fantastic video that could easily be subtitled 'Gakupo's fantastic adventures in fail'.
【ロリ MEIKO】 Nostalogic (single edit) 【実写PV】
(Nostalogic (single edit) (yuukiss), Meiko / Yumiko, Trance Rock)
I-is... is this utattemita? I can't tell. One of the most famous Meiko tracks gets a scorching and completely bizarre PV and remix courtesy of yuukiss and Yumiko, one of the more famous dancers and choreographers out there. If you know the song you'll know what to expect, but there's some very high recording quality on this track and it's ... well, it's really just a spectacle that needs to be seen.
【初音ミク】 白い雪のプリンセスは 【オリジナル】
(The Story Of The Girl And Her... / The white snow princess is... (noboru↑), Miku, Rock)
Not sure how I missed this last week, this is a tour de force track that's gotten a lot of exposure this past week, with good reason - as well as being a EXIT TUNES / Supernova2 track, it's also straight up fantastic, with a joyful bouncing sound to it and a triumphant air. Chock full of fantastic guitar - a searing solo, especially - and a great number of musical catches to tug your attention around. Absolutely fantastic.
【巡音ルカ】 Ferrofluid 【オリジナル曲】
(Ferrofluid (amyu), Luka, Electronia Rock)
The tags on this video are all over the place! I'd initially thought it was fatP, which is what got me to watch it, though I guess it's amyu after all? The penchant for making truly fantastic Luka videos certainly is on the same level as fat; this is a fantastic track full of verve and style and dark crunchy electronica solos that give way to chiptune melody lines and all sorts of stylish singing and effects wrapped around the whole thing.
【初音ミク】スノウライト【オリジナル曲】
(Sunlight (yuxuki), Miku, Easy Listening)
A track so adorable and gorgeous I get goosebumps just listening to it. The piano and acoustic guitar are breathtaking; the careful and well-limited use of guitar and lilting electronica only contribute to the delight. A chillout track par excellence, the appeal of this track is all in the musical catches and soft notes and look just go listen to it or I'll beat you up.
【初音ミク】Love Your Life【オリジナル曲】
(Love Your Life (suketch), Miku, Lounge Pop)
God, I'm a sucker for this song. It's bad enough that it's bouncy cheesy pop; that alone would pretty much get me to listen to it. But then you throw in the elements of a summery lounging beach track - an excellent set of brass highlights, a toe-tapping bongo beat, some very strong piano - and, well, I'm grinning like a foolish madman before we're even half through. It's not the most stellar track ever but it has a place in my twisted, black heart.
【鏡音リン】満月の実験室【オリジナル】
(Full Moon Laboratory (mothy), Rin, Creepy Pop)
mothy's contribution to EXIT TUNES / Supernova 2 could nominally be called a pop track, but since this is mothy you can understand where it might be a little different from the norm. Some fantastic harpsichord work and a decidedly atonal timbre combine to provide a macabre and dangerous tone that almost turns into some kind of gothic choral affair.
【初音ミク】スノートリック【オリジナル曲PV付】
(Snow Trick (scop), Miku, Pop)
This delightful piano-full wintry pop track from Miku has been taking up a lot of Nicovideo's attention span lately; the high notes provide a very floating, lilting air and scop's work is extremely solid. Nothing too ground-breaking here; just a nice track to calm the mood before we hit all our thrashy stuff this week.
【初音ミクオリジナル】 night drive 【PVつき】
(night drive (effe), Miku, Electronica Pop)
A gorgeous chill out track, this never gets particularly punchy or up in your face but instead prefers to sit there letting you drift on plinky electronic tones and a high, lilting Miku voice. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, especially as like much of this genre it can somewhat drag on or you just might not be able to take that register of voice, but if it's your thing it's a very pleasant listen.
【初音ミクAppend trial】 光と影の竜 【オリジナル】
(Dragons of Light and Shadow (uniMemo), Miku Append Ver., Ethnic?)
The latest attempt at previewing and using Miku's Append Trial software. The question of just what's going on in the impressive PV - something about dragons, and twins, and twin dragons, and Miku's mouth taking up her entire face as she eats - is left to the reader to figure out. I'm just going to sit back and listen to the absolutely astounding violins.
初音ミクオリジナル『妖艶な衣を纏った少女』
(Fascinating Girl In The Robe (PELIE), Miku, Lounge Pop?)
One last softer song before we slide headlong into the rock portion of this post. To be honest, I'm not sure what exactly's going on in this song - the music and the vocal line are kind of all over the place and very confusing at times. On the other hand, I'm a complete sucker for a good big band affair, and the trumpet and bass work wonderfully to produce a really quite unique track.
【巡音ルカ】Corruption Garden【オリジナル】
(Corruption Garden (Caz), Luka, THRASH METAAAAAAAAAAAL)
Let's get to the harder stuff, shall we, starting with this energetic Luka track combined with a scorching guitar line and some fantastic solos. Luka's voice is good but mixed a little low; it'd be nicer if she were more upfront, but that's a minor niggle in what is a perfectly good headbanging, stomping track.
【GUMI】 君と世界をつなぐもの 【オリジナル】
(The Things Which Connect The World And You (uz), Gumi, Rock)
Of all people, Gumi helps Luka steal the show for rock tracks this week with a thumping, bass-driven, angst-tastic track. Sadly, Gumi's voice isn't exactly made for this genre, and frequently gets lost behind too-loud guitar or just doesn't quite seem to fit very well. On the other hand, it's Gumi doing thrashy angry rock, which is more than unique enough for me to put it in a post anyday.
【初音ミク】ワタシハ・ヒミツキチ【オリジナル曲】
(I Am A Secret Freak (般), Miku, Rock)
The latest track from the maker of Whammy Anarchy, this thrashing, atonal, scratching rock track hasn't been getting nearly as much exposure as previous tracks and you can kind of sense why; while it's a solid song it just doesn't jump at your senses the way the others did, leaving it feeling a little flat; the music is somewhat muted and it's missing the solid punch of his other work.
【初音ミク】死にたがり【オリジナル曲】
(Wanting To Die (梨本), Miku, Rock)
Yeah, you can. You can probably figure out exactly how this song will sound from that title alone, but just in case you can't - this is a thrashing, high-speed, straight-up hard rock track with all sorts of thumping drums and energy to it. I'm ... I guess it's okay? I'm not sure how it's garnered 100k hits in a week, to be honest; it's good, but it's nothing too special to my ears.
【第4 回MMD杯遅刻】Prism Heart
(Prism Heart (samfree), Miku, Pop, MMD)
As a final video this week, an MMD entrant that popped up a little too late to include in the first post. Extremely well produced - and, I suspect, by the same person who did the Nekomimi Switch video a few weeks back - this is a straight-up PV to samfree's somewhat iconic Prism Heart from last year. The animation's very smooth and solid, and choreographed nicely to yumiko's take.
【がくっぽいど】 忘れてた 【オリジナル】
(Forgotten (deddosu), Gakupo, Easy Listening)
Okay, I lied. This is your last video for the week, an acoustic and harmonica vocal track with a fantastic video that could easily be subtitled 'Gakupo's fantastic adventures in fail'.