Weekly Roundup + Catchup
Okay, I'm just going to get this post up before I collapse so we're all up to date. Apologies for the lateness; something last week was blocking me from being able to load videos at more than a crawl, so I decided I'd wait rather than subject you all to a Thursday or Friday post and the horror of getting immediately locked out due to Nico weekend times.
There are no MMDs or Other videos in this post because I've just spent quite literally an entire night going through just the songs alone. Vom@s and Kagamination have dramatically upped the volume of new tracks recently, and with two weeks to catch up I had an unholy amount of things to go through.
If you haven't already, you might want to check the news post where a whole bunch of intrepid commenters picked up the slack for me and went through the Vocaloid3 broadcast to extract all the information they could. Many thanks to all involved, you guys are badass. Alternatively, check the post below it for a currently sadly unloved UTAU roundup, and go give the little free guys some joy too.
Videos:
【初音ミク】嘘つきの世界【オリジナル曲PV付】
It's A Liar's World (scop, Miku, Pop)
Scop totally takes away the whole week with this fantastic track full of his hallmarks - tremendously strong piano performances, dozens of little tweaks and catches within the music, a solid Miku encode, and a whole ton of pageviews.
【鏡音レン】五番目のピエロ【オリジナル】
The Fifth Clown (mothy, Len, Rock)
As you might expect, a slew of videos for Kagamination went up in the last two weeks, and if you at all like the twins then I would strongly suggest you go have a look down their tag - many of them are quite similar and too many of them were flat-out great, so I've avoided linking too many in this post. The clear winner out of all of them was mothy's latest video, though, and I have to admit I took to it a whole lot better than many of his recent tracks, partially because it's kind of upbeat and partially because it's... well, refreshingly normal, angsty backplot aside. Watch out for Len's voice creaking as it goes sky-high, though.
【鏡音リン】 最悪のカーニバル 【オリジナル】
The Worst Carnival (raibu, Rin, Rock)
And if we're going to link Len's best Kagamination effort, then it's only fair we do the same for Rin. Worst Carnival is a whole lot more pleasant a track to generally listen to than The Fifth Clown, the rather stylised angst replaced with a catchy and jumpy track full of some great percussion with a very solid video. I just don't understand why Rin's been tuned the way she has - it's easily the weakest part of the song to my mind.
【巡音ルカ】 milky way 【VOCALOID】
milky way (emon, Luka, Pop)
This is a slow starter, with an almost katamari-like soft introduction, but then the song kicks in to a clubstyle chorus of cheers and Luka does her 'wooooo yeaaahhr' and I remain totally hooked. She's tuned well, not too high like most Luka pop songs have been recently, and the chorus is a thing of cheery beauty, completely full of emon's fun style and excellent attention to crescendos and pauses.
【GUMI】KiLLER LADY【オリジナル】
KiLLER LADY (hachioji, Gumi, Club Pop)
An interesting one, this. No doubt many of you know hachioji as the guy who does far too many instances of perky club pop, and yet here he is with a darker, more throbbing and pulsing track. Gumi's tuning is fantastic and matches the lower theme of the track perfectly; though there are still many light and airy touches to the track, anyone who normally finds his music too high and lilting should really give this one a try.
初音ミク（Θ）私の世界
My World (kuchibashi, Miku, Pop)
Good lord, this is a blast from the past, isn't it? I remember two years ago when I first got into the fandom and this kind of hyper-cutesy pop was rampant. Anyway, this track is completely and utterly cheesy and makes no bones about it, and that might explain the sheer popularity it's gained in the last week. I like it, because honestly I'm tuned to like tracks like this, but... at the same time it feels really squeaky.
【鏡音リンAppend】スウィイトポイズンファクトリィ【オリジナル曲】
Sweet Poison Factory (machigerita, Rin, Rock)
【VY2オリジナル曲】硝子ノ華【和風ロック】
Glass Flower (machigerita, VY2, Rock)
Machige returns with a creepy Rin track and an absolutely blistering VY2 track. Sweet Poison Factory is a classic machige offering - dark and creepy and twisted, I think it suffers from the odd problem in that it's not a very listenable song, but if you asked me to pin down why I couldn't pick out anything specific. It just didn't grab me as much as his Kaito stuff from earlier in the year. Glass Flower, on the other hand, is more archetypal rock and is utterly fantastic. He's taken to VY2 almost instantly and it really shows.
【初音ミク】アストロノーツ【オリジナル】
Astronauts (powapowa, Miku, Pop)
This is a slightly odd track to put so far up the post, as I get the feeling it might be a little divisive. This light and gentle pop song flows slowly and gently when it isn't making out like a marching band, and it risks being too slow for some; the rest of the time, Miku's voice can be a little raw. That said, I really like this song a lot, and it's easy to hear why when it hits a high note.
【MEIKO】 夕闇ノ殺メ唄 【オリジナル曲PV付】
Song of Twilight Murder (kiraboshi, Meiko, Traditional)
It feels like Meiko's been on a downtick recently, which is a crying shame. Fortuantely, this song has done very well, shooting up the rankings without much of a pause. It deserves it, too - Meiko sounds fantastic, and the song itself is appropriately and correctly mysterious. Both her solos and those of the instrumentals work very well, and the video has some great atmosphere to it.
【初音ミクappend】世界のはじまり【オリジナル曲】
The Beginning of the World (whoo, Miku, Soft Pop)
Perhaps a little too soft? Like many of whoo's tracks, this falls fully and squarely into the problem of completely losing Miku's voice under the music and ambient sounds. Don't get me wrong - like many of whoo's tracks, the music and ambient sounds are gorgeous, soft pop at their warbly, bell-filled acoustic best. And in its defence, this is a lot more punchy and energetic than many of his other tracks, which does help it along.
【巡音ルカ オリジナル曲】 make excuse
make excuse (niymoriy, Luka, Engrish Pop)
Aw yeah, niymoriy continues to feed me my weekly recommended amount of crazy-lyric Luka english. The song itself is ... well, kind of incomprehensible, to be honest, but Luka's singing is absolutely fantastic, and it's one of the best attempts at English pronunciation I've heard from her in recent times. The track itself is kind of on the clubby side, lots of pulsing beats and catches laced through it.
【初音ミクSweet】 chameleon 【オリジナルPV】
chameleon (nana, Miku, Pop)
A lovely bit of synthy bleep-blooping from nana next. It's barely two steps removed from a dance tune, but just about pips over into pop given the differing styles throughout; that said, if you've heard any of nana's work you'll know exactly what kind of line it tends to straddle, and it's no different here. For once, I don't mind the soft Miku - it complements the song perfectly.
【鏡音レン】 タップ アンド ビート 【オリジナル曲】
Tap and Beat (rerere, Len, Good Lord It's Adorable)
Easily one of the most ridiculously upbeat and poppy songs of Kagamination, this Len song is, I have to admit, pretty catchy. Full of brass and happy perky style, I think it's one of my favorites from the collection if only because I have real problems with the top two and the voices involved. Here, at least, Len sounds well-tuned and much clearer.
【初音ミク】Hiatus【オリジナル曲ＰＶ付】
Hiatus (masataka, Miku, Emoish Rock)
A substantial rock number from masataka brings such much needed harsh energy to the post. It's tagged as Vocarock on the nico page, but I have to disagree - the sheer differences between the louder, thrashier sections and the more melodic chorus would earmark it firmly in the emo camp for me, just at the light end of the scale. Some bits bug me - like the heavily autotuned sections, for instance - but all in all it's a great song with a video that doesn't hurt.
【歌手音ピコ＆MEGPOID】Moon Walker【オリジナル】
Moon Walker (chiitaagaaru, Piko + Gumi, Clubbish Pop)
What's this? Could it actually be a Piko song I like? Yes! He acquits himself excellently in this catchy little number; far better than any other song I've listened to, he's clear and doesn't miss a single note as he performs a vocal-heavy duet with Gumi, backed by synth beats and a drifting melody.
【初音ミク】CHAOTIC UNIVERSE -full ver.-【オリジナル】
CHAOTIC UNIVERSE (Full Version) (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
【初音ミク】さよならワンウェイハート【オリジナル】
Goodbye One-Way Heart (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
【初音ミク】てすてすブロードキャスト.proj【オリジナル】
Test Test Broadcast (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
Yep. Three Daniwell tracks. But don't go yet, because they're all special! Test Test Broadcast is possibly my favorite of the three, but the other two deserve special recognition for being unusual. Goodbye One-Way Heart is remarkably dark for a daniwell track, and the harsher sound is a pleasant change from the usually super-cute tracks. Chaotic Universe, meanwhile, is a track you've heard before if you follow our posts - but now it's the full version, with verses written by over forty different producers to make a staggering 56 minute daniwell song. Madness.
【Lily】 Prototype 【オリジナル曲】
Prototype (niki, Lily, Emo)
As ever, I am contractually required to ensure that as many people as possible listen to a new niki song, because their work with the poor red-headed stepchild of the Vocaloid world is stellar as always. While most of the track is rather muted and doesn't hold up well compared to the rest of niki's tracks, the crescendoes are absolutely fantastic and the perfect way to lift the song, especially in the second half.
鏡音レンAppend・初音ミクオリジナル曲 Stayin' Alive
Stayin' Alive (tys, Len + Miku, Rap)
Who doesn't like Len Append rapping his heart out as Miku croons in the background? Not us, for sure. A slew of producers have gone into making sure this sounds pleasant to the ear and have succeeded admirably; Len sounds really good and Miku sets him off nicely in what becomes a catchy and neat little rap track with a funky backbeat.
初音ミク - Umbrella
Umbrella (yuni, Miku, Soft Rock?)
This is pretty much just included because I'm a complete sucker for the piano. You can't stop me.
【猫村いろは】夜明け【オリジナル曲】
Daybreak (喜兵衛, Iroha, Jazz)
Iroha gets herself onto the Vocajazz compilation with this neat little entry. It's not the first time I've heard her try this genre but it might be the best so far; it's good to hear her branching out a bit more, and to hear her be a little softer than, um, anything akiba ota has done. All in all, quite the smooth little number.
【猫村いろは／Mac音ナナ】パンダヒーロー GrandSlam Remix【Dixieland Jazz】
Panda Hero (Grand Slam Remix) (karu_sun, Iroha + Nana, Jazz)
Speaking of Iroha and jazz, here's an astounding remix of Panda Hero intended to immediately lance into your brain and remind you of school bands and sportstand bleachers. It's the absolute last remix I would have expected for Panda Hero but it works so well I can't fault it, from the wailing trumpets to the catchy snares and a very solid singing voice from Iroha. Absolutely fantastic.
自分の曲をリミックスしてみた【Hope・Lost story・Palette】
Self-Remixes (yuyoyuppe, Miku + Luka, Multiple)
Not exactly the most common way to go out on a post, but I couldn't resist; yuyoyuppe mixes up three of their best-known songs to excellent effect, making them upbeat and tremendously powerful. I was instantly taken with the 10 minute mix, and it's an interesting take when you might have gotten bored of the songs. Of all of them, Palette is the biggest eye-opener, an almost complete reversal into some strange grungy mashup of dubstep.
There are no MMDs or Other videos in this post because I've just spent quite literally an entire night going through just the songs alone. Vom@s and Kagamination have dramatically upped the volume of new tracks recently, and with two weeks to catch up I had an unholy amount of things to go through.
If you haven't already, you might want to check the news post where a whole bunch of intrepid commenters picked up the slack for me and went through the Vocaloid3 broadcast to extract all the information they could. Many thanks to all involved, you guys are badass. Alternatively, check the post below it for a currently sadly unloved UTAU roundup, and go give the little free guys some joy too.
Videos:
【初音ミク】嘘つきの世界【オリジナル曲PV付】
It's A Liar's World (scop, Miku, Pop)
Scop totally takes away the whole week with this fantastic track full of his hallmarks - tremendously strong piano performances, dozens of little tweaks and catches within the music, a solid Miku encode, and a whole ton of pageviews.
【鏡音レン】五番目のピエロ【オリジナル】
The Fifth Clown (mothy, Len, Rock)
As you might expect, a slew of videos for Kagamination went up in the last two weeks, and if you at all like the twins then I would strongly suggest you go have a look down their tag - many of them are quite similar and too many of them were flat-out great, so I've avoided linking too many in this post. The clear winner out of all of them was mothy's latest video, though, and I have to admit I took to it a whole lot better than many of his recent tracks, partially because it's kind of upbeat and partially because it's... well, refreshingly normal, angsty backplot aside. Watch out for Len's voice creaking as it goes sky-high, though.
【鏡音リン】 最悪のカーニバル 【オリジナル】
The Worst Carnival (raibu, Rin, Rock)
And if we're going to link Len's best Kagamination effort, then it's only fair we do the same for Rin. Worst Carnival is a whole lot more pleasant a track to generally listen to than The Fifth Clown, the rather stylised angst replaced with a catchy and jumpy track full of some great percussion with a very solid video. I just don't understand why Rin's been tuned the way she has - it's easily the weakest part of the song to my mind.
【巡音ルカ】 milky way 【VOCALOID】
milky way (emon, Luka, Pop)
This is a slow starter, with an almost katamari-like soft introduction, but then the song kicks in to a clubstyle chorus of cheers and Luka does her 'wooooo yeaaahhr' and I remain totally hooked. She's tuned well, not too high like most Luka pop songs have been recently, and the chorus is a thing of cheery beauty, completely full of emon's fun style and excellent attention to crescendos and pauses.
【GUMI】KiLLER LADY【オリジナル】
KiLLER LADY (hachioji, Gumi, Club Pop)
An interesting one, this. No doubt many of you know hachioji as the guy who does far too many instances of perky club pop, and yet here he is with a darker, more throbbing and pulsing track. Gumi's tuning is fantastic and matches the lower theme of the track perfectly; though there are still many light and airy touches to the track, anyone who normally finds his music too high and lilting should really give this one a try.
初音ミク（Θ）私の世界
My World (kuchibashi, Miku, Pop)
Good lord, this is a blast from the past, isn't it? I remember two years ago when I first got into the fandom and this kind of hyper-cutesy pop was rampant. Anyway, this track is completely and utterly cheesy and makes no bones about it, and that might explain the sheer popularity it's gained in the last week. I like it, because honestly I'm tuned to like tracks like this, but... at the same time it feels really squeaky.
【鏡音リンAppend】スウィイトポイズンファクトリィ【オリジナル曲】
Sweet Poison Factory (machigerita, Rin, Rock)
【VY2オリジナル曲】硝子ノ華【和風ロック】
Glass Flower (machigerita, VY2, Rock)
Machige returns with a creepy Rin track and an absolutely blistering VY2 track. Sweet Poison Factory is a classic machige offering - dark and creepy and twisted, I think it suffers from the odd problem in that it's not a very listenable song, but if you asked me to pin down why I couldn't pick out anything specific. It just didn't grab me as much as his Kaito stuff from earlier in the year. Glass Flower, on the other hand, is more archetypal rock and is utterly fantastic. He's taken to VY2 almost instantly and it really shows.
【初音ミク】アストロノーツ【オリジナル】
Astronauts (powapowa, Miku, Pop)
This is a slightly odd track to put so far up the post, as I get the feeling it might be a little divisive. This light and gentle pop song flows slowly and gently when it isn't making out like a marching band, and it risks being too slow for some; the rest of the time, Miku's voice can be a little raw. That said, I really like this song a lot, and it's easy to hear why when it hits a high note.
【MEIKO】 夕闇ノ殺メ唄 【オリジナル曲PV付】
Song of Twilight Murder (kiraboshi, Meiko, Traditional)
It feels like Meiko's been on a downtick recently, which is a crying shame. Fortuantely, this song has done very well, shooting up the rankings without much of a pause. It deserves it, too - Meiko sounds fantastic, and the song itself is appropriately and correctly mysterious. Both her solos and those of the instrumentals work very well, and the video has some great atmosphere to it.
【初音ミクappend】世界のはじまり【オリジナル曲】
The Beginning of the World (whoo, Miku, Soft Pop)
Perhaps a little too soft? Like many of whoo's tracks, this falls fully and squarely into the problem of completely losing Miku's voice under the music and ambient sounds. Don't get me wrong - like many of whoo's tracks, the music and ambient sounds are gorgeous, soft pop at their warbly, bell-filled acoustic best. And in its defence, this is a lot more punchy and energetic than many of his other tracks, which does help it along.
【巡音ルカ オリジナル曲】 make excuse
make excuse (niymoriy, Luka, Engrish Pop)
Aw yeah, niymoriy continues to feed me my weekly recommended amount of crazy-lyric Luka english. The song itself is ... well, kind of incomprehensible, to be honest, but Luka's singing is absolutely fantastic, and it's one of the best attempts at English pronunciation I've heard from her in recent times. The track itself is kind of on the clubby side, lots of pulsing beats and catches laced through it.
【初音ミクSweet】 chameleon 【オリジナルPV】
chameleon (nana, Miku, Pop)
A lovely bit of synthy bleep-blooping from nana next. It's barely two steps removed from a dance tune, but just about pips over into pop given the differing styles throughout; that said, if you've heard any of nana's work you'll know exactly what kind of line it tends to straddle, and it's no different here. For once, I don't mind the soft Miku - it complements the song perfectly.
【鏡音レン】 タップ アンド ビート 【オリジナル曲】
Tap and Beat (rerere, Len, Good Lord It's Adorable)
Easily one of the most ridiculously upbeat and poppy songs of Kagamination, this Len song is, I have to admit, pretty catchy. Full of brass and happy perky style, I think it's one of my favorites from the collection if only because I have real problems with the top two and the voices involved. Here, at least, Len sounds well-tuned and much clearer.
【初音ミク】Hiatus【オリジナル曲ＰＶ付】
Hiatus (masataka, Miku, Emoish Rock)
A substantial rock number from masataka brings such much needed harsh energy to the post. It's tagged as Vocarock on the nico page, but I have to disagree - the sheer differences between the louder, thrashier sections and the more melodic chorus would earmark it firmly in the emo camp for me, just at the light end of the scale. Some bits bug me - like the heavily autotuned sections, for instance - but all in all it's a great song with a video that doesn't hurt.
【歌手音ピコ＆MEGPOID】Moon Walker【オリジナル】
Moon Walker (chiitaagaaru, Piko + Gumi, Clubbish Pop)
What's this? Could it actually be a Piko song I like? Yes! He acquits himself excellently in this catchy little number; far better than any other song I've listened to, he's clear and doesn't miss a single note as he performs a vocal-heavy duet with Gumi, backed by synth beats and a drifting melody.
【初音ミク】CHAOTIC UNIVERSE -full ver.-【オリジナル】
CHAOTIC UNIVERSE (Full Version) (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
【初音ミク】さよならワンウェイハート【オリジナル】
Goodbye One-Way Heart (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
【初音ミク】てすてすブロードキャスト.proj【オリジナル】
Test Test Broadcast (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
Yep. Three Daniwell tracks. But don't go yet, because they're all special! Test Test Broadcast is possibly my favorite of the three, but the other two deserve special recognition for being unusual. Goodbye One-Way Heart is remarkably dark for a daniwell track, and the harsher sound is a pleasant change from the usually super-cute tracks. Chaotic Universe, meanwhile, is a track you've heard before if you follow our posts - but now it's the full version, with verses written by over forty different producers to make a staggering 56 minute daniwell song. Madness.
【Lily】 Prototype 【オリジナル曲】
Prototype (niki, Lily, Emo)
As ever, I am contractually required to ensure that as many people as possible listen to a new niki song, because their work with the poor red-headed stepchild of the Vocaloid world is stellar as always. While most of the track is rather muted and doesn't hold up well compared to the rest of niki's tracks, the crescendoes are absolutely fantastic and the perfect way to lift the song, especially in the second half.
鏡音レンAppend・初音ミクオリジナル曲 Stayin' Alive
Stayin' Alive (tys, Len + Miku, Rap)
Who doesn't like Len Append rapping his heart out as Miku croons in the background? Not us, for sure. A slew of producers have gone into making sure this sounds pleasant to the ear and have succeeded admirably; Len sounds really good and Miku sets him off nicely in what becomes a catchy and neat little rap track with a funky backbeat.
初音ミク - Umbrella
Umbrella (yuni, Miku, Soft Rock?)
This is pretty much just included because I'm a complete sucker for the piano. You can't stop me.
【猫村いろは】夜明け【オリジナル曲】
Daybreak (喜兵衛, Iroha, Jazz)
Iroha gets herself onto the Vocajazz compilation with this neat little entry. It's not the first time I've heard her try this genre but it might be the best so far; it's good to hear her branching out a bit more, and to hear her be a little softer than, um, anything akiba ota has done. All in all, quite the smooth little number.
【猫村いろは／Mac音ナナ】パンダヒーロー GrandSlam Remix【Dixieland Jazz】
Panda Hero (Grand Slam Remix) (karu_sun, Iroha + Nana, Jazz)
Speaking of Iroha and jazz, here's an astounding remix of Panda Hero intended to immediately lance into your brain and remind you of school bands and sportstand bleachers. It's the absolute last remix I would have expected for Panda Hero but it works so well I can't fault it, from the wailing trumpets to the catchy snares and a very solid singing voice from Iroha. Absolutely fantastic.
自分の曲をリミックスしてみた【Hope・Lost story・Palette】
Self-Remixes (yuyoyuppe, Miku + Luka, Multiple)
Not exactly the most common way to go out on a post, but I couldn't resist; yuyoyuppe mixes up three of their best-known songs to excellent effect, making them upbeat and tremendously powerful. I was instantly taken with the 10 minute mix, and it's an interesting take when you might have gotten bored of the songs. Of all of them, Palette is the biggest eye-opener, an almost complete reversal into some strange grungy mashup of dubstep.