Weekly Linkdump, now with Added Connectivity!
About time. Luka's birthday was a bit of a flop, unfortunately, as she was overshadowed both by the new vocaloids still stretching their legs and the inevitable resurgence of Miku and Gumi back to the top of the rankings. Nicovideo as a whole has bounced back, in fact, and there are at least ten more songs just from this week alone that have hit six figures of views already and threaten to become classics in their own right - and in turn, they'll be clashing and jostling with MMD 8th Cup for space on the rankings. It's going to be a busy week.
News:
- As you have almost certainly heard by now, there have been increased numbers of takedowns of Vocaloid tracks on Youtube.
Vocaloidism's writeup is fairly complete and there's not a whole lot to add to it, but I find the situation very interesting because it obliquely highlights something I've been wondering about for a while - with Crypton establishing an official Miku channel on Youtube, what's going to happen to all the reprints? Google doesn't typically favour duplicates when it can get away with a single sponsored video, and regularly strips sound from copyrighted material. The presence of an official channel will thus make it easier for people to find a concrete source for any song put up there, but may also make it significantly harder to get a decently subbed translation video put up on any other account.
In general, I'm opposed to reprints - I certainly don't mind translations because they bring a measure of original content to the table, but I've always felt that if you want to watch the original video you should be doing so on a site that rewards the original producer, rather than one that gives ad revenue to whichever guy copied the video across. The ranking system makes nicovideo views more precious than youtube views; when popularity in the Vocaloid world often lives or dies by your place on the ranking, every little bit of support you can give to the producer helps.
That all said, a targeted campaign of what at this point amounts to harassment with a side order of impersonation is still pretty much ridiculous. Not only has it taken out a large number of accounts, it's also taken out a couple of PV makers who were given permission to make their videos, and the relative lack of recourse available has really highlighted the issues with takedown-style policing. As I last understood there's been no sign as to who's actually doing it - but for your own safety I wouldn't suggest reading the Youtube comments to try to find out.
- MMD Cup 8th is underway and next post will be going through the best of the tag once the deluge of entrants slows down. It looks strongly like this time around, the 'Touhou' tag is going to have to be replaced with 'Anime + Games', since Tiger + Bunny and Sengoku Basara are forerunners.
- So I've read this a couple of times to make sure I'm clear - apparently hachioji is now making perky poppy Miku tunes to be broadcast as an NHK news jingle? The mind boggles, but what a lovely little track.
- March 15th will see the release of Gumi Native, an 'endlessly nuanced version of Gumi v2' which I think just means she's the official upgrade rather than a v3-enhanced import. Either way, she sounds very good - there's a demo over here.
- First Toyota, now Honda, it seems. Where does it end, Miku? Where does it end? How many bacon-wrapped hotdogs will it take before you sell your soul fully to the seedy underbelly of car advertising? Still, at least you're actually out in the country in question, this time...
- Speaking of advertising and merchandise, get yourself over to your local Family Mart and pick up some, erm... Luka Wine. Probably not the birthday present that she was hoping for.
- The i-style Project is still doing its own thing, or maybe just taking the cheap and cheerful approach to outsourcing their design staff. I have to wonder how many of these designs will also end up on pillows.
- The Black Rock Shooter anime is pretty terrible, but we love it so regardless.
Videos:
【ＩＡ】想像フォレスト【オリジナルPV】
Imagination Forest (jin, IA, Pop)
With three hundred thousand hits since it went up a week ago, there's absolutely no prizes for guessing which track's at the top of the post this week, as jin flexes the IA's voice for an easy-breezy pop track that suits the new Vocaloid almost to a tee, with only minor flaws marring the chorus when she tries to sing too highly. My only real desire here is to have a better sound quality - on Nicovideo it feels a little muted. Also, did we mention the video is really, really cute?
【初音ミク】 細菌汚染 - Bacterial Contamination - 【3DPV】
Bacterial Contamination (mathru, Miku, DEINO <3 <3 <3)
Please be aware this video is scary and disturbing as hell. Yes, even if you know what to expect from the name 'Deino'. This is Deino outdoing himself. That said, if you think you can take it, this is a pro-click that shouldn't be missed; I'd say more, but I honestly think this should be experienced first-hand.
「なりすましゲンガー」【鏡音リン・初音ミクオリジナルPV】
Mimicking the Original (Kulfi, Miku + Rin, Rock Pop)
I've mentioned a few times that I really think Kulfi's at his best as a producer when foregoing the Sweets and Softs of the Append world. Admittedly this is due in large part to my own bias against them, but there's also the fact that when Kulfi makes a punchy song using originals or Solids, then by god it sounds good and there's no exception here with this energetic and high-impact song that isn't afraid to dip down into the depths of being distinctly strange. I'm not terribly a fan of some of the major switch-ups in style that kick in partway through the video, but it's tremendously hard to find anything at fault within the refrains and main verses.
【GUMI】 Notebook 【オリジナル！】
Notebook (buzzG, Gumi, Rock)
BuzzG's a name that's almost guaranteed to be above the cut for consistently awesome work, and Notebook is exactly as you'd expect from one of the undisputed masters of Gumi rockin' out - a great track with solid tuning and some beautiful catches - topped off in style with a tremendously well-drawn comic scrolling by in the background.
【GUMI】神様はエレキ守銭奴【オリジナル曲】
God is an Electricity Miser (uramanbou, Gumi, Rock)
One day I'll figure out whether this is just another of uramanbou's very silly ideas or a proper try at environmental awareness. This... isn't that day.
【初音ミク】ネコミミアーカイブ【オリジナル曲】
Cat Ear Archive (糞田舎, Miku, Rock)
I'm of two minds about this one, to be quite honest. One of the high rollers of the last week, the music's a fantastic rocking melody and it's clearly a very good song if only because nicovideo have voted it sky-high, but something about Miku's tuning - high and fast and with a bit of a tendency to squeak - leaves me feeling unenthused about the song as a whole, and that might make it something of an acquired taste for those who are too picky about the kinds of Miku they like to listen to. For my part, at least, I find many of the tracks this week easier to listen to, whereas this one takes some measure of concentration.
【初音ミク】黒猫系女子【オリジナル曲PV付】
Black Cat Girl (scop, Miku, Rock)
Sticking with the cat theme! Scop's usual style shines through, if a little harsher than usual. You can usually expect any given scop track to effortlessly blend jazzy plinky piano with pop, but rarely are his tunes this dark and oppressive, the whining piano feeling just a little threatening as it slides up and down the scales and a seriously wailing guitar doing nothing to help. The video's fantastic, but the Miku... maybe I'm just having a cranky day with her, but this Miku didn't agree with me one bit, feeling either a little off-tune or a little too distorted throughout the song.
【初音ミク】 ワンルーム・オール・ザット・ジャズ 【オリジナル曲】
One Room All The Jazz (DATEKEN, Miku, Jazz)
If there's anyone I'd trust to not let me down when venturing into the lesser-visited Vocaloid genres, it's DATEKEN, who's had hits ranging from jazz to garage to eclectic dance and more besides. This is a typical example of his form, which is to say absolutely fabulous soft jazz with some truly gorgeous bass, a smattering of piano, and a silky smooth Miku.
AI／164 feat.GUMI
AI (164, Gumi, Rock)
A slightly confusing title after spending this long staring at the letters 'IA', this is a trueblue rock track from some of the best producers in the scene at the moment. I almost consider this the summer blockbuster of rock tracks - while it doesn't bring anything expressly new to the table, 164's guitars are as amazing as ever, the riffing's strong and furious, and Gumi's intro will have you waving your hands in the air at the power of it.
【GUMI】幽霊屋敷の首吊り少女【オリジナル曲】
The Hanged Girl of the Haunted House (tohma, Gumi, Pop)
An interesting one, this. If not for the undertones of the song, and Gumi's rather unusual coding, this would be an acceptable if not particularly outstanding pop/rock track. Instead, it's transformed into something a little bit special, as accordions and marching bands play just underneath the melody and Gumi sings in a seriously ethereal voice that compels the listener into sticking with it only to get smacked in the face by the midsection oddities. A terribly unique track once all is said and done.
【巡音ルカ】 パラステラル 【VOCALOID】
Parasteral (emon, Luka, Pop)
This is one of the few emon songs where I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it; while the song is as super-catchy as ever and full of emon's traditional hooks and neat little touches, Luka's voice is a far cry from her best - fuzzier than usual, especially compared to some of emon's hits such as Hello Hello or Milky Way. That said, if you enjoy clubby, bouncy pop then - as ever - you could do significantly worse than clicking this link.
【初音ミク】淑女ベリィの作り方。【オリジナル曲】
Time To Bake A Pretty Cake (machigerita, Miku, Lazy Town Never Knew What They Were Missing)
More seriously translating to 'Making a Lady Berry', machigerita's back! And he's gone all dark and moody again, having left his formerly chipper style in favour of a dank and depressing hammer horror of a track. Poor guy must be wanting a girlfriend again. Machigerita's a favorite around here for unconventional but super-stylish tracks, and it's great to see a return to producing.
【GUMI】カトレア【オリジナル】
Cattleya (yuzuhiko, Gumi, Rock)
Kagome's apparently done with making a name for himself as a mixer and masterer for the time being, and instead goes back to producing to offer up a surprisingly standard orchestral rock track for Gumi. Not to say it's bad - quite the opposite, in fact, with some substantial riffs and a whole bunch of very good instrumentation. - but 'gothic rock tracks with a bunch of orchestra mixed in' are a far cry from the producer that's responsible for Yuki club tracks, Gakupo screamo, and Big G the Rapper.
【初音ミク】 ぼくらのレットイットビー 【オリジナルPV】
Our 'Let It Be' (Harry, Miku, Pop)
Angsty mopey ballads have never sounded so adorable, with the highlights of this track - the inimitable pair of acoustic guitars working in tandem against the gentle hum of the backing singers - standing out alongside a crystal-clear Miku. Add to that a handdrawn video with a whole bunch of feelings attached and you've got one of the best take-it-easy tracks of the week.
【巡音ルカ】 Showbiz 【オリジナル】
Showbiz (明太Rocker, Luka, Rock)
Almost didn't link this, but gods knows Luka needs some more in the way of support after her birthday got completely steamrolled by the newcomers. Bombastic operatic rock with just a touch of jazz or lounge, this would be a tour de force track if it weren't for some issues with the mixing and with Luka's voice when she's trying to hold longer notes. For all its flaws, though, this is a pretty damn impressive track with a substantial video, and I'm a little confused as to why it did so badly.
【初音ミク】ジサツブシ【オリジナル曲】
Suicide Talk (梨本うい, Miku, Crazed Rock)
Not technically an original vocaloid song, in as much as it was first written for an utattemita collab CD, this is still the first version of it to be released on the singing robot side of things and... to be honest, it's hard to imagine a real person doing it at all. Most of that's down to Miku's crazy tuning, which very definitely pushes this track to 'acquired taste' territory in my mind: it might seriously suit the track's unreal tone but a chipmunk'd Miku can be very tiring to endure.
【鏡音リン】 真昼のホラー 【オリジナル】
Midday Horror (hikari, Rin, Rock)
The twins doing rock is nothing new, but they're still the goddamn masters at it when tuned well and given a substantial track to match their belting out the lyrics. That's exactly what we have here - an unabashed rock track that's absolutely happy to sit there doing its thing. It might be rather generic, but it's a good generic, energetic and upbeat and inviting a headbanging, toe-tapping audience to get down and air guitar right along with it.
【巡音ルカ】幸福ペンギン(sunny skying mix)【カバー曲】
Happy Penguin (sunny skying mix) (sunny spot, Luka, Club)
The main reason I'm linking this boppy, poppy bit of light oontz is because it has a picture of a happy, fat penguin on the video. I'm also linking it because it's a great bit of Luka singing on a week that sorely needed more of her presence and because, if you haven't seen the original, it's certainly an experience.
【初音ミク】まったりお茶でもいかが？【オリジナル・ねんどPV】
Relax - Some Tea? (daniwell, Miku, Ridiculously Adorable Claymation)
君の右頬にストレートパンチしたいミクさん
A Straight-Punch To Your Right Cheek, Miku-Style (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
Some tea would be lovely. In comparison to his usual tracks, Some Tea is as laid back as the title suggests, a gentle romp through some of the gentler members of the strings family set to a delightful little piece of animation. Miku's still tuned pretty high, so those of you not a fan of daniwell's lyrics should probably steer a little clear, but otherwise you're golden. If you're craving more traditional daniwell, we've got you covered with the second track, and I swear daniwell is starting to take naming classes from uramanbou.
【巡音ルカ】「メサイア」より "シオンの娘よ、大いに喜べ"【ヘンデル】
Handel's Messiah: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion" (miron, Luka, Classical)
What a fantastic, brilliant note to go out on. What Luka lacks in English pronunciation she more than makes up for with some tremendous notes and flourishes. Maybe it's just my huge boner for classical music but I listened to this and loved it and came back to it repeatedly throughout the week.
MMD / Other:
【リンレン・KAITO】兄さんなう！【替え歌/カバー】
Neesan Now! (monmo, Rin + Len + Kaito)
A rather blatant parody of the omochikaeri(n) forerunner from last week, this time it's poor Kaito who can't catch a break.
【初音ミク】 Tell Your World MADフル をつくってみた
Tell Your World (kz, PV: K-san, Miku)
The full version of the Tell Your World video glimpsed in the corner of osamuraisan's acoustic cover, this is the perfect video to link people to if you're feeling just a little bit like a nico-elitism hipster. Which the staff of this comm are. Always. Oh, it's also been extended to last the whole length of the song, with cosplayers, MMD, utatte and odottemita and everything else Vocaloid that wasn't in the original video added in. But who's counting? Elitism.
【MMD】攻殻機動隊OPをパロってみた
Ghost In The Shell 2nd OP Parody (yama, Ensemble)
A fantastic copy of the GITS2nd opening movie - a comparison is here if you don't recognize the source.
【MMD】 Google Chrome CMのあの曲 【モーション配布】
Tell Your World (kz, MMDPV: .6, Miku)
Annnnd if you wanted a closer look at the now endlessly reprinted Tell Your World dance, classic-style Miku is here to do this week's version. And... I think it works better. I mean, yeah, I'm usually against Lat as it is, but the difference here is especially pronounced and I think it's to do with the arms. Lat doesn't have good arms, and in an upper-body-heavy dance the CLAMP-style noodly appendages of the Lat body are far more noticable.
News:
- As you have almost certainly heard by now, there have been increased numbers of takedowns of Vocaloid tracks on Youtube.
Vocaloidism's writeup is fairly complete and there's not a whole lot to add to it, but I find the situation very interesting because it obliquely highlights something I've been wondering about for a while - with Crypton establishing an official Miku channel on Youtube, what's going to happen to all the reprints? Google doesn't typically favour duplicates when it can get away with a single sponsored video, and regularly strips sound from copyrighted material. The presence of an official channel will thus make it easier for people to find a concrete source for any song put up there, but may also make it significantly harder to get a decently subbed translation video put up on any other account.
In general, I'm opposed to reprints - I certainly don't mind translations because they bring a measure of original content to the table, but I've always felt that if you want to watch the original video you should be doing so on a site that rewards the original producer, rather than one that gives ad revenue to whichever guy copied the video across. The ranking system makes nicovideo views more precious than youtube views; when popularity in the Vocaloid world often lives or dies by your place on the ranking, every little bit of support you can give to the producer helps.
That all said, a targeted campaign of what at this point amounts to harassment with a side order of impersonation is still pretty much ridiculous. Not only has it taken out a large number of accounts, it's also taken out a couple of PV makers who were given permission to make their videos, and the relative lack of recourse available has really highlighted the issues with takedown-style policing. As I last understood there's been no sign as to who's actually doing it - but for your own safety I wouldn't suggest reading the Youtube comments to try to find out.
- MMD Cup 8th is underway and next post will be going through the best of the tag once the deluge of entrants slows down. It looks strongly like this time around, the 'Touhou' tag is going to have to be replaced with 'Anime + Games', since Tiger + Bunny and Sengoku Basara are forerunners.
- So I've read this a couple of times to make sure I'm clear - apparently hachioji is now making perky poppy Miku tunes to be broadcast as an NHK news jingle? The mind boggles, but what a lovely little track.
- March 15th will see the release of Gumi Native, an 'endlessly nuanced version of Gumi v2' which I think just means she's the official upgrade rather than a v3-enhanced import. Either way, she sounds very good - there's a demo over here.
- First Toyota, now Honda, it seems. Where does it end, Miku? Where does it end? How many bacon-wrapped hotdogs will it take before you sell your soul fully to the seedy underbelly of car advertising? Still, at least you're actually out in the country in question, this time...
- Speaking of advertising and merchandise, get yourself over to your local Family Mart and pick up some, erm... Luka Wine. Probably not the birthday present that she was hoping for.
- The i-style Project is still doing its own thing, or maybe just taking the cheap and cheerful approach to outsourcing their design staff. I have to wonder how many of these designs will also end up on pillows.
- The Black Rock Shooter anime is pretty terrible, but we love it so regardless.
Videos:
【ＩＡ】想像フォレスト【オリジナルPV】
Imagination Forest (jin, IA, Pop)
With three hundred thousand hits since it went up a week ago, there's absolutely no prizes for guessing which track's at the top of the post this week, as jin flexes the IA's voice for an easy-breezy pop track that suits the new Vocaloid almost to a tee, with only minor flaws marring the chorus when she tries to sing too highly. My only real desire here is to have a better sound quality - on Nicovideo it feels a little muted. Also, did we mention the video is really, really cute?
【初音ミク】 細菌汚染 - Bacterial Contamination - 【3DPV】
Bacterial Contamination (mathru, Miku, DEINO <3 <3 <3)
Please be aware this video is scary and disturbing as hell. Yes, even if you know what to expect from the name 'Deino'. This is Deino outdoing himself. That said, if you think you can take it, this is a pro-click that shouldn't be missed; I'd say more, but I honestly think this should be experienced first-hand.
「なりすましゲンガー」【鏡音リン・初音ミクオリジナルPV】
Mimicking the Original (Kulfi, Miku + Rin, Rock Pop)
I've mentioned a few times that I really think Kulfi's at his best as a producer when foregoing the Sweets and Softs of the Append world. Admittedly this is due in large part to my own bias against them, but there's also the fact that when Kulfi makes a punchy song using originals or Solids, then by god it sounds good and there's no exception here with this energetic and high-impact song that isn't afraid to dip down into the depths of being distinctly strange. I'm not terribly a fan of some of the major switch-ups in style that kick in partway through the video, but it's tremendously hard to find anything at fault within the refrains and main verses.
【GUMI】 Notebook 【オリジナル！】
Notebook (buzzG, Gumi, Rock)
BuzzG's a name that's almost guaranteed to be above the cut for consistently awesome work, and Notebook is exactly as you'd expect from one of the undisputed masters of Gumi rockin' out - a great track with solid tuning and some beautiful catches - topped off in style with a tremendously well-drawn comic scrolling by in the background.
【GUMI】神様はエレキ守銭奴【オリジナル曲】
God is an Electricity Miser (uramanbou, Gumi, Rock)
One day I'll figure out whether this is just another of uramanbou's very silly ideas or a proper try at environmental awareness. This... isn't that day.
【初音ミク】ネコミミアーカイブ【オリジナル曲】
Cat Ear Archive (糞田舎, Miku, Rock)
I'm of two minds about this one, to be quite honest. One of the high rollers of the last week, the music's a fantastic rocking melody and it's clearly a very good song if only because nicovideo have voted it sky-high, but something about Miku's tuning - high and fast and with a bit of a tendency to squeak - leaves me feeling unenthused about the song as a whole, and that might make it something of an acquired taste for those who are too picky about the kinds of Miku they like to listen to. For my part, at least, I find many of the tracks this week easier to listen to, whereas this one takes some measure of concentration.
【初音ミク】黒猫系女子【オリジナル曲PV付】
Black Cat Girl (scop, Miku, Rock)
Sticking with the cat theme! Scop's usual style shines through, if a little harsher than usual. You can usually expect any given scop track to effortlessly blend jazzy plinky piano with pop, but rarely are his tunes this dark and oppressive, the whining piano feeling just a little threatening as it slides up and down the scales and a seriously wailing guitar doing nothing to help. The video's fantastic, but the Miku... maybe I'm just having a cranky day with her, but this Miku didn't agree with me one bit, feeling either a little off-tune or a little too distorted throughout the song.
【初音ミク】 ワンルーム・オール・ザット・ジャズ 【オリジナル曲】
One Room All The Jazz (DATEKEN, Miku, Jazz)
If there's anyone I'd trust to not let me down when venturing into the lesser-visited Vocaloid genres, it's DATEKEN, who's had hits ranging from jazz to garage to eclectic dance and more besides. This is a typical example of his form, which is to say absolutely fabulous soft jazz with some truly gorgeous bass, a smattering of piano, and a silky smooth Miku.
AI／164 feat.GUMI
AI (164, Gumi, Rock)
A slightly confusing title after spending this long staring at the letters 'IA', this is a trueblue rock track from some of the best producers in the scene at the moment. I almost consider this the summer blockbuster of rock tracks - while it doesn't bring anything expressly new to the table, 164's guitars are as amazing as ever, the riffing's strong and furious, and Gumi's intro will have you waving your hands in the air at the power of it.
【GUMI】幽霊屋敷の首吊り少女【オリジナル曲】
The Hanged Girl of the Haunted House (tohma, Gumi, Pop)
An interesting one, this. If not for the undertones of the song, and Gumi's rather unusual coding, this would be an acceptable if not particularly outstanding pop/rock track. Instead, it's transformed into something a little bit special, as accordions and marching bands play just underneath the melody and Gumi sings in a seriously ethereal voice that compels the listener into sticking with it only to get smacked in the face by the midsection oddities. A terribly unique track once all is said and done.
【巡音ルカ】 パラステラル 【VOCALOID】
Parasteral (emon, Luka, Pop)
This is one of the few emon songs where I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it; while the song is as super-catchy as ever and full of emon's traditional hooks and neat little touches, Luka's voice is a far cry from her best - fuzzier than usual, especially compared to some of emon's hits such as Hello Hello or Milky Way. That said, if you enjoy clubby, bouncy pop then - as ever - you could do significantly worse than clicking this link.
【初音ミク】淑女ベリィの作り方。【オリジナル曲】
Time To Bake A Pretty Cake (machigerita, Miku, Lazy Town Never Knew What They Were Missing)
More seriously translating to 'Making a Lady Berry', machigerita's back! And he's gone all dark and moody again, having left his formerly chipper style in favour of a dank and depressing hammer horror of a track. Poor guy must be wanting a girlfriend again. Machigerita's a favorite around here for unconventional but super-stylish tracks, and it's great to see a return to producing.
【GUMI】カトレア【オリジナル】
Cattleya (yuzuhiko, Gumi, Rock)
Kagome's apparently done with making a name for himself as a mixer and masterer for the time being, and instead goes back to producing to offer up a surprisingly standard orchestral rock track for Gumi. Not to say it's bad - quite the opposite, in fact, with some substantial riffs and a whole bunch of very good instrumentation. - but 'gothic rock tracks with a bunch of orchestra mixed in' are a far cry from the producer that's responsible for Yuki club tracks, Gakupo screamo, and Big G the Rapper.
【初音ミク】 ぼくらのレットイットビー 【オリジナルPV】
Our 'Let It Be' (Harry, Miku, Pop)
Angsty mopey ballads have never sounded so adorable, with the highlights of this track - the inimitable pair of acoustic guitars working in tandem against the gentle hum of the backing singers - standing out alongside a crystal-clear Miku. Add to that a handdrawn video with a whole bunch of feelings attached and you've got one of the best take-it-easy tracks of the week.
【巡音ルカ】 Showbiz 【オリジナル】
Showbiz (明太Rocker, Luka, Rock)
Almost didn't link this, but gods knows Luka needs some more in the way of support after her birthday got completely steamrolled by the newcomers. Bombastic operatic rock with just a touch of jazz or lounge, this would be a tour de force track if it weren't for some issues with the mixing and with Luka's voice when she's trying to hold longer notes. For all its flaws, though, this is a pretty damn impressive track with a substantial video, and I'm a little confused as to why it did so badly.
【初音ミク】ジサツブシ【オリジナル曲】
Suicide Talk (梨本うい, Miku, Crazed Rock)
Not technically an original vocaloid song, in as much as it was first written for an utattemita collab CD, this is still the first version of it to be released on the singing robot side of things and... to be honest, it's hard to imagine a real person doing it at all. Most of that's down to Miku's crazy tuning, which very definitely pushes this track to 'acquired taste' territory in my mind: it might seriously suit the track's unreal tone but a chipmunk'd Miku can be very tiring to endure.
【鏡音リン】 真昼のホラー 【オリジナル】
Midday Horror (hikari, Rin, Rock)
The twins doing rock is nothing new, but they're still the goddamn masters at it when tuned well and given a substantial track to match their belting out the lyrics. That's exactly what we have here - an unabashed rock track that's absolutely happy to sit there doing its thing. It might be rather generic, but it's a good generic, energetic and upbeat and inviting a headbanging, toe-tapping audience to get down and air guitar right along with it.
【巡音ルカ】幸福ペンギン(sunny skying mix)【カバー曲】
Happy Penguin (sunny skying mix) (sunny spot, Luka, Club)
The main reason I'm linking this boppy, poppy bit of light oontz is because it has a picture of a happy, fat penguin on the video. I'm also linking it because it's a great bit of Luka singing on a week that sorely needed more of her presence and because, if you haven't seen the original, it's certainly an experience.
【初音ミク】まったりお茶でもいかが？【オリジナル・ねんどPV】
Relax - Some Tea? (daniwell, Miku, Ridiculously Adorable Claymation)
君の右頬にストレートパンチしたいミクさん
A Straight-Punch To Your Right Cheek, Miku-Style (daniwell, Miku, Earworm)
Some tea would be lovely. In comparison to his usual tracks, Some Tea is as laid back as the title suggests, a gentle romp through some of the gentler members of the strings family set to a delightful little piece of animation. Miku's still tuned pretty high, so those of you not a fan of daniwell's lyrics should probably steer a little clear, but otherwise you're golden. If you're craving more traditional daniwell, we've got you covered with the second track, and I swear daniwell is starting to take naming classes from uramanbou.
【巡音ルカ】「メサイア」より "シオンの娘よ、大いに喜べ"【ヘンデル】
Handel's Messiah: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion" (miron, Luka, Classical)
What a fantastic, brilliant note to go out on. What Luka lacks in English pronunciation she more than makes up for with some tremendous notes and flourishes. Maybe it's just my huge boner for classical music but I listened to this and loved it and came back to it repeatedly throughout the week.
MMD / Other:
【リンレン・KAITO】兄さんなう！【替え歌/カバー】
Neesan Now! (monmo, Rin + Len + Kaito)
A rather blatant parody of the omochikaeri(n) forerunner from last week, this time it's poor Kaito who can't catch a break.
【初音ミク】 Tell Your World MADフル をつくってみた
Tell Your World (kz, PV: K-san, Miku)
The full version of the Tell Your World video glimpsed in the corner of osamuraisan's acoustic cover, this is the perfect video to link people to if you're feeling just a little bit like a nico-elitism hipster. Which the staff of this comm are. Always. Oh, it's also been extended to last the whole length of the song, with cosplayers, MMD, utatte and odottemita and everything else Vocaloid that wasn't in the original video added in. But who's counting? Elitism.
【MMD】攻殻機動隊OPをパロってみた
Ghost In The Shell 2nd OP Parody (yama, Ensemble)
A fantastic copy of the GITS2nd opening movie - a comparison is here if you don't recognize the source.
【MMD】 Google Chrome CMのあの曲 【モーション配布】
Tell Your World (kz, MMDPV: .6, Miku)
Annnnd if you wanted a closer look at the now endlessly reprinted Tell Your World dance, classic-style Miku is here to do this week's version. And... I think it works better. I mean, yeah, I'm usually against Lat as it is, but the difference here is especially pronounced and I think it's to do with the arms. Lat doesn't have good arms, and in an upper-body-heavy dance the CLAMP-style noodly appendages of the Lat body are far more noticable.