Kanna’s Mp3 Player Top Ten [September 10 2009]
In my first attempt to make a sort of regular feature, I thought I’d start with something relatively simple and relatively pain free.
I have an iPod. It’s a nice little iPod Nano in black (because I couldn’t find a red one). I listen to it a lot – I take it with me everywhere and when I’m driving, it is often playing music to keep me company during the traffic jams.
So in no particular order, here’s the songs that have caught my interest recently.
1. そらとぶひかり – COLTEMONIKHA
Soratobu Hikari is one of those songs that amuses me greatly because it’s both in Japanese and Mangled English. The first line goes soratobu hikari kimi no moto e or so a lot of heat curry, gimme no motorway. Kate Sakai’s quite good blurring the line between the two languages and it’s a cute, silly little song that reminds me a little bit of capsule’s FRUiTS CLiPPER. The song, not the entire album mind you.
2. Adagio – DJ Depath & M-Project
I’ve always had a thing for pieces for string orchestra as the violin is a beautiful instrument and the cello can sound really lovely and warm and they’re my favourite string instruments. Barber’s Adagio For Strings is one of my favourite pieces of 20th century classical music – sadly the best remix of this is William Orbit’s – as the other trance version by Tiësto was a piece of shit (actually, Tiësto is pretty shit no matter how I look at it). But this remix… confuses me slightly but I like listening to it. Maybe it’s my love for the source material but I do shake my head in puzzlement each time I listen to this song on how it goes from strings to KICK KICK KICK KICK CUT UP HIGH PITCHED VOCAL SAMPLE KICK KICK KICK KICK STRIIIIIIIINGS KICK KICK KICK KICK STRIIIIINGS. You get the idea.
3. Ligaya (Yoji Biomehanika Remix) – Gouryella
Personally, I think the time in which Ferry Corsten was at his best was when he made the Gouryella tracks. That’s probably the best Tiësto’s ever been too, considering that all he probably did was make the coffee. I love the original instrumental version of Ligaya (the vocal version effectively ruined the track) but I am very fond of this remix because Yoji gave it more of a bassline and kick. It’s still very uplifting (it does fit the name, ligaya means “happiness” in the Filipino language) but at the same time, I do like that it is harder and the breakdown is one of my favourite parts in the entire song.
4. Attack the music – DJ FX
One of my favourite 5 key beatmania songs. It is a shame that the song actually doesn’t have a sample that says “attack the music” but I was overjoyed to hear when this was revived in beatmania IIDX DistorteD CS version.
5. The Talking Goat – DJ Shimamura
… lol youtube remix.
6. GOLD DIGGA (DJ Hazime Remix) – MICHICO feat. AI
I’m not really a fan of hip-hop/r&b/rap a lot of the time, but I do like this collaboration between MICHICO and AI. (Actually, I just like MICHICO’s O.P.D. single. That’s it.) The original version of the song was a bit flat, but this sounds like it’s got a lot more punch.
7. The Prophecy Unfolds (The Playah Remix) – Tommyknocker vs. The Viper feat. MC Mouth of Madness
I think Tommyknocker is one of my favourite gabber artists and I’ve been listening to Tha Playah’s The Greatest Clits compilation. I think this is my favourite track on there besides The Viper and Tommyknocker’s remix of Fuck The Titties.
8. Chasse – 詩月カオリ
This song is very cute. I think I like it since it isn’t too nauseatingly denpa and sugar coated, but cute enough to be enjoyable. Admittedly it isn’t the best song Kaori Utatsuki’s put out, but I think this is a little song that you can enjoy singing along to. waratte runrunrun rara runrun ruru~~
9. G-Sigh – Remo-con
I love Remo-con’s album. Tech-dance makes good music to do statistics to, as I did the majority of the statistics for my reports while listening to A life with remote controllers. While Bemani fans bemoan the lack of IIDX songs, for heaven’s sake this album is pretty good and Prototype resembles Golden Cross without the bassline and more tech dance-y.
10. tsugihagi Construction – t+pazolite
Such a good way to end Hardcore Syndrome 3. I love this track. Hardcore Syndrome 3 was made of pure gold. C76 actually wasn’t too bad, overall. There were quite a few albums I could listen to without skipping anything. And just how it rounds off Hardcore Syndrome nicely, I’ll end this list with this track.
KraftyRadio’s August Podcast: The Day of Hardcore Showcase by JAKAZiD
In between refreshing the Hardcore Tano*C website constantly the past few days, I’ve noticed that The Day of Hardcore headliner JAKAZiD has mixed a special KraftyRadio Podcast consisting of an interesting mix of mostly Japanese producers (the mixer himself the only one not Japanese, lol)
The mix itself is downloadable over here. And for reference, here’s the tracklist!
1. Cycheouts Ghost – Arcadex – ROMZ Record
2. DJ Shimamura – Bring The Noize – Dynasty Records
3. M-Neko – Everything Needs RAVE – MPT
4. M-Project – Blue Lotus – Terraform Music
5. Joshka – No Reason – Hardcore Tano*C
6. DJ Shimamura – Return 2 Universe – Dynasty Records
7. L.E.D. feat. Sana – The Shining Polaris (Kors K Remix) – Konami
8. RoughSketch – Pride or Money – Mob Squad Black Label
9. DJ Sharpnel – Shine!! – MPT
10. m1dy – Wani – Maddest Chick’ndom Pork
It features a variety of things – JAKAZiD’s new track for Hardcore Syndrome 3 entitled “Nø Reasøn”, kors k’s highly popular remix of L.E.D.’s The Shining Polaris, Cycheout G’s Arcadex from Vikalpa (one of my favourite tracks from there) and tracks from M-Project’s new album, M-Neko’s first album and DJ Shimamura’s new album. For those of you who keep seeing me blabber on about j-core but never really know what it is – this is pretty much a good starting point with arguably the most popular artists on there (Including Sharpnel himself and m1dy, Japanese King of Speedcore). It’s a diverse enough mix and a little bit mental in some places (I mean, come on. m1dy is there.)
August is shaping up to be a pretty good month for J-core in general as even BBC Radio 1’s Kutski has tweeted that he is making a j-core mix for his upcoming radio show. I shall be in Japan when it airs, most likely at the The Day of Hardcore, but nevertheless Kutski has good taste, so it should be a good listen.
And as I mentioned, I will be going to Japan for The Day of Hardcore, so I might make a photo report on that when I come back.
J-Core Masterz 5: Tracklist Amended
Well, in a surprising turn of events – it looks like this CD is still pushing through for a Comiket 76 release but with an altered tracklist.
Artist: Various
Title: J-Core Masterz Vol. 5
Label: Mob Squad Black Label
Catalogue: MSTBL014
Tracklist:
01. DJ Schwarzenegger – Don’t say “crazy”
02. RUMBLETRON – ぴたごら☆フィーバー！
03. M-Project – Get Naked
04. RoughSketch – Pride or Money
05. OZIGIRI – J-FISH MASTERZ
06. die!!die!!color!!! – Trust
07. Round Wave Crusher – SPEED KILLED TEH MOE (TEH NERDKORE EDIT)
08. Black Ace – Flying With Fish
09. MUZIK SERVANT – The 2nd
10. Black Ace – Let’s Kick Some Mouses!
11. D-noise – the pirate song
12. Round Wave Crusher – Show Time (Naked)
13. 撲殺少女工房 – Beach Summer Kisser
14. DONK TERRORIST – Party Dominator
15. BUBBLE-B – WHITE MIRACLE
16. No.305 – いいんちょさんだ！瀬川泉
17. FUCK DJ PAPER CHAOS
And that, as they say, is that. I am curious what kind of track the last track is going to be, but I hope it’s angry and very violent. :p
J-Core Masterz 5: Disaster Strikes
As much as I dislike the series, I don’t believe that this sort of thing is ever justified.
Anyway, in regards to the 5th iteration of J-Core Masterz – the release seems to have been delayed due to the selfish actions of one particular person who was bored and decided to fuck around with people.
If you remember the first track of the tracklist posted here, the first track is called Ichigo 100% by a relative unknown called DJ Paper Chaos.
Unfortunately, it was spotted that Ichigo 100% was not was not DJ Paper Chaos’ own work. Having distributed the track among a circle of producers, one of them managed to spot that the track was not DJ Paper Chaos’ own work but simply a retagged version of いちごコンプリート [Ichigo Complete] by Ma15+MAKI from the ever popular Exit Trance Presents Speed Anime Best series. It was spotted but it too late as the CDs had been pressed when this bombshell dropped onto M-Project. As a result, there is much resentment towards DJ Paper Chaos from both Japanese and overseas hardcore artists because M-Project is very respected and to mess with him is a relatively unknown thought.
DJ Paper Chaos just seems utterly pathetic to do this for kicks, really. M-Project puts a lot of effort into these CDs and people actually do spend their money on them. Not to mention that due to the close knit nature of the Japanese hardcore scene, if this CD went out the way it is – this would have reached Quake Records easily and it would have been bad for M-Project and Mob Squad Tokyo as a whole.
So what’s happening with J-Core Masterz Vol 5? Well, the rumour is that DJ Paper Chaos’ track is getting removed and an extra track is being placed in with the CD being delayed to sometime October. It’s also believed that this bonus track may be “Fuck DJ Paper Chaos” but that’s probably just M-Project being pissed. (DJ Paper Chaos is now being called DJ Toiler Paper Chaos by a number of people, including me. DJ Toilet Paper Chaos down the shitter please!)
EDIT: Thanks to Mr. Anon123456doit, we now have snaps of the douchebag who pulled this stunt off AND screencaps of his myspace before he killed it off. Feel free to laugh at how much of an attention whore he is, and if you ever see him on the streets, you know what he looks like so that you can hit him. (Wait, he lives in England. I could do that!)
J-Core Masterz 5: Tracklist.
Well, M-Project posted on his mixi the tracklist for J-Core Masterz 5. I’ve always disliked J-Core Masterz as a series because compared to its older sister Bastard Pop Terrorists, it’s just not very good. J-Core Masterz is where people from the internet who think that they can make “J-Core” send their tracks over to whoever runs MST and he masters them and releases them on a CD. And to give it some veneer of credibility, you have people like Bubble-B and M-Project contributing.
Artist: Various
Title: J-Core Masterz Vol. 5
Label: Mob Squad Black Label
Catalogue: MSTBL014
Tracklist:
01. DJ Paper Chaos – Ichigo 100%
02. RUMBLETRON – ぴたごら☆フィーバー！
03. M-Project – Get Naked
04. RoughSketch – Pride or Money
05. OZIGIRI – J-FISH MASTERZ
06. die!!die!!color!!! – Trust
07. Round Wave Crusher – SPEED KILLED TEH MOE (TEH NERDKORE EDIT)
08. Black Ace – Flying With Fish
09. MUZIK SERVANT – The 2nd
10. Black Ace – Let’s Kick Some Mouses!
11. DJ Schwarzenegger – Don’t say “crazy”
12. Round Wave Crusher – Show Time (Naked)
13. 撲殺少女工房 – Beach Summer Kisser
14. DONK TERRORIST – Party Dominator
15. BUBBLE-B – WHITE MIRACLE
16. No.305 – いいんちょさんだ！瀬川泉
In short, this album is just made of subpar animu remixes with really shitty music underneath with a few good tracks by the artists who actually know what they’re doing in an attempt to balance it out. Oh, and more Shingo DJ (under his Round Wave Crusher alias) than there needs to be (Two motherfucking tracks, jesus.) So please, don’t bother buying this unless you want to know how truly awful some music can be.
M-Neko’s Nekology has a tracklist. Yay.
Artist: M-Neko
Title: Nekology
Label: MPT
Catalogue: MPTS001
Tracklist:
1. だんごーバザーク [DanGo Berserk]
2. カラフル・バンザイ・ラヴ [Colorful Banzai Love]
3. Luminism Pt. I
4. L&J
5. 恋ものがたり (Re-master) [Koi Monogatari]
6. KDG (UK Hardcore Mix)
7. Luminism Pt. II
8. Everything Needs RAVE
9. アルゴリズム・ブレィクス [Algorithm Breaks]★ボーナス・トラックス > The M-Neko Filez★
10. M-Neko 1 (JAKAZiD Remix)
11. M-Neko 2 (M.P.T. Remix)
12. M-Neko 3 ~Update for 2009~
The titles are disguising the actual song that’s being bootlegged in an almost cute way. And while most of it is new, there is enough old material on there to make it even more appealing to M-Neko fans. The M-Neko Filez aside, KDG and Koi Monogatari (from Bastard Pop Terrorists 6 and 7 respectively) have new arrangements and mixdowns that make them sound just that bit better (They were already good tracks to begin with.)
The M-Neko Filez also bring back the first three eponymous M-Neko tracks with JAKAZiD providing a remix of M-Neko 1 (consider yourself lucky if you have the original), an M.P.T. Remix of M-Neko 2 (fitting, because that is M-Neko’s debut song on a Bastard Pop Terrorists album) and an update of M-Neko 3 (which, some fans actually doubt the existence of, but it actually does exist and this update does it justice.)
M-Project’s 2nd Album (wait, he had a first?): Hardcore Illusionist
On the scale of things, this is old news but I might as well post it up here for posterity.
Artist: M-Project
Title: Hardcore Illusionist
Label: Guhroovy / Terraform Music
Catalogue No. DQC-279
Tracklist:
01. HxCx JUNKIEEE
02. Vibrations
03. Interrude#1
04. ALL I NEED YOUR LOVE (LONG Ver.)
05. My Little Fantasy (Feat.haru*nya)
06. Ultimate Destruction (A+D+A+M lab4 Remix)
07. Party Lover
08. Vibrations (SPeeDX Remix)
09. Interrude#2
10. Rainbow Cyclone
11. The 7 Wonderz (JAKAZiD Remix)
12. Blue Lotus
13. After World
The thing I find with this album is that prior to its release, if you look in the right places you’d be able to find some of the tracks. (HxCx Junkie on AVSS, Vibrations on Bit Music, the Ultimate Destruction remix on some Australian mix CD and JAKAZiD’s remix somewhere on di.fm’s happy hardcore channel if you look prerecorded sets of the North American Hardcore Moment show.
That aside, I’d gladly pick up this CD because for one thing, it should be a good listen. As with the other releases I’ve reported here, it should be available at The Day of Hardcore/Comiket.
Bastard Pop Terrorist Vol. 9: Tracklist OUT!
And the M.P.T. label is bringing us more hardcore electronic bootleg goodness in the 9th iteration of the Bastard Pop Terrorist CDs. Often it’s said that the better Japanese hardcore artists feature on this series because you know you’re bad or just not too fucked about what M-Project does with your tracks if you’re on the J-Core Masterz series.
Artist: Various
Title: Bastard Pop Terrorists Vol. 9
Catalogue: MPTCD009
Tracklist:
01. M.P.T. Intro
02. DJ SHARPNEL – SHINE!!
03. DJ A.Q. – Motto☆派手にね！(SmashCore Remix)
04. Boot Of Fighters – White dog
05. DJ Eterni-T – FRIDAYNIGHT POSSE
06. M-Neko – Kawa wo Nagare
07. TOTALLY FUCKEDUP FEAT NICK EATER – AEROPHOBIC
08. DJ PLAGUE – Bananaphone (internet megamix)
09. di-bit – Beaver Thong
10. XÄCKSECKS – KNULLAR GOR JAG TILL HARDCORE
11. TOXIC TEKNIQUE – Galactic Prayer
12. DONK TERRORISTS – Last Words 2009
13. DJ DEPATH&M-Project – Adagio
14. M.P.T. Outro
BPT favourites DJ Eterni-T, M-Neko, DEPATH & M-PROJECT plus the highly amusing Donk Terrorists are making an appearance in this release. The Bananaphone remix might lend itself to some hilarity once I get around to hearing it. The ever popular DJ Sharpnel is also here, his stuff always worth a look even if it might not be the best after a while.
I find listening to the Bastard Pop Terrorist albums a bit of a treat, a bit like a box of chocolates. Because you never quite know what you’re going to get until you sink your teeth in.
I am slightly worried about the inclusion of DJ A.Q. aka Aura Qualic in this release. If anything, Aura Qualic is known for being completely boring in his releases and for releasing many remix bootlegs of popular themes from anime and games without spending a lot of time on them. Granted his production is better than it was earlier, but his compositions are frankly dull. He also jumps from genre to genre without really being good at it, either. I do think he is the lesser evil compared to some truly horrendous thing like Shingo DJ.
As with other Japanese hardcore releases around this time, this is being release in August along with M-Neko’s album, M-Project’s album and DJ Shimamura’s album either at The Day of Hardcore and Comiket. The cover art is really pretty, I have to say.
