Kagamine Rin - Brightest

More than a month has passed since I've last posted Rin's s song. Too much, I think. I hope we’ll meet Rin more often, she certainly deserves better. For now, Jan=Junkyard saves the day. I praised his debut work, “Horizon”, if you recall. “Brightest” is a little different story. Low-tempo, more thoughtful, it still has convincing force and depth. The music style leans to grunge mostly. The mix quality improved a bit from the first work – a quick progress, I have to say. Instrumental part turns out to be more impressive – guitars, bassu, drums... But vocals lack something (sigh…) :(


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23036498



Video’s art by mokoppe.

Minagoroshi no magic - cover by Washakku

An excellent cover of “Minagoroshi…”, I bet not the last in my collection. Washakku’s voice range let him down only on the very final part, but obviously that’s not his fault, it is Utsu-P taken too high notes ;)


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link:  http://nicoviewer.net/sm23033959

IA - Losing Sight

A lightweight piece by hiroron. Well, ‘lightweight’ for me, for the producer it might be on the heavier side of the spectrum :) I should note the quality of vocals improved a lot from the previous hiroron’s works. The narrative parts are done by Nayuno.


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23025199



Video by hiroron himself.

Hatsune Miku & Hakaine Maiko - Weaved shadow

An interesting piece by KoboP, some industrial/thrash-y metal. Maiko’s vocal has nice guttural hues here, a little closer to ‘death’ sound. Everything goes just fine until Miku steps in. And you just say: “Fuck”. Because, first, it’s Miku, second, it’s Engrish, and third, she’s squealing like before her very eyes a negi is being pushed into a waste disposal unit :) There are a lot of bands that use ‘beauty and the beast’ vocals arrange; here in “Weaved shadow” we have ‘siren and the beast’ ;)


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link: http://nicoviewer.net/sm23018218
Lyrics: http://ameblo.jp/kobobobobo/entry-11787455784.html

IA - Hana sou ka

IA hasn't been in Okame-P's favor for almost a year, and our patience has been rewarded finally. As for me, of all the Vocaloids the producer works with IA sounds the best. Here, in “Hana sou ka”, the vocals part is especially good, deep and emotional. The music is lighter than previous Okame’s work, “Othello”. For the each of his songs the producer tries to create a unique character, carefully using subtle tones and shades. And I like it.


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23012355

Hatsune Miku - Kara kusari

Songs that stand out by their maverick spirit are always welcomed on VMW. One of such is a recent piece by ice-san. “Kara kusari” is a thoughtful and fluent alternative rock, sounding fresh as a lemon-juice-vodka cocktail and stylish as a fucking catwalk model before she’s gulped three portions of it. Speaking of chic bitches, Miku’s singing is just awesome. Ice-san has made an excellent contrast of calm parts with bright outbursts in choruses.

And again we see eggs in the video. Someone, please explain me what’s wrong with eggs in Japan? :)


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link: http://nicoviewer.net/sm23011761

Hatsune Miku - AQ Sensen

An excellent, top-tier post-hardcore piece by Messi and Italian (lyrics by Taeko). The song is turbo-charged and steady-paced. Miku sounds very impressive too, showing the force and vigor that beat many works I’ve heard before. Well, before the English part of the lyrics begins :) But I bet you’ll not be surprised by Miku’s Engrish, we all get used to it already… :)


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23005328

Makimiya Fuuki - Behind the Red

Continuing UTAU theme, here is a new song from Yuto. The music is delicious heavy/thrash metal. Makimiya Fuuki voicebank is being used, which surpasses slightly that of Gahata Meiji in terms of popularity, but loses in terms of quality…


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23001229

Sweet Sweet Cendrillon Drug - cover by Gahata Meiji

“Sweet Sweet Cendrilion Drug” was originally released a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away in 2009 by uz-P. Those days Miku was singing it, and that’s not surprising: back then ‘Vocaloid’ in most cases meant directly Miku. Miku was only V2, no appends existed, and let’s be honest uz hadn’t used top-notch studio equipment, so you can guess the quality wasn’t the seventh heaven. Yet, even given all of this, the song was rather impressive, and got pretty healthy number of views for the genre.

Fast forward to 2012 when Muryoku-P decided to enhance the uz’s piece. The remix, besides the improved sound, featured Megurine Luka as a singer. As for me, the progress in vocals was evident too. Now, almost five years after the original release, we have the chance to compare Miku and Luka with their UTAU colleague. Gahata Meiji isn’t a very popular voicebank. And that’s a pity, because, at least in Tetsuwo-shi hands, she sounds awesome! Her variant is much more powerful and energetic than previous Vocaloid releases, which I think fits well to the nature of the song. And a little detail: Meiji’s canon states she is a witch. So a special kudos from VMW! ;)


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link: http://nicoviewer.net/sm23000255

GUMI - Minagoroshi no magic

Utsu-P as he is. Rhythmic noises, utterly destructive and perfectly awesome. ‘Minagoroshi’ in the title translates as ‘slaughter’. And no, I’m totally clueless why all the eggs ;)


Youtube:

Nicovideo link: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22991979


Utsu-P, that’s a gross piece, lemme shake your hand… OMFG?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Video by Funmatsu.

GUMI - Taihen suimasendeshita

An absolutely adorable HM/HR piece from Sousai-san. Though I definitely recognize some folk metal notes as well. But that’s because here on the West only folk bands can have fun so relentlessly, the other are all doom and gloom, fuck this and fuck that and ‘we’re all going to die’… Sigh… “Taihen...” is nothing like that, it’s about the hard battle with oversleeping :) Yeah, common problem, isn’t it? :)

The music is rather plain, but that’s exactly the case when simplicity is the supreme excellence. Everything is polished and fit together smoothly and perfectly. And this is a mighty stuff, mind you! So if someday you’ll need a song to wake you up – try this one. Gumi won’t fail you.


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link: http://nicoviewer.net/sm22995414



Video by Sousai himself.

IA - Yume sekai

“Yume sekai”, which translates as ‘Dream world’, is a harder musicpiece by Terry Chandler. I’ll define it cautiously as post-hardcore, of older character. It is a step off the usual producer’s style, but it keeps familiar bright melodics and speed metal patterns as well. Sharp strikes of bass drums and interesting blend of lead and rhythm guitars’ lines add up with this well enough. Though the real gem here is IA. Just listen to the breakdown and you’ll agree she makes it better on the lyrical parts. Maybe some deep emotional post-hardcore next time, Terry? ;)


Nicovideo link:

Nicoviewer link: http://nicoviewer.net/sm22984853
Lyrics (JP): http://kannnaduki.com/kashi/yumesekai



Video’s art by Alice-Hato.