Weekly Roundup
GO LOOK AT THIS POST I JUST PUSHED WAY DOWN THE PAGE, IF YOU MISSED IT.
What a week! A slew of good songs, an astounding new video and track from DECO, and AVTechNo has retired, removing anything short of a collab or utattemita mixing job from nicovideo. Not much reason given, though he did recently float the idea of retiring, taking a break, then starting fresh - the assumption is that that's exactly what's happening, though I have to admit I always find it a little churlish when someone ups and takes away all their work in a sweep of their arm... see here.
Descriptions may be a bit lacking this week as I am writing them from the goddamn arctic cold that is the UK. Temperatures of -10C are not supposed to happen in this country in November. What the hell! As ever, recently-speaking at least, the rest of the tags will get dunked on later today.
【初音ミク】むかしむかしのきょうのぼく【オリジナル】
Once Upon A Me (DECO*27, Miku, Pop)
What is there to even say? DECO's latest song, done as the theme track for the mikumix comics, is a traditional pop affair with much of DECO's usual style and grace. It's not as immediately catchy as some of his other recent stuff, but it's still an excellent listen with a hook that'll grab you immediately. Where this song really shines, though, is in the lyrics and in the video, both of which are immensely heart-warming affairs, a sort of Miku-Does-Scott-Pilgrim of learning how to take life's knocks and come out (and help others come out) on top, because it's okay in the end. Brilliant.
【巡音ルカ GUMI】 ハッピーシンセサイザ 【オリジナル曲】
Happy Synthesizer (BETTI, Gumi + Luka, Electro Dance Pop)
I have to admit, this track slightly confuses me. Not the music itself: It's pure, blue-blood Easypop through and through, a jumpy, energetic dance track that just skims the line into pop. Nothing new here, and it's a genre I'm always extremely happy to link, but... this song in particular shot up to #1 on the charts, holding steady against even Deco's new track for a couple days. I'm trying to figure out what stood it apart from the rest of Easypop's work.
鏡音レン・鏡音リンオリジナル曲 「廃都アトリエスタにて」
In the Ateliesta Ruins (cosMo, Rin + Len, Pop)
Can it be - a cosMo track without distortion, lacking in massive angst, deficient in weird chiptune or tempo changes, and generally pleasant to listen to? Absolutely, but more than that it's utterly adorable and a great track to bop along to. cosMo does very well tuning the twins to sing in concert, and though the track is perhaps a little lacking in places it's one of the best this week.
【初音ミク】 からっぽのまにまに 【オリジナル】
At The Mercy Of Emptiness (pinokio, Miku, Rock)
A follow-up to the Halloween track? It certainly seems so - this shares a lot of the same strange chords, slightly wonky timing, odd pauses, a ton of little musical effects and bits of strangeness that by now we're surely starting to expect from this producer. A strange, but ultimately rather thrilling ride through a topsy-turvy song.
【巡音ルカ】fake or fate?【オリジナルPV】
Fake or Fate (maya, Luka, Angst Rock)
What is even going on in this video? It is so over the top and ridiculous I'm having trouble coping. Almost eroge in style, one moment Luka's clinging to the arm of an eye-less young Japanese lad and the next she's in chains on the moon and the next there's a pair of lights flinging their way through space. It's extremely silly, and the angsty, angsty rock track with the rapidfire guitar riffs, while very slick and stylish, only adds to the level of spectacle.
【初音ミク】 Tómur 【オリジナル曲】
Tómur (nio, Miku, Pop)
Sorry, there was a singer in this track? I couldn't tell - I was too busy gently drifting on the soothing piano and jazzy guitars to ever pay attention to the vocals in this deeply chillout song. What vocals there are are used quietly and sparingly - they're hardly the focus of an excellent melody.
【初音ミク】君が好き【至高のバラードⅢ】
I Love You (reruriri, Miku, Soft Pop)
Almost the opposite of Tómur, the tuning is possibly the best of all possibly reasons to listen to this gentle, delightful song - while you can't fault the instruments in this one, a strong guitar and some gorgeous acoustics, it's even harder to fault the crystal clear Miku singing over the top.
【鏡音リン】 imagination -dream mix- 【オリジナル曲
imagination -dream mix- (DATEKEN, Rin, Ambient Vocal)
Another week, another soft and dreamy and minimalistic remix/version of one of Dateken's tracks! He's really getting into the Rin vibe here, and there's little I can do but heap praise on it. For reference, this is a slower vibe than Never, but very similar in general sound.
【MEIKO生誕祭2010】 RESOLUTION 【みじぴんP/オリジナル曲】
RESOLUTION (mijipin, Meiko, Rock)
Meiko's birthday isn't done quite yet! Coming in late is mijipin with quite the eye-opener of a track, a loud-and-proud rock affair with a pretty good bit of Meiko tuning and the requisite crazy-ass solo sections, this time in synth keyboard for good measure.
【初音ミク】 未来座の恒星 【オリジナル曲】
Future Stars of the Constellation (hiiton, Miku, Rock)
A substantial rock track from hiiton, high on the charts at the turn of the week. There's nothing too bad here; Miku sounds pretty solid and I love the guitars, especially in the intro and bridges. It's not as massively outstanding as some of the other songs this week, but it's certainly worth a listen if you're kind of sick of the pure pop stuff and need a bit of an energy injection.
E.C.H.O【VOCALOIDオリジナル】
E.C.H.O. (jiizasu, Rin + Len, Funky Pop)
Let's get super-funky with the twins and this bass-filled track. The twins croon in a very good duet while the music slides past, as smooth as a greased weasel. The track can feel a little empty, but in return most of my usual problems with the twins, such as their often-squeaky voice, aren't readily apparent and only come into play as the song winds down.
【初音ミク】 falling 【PV付オリジナル】
falling (river, Miku, Ambient)
River is back, and as you might expect there's a new Miku track full of bizarre noises and strange snatches of music, accompanied by a well-tuned Miku to round it all off into something vaguely like a song. Actually, once it gets out of the very long intro, this track evens out a little and becomes considerably pleasant. Still full of clicks and whistles and blunt notes straight out of Rez, though, and such a drifting song may not particularly gel with everyone.
【メグッポイド with がくぽ】テレパシー【オリジナル】
Telepathy (M@SATOSHI, Gumi + Gakupo, Pop)
It's still not exactly clear what the relationship is between M@SATOSHI and the shadowy A_Ruka, but it's clear the latter is really starting to hit their stride. This jubilant and seasonal-ish track is starting to show some real flair in the saxophone and little musical catches that make up the melody, while Gumi's well tuned and Gakupo actually manages to add a pleasant little undercurrent to the main vocals.
「たとえば、ここで。」 オリジナル曲/Vo.初音ミクVivid
For Example, Here (orange, Gachapoid Miku, Trance Pop)
What happens when you take Miku Vivid and let producer orange put her into a trance-style pop track full of slowly climbing tones, a dash of chiptune, and a bassline that sounds straight out of an organ? Well, apparently, you get Gachapoid, or perhaps Daffy Duck. No denying that the Miku is certainly, uh, interestingly tuned here; it kind of works with the track as you get used to it, but you'll definitely recoil in the first five seconds or so.
【初音ミク・巡音ルカ】ワンステップ・レイヤード【オリジナル】
One-Step Layered (Last Note, Miku + Luka, Rock)
A powerful intro underpins a rather cheesy and operatic rock track full of squealing guitar solos and thumping drums and a whole lot of the lead vocalists mooning over each other. This is another track this week that I prefer more for the instruments than the vocals - there's more than a few times where you'll wince at how high they get, especially in the chorus.
【初音ミク】Stars in Heaven【巡音ルカ】（オリジナル曲）
Stars in Heaven (BiRD(s), Miku + Luka, Cheesy Pop)
But you didn't think we were done having them moon over each other, did you? There's far more in store in this ridiculously twinkly sugarpop monstrosity. Even as it is, lacking in polish and with a distinctly wobbly Luka and a bunch of audio problems in the form of little glitches, there's something about it that is hilarious enough for me to really enjoy it - possibly just the fact it's so amazingly cheesy at every step of the way.
【初音ミク＆巡音ルカ】Distorted Princess【オリジナル】
Distorted Princess (hachioji, Miku + Luka, Dance Pop)
And are we done? Heck no, we have 8#Prince to back us up with his usual style of dancey trancey pop and kickin' rad beats, or somesuch. Not to mention canned coverage of US police radio chatter, talking about incidents of alcoholism...? 8#Prince, are you making this all up as you go along?
【初音ミク】Time Machine【オリジナル曲】
【初音ミク】Memories【オリジナル曲】
Time Machine / Memories (SmileR, Miku, Pop Rock)
SmileR easily takes the final spot for my particular favorites this week. They might be kind of cheesy and unoriginal, they might be rooted quite firmly in traditional vocarock, but between them both they're a fine pair of songs. Time Machine is rooted firmly at the happy-go-lucky candy end of the spectrum, while Memories is a bit harsher and louder.
Other:
【巡音ルカ】ダスト【勝手にPV】
Dust (kuwagata, PV: Saine, Luka, Rock)
This isn't exactly my favourite kuwagata track. Luka's voice is a little hard to get into and the song itself just isn't as interesting or punchy as some of kuwagata's other stuff, beyond a nice timbre in the lead guitars. Still, this is a very slick PV, with some gorgeous effects.
【MMD】ぷち・・・【MikuMikuDance】
Petite... (MMD: konikoni, Ensemble)
A version of a dare game goes horribly wrong, over and over again. There's some great attention to detail in this silly, silly animation - the best laughs come from watching people's expressions or the backdrops, rather than whatever's going on, and there's a lot of great moments tucked in there.
【MikuMikuDance】Yellow【グリーンレフト】
Yellow (kz, MMDPV: rogunaa, Mikus, Dance Pop)
The Miku reject crew do Yellow!
What a week! A slew of good songs, an astounding new video and track from DECO, and AVTechNo has retired, removing anything short of a collab or utattemita mixing job from nicovideo. Not much reason given, though he did recently float the idea of retiring, taking a break, then starting fresh - the assumption is that that's exactly what's happening, though I have to admit I always find it a little churlish when someone ups and takes away all their work in a sweep of their arm... see here.
Descriptions may be a bit lacking this week as I am writing them from the goddamn arctic cold that is the UK. Temperatures of -10C are not supposed to happen in this country in November. What the hell! As ever, recently-speaking at least, the rest of the tags will get dunked on later today.
【初音ミク】むかしむかしのきょうのぼく【オリジナル】
Once Upon A Me (DECO*27, Miku, Pop)
What is there to even say? DECO's latest song, done as the theme track for the mikumix comics, is a traditional pop affair with much of DECO's usual style and grace. It's not as immediately catchy as some of his other recent stuff, but it's still an excellent listen with a hook that'll grab you immediately. Where this song really shines, though, is in the lyrics and in the video, both of which are immensely heart-warming affairs, a sort of Miku-Does-Scott-Pilgrim of learning how to take life's knocks and come out (and help others come out) on top, because it's okay in the end. Brilliant.
【巡音ルカ GUMI】 ハッピーシンセサイザ 【オリジナル曲】
Happy Synthesizer (BETTI, Gumi + Luka, Electro Dance Pop)
I have to admit, this track slightly confuses me. Not the music itself: It's pure, blue-blood Easypop through and through, a jumpy, energetic dance track that just skims the line into pop. Nothing new here, and it's a genre I'm always extremely happy to link, but... this song in particular shot up to #1 on the charts, holding steady against even Deco's new track for a couple days. I'm trying to figure out what stood it apart from the rest of Easypop's work.
鏡音レン・鏡音リンオリジナル曲 「廃都アトリエスタにて」
In the Ateliesta Ruins (cosMo, Rin + Len, Pop)
Can it be - a cosMo track without distortion, lacking in massive angst, deficient in weird chiptune or tempo changes, and generally pleasant to listen to? Absolutely, but more than that it's utterly adorable and a great track to bop along to. cosMo does very well tuning the twins to sing in concert, and though the track is perhaps a little lacking in places it's one of the best this week.
【初音ミク】 からっぽのまにまに 【オリジナル】
At The Mercy Of Emptiness (pinokio, Miku, Rock)
A follow-up to the Halloween track? It certainly seems so - this shares a lot of the same strange chords, slightly wonky timing, odd pauses, a ton of little musical effects and bits of strangeness that by now we're surely starting to expect from this producer. A strange, but ultimately rather thrilling ride through a topsy-turvy song.
【巡音ルカ】fake or fate?【オリジナルPV】
Fake or Fate (maya, Luka, Angst Rock)
What is even going on in this video? It is so over the top and ridiculous I'm having trouble coping. Almost eroge in style, one moment Luka's clinging to the arm of an eye-less young Japanese lad and the next she's in chains on the moon and the next there's a pair of lights flinging their way through space. It's extremely silly, and the angsty, angsty rock track with the rapidfire guitar riffs, while very slick and stylish, only adds to the level of spectacle.
【初音ミク】 Tómur 【オリジナル曲】
Tómur (nio, Miku, Pop)
Sorry, there was a singer in this track? I couldn't tell - I was too busy gently drifting on the soothing piano and jazzy guitars to ever pay attention to the vocals in this deeply chillout song. What vocals there are are used quietly and sparingly - they're hardly the focus of an excellent melody.
【初音ミク】君が好き【至高のバラードⅢ】
I Love You (reruriri, Miku, Soft Pop)
Almost the opposite of Tómur, the tuning is possibly the best of all possibly reasons to listen to this gentle, delightful song - while you can't fault the instruments in this one, a strong guitar and some gorgeous acoustics, it's even harder to fault the crystal clear Miku singing over the top.
【鏡音リン】 imagination -dream mix- 【オリジナル曲
imagination -dream mix- (DATEKEN, Rin, Ambient Vocal)
Another week, another soft and dreamy and minimalistic remix/version of one of Dateken's tracks! He's really getting into the Rin vibe here, and there's little I can do but heap praise on it. For reference, this is a slower vibe than Never, but very similar in general sound.
【MEIKO生誕祭2010】 RESOLUTION 【みじぴんP/オリジナル曲】
RESOLUTION (mijipin, Meiko, Rock)
Meiko's birthday isn't done quite yet! Coming in late is mijipin with quite the eye-opener of a track, a loud-and-proud rock affair with a pretty good bit of Meiko tuning and the requisite crazy-ass solo sections, this time in synth keyboard for good measure.
【初音ミク】 未来座の恒星 【オリジナル曲】
Future Stars of the Constellation (hiiton, Miku, Rock)
A substantial rock track from hiiton, high on the charts at the turn of the week. There's nothing too bad here; Miku sounds pretty solid and I love the guitars, especially in the intro and bridges. It's not as massively outstanding as some of the other songs this week, but it's certainly worth a listen if you're kind of sick of the pure pop stuff and need a bit of an energy injection.
E.C.H.O【VOCALOIDオリジナル】
E.C.H.O. (jiizasu, Rin + Len, Funky Pop)
Let's get super-funky with the twins and this bass-filled track. The twins croon in a very good duet while the music slides past, as smooth as a greased weasel. The track can feel a little empty, but in return most of my usual problems with the twins, such as their often-squeaky voice, aren't readily apparent and only come into play as the song winds down.
【初音ミク】 falling 【PV付オリジナル】
falling (river, Miku, Ambient)
River is back, and as you might expect there's a new Miku track full of bizarre noises and strange snatches of music, accompanied by a well-tuned Miku to round it all off into something vaguely like a song. Actually, once it gets out of the very long intro, this track evens out a little and becomes considerably pleasant. Still full of clicks and whistles and blunt notes straight out of Rez, though, and such a drifting song may not particularly gel with everyone.
【メグッポイド with がくぽ】テレパシー【オリジナル】
Telepathy (M@SATOSHI, Gumi + Gakupo, Pop)
It's still not exactly clear what the relationship is between M@SATOSHI and the shadowy A_Ruka, but it's clear the latter is really starting to hit their stride. This jubilant and seasonal-ish track is starting to show some real flair in the saxophone and little musical catches that make up the melody, while Gumi's well tuned and Gakupo actually manages to add a pleasant little undercurrent to the main vocals.
「たとえば、ここで。」 オリジナル曲/Vo.初音ミクVivid
For Example, Here (orange, Gachapoid Miku, Trance Pop)
What happens when you take Miku Vivid and let producer orange put her into a trance-style pop track full of slowly climbing tones, a dash of chiptune, and a bassline that sounds straight out of an organ? Well, apparently, you get Gachapoid, or perhaps Daffy Duck. No denying that the Miku is certainly, uh, interestingly tuned here; it kind of works with the track as you get used to it, but you'll definitely recoil in the first five seconds or so.
【初音ミク・巡音ルカ】ワンステップ・レイヤード【オリジナル】
One-Step Layered (Last Note, Miku + Luka, Rock)
A powerful intro underpins a rather cheesy and operatic rock track full of squealing guitar solos and thumping drums and a whole lot of the lead vocalists mooning over each other. This is another track this week that I prefer more for the instruments than the vocals - there's more than a few times where you'll wince at how high they get, especially in the chorus.
【初音ミク】Stars in Heaven【巡音ルカ】（オリジナル曲）
Stars in Heaven (BiRD(s), Miku + Luka, Cheesy Pop)
But you didn't think we were done having them moon over each other, did you? There's far more in store in this ridiculously twinkly sugarpop monstrosity. Even as it is, lacking in polish and with a distinctly wobbly Luka and a bunch of audio problems in the form of little glitches, there's something about it that is hilarious enough for me to really enjoy it - possibly just the fact it's so amazingly cheesy at every step of the way.
【初音ミク＆巡音ルカ】Distorted Princess【オリジナル】
Distorted Princess (hachioji, Miku + Luka, Dance Pop)
And are we done? Heck no, we have 8#Prince to back us up with his usual style of dancey trancey pop and kickin' rad beats, or somesuch. Not to mention canned coverage of US police radio chatter, talking about incidents of alcoholism...? 8#Prince, are you making this all up as you go along?
【初音ミク】Time Machine【オリジナル曲】
【初音ミク】Memories【オリジナル曲】
Time Machine / Memories (SmileR, Miku, Pop Rock)
SmileR easily takes the final spot for my particular favorites this week. They might be kind of cheesy and unoriginal, they might be rooted quite firmly in traditional vocarock, but between them both they're a fine pair of songs. Time Machine is rooted firmly at the happy-go-lucky candy end of the spectrum, while Memories is a bit harsher and louder.
Other:
【巡音ルカ】ダスト【勝手にPV】
Dust (kuwagata, PV: Saine, Luka, Rock)
This isn't exactly my favourite kuwagata track. Luka's voice is a little hard to get into and the song itself just isn't as interesting or punchy as some of kuwagata's other stuff, beyond a nice timbre in the lead guitars. Still, this is a very slick PV, with some gorgeous effects.
【MMD】ぷち・・・【MikuMikuDance】
Petite... (MMD: konikoni, Ensemble)
A version of a dare game goes horribly wrong, over and over again. There's some great attention to detail in this silly, silly animation - the best laughs come from watching people's expressions or the backdrops, rather than whatever's going on, and there's a lot of great moments tucked in there.
【MikuMikuDance】Yellow【グリーンレフト】
Yellow (kz, MMDPV: rogunaa, Mikus, Dance Pop)
The Miku reject crew do Yellow!