Weekly Roundup / NicoNico
Not the best of weeks, but we squeezed some tracks out of it nonetheless. This is a little late, as I'll be on holiday in Seattle for the next week or so; expect the next post to be a little scattered and missing a lot of videos.
Kiramiki Festival has hit and is ongoing - you can see the videos here - and while it hasn't been getting the best of hits, I'm prepared to declare it a success either way if only for the sole inclusion of a couple of videos. I'm saving linking them for now; once I get back from holiday I'll do a wrap-up post for it unless anyone gets to it first.
There's also now a US-based nicovideo site!... sort of. NicoNico is a site by the owners of Nicovideo that aims to bring the scrolling commentspam to english-speaking users. It isn't specifically a video hosting site; instead, you can specify any youtube or nicovideo and it'll play it in a wrapper with the comment system overlaid. It's a nice idea, but ... in its current form, it feels a little useless. None of the tags or comments from the original site are brought over and nothing is translated beyond the login box, so it's not like you gain anything over visiting the original sites. Trying to take market share away from youtube while simultaneously having to build up and maintain tags and comments content will also be a very difficult task. One benefit, though - NicoNico and Nicovideo use the same login database, so if you've a friend who wants an account but doesn't want to translate the original site, just point them there.
Also I need to catch up three posts or so of tags but first I have to pack and a plane to catch arghghgh.
Videos
【初音ミク】ラストエフェクト【オリジナル】
Last Effect (Last Note, Miku, Orchestral Rock)
The big video of the week is this fantastic track with a huge range of well-known names on instruments, and an extremely good MMDPV to accompany it. The music's a very traditional kind of fast upbeat rock, but rounds itself out nicely with a host of strings; the video, from brother, is absolutely top-notch and I'll take this over any wakamura thing anyday.
【初音ミク】キミノカケラ【オリジナル曲】
A Piece Of You (kyotn, Miku, Club Pop)
A blistering track that plays perfectly to my likes, kyotn throws out a thumping club number that'll get right into your head; if you don't end up dancing around the room like a madman to this, I don't know what to tell you. If it sounds a bit familiar, that's because he stopped working on this for a while to throw his hat into the p-name bandwagon, and used the same beat and hooks.
【GUMI】 マーメイド 【オリジナルPV】
Mermaid (10日, Gumi, Breakpop)
Monaca:factory are on the go this week with this very slightly disjointed and jumpy pop track. Dissolving from soft pop into scratchy beats and then into tinkling xylophonic scales, it's has the feel of a lighter, more easier to listen to kous track. Speaking of which...
【巡音ルカ】意味テーションナイフ【オリジナル】
Imitation Knife (kous, Luka, Kous Rock?)
Your eyes don't deceive - kous working with Luka actually works surprisingly well, her lower voice a natural match for a track that's on the darker side of his ouevre, full of grinding guitar chords and snares all over the place; if you're not a fan of the distorted intro, try to stick it out for the body of the track. The video does feature one of the more egregrious uses of LatFace copypasting, however...
鏡音レン 無実
Innocent (AVTechNO, Len, Rock)
AV feels a lot like he's branching out and trying new things after his hiatus, and the latest result is this Len track that's a good sight more conventional than many of the rockish tracks he's done in the past while retaining some of his common themes. On the harsh end of the scale but far from being a screamer track, it's a fine bit of Len Append.
【GUMI】キッチンでカッパがタニシ茹でてる【オリジナル曲】
A Kappa is Boiling Snails in the Kitchen (ie no ura etc., Gumi, Rock)
I've still got no clue what's going through this guy's mind - the same mind that brought you the delightfully titled Get Your New Scab Eaten By Your Pet - but it certainly makes for some good rock music and some adorable kappas. Seriously, someone get me one of those.
【夏影 × 初音ミク】 夏影 -Summer Wind Remix- 【アレンジ】
Summer Lights -Summer Wind Remix- (AIR, Remix: Clean Tears, Miku, Trance)
By rights, I should be putting this further down the post. It's not exactly a new song or anything, it's a remix of the popular AIR anime track, but it's so joyful I couldn't help myself. Dancing piano and a solid beat from one of the masters of the genre.
初音ミクオリジナル曲PV付き「butterfly paradox」
butterfly paradox (myumu, Miku, Pop)
Sitting somewhere near your standard soft pop track but happy to inject a little bit of rock into its makeup, this is a catchy song from myumu with a lot of minor touches, snatches of piano or other instruments rounding out a high but pleasant Miku. The video's nothing short of fantastic.
【初音ミクオリジナル曲】RISING SUN【PV付き】
RISING SUN (blackpizza, Miku, Rock)
A scorching debut video from pizza, a very traditional energetic rock track with perhaps a little bit of anthemic club in the whole 'Rising Suuun~~' bits. Lots of great guitar here and a very accomplished PV; Miku might be a bit off, perhaps, but that's more than forgivable in the face of a first track this good.
【巡音ルカ】pollinosis - teardrop flower-【オリジナル】
Pollinoses - Teardrop Flower (pandorisuto, Luka, Emo)
I remain really picky about my emo tracks, which is why I'm pleased to link this one up - it's a great track that avoids many of the problems I tend to have with this genre of music while presenting a well-tuned Luka who I guess is the resident Emobot now?
【空音ラナ・初音ミク】見えない黒に堕ちてゆけ【オリジナル民族曲PV】
Unseen Fall Into the Black (kaoling, Rana + Miku, Traditional / Ethnic)
Absolutely unique this update, this brilliant track has some fantastic tuning of both Vocaloid and Utau, in a perfect duet with stomping wardrums and a fantastic feel.
【GUMI・いろは】それは私よ【ミュージカル『レベッカ』】
It's Me (根気, Gumi + Iroha, Musical)
Holy shit. This isn't exactly something you'd put on your mp3 player but it is an arresting, phenomenal bit of coding and duet.
【神威がくぽ＆初音ミク】 close×clothes 【オリジナルPV付】
close×clothes (熊野, Miku + Gakupo, Pop)
Not nearly as risque as you'd expect from the title, this extremely silly song isn't any kind of Kurumi Ponchio bodiceripper - there's a phrase I never expected to type - but instead a track not nearly taking itself seriously, all about Miku being pissed over Gakupo's fashion sense. It's not the best ever, but it is very fun.
【GUMI】 未来時計AM4:30 【オリジナル】
Future Watch AM 4:30 (蜻蛉, Gumi, Pop)
Gumi kind of populates the bottom of the post today, starting off with this bouncy, catchy track with a certain club vibe. I rather enjoyed it, myself, but I'm one hundred percent certain some people won't because - for reasons I'm not entirely clear on - it's autotuned to hell and back and if that sort of thing bothers you you're going to want to stay well away.
【GUMI】アタック高活性バイオEX【オリジナルPV付】
Highly Active Bio-EX Attack (noyo, Gumi, Product Placement Rock)
I like to think this is the sort of thing that happens when a vocaloid's having an off day. Sometimes, you gotta do what you have to in order to pay the bills, right?
インスタント（３分版）/初音ミク・鏡音リン・巡音ルカ
Instant (Long Version) (lamaze, Miku + Luka + Rin, Pop)
Arrrrgh! I'm reaching the point where lamaze is actively frustrating me with his songs. They're good songs! They honestly deserve more views than they get, but the problem is that none of them have any real impact; even all the great dueting in this track feels muted and indistinct, like the entire song's in the background.
【ＧＵＭＩ】ＷＡＲＡＳＨＩＢＥ【ボカロ紙芝居】
Stalk (shin, Gumi, Pop)
Nicovideo why you gotta hate on the things I love? A plinky-plonky piano and acoustic guitar pop song isn't the most catchy thing ever, I guess, but it's heartwarming and kind of delightful and, more importantly, is paired with a great animated video featuring all the cast. And Big Al!
Other:
【初音ミク】サイノウサンプラー【勝手にPV】
Talent Sampler (koyori, PV: akka/mirto, Miku, Pop)
An excellent if deeply gloomy video for koyori's recent hit. I still think Miku's rather floaty, but it's a great track besides, and an exemplary video for it.
【MikuMikuDance】ちょうちょさんの体力がものすもい動画。
Technically speaking, this is off-topic - and actually, if anyone knows the source for these characters, I'm really curious as to where they're from since I'd thought they were Utau but apparently not - but I'm linking it anyway because if you're at all interested in MMD you need to see it. Watch until 0:30 and have your mouth gape in amazement.
[PV] コトバトラボラト [初音ミク]
Kotobato Raborato (daniwell, PV: Thanks, Miku, Cutesy Pop)
Hot damn, don't watch this on economy because it'll chew through the video faster than you can blink, but it sure is pretty. Not just Kinetic Typography, but more like Kinetic Musology as well; the scales slide and twirl rather more literally than in most videos.
【MikuMikuDance】バイビーベイビーサヨウナラ【ダンスPV】
Bye Bye Baby Sayonara (saiB, MMDPV: pilo, Miku, Rock)
A relatively seminal Miku hard rock track gets a solid bit of choreography. This has cropped up before with the original being done in January, but I'm not sure I linked it, and even then it quite a bit rougher than this higher quality version. The Miku model isn't one I've come across before, but is no slouch.
【MMDIVA】 KAITOでClover♣Club 【っぽいど】
Clover♣Club (yuuyu, MMDPV: 517, Kaito, Pop)
Er. ER. Guys I think we have found a slight operational issue with the Diva Kaito body, and that is that his arms are freaky. Freaky, freaky freaky freaky. There's gibbon in that ancestry, I tell you.
【MMD】The secret garden ＋おまけ【DIVA】
The Secret Garden (MMDPV: dyuran, Miku, Pop)
If I'm honest, I really don't actually like The Secret Garden much. It's not bad as the Project Diva intro because it feels like it's an intro-ish song, but stand it alone and it just can't really match up. Anyhow, this is exactly what you'd expect; the Diva model doing a very accurate rendition. Plus freebie.
【MMD】BREEZEでモーションブラー実験・単体版【MME】
BREEZE (MMDPV: soboro, Miku + Len + Rin, Pop)
Just to round out our model selection - I'm contractually obliged to root for the originals - and because I only ever linked a joke version of the choreography, here's BREEZE with a good dash of MikuMikuEffect. A combination of motion blurs and smoothing help prevent the jagged look and make the original models smoother than ever on a gorgeous HD background. Shame it can't fix the lip-sync.
Kiramiki Festival has hit and is ongoing - you can see the videos here - and while it hasn't been getting the best of hits, I'm prepared to declare it a success either way if only for the sole inclusion of a couple of videos. I'm saving linking them for now; once I get back from holiday I'll do a wrap-up post for it unless anyone gets to it first.
There's also now a US-based nicovideo site!... sort of. NicoNico is a site by the owners of Nicovideo that aims to bring the scrolling commentspam to english-speaking users. It isn't specifically a video hosting site; instead, you can specify any youtube or nicovideo and it'll play it in a wrapper with the comment system overlaid. It's a nice idea, but ... in its current form, it feels a little useless. None of the tags or comments from the original site are brought over and nothing is translated beyond the login box, so it's not like you gain anything over visiting the original sites. Trying to take market share away from youtube while simultaneously having to build up and maintain tags and comments content will also be a very difficult task. One benefit, though - NicoNico and Nicovideo use the same login database, so if you've a friend who wants an account but doesn't want to translate the original site, just point them there.
Also I need to catch up three posts or so of tags but first I have to pack and a plane to catch arghghgh.
Videos
【初音ミク】ラストエフェクト【オリジナル】
Last Effect (Last Note, Miku, Orchestral Rock)
The big video of the week is this fantastic track with a huge range of well-known names on instruments, and an extremely good MMDPV to accompany it. The music's a very traditional kind of fast upbeat rock, but rounds itself out nicely with a host of strings; the video, from brother, is absolutely top-notch and I'll take this over any wakamura thing anyday.
【初音ミク】キミノカケラ【オリジナル曲】
A Piece Of You (kyotn, Miku, Club Pop)
A blistering track that plays perfectly to my likes, kyotn throws out a thumping club number that'll get right into your head; if you don't end up dancing around the room like a madman to this, I don't know what to tell you. If it sounds a bit familiar, that's because he stopped working on this for a while to throw his hat into the p-name bandwagon, and used the same beat and hooks.
【GUMI】 マーメイド 【オリジナルPV】
Mermaid (10日, Gumi, Breakpop)
Monaca:factory are on the go this week with this very slightly disjointed and jumpy pop track. Dissolving from soft pop into scratchy beats and then into tinkling xylophonic scales, it's has the feel of a lighter, more easier to listen to kous track. Speaking of which...
【巡音ルカ】意味テーションナイフ【オリジナル】
Imitation Knife (kous, Luka, Kous Rock?)
Your eyes don't deceive - kous working with Luka actually works surprisingly well, her lower voice a natural match for a track that's on the darker side of his ouevre, full of grinding guitar chords and snares all over the place; if you're not a fan of the distorted intro, try to stick it out for the body of the track. The video does feature one of the more egregrious uses of LatFace copypasting, however...
鏡音レン 無実
Innocent (AVTechNO, Len, Rock)
AV feels a lot like he's branching out and trying new things after his hiatus, and the latest result is this Len track that's a good sight more conventional than many of the rockish tracks he's done in the past while retaining some of his common themes. On the harsh end of the scale but far from being a screamer track, it's a fine bit of Len Append.
【GUMI】キッチンでカッパがタニシ茹でてる【オリジナル曲】
A Kappa is Boiling Snails in the Kitchen (ie no ura etc., Gumi, Rock)
I've still got no clue what's going through this guy's mind - the same mind that brought you the delightfully titled Get Your New Scab Eaten By Your Pet - but it certainly makes for some good rock music and some adorable kappas. Seriously, someone get me one of those.
【夏影 × 初音ミク】 夏影 -Summer Wind Remix- 【アレンジ】
Summer Lights -Summer Wind Remix- (AIR, Remix: Clean Tears, Miku, Trance)
By rights, I should be putting this further down the post. It's not exactly a new song or anything, it's a remix of the popular AIR anime track, but it's so joyful I couldn't help myself. Dancing piano and a solid beat from one of the masters of the genre.
初音ミクオリジナル曲PV付き「butterfly paradox」
butterfly paradox (myumu, Miku, Pop)
Sitting somewhere near your standard soft pop track but happy to inject a little bit of rock into its makeup, this is a catchy song from myumu with a lot of minor touches, snatches of piano or other instruments rounding out a high but pleasant Miku. The video's nothing short of fantastic.
【初音ミクオリジナル曲】RISING SUN【PV付き】
RISING SUN (blackpizza, Miku, Rock)
A scorching debut video from pizza, a very traditional energetic rock track with perhaps a little bit of anthemic club in the whole 'Rising Suuun~~' bits. Lots of great guitar here and a very accomplished PV; Miku might be a bit off, perhaps, but that's more than forgivable in the face of a first track this good.
【巡音ルカ】pollinosis - teardrop flower-【オリジナル】
Pollinoses - Teardrop Flower (pandorisuto, Luka, Emo)
I remain really picky about my emo tracks, which is why I'm pleased to link this one up - it's a great track that avoids many of the problems I tend to have with this genre of music while presenting a well-tuned Luka who I guess is the resident Emobot now?
【空音ラナ・初音ミク】見えない黒に堕ちてゆけ【オリジナル民族曲PV】
Unseen Fall Into the Black (kaoling, Rana + Miku, Traditional / Ethnic)
Absolutely unique this update, this brilliant track has some fantastic tuning of both Vocaloid and Utau, in a perfect duet with stomping wardrums and a fantastic feel.
【GUMI・いろは】それは私よ【ミュージカル『レベッカ』】
It's Me (根気, Gumi + Iroha, Musical)
Holy shit. This isn't exactly something you'd put on your mp3 player but it is an arresting, phenomenal bit of coding and duet.
【神威がくぽ＆初音ミク】 close×clothes 【オリジナルPV付】
close×clothes (熊野, Miku + Gakupo, Pop)
Not nearly as risque as you'd expect from the title, this extremely silly song isn't any kind of Kurumi Ponchio bodiceripper - there's a phrase I never expected to type - but instead a track not nearly taking itself seriously, all about Miku being pissed over Gakupo's fashion sense. It's not the best ever, but it is very fun.
【GUMI】 未来時計AM4:30 【オリジナル】
Future Watch AM 4:30 (蜻蛉, Gumi, Pop)
Gumi kind of populates the bottom of the post today, starting off with this bouncy, catchy track with a certain club vibe. I rather enjoyed it, myself, but I'm one hundred percent certain some people won't because - for reasons I'm not entirely clear on - it's autotuned to hell and back and if that sort of thing bothers you you're going to want to stay well away.
【GUMI】アタック高活性バイオEX【オリジナルPV付】
Highly Active Bio-EX Attack (noyo, Gumi, Product Placement Rock)
I like to think this is the sort of thing that happens when a vocaloid's having an off day. Sometimes, you gotta do what you have to in order to pay the bills, right?
インスタント（３分版）/初音ミク・鏡音リン・巡音ルカ
Instant (Long Version) (lamaze, Miku + Luka + Rin, Pop)
Arrrrgh! I'm reaching the point where lamaze is actively frustrating me with his songs. They're good songs! They honestly deserve more views than they get, but the problem is that none of them have any real impact; even all the great dueting in this track feels muted and indistinct, like the entire song's in the background.
【ＧＵＭＩ】ＷＡＲＡＳＨＩＢＥ【ボカロ紙芝居】
Stalk (shin, Gumi, Pop)
Nicovideo why you gotta hate on the things I love? A plinky-plonky piano and acoustic guitar pop song isn't the most catchy thing ever, I guess, but it's heartwarming and kind of delightful and, more importantly, is paired with a great animated video featuring all the cast. And Big Al!
Other:
【初音ミク】サイノウサンプラー【勝手にPV】
Talent Sampler (koyori, PV: akka/mirto, Miku, Pop)
An excellent if deeply gloomy video for koyori's recent hit. I still think Miku's rather floaty, but it's a great track besides, and an exemplary video for it.
【MikuMikuDance】ちょうちょさんの体力がものすもい動画。
Technically speaking, this is off-topic - and actually, if anyone knows the source for these characters, I'm really curious as to where they're from since I'd thought they were Utau but apparently not - but I'm linking it anyway because if you're at all interested in MMD you need to see it. Watch until 0:30 and have your mouth gape in amazement.
[PV] コトバトラボラト [初音ミク]
Kotobato Raborato (daniwell, PV: Thanks, Miku, Cutesy Pop)
Hot damn, don't watch this on economy because it'll chew through the video faster than you can blink, but it sure is pretty. Not just Kinetic Typography, but more like Kinetic Musology as well; the scales slide and twirl rather more literally than in most videos.
【MikuMikuDance】バイビーベイビーサヨウナラ【ダンスPV】
Bye Bye Baby Sayonara (saiB, MMDPV: pilo, Miku, Rock)
A relatively seminal Miku hard rock track gets a solid bit of choreography. This has cropped up before with the original being done in January, but I'm not sure I linked it, and even then it quite a bit rougher than this higher quality version. The Miku model isn't one I've come across before, but is no slouch.
【MMDIVA】 KAITOでClover♣Club 【っぽいど】
Clover♣Club (yuuyu, MMDPV: 517, Kaito, Pop)
Er. ER. Guys I think we have found a slight operational issue with the Diva Kaito body, and that is that his arms are freaky. Freaky, freaky freaky freaky. There's gibbon in that ancestry, I tell you.
【MMD】The secret garden ＋おまけ【DIVA】
The Secret Garden (MMDPV: dyuran, Miku, Pop)
If I'm honest, I really don't actually like The Secret Garden much. It's not bad as the Project Diva intro because it feels like it's an intro-ish song, but stand it alone and it just can't really match up. Anyhow, this is exactly what you'd expect; the Diva model doing a very accurate rendition. Plus freebie.
【MMD】BREEZEでモーションブラー実験・単体版【MME】
BREEZE (MMDPV: soboro, Miku + Len + Rin, Pop)
Just to round out our model selection - I'm contractually obliged to root for the originals - and because I only ever linked a joke version of the choreography, here's BREEZE with a good dash of MikuMikuEffect. A combination of motion blurs and smoothing help prevent the jagged look and make the original models smoother than ever on a gorgeous HD background. Shame it can't fix the lip-sync.