BEST OF 2010 -or- TIME TO CONTRIBUTE, GUYS
We're running a trifle delayed - going home from holiday has presented new and interesting concepts like 'jetlag' and 'oh god oh why am I so ill jesus christ'. Post will be up later this week to get all caught up - in the meantime, it's audience participation time
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【オリジナル曲PV】マトリョシカ【初音ミク・GUMI】
Matryoshka (hachi, Miku + Gumi, Rock)
Kind of inevitable, perhaps, but it's almost impossible to underestimate the sheer level of effect this track has had on Nicovideo as a whole, worming its way into every tag under the sun. If you somehow haven't heard this thumping rock track with some mildly russian influences and a certain wowaka bent to the voices, you should probably go educate yourself post-haste: it's one of the finest rock tracks this year and very quickly became an enduring, unstoppable force that helped solidly punctuate Gumi's rise to power in the summer months.
【鏡音リン】ジュリエッタとロミヲ 【オリジナル曲】【初音ミク】
Juliet and Romeo (Tes., Rin + Miku, Pop Rock)
Tes has gripped me like a vice the latter half of this year, coming out of nowhere with a succession of predominantly-Rin songs that I simply cannot stop listening to for their sheer breathless enthusiasm. Every single one of his tracks drips with style and chaotic verve, brass instruments or unexpected effects coming out of nowhere alongside ridiculously catchy guitar hooks, together with a perfect sense of when to pause or crescendo for best effect. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Juliet and Romeo; the ending is just the icing on the cake.
【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)
DECO*27 pretty much had to show up on my list somewhere, as I've been a devoted fan since the ridiculously catchy Love Word and his output this year has been prodigious, to say the least. Once Upon a Me isn't quite the sort of music I usually listen to, and some of his other tracks nearly took its place; while Miku is clear and very well tuned so as not to be too low or too high, there's something slow and careful in the music that would normally turn me off, or at least make me not place the track in the top five. What really pushes this over is the sheer bittersweetness of both the lyrics and the accompanying video, an ode to standing fast against the sticks and stones of life with the help of others. Absolutely fantastic.
巡音ルカオリジナル曲 「rainy」
Rainy (JimmyThumb, Luka, Pop)
JimmyThumb (aka OneRoom) is one of those producers whose name will always get me interested in a song. While he doesn't exactly forge new ground every time he puts a song up, his tracks are always perfectly executed and utterly iconic; placed somewhere along the dance-pop-rock spectrum, they've always seemed to me to really personify the whole Vocaloid movement and the traditional archetype of Miku and Luka songs. Rainy's done in the same style as many of his other works, a slow introduction belying a catchy hook into a pop extravaganza that I might like just a little more than the obvious contender, Calc.
【初音ミク(40㍍)】 ジェンガ 【オリジナル】
Jenga (40m, Miku, Pop)
40m is one of the most well-known names in this business, and I tend to feel he can be compared very closely to JimmyThumb. Just like the Rainy producer, 40m tends to create anthemic pop tracks that really feel like they're archetypal of the genre, though usually sticking to quieter, slower tracks that focus more on vocals than background beat. Despite a string of hits late in the year, some of which extremely high-profile - Kyodai Shoujo, Time Machine and Torinoko City included - Jenga remains steadfast as my choice for 40m's best song in 2010.
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【鏡音リン】メランコリック【オリジナルPV付】
Melancholic (junky, Rin, Rock Pop)
Melancholic is another of those tracks that just won't leave my MP3 player for love, money nor addiction. It's not a long song, nor a technically impressive one - what it is is sheer, unabated joy in music form, Junky's signature guitars providing excellent accompaniment to a catchy beat and melody that encourage singing along at the top of your longs. Not very melancholic at all, I tend to find, as the enthralling solos alone have me grinning and air guitaring my way down the street heedless of anyone around.
【巡音ルカ】 チープタイムディスコ 【オリジナル曲】
Cheap Time Disco (BETTI, Luka, Eurobeat)
BETTI/Easypop hit it big this year, with a series of tracks that just climbed higher and higher up the charts with every successive release, looping in first Luka, then Gumi and finally Miku. It's fair to say they're all of a single, particular type of sound - the traditional modus operandi being a sort of Eurobeat vibe that's been skewed towards a more conventional dance/club style - and they do tend to get repetitive after a while, but Cheap Time Disco's charm has remained throughout the months as the most iconic of BETTI's work.
【初音ミク】Keep Only One Love【オリジナル】
Keep Only One Love (hachioji, Miku, Electro Pop)
And never let it be said that I'm not, you know, a complete and total whore. To say that I like 8#Prince would be to say that I find breathing kind of important - this genre of electronica pop is pretty much right up my alley, moreso than any other kind, and this track in particular is the one that really made me sit up and listen to him. Sometimes lilting and sometimes more powerful, he's the perfect example of the style whichever of his tracks you choose to try.
【MEIKO】 Flow@Time / shu-t【オリジナル】
Flow@Time (shu-t, Meiko, Club)
shu-t flew the Meiko flag almost solo for the first half of the year, producing track after high-quality track and refusing to let her lay down and die despite repeatedly getting snubbed by the weekly ranking. Hands down, Flow@Time was the best of them, combining a fearsomely strong beat with an absolutely stellar bit of Meiko coding that sounds so flawless that she could almost have been considered a Vocaloid2. Though others have picked her up in the months since, this remains to my mind absolutely the best Meiko track of 2010.
【KAITO】逆罪行進曲～怪～【PV付オリジナル曲】
Reverse Charge March (machigerita, Kaito, Rock)
Machige is one of the staff favourites around here. There's something terribly endearing about him - the guy complains about not having a girlfriend on Twitter, puts up nicostreams of himself playing Stepmania with his dog or his mother, then takes the time to bust out an astounding selection of videos that have ranged from the slow and peaceful to the terrifyingly insane. He's been experimenting this year, branching out into a selection of styles and only getting better as time goes on, but Reverse Charge March is the one I'd pick to represent him this year. Coming out of the blue with a fantastic Kaito song right in the middle of his upswing, this was such a departure from the rest of the month around it, standing out proud and loud.
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【鏡音リン】 trick art ! 【オリジナル曲】
trick art! (DATEKEN, Rin, Jazz Pop)
I don't know if this was just me not seeing anything about it, but this track didn't seem to get nearly as much love as it should have in the days after it left the ranking. A perfect Rin takes on gentle, soothing jazz, and the result is so astoundingly good it'll make your toes curl, full of woodwinds and brass and music so smooth you'd swear it was photoshopped. DATEKEN's done plenty of work since, focusing on the twins, but nothing will top this for me without some serious, serious effort to displace it.
【KAITO】「つけるよ。」【オリジナル曲】
Wear it. (suketch, Kaito, Pop)
When I first looked at the thumbnail for this track, I very nearly skipped straight over it, expecting a NSFW gag track similar to Kurumi Ponchio. To this day, I'm glad I didn't; what could have been an unpleasant and head-shaking, sighing experience actually turns out to be a gentle, soulful track with some excellent Kaito and a delightful feel to it. Whatever you think about the subject of the song, it still makes me smile to this day.
【初音ミク】次世代センセーションのはじまり【オリジナル】
The Beginning of Next Generation's Sensation (daniwell, Miku, Pop)
Suck it, haters! Either that, or just be glad I didn't link Nyanyanyanyanyanyanyanyanya! instead. Daniwell has wormed his way into my heart - and my attention span, as well - with a succession of anthems designed purely to make your brain liquify and dribble out of your ears in slow motion while you sit there making 'buh buh buh' noises. Born with the gift to make anything catchy, I could literally sit and listen to his tracks all day; they're not top dollar offerings, but I still keep an eye out for anything he does.
ニコニコ動画のオープニングテーマを勝手に作ってみた
Self-Made Niconico Douga OP Theme (mosomoso, Miku + Luka + Len + Rin, Acoustic Pop)
I have never once taken this off my MP3 player, nor ever skipped past it once it started up. Something about this almost-purely vocal track makes me positively giddy with delight. Is it the sheer number of little touches and duets, the kibitzing between the twins in the background during Miku's singing sections, Luka's terrible engrish in the chorus? Possibly it is all of the above, and I will never get tired of it.
【鏡音リン・レン】おんがくします【オリジナル】
Making Music (oichan, Len + Rin, Acoustic Pop)
Nothing more than a throwaway track, and yet this grabbed me for the better part of an entire week, as I'd load it up just to bop along to it on off moments. There's something terribly heartwarming about the whole thing; from the twins fooling around to the cheery combination of guitars and maracas, it's a very pleasant and unassuming song that never failed to make me smile.
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i want to dig my eardrums out with a rusty spork every time that plays when I have Supernova 3 queued up. WHY IS ELECTRONICA POP SO... SUGARY
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I'LL EVEN ADMIT JENGA SOUNDS REALLY NICE EVEN IF IT'S NOT MY THING BUT HACHIOJI IS WHERE I DRAW MY LINE
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