Weekly Roundup
Can it be? I'm on time!
It's going to be a busy weekend - conventions and MMD Cup, oh my. I'm still torn on whether to do a rolling free-for-all post for anyone to comment to with their links, or whether to wait for the major rush of videos to go through then do a proper post. In any case, expect to see a good mix of Vocaloid, Touhou, Lemmings, and whatever else start appearing over Nicovideo come about Friday. After that I'll be looking to catch up on some site stuff I've left alone for far too long.
This is a fairly short catchup post, but special mention has to go to those songs above the cut, each of which are... ... really quite distinctive, in their own way.
Videos:
【GUMI】トロピカル・サマー【オリジナル曲PV付き】
Tropical Summer (Dios, Gumi, Pop)
A super-duper bit of perky summer pop from Dios takes us into this week quite handily. I wasn't completely feeling it for the music itself - it's solid, but not anything that'll outright blow you away with originality - but this song deserves top slot this week if only for an absolutely stellar job with Gumi's coding and some fabulous mixing in the choruses, which include backing singing from Dios himself and from yurika. It's upbeat and fun and there's very little to dislike here.
【初音ミク】マッシュルームマザー【オリジナルPV】
Mushroom Mother (pinokio, Miku, Rock...?)
The only song to self-answer the question 'what is this producer smoking?'.
【鏡音レン(Append)×12人大合唱】Lost Destination【150Pオリジナル、PV付き】
Lost Destination (150 / orebanana, Len + Lots of Lens, Operatic Rock)
I'm tremendously pleased to invite Len back above the fold with a song that's absolutely staggering. 'Epic' isn't the word; soaring rock crescendos and stunning riffs are thrown out at a driving pace to contrast with gorgeous softer sections, and did we mention the choral passage features orebanana pulling out a grand total of twelve Lens? This is one hell of a tour de force, and a whole lot of fun to listen to.
【リンレン】プリティパンティ☆悪マリン ep.0【ゆにめも・ぶっちぎり】
Pretty Panties ☆ Akuma Rin Episode 0 (yunimemo, Len + Rin, ?!?!)
First off this is probably not safe for work, okay, it's very crude and silly. On the other hand, it is deeply fantastic and the utterly breakneck-paced, deranged pop is set off perfectly with a deeply fantastic video full of references and effects - whether it's people getting punched into the RSS bar above the video, comment scroll effects or simply a whole ton of glorious animation, this is a must-watch.
【巡音ルカ】 Aspirin 【オリジナル】
Aspirin (無力, Luka, EMO ROCK)
Thanks to Fear and Loathing et al, I've suddenly become very weak to a good bit of emo music, provided that the contrast between grungy and triumphant is pulled off successfully; this is solidly accomplished by harsh dropped beats tipped off against the most manic of pianists I've heard in some considerable time. Luka's a little high-pitched in places, perhaps, but nothing that'll stop a listener cold in their tracks.
【初音ミクAppend】 カミノコトバ 【オリジナル】
Word of God (yuyoyuppe, Miku, Creepy Pop)
Yuyoyuppe's on top form here; an impressively haunting and mysterious melody and vocal line is backed by the heartbeat of deep bass and the occasional plink around on an electric piano. It's not as jumpy as some of yuyoyuppe's recent tracks, and I have to admit I prefer their energy to this one's slower feel, but it's very good regardless. I could have done without the distortion at the end, though.
【GUMI】ANEMONE OVERDOSE【オリジナル曲PV】
ANEMONE OVERDOSE (ORYO, Gumi, Rock)
The flowers, not the aquatic animals. Although I have to admit that the video would be considerably more interesting if it were the latter, I'll still take what I can get for Gumi tracks this week, and Oryo's a solidname when it comes to rock tracks that doesn't disappoint this time around. The best part of the music for me was a seriously wah-wah guitar squabbling like a duck throughout the melody.
【KAITO】Gardian Blue【オリジナル】
Gardian Blue (maya, Kaito, Rock)
It's very definitely the week for gigantic and operatic rock ballad extravaganzas, as maya helpfully points out with a rocking tribute to an Arabian Prince Kaito and his Arabian Princess Leia Meiko beloved that suddenly lapses into broad and strong solos and a sea of blue equalizer effects.
【鏡音リン】東京テディベア【オリジナル曲PV付】
Tokyo Teddybear (Neru, Rin, Rock)
And now it's getting just a little bit silly how much there is in this post. Having gone through the rest of the robots, we're still missing Rin - I'm not counting Akuma Rin here, as most sane people are wont to do - so here's a solid track from Neru with some great vocal work and a couple of great fakeouts in the music.
【初音ミク】 Fantastic story 【オリジナル】
Fantastic Story (あな兄, Miku, Pop)
So let's assuage the rock a little with some delightful waltz; the gentle wind instruments, the bagpipe drones, and the booming drums work with Miku's soft append voice to make a breezy and unhurried lullaby to drift off to.
【初音ミク】ワンダラーズ【ATOLS】
Wanderers (Atols, Miku, Chillout)
Then let's (temporarily) kill it stone-dead with this strange and ethereal track from Atols, placed somewhere roughly between chillout, breakbeat and techno. It's very ambient in tone - what vocals there are are both soft and usually repeated over so often that they become part of the music itself, but if you're the sort to like a pounding beat in your relaxation music, you could do a lot worse than check this out.
初音ミク - COMPUTER MUZIK(オリジナル PV)
COMPUTER MUZIK (kyotn, Miku, Electropop)
Something a bit darker than usual from kyotn here; I'm used to his songs being a little more accessible than this, but the thumping and grinding backbeat makes it a trifle difficult to get into at first. I warmed up to it pretty fast, though, between a catchy melody and a solid bit of Miku tuning. For such a producer and such a song, the view count's a lot lower than I'd expect, and I think it's because the video was set private for a while.
【初音ミク】「正夢デエト」【オリジナル】
True Dream Date (koyori, Miku, Pop)
In direct contrast to Tropical Summer, this is very much the same sort of upbeat summery pop, but I did a 180 on my likes and dislikes here. It's the music that wins me over here, the jaunty drums and guitar solo something of a treat, while Miku sounds a little odd and wobbly like there's one too many notes thrown out of tune. It's still a perfectly good track, just marred slightly.
【初音ミクオリジナル】世界の終りに揺蕩う君へ
Drifting to You At The End of the World (bibuko, Miku, Rock)
If you've encountered him before, you'll know roughly what to expect here. Bibuko is an absolute master at making fun sounding tracks; it's a guarantee that he'll have some tremendous guitar in there, and the whole song in general will be strong and fierce. On the other hand, it's usually a good bet that his Miku won't sound very good, and this is no exception.
【MMDFes2011】Ｂ．Ｏ．Ｍ．Ｂ．【オリジナル・リンレン+L】
Ｂ．Ｏ．Ｍ．Ｂ． (MyGod, Len and Rin, Rock)
See, here's my biggest problem with MMDFes: fundamentally, all the videos are almost exactly the same. Stage, vocaloids holding instruments, done. It just doesn't have a lot of impact, and it has even less with the MMD Cup literally right around the corner, looming like an overstuffed package of every single crazed idea MMD makers can come up with. Still, if there's anyone to spice it up, it's MyGod, and this
track is one of the better-sounding originals in the festival.
【巡音ルカ】ルカオリジナル曲 「ハイエンドロール」【CielP / Team iM@C】
High End Roll (Ciel, Luka, Pop)
I'm really torn on this one. On the one hand, this is some tremendously strong piano with a softly crooning Luka and some bassy, deep guitar kicking in for the second half to add an extra note of variety. It's quite the heartwarmer... but the slow and minimalistic start reveals a lot of Luka encoding problems that never really go away. An indulgence; see if you like it.
MMD / PV:
初音ミクがオリジナル曲を歌ってくれたよ「積乱雲グラフィティ」ショートバージョンPV【Project DIVA extend】
Cumulonimbus Graffiti (ryo / DixieFlatline, Miku, Pop)
The quality is a little wobbly on the sound, but you can now check out the SEGA and Crypton-approved short PV to promote Project Diva Extend written by a little-known producer named DixieFlatline and produced by a little-known celebrity named ryo. ... who still can't get Miku to hold a note without it sounding kinda scratchy, but hey, who's counting? The PV is delightful and it's kind of fantastic to see Sega picking up on stuff like this, so be sure to give it a look.
【合唱】ショットガン・ラヴァーズ-れじあっとうゆ。ver.-【MMD】
Shotgun Lovers (noboru, MMDPV: mallory, Gumi + Luka + Len, Rock)
I'd honestly never heard the 'overpowering version' of this song, expertly done by LIQUI@, reji and touyu, so that alone is an extremely pressing reason to click that link to hear what three exceptionally strong singers can do to an absolutely splendid mix. If that weren't enough, though, you have a wonderfully chaotic MMDPV where Gumi, Luka and Len ham it up for all they're worth. Fantastic.
【MMD】脱ぎMonstar【鏡音レン】
Stripping Monstar (MMDPV: renburan, Len)
While the dance is just a stock dance - we've seen it before in recent posts - this video is significantly funnier than it has any real right to be. Well played, sir.
【MMD】CHANxCOルカでコトバトラボラト
Kotobato Roborato (daniwell, MMDPV: yukai, Luka, Earworm)
I'm still kind of pissed that Luka's getting pushed out of MMD by a high-res model that looks nothing like her, rather than have someone step up or - gasp! - people just use the good old ones. Still, CHANxCO models always make everything better, and so does daniwell. Putting the two together is clearly a great plan if you need cheering up.
And Finally:
【ファイアボール ドロッセル】【MMD】BREEZEを踊ってみた
I know, I know. It's the BREEZE dance that you've seen a million times. But it's also Fireball Charming.
It's going to be a busy weekend - conventions and MMD Cup, oh my. I'm still torn on whether to do a rolling free-for-all post for anyone to comment to with their links, or whether to wait for the major rush of videos to go through then do a proper post. In any case, expect to see a good mix of Vocaloid, Touhou, Lemmings, and whatever else start appearing over Nicovideo come about Friday. After that I'll be looking to catch up on some site stuff I've left alone for far too long.
This is a fairly short catchup post, but special mention has to go to those songs above the cut, each of which are... ... really quite distinctive, in their own way.
Videos:
【GUMI】トロピカル・サマー【オリジナル曲PV付き】
Tropical Summer (Dios, Gumi, Pop)
A super-duper bit of perky summer pop from Dios takes us into this week quite handily. I wasn't completely feeling it for the music itself - it's solid, but not anything that'll outright blow you away with originality - but this song deserves top slot this week if only for an absolutely stellar job with Gumi's coding and some fabulous mixing in the choruses, which include backing singing from Dios himself and from yurika. It's upbeat and fun and there's very little to dislike here.
【初音ミク】マッシュルームマザー【オリジナルPV】
Mushroom Mother (pinokio, Miku, Rock...?)
The only song to self-answer the question 'what is this producer smoking?'.
【鏡音レン(Append)×12人大合唱】Lost Destination【150Pオリジナル、PV付き】
Lost Destination (150 / orebanana, Len + Lots of Lens, Operatic Rock)
I'm tremendously pleased to invite Len back above the fold with a song that's absolutely staggering. 'Epic' isn't the word; soaring rock crescendos and stunning riffs are thrown out at a driving pace to contrast with gorgeous softer sections, and did we mention the choral passage features orebanana pulling out a grand total of twelve Lens? This is one hell of a tour de force, and a whole lot of fun to listen to.
【リンレン】プリティパンティ☆悪マリン ep.0【ゆにめも・ぶっちぎり】
Pretty Panties ☆ Akuma Rin Episode 0 (yunimemo, Len + Rin, ?!?!)
First off this is probably not safe for work, okay, it's very crude and silly. On the other hand, it is deeply fantastic and the utterly breakneck-paced, deranged pop is set off perfectly with a deeply fantastic video full of references and effects - whether it's people getting punched into the RSS bar above the video, comment scroll effects or simply a whole ton of glorious animation, this is a must-watch.
【巡音ルカ】 Aspirin 【オリジナル】
Aspirin (無力, Luka, EMO ROCK)
Thanks to Fear and Loathing et al, I've suddenly become very weak to a good bit of emo music, provided that the contrast between grungy and triumphant is pulled off successfully; this is solidly accomplished by harsh dropped beats tipped off against the most manic of pianists I've heard in some considerable time. Luka's a little high-pitched in places, perhaps, but nothing that'll stop a listener cold in their tracks.
【初音ミクAppend】 カミノコトバ 【オリジナル】
Word of God (yuyoyuppe, Miku, Creepy Pop)
Yuyoyuppe's on top form here; an impressively haunting and mysterious melody and vocal line is backed by the heartbeat of deep bass and the occasional plink around on an electric piano. It's not as jumpy as some of yuyoyuppe's recent tracks, and I have to admit I prefer their energy to this one's slower feel, but it's very good regardless. I could have done without the distortion at the end, though.
【GUMI】ANEMONE OVERDOSE【オリジナル曲PV】
ANEMONE OVERDOSE (ORYO, Gumi, Rock)
The flowers, not the aquatic animals. Although I have to admit that the video would be considerably more interesting if it were the latter, I'll still take what I can get for Gumi tracks this week, and Oryo's a solidname when it comes to rock tracks that doesn't disappoint this time around. The best part of the music for me was a seriously wah-wah guitar squabbling like a duck throughout the melody.
【KAITO】Gardian Blue【オリジナル】
Gardian Blue (maya, Kaito, Rock)
It's very definitely the week for gigantic and operatic rock ballad extravaganzas, as maya helpfully points out with a rocking tribute to an Arabian Prince Kaito and his Arabian Princess Leia Meiko beloved that suddenly lapses into broad and strong solos and a sea of blue equalizer effects.
【鏡音リン】東京テディベア【オリジナル曲PV付】
Tokyo Teddybear (Neru, Rin, Rock)
And now it's getting just a little bit silly how much there is in this post. Having gone through the rest of the robots, we're still missing Rin - I'm not counting Akuma Rin here, as most sane people are wont to do - so here's a solid track from Neru with some great vocal work and a couple of great fakeouts in the music.
【初音ミク】 Fantastic story 【オリジナル】
Fantastic Story (あな兄, Miku, Pop)
So let's assuage the rock a little with some delightful waltz; the gentle wind instruments, the bagpipe drones, and the booming drums work with Miku's soft append voice to make a breezy and unhurried lullaby to drift off to.
【初音ミク】ワンダラーズ【ATOLS】
Wanderers (Atols, Miku, Chillout)
Then let's (temporarily) kill it stone-dead with this strange and ethereal track from Atols, placed somewhere roughly between chillout, breakbeat and techno. It's very ambient in tone - what vocals there are are both soft and usually repeated over so often that they become part of the music itself, but if you're the sort to like a pounding beat in your relaxation music, you could do a lot worse than check this out.
初音ミク - COMPUTER MUZIK(オリジナル PV)
COMPUTER MUZIK (kyotn, Miku, Electropop)
Something a bit darker than usual from kyotn here; I'm used to his songs being a little more accessible than this, but the thumping and grinding backbeat makes it a trifle difficult to get into at first. I warmed up to it pretty fast, though, between a catchy melody and a solid bit of Miku tuning. For such a producer and such a song, the view count's a lot lower than I'd expect, and I think it's because the video was set private for a while.
【初音ミク】「正夢デエト」【オリジナル】
True Dream Date (koyori, Miku, Pop)
In direct contrast to Tropical Summer, this is very much the same sort of upbeat summery pop, but I did a 180 on my likes and dislikes here. It's the music that wins me over here, the jaunty drums and guitar solo something of a treat, while Miku sounds a little odd and wobbly like there's one too many notes thrown out of tune. It's still a perfectly good track, just marred slightly.
【初音ミクオリジナル】世界の終りに揺蕩う君へ
Drifting to You At The End of the World (bibuko, Miku, Rock)
If you've encountered him before, you'll know roughly what to expect here. Bibuko is an absolute master at making fun sounding tracks; it's a guarantee that he'll have some tremendous guitar in there, and the whole song in general will be strong and fierce. On the other hand, it's usually a good bet that his Miku won't sound very good, and this is no exception.
【MMDFes2011】Ｂ．Ｏ．Ｍ．Ｂ．【オリジナル・リンレン+L】
Ｂ．Ｏ．Ｍ．Ｂ． (MyGod, Len and Rin, Rock)
See, here's my biggest problem with MMDFes: fundamentally, all the videos are almost exactly the same. Stage, vocaloids holding instruments, done. It just doesn't have a lot of impact, and it has even less with the MMD Cup literally right around the corner, looming like an overstuffed package of every single crazed idea MMD makers can come up with. Still, if there's anyone to spice it up, it's MyGod, and this
track is one of the better-sounding originals in the festival.
【巡音ルカ】ルカオリジナル曲 「ハイエンドロール」【CielP / Team iM@C】
High End Roll (Ciel, Luka, Pop)
I'm really torn on this one. On the one hand, this is some tremendously strong piano with a softly crooning Luka and some bassy, deep guitar kicking in for the second half to add an extra note of variety. It's quite the heartwarmer... but the slow and minimalistic start reveals a lot of Luka encoding problems that never really go away. An indulgence; see if you like it.
MMD / PV:
初音ミクがオリジナル曲を歌ってくれたよ「積乱雲グラフィティ」ショートバージョンPV【Project DIVA extend】
Cumulonimbus Graffiti (ryo / DixieFlatline, Miku, Pop)
The quality is a little wobbly on the sound, but you can now check out the SEGA and Crypton-approved short PV to promote Project Diva Extend written by a little-known producer named DixieFlatline and produced by a little-known celebrity named ryo. ... who still can't get Miku to hold a note without it sounding kinda scratchy, but hey, who's counting? The PV is delightful and it's kind of fantastic to see Sega picking up on stuff like this, so be sure to give it a look.
【合唱】ショットガン・ラヴァーズ-れじあっとうゆ。ver.-【MMD】
Shotgun Lovers (noboru, MMDPV: mallory, Gumi + Luka + Len, Rock)
I'd honestly never heard the 'overpowering version' of this song, expertly done by LIQUI@, reji and touyu, so that alone is an extremely pressing reason to click that link to hear what three exceptionally strong singers can do to an absolutely splendid mix. If that weren't enough, though, you have a wonderfully chaotic MMDPV where Gumi, Luka and Len ham it up for all they're worth. Fantastic.
【MMD】脱ぎMonstar【鏡音レン】
Stripping Monstar (MMDPV: renburan, Len)
While the dance is just a stock dance - we've seen it before in recent posts - this video is significantly funnier than it has any real right to be. Well played, sir.
【MMD】CHANxCOルカでコトバトラボラト
Kotobato Roborato (daniwell, MMDPV: yukai, Luka, Earworm)
I'm still kind of pissed that Luka's getting pushed out of MMD by a high-res model that looks nothing like her, rather than have someone step up or - gasp! - people just use the good old ones. Still, CHANxCO models always make everything better, and so does daniwell. Putting the two together is clearly a great plan if you need cheering up.
And Finally:
【ファイアボール ドロッセル】【MMD】BREEZEを踊ってみた
I know, I know. It's the BREEZE dance that you've seen a million times. But it's also Fireball Charming.