Mushi/Lumpy/Musique Concrète - A Bug, Touhou, and Strawberry Jam

Mushi/Lumpy/Musique Concrète
A Bug, Touhou, and Strawberry Jam

[Mushi/Lumpy/Musique Concrète; 2010]

7.6



No, I ain’t bullshitting. t+pazolite’s Lumpy circle really did making a third release over three years after A Bug, Touhou, and Melon Soda (Hydrocyanic Acid), the ying to Honey Milk’s yang. I’m not sure what brought it on, but according to the broken and inaccurate translations provided by babelfish, I think it had something to do with a get together with various other circles and booze. The first album was breakcore, the second was ambient noise, so one would expect a theme with their first release in the new decade. However, there is no set sound. Sure, we get some breakcore and ambient, but we also get swing, hardstyle, and whatever the fuck one would call Shitty Night (Derpcore comes to mind).

We also have a wider cast of arrangers from various circle’s making their first (and probably only venture) into the wacky world of Lumpy, including REDALiCE (ALiCE’S EMOTION), Tainokobone (Azure&Sands), oiko (N-Tone), and Dobu Usagi (dBu Music). We also have many familiar faces such as circle founders t+pazolite, Yuuna Sasara, and ziki_7, along with LV.4 (CODE-49) who appeared in Melon Soda back in May 2007.

This is Lumpy’s most assessable and friendly to newcomers due to it’s wider variety. Fans of dBu Circle will be appeased with tHe minD aNalyzeR, a jazzy swing arrangement of Satori Maiden ~ 3rd eye that rewards attentive listeners with very subtle ambient soundscapes that could easily be missed in the first five listens. Those that have been yearning for two ZUN tracks in one song will have their thirst quenched by t+pazolite’s Luv the lUNatic??, a spastic drill and bass track that Christian’s the a perfect marriage of Hartmann's Youkai Girl and U.N. Owen was Her?. Fans of Deep Forest back on Honey Milk will find much to celebrate about its spiritual successor Cherry Blossom Underground (Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan), which is also done by ziki_7.

Personal highlights include the two arrangements of Stirring an Autumn Moon ~ Mooned Insect. Yuuna Sasara’s バグレイディオ is a four and a half minute track that sums up everything I loved about Honey Milk with melodic glitch, instrumental rolls, and breakneck breaks, and Tainokobone’s 熱すぎて触れない虫 is the closest attempt I have heard at recreating Board’s of Canada’s sound with a downtempo beat, surreal ambient soundscapes, and a melancholy guitar a la The Campfire Headphase. If it had a hazier sound, you might have been actually able to pass it off as a work by the fame Scottish duo and trick a few diehards.

There are many brilliant arrangements here. However, you (yes, YOU. The only reader who has visited since whenever this highly neglected blog was made) are probably asking “why only a 7.6? If it’s really so awesome, why not give it an undeserved 9.2 with BNM on the sheer basis of it not being trance shit like you always do with “unique” releases”? That’s because what’s really good isn’t quite good enough to forgive A Bug, Touhou, and Strawberry Jam’s sins. The two weakest tracks hit you like a one-two punch by Mike Tyson.

Shitty Night, although humorous and whatisthisidon’teven worthy within the first two or so listens, is a novelty that wears off, mostly considering of samples of men fart, grunting, shitting (hurr get it), and wet stools reaching the bottom of the toilet bowl. Perhaps the worst part about the song is that you THINK they’re sampling infamous noise punk group The Gerogerigegege’s Night EP, but they aren’t. Still, if you need a cheap laugh to shut up the eight year-old boy within you, then hearing Gensokyo Millennium ~ History of the Moon recreated with bodily functions will satisfy your craving. REDALiCE’s state-of-the-art is two-thirds passable, and one-third more obnoxious than Shitty Night. You know that faux-pas ethnic electro sound people use to mock bad techno? Imagine that but it being an arrange of Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple and outside of the realms of parody. The album comes to a close with oiko’s drill-saturated arrangement of Septette for the Dead Princess Degeneration, and seeing as we already got the brilliant micro-sampling dnabgib kaerB back four years ago from the same circle, it already suffers by being in the shadows of the zenith of Doujin music, ultimately making it the weakest and most forgettable track.

Then we have some tracks that are immediate dividers. ziki_7’s London Bridge is droning ambient with noise for the first album that develops into a Schizophrenic collage of sounds and buried beats, all of which make a track that sounds nothing like The Bridge People No Longer Cross. LV.4’s Collapse Day completely flips the mood of Fires of Hokkai upside down, turning it into the quietest song from UFO into an epileptic fit.

A Bug, Touhou, and Strawberry Jam is not an album that will appeal to everyone, but most will find one track they like, so it’s not a complete waste of time looking into it. It’s clocks in at a rather standard 45 minute length, and showcases ten sounds from eight artists placing at least a foot outside of their comfort zones. This is what happens when artists bullshit around. The result is more fascinating than that of their "professional" works. People are quick to embrace or reject it.

ALiCE'S EMOTION - RED

ALiCE’S EMOTION
RED (Disc C Hand-in-Hand)
[ALiCE’S EMOTION; 2010]
3.8

Hardcore Technique - DJ Technorch - Gothic System ~Trancecore meets Gabber~

DJ Technorch
Gothic System ~Trancecore meets Gabber~
[2005; Hardcore Technique]

9.3

No, I am not reviewing the remixes, because they could be their own separate release, and honestly, I don’t feel like analyzing five versions of Gothic System when there are eight tracks made by the man who single-handedly got me interested in doujin music: DJ Technorch. After listening to his free downloads, I went through a Japanese Hardcore Techno faze which took around two or so months to snap out of, only to realize that most of it is generic and all of it doesn’t even deserve to be placed under the same classification as anything DJ Technorch has made, much less have the honor to piss a urinal away from the man.

Gothic System ~Trancecore Meets Gabber~ is the first full-release album by DJ Technorch, featuring eight glorious tracks that still srand unparalleled by not only the hardcore techno scene, but the whole doujin community as a whole, and five remixes you wouldn’t bat an eye at as soon as you separate them from the preceeding tracks so as they don’t get dirt on the real meat of the CD, which I will at times find myself repeating after finishing. What separates Gothic System from your average hardcore techno release is that it’s not just hardcore and no song can be pigeonholed into one genre. The Cosmosmith opens up quietly and slowly unveils itself with fast, intense melodies and breakbeats, all the while losing none of its tranquility. The minimal oddball Machine’s EXtream boarders between ambient techno and psychedelic experimentation.

While many “J-Core” artists will constantly bust out the “HARDCORE NEVA DIES”, you can find Technorch sampling speeches by Malcolm X over breaks accompanied by low-tone piano chords in opening 極楽鳥 (Oldskool Mix). Title track Gothic System keeps repetition fresh through effectors, turning a normal synth melody into something fluid and lucid. Even the drum machine-centric 暗転 leaves a number of producers in the dust. PARANOiA TCN 〜Dirty Mix〜, a definite nod to the KCET mix from 2nd Mix Plus, is the most traditional remix of PARANOiA we have had in years from someone who has been apart of any Bemani project.

No song tries to be a Hardcore anthem or displays passive Tourettes through sampling.  DJ Technorch is a man who goes on producing songs and ignoring the trends, the tired tropes, the clichés that swallow up many of the “artists” today in the hardcore techno scene. Even on an off day, Technorch can still take groups and artists like DJ Sharpnel and P*Light to school and even leave competents like REDALiCE, M-Project, USAO, and kors k a damn good lesson. Gothic System ~Trancecore Meets Gabba~ is one of the very few doujin releases that I can point at saying "this album as got balls", throwing in minimal, ambient, and hardcore onto the same compact disc. If you start out with J-Core with this artist like I did, you will be most likely setting yourself up for heartbreak if you're pinheaded enough to find someone like him.

ALiCE'S EMOTION 2009 - Chaos Flare/COLORS/Lycoris/Sphere Caliber

 

ALiCE'S EMOTION

Chaos Flare/COLORS/Lycoris/Sphere Caliber

[ALiCE'S EMOTION; 2009]

3.5 / 4.7 / 8.3 / 7.5

REDALiCE has always been one to release a lot of albums in a year's time. Back in 2008, he put out seven, and six the year before. This does not mean he's slowing down, as he still makes appearances on other doujin albums left and right, churning out hardcore techno at a miraculous consistent pace. When he wasn't sticking his head into every hole he could find, he and circle co-founder Ayumi Nomiya were making and releasing four Touhou remix albums, each of which was released a few months separate at one another.

There is so little of interest about Chaos Flare that it actually leaves me a tad red-faced that I have nothing to say. I personally blame myself for going backwards from the releases, with Sphere and Lycoris making CF look completely boring to listen to by comparison. I guess color me wrong for saying Mizuhashi Jealoussic Park, which was kidnapped by IOSYS for their 2010 release, was from a better album, because CF is worse than Toho Ageha.

COLORS is a vast improvement on Chaos Flare, but also falls victim to having most of the album easily forgettable. If you have heard one vocal remix of Necrofantasia, you’ve heard them all, and Sleeping Beauty is nothing special. Artificial Flower Garden is the musical equivalent of chronic masturbation, always edging but never climaxing. Don’t let the guitar credits for title track COLORS lead you to believe we are getting something special, as it’s just monotonous chords that don’t really contribute anything to the song. Taken out of the context of being on an ALiCE EMOTION release, the electro-house Elebreaka could be mistaken as something made by Traffic Jammies. Tears Doll uses what I like to call “manipulating vocals to sound as artificial and whiny as fucking possible” technique, which combined with Michiru Kaori’s shrill squekly vocals, makes it the worst track out of the thirteen on here by miles. COLORS is filled with some hits and a lot of misses.

An aggressive sound made pretty with joy-filled vocals in Fallen Flower and un;balance, high-spirit synths in lolite, pretty percussion in Alkaloid and a hint of mischief in Morphine. The outer-worldly drones and synths of Hidden Radiance, Magical Higan Tour 2009’s ambient to breakcore blasts, and Oriental Darkcore’s buildups add a feel of mystery and suspense. Despite the rather dark and grim cover, the sound Lycoris boasts is of that that leans more towards celebration than of an ill omen while still being on the lookout.

Given the reputation that doujin has when it comes to vocal tracks, you have every right to be cautious, especially when they are apart of more than half the track listing much like Chaos Flare. Sphere Caliber is the most mellow out of the four releases, with trance being prominent. If you can pardon a bit of moe-ish voice, Ghostly Parapara Ship (Hardcore Edit) uses vocals as a necessity rather than a tag-on to conjour the energy needed for this fist-pumping speed rave. PsychoSniper and under the black, over the shine have better vocals than the aforementioned track, but are musically weaker. Searching For... has more of a lounge groove, making it kind of like the black sheep. REDALiCE goes back to a more light-hearted sound with Heian Inferno and Law Field resembling tracks on Angel Rings more than Crimson Hardcore. Magnolia is THE JAM OF A LIFETIME a masterpiece of bouncy hardstyle. If all of the tracks were up to par with REDALiCE's material, Sphere Caliber would effortlessly outshine Lycoris, but there is so much baggage and dead weight that it hurts the overall quality of the final release of 2009 (seriously? P*Light? Are you bullshitting me?).

With each passing release, an evolution in sound is apparent. There is an awareness that if they keep going along with the same basic structures, Akai Hito and Ayumi Nomiya would be pigeonholed as dime-a-dozen J-Core hacks. It might be the guest-star artists influencing them, or perhaps a sudden burst of inspiration with the release of UFO, but I can see the boldness developing gradually, hopefully promising a better future for the circle and the artists who hop on board, making remixes together in the not-so-distant future, possibly influencing a new route to follow. I cannot help but feel a tad optimistic.

Blck Onyx - DiGiTiZED FAiRiES

Black Onyx

DiGiTiZED FAiRiES
[Black Onyx; 2010]

5.7

I don't get three-flavor ice cream cases at all. I mean, I can understand the concept behind them, but just how many people buy them because there live with several different people in a house, each of whom don't like certain "basic" flavors, and just how in the name of hell is a third of a case satisfactory? Too much for one bowl, and not nearly enough for a second serving the time after. It leaves you unsatisfied unless you aren't too picky and would eat the other flavors (or perhaps take from the other flavors as well). And so this is exactly my beef with DiGiTiZED FAiRiES, the ultimate example of a Touhou remix album that is basically a three flavor carton of ice cream, being a third Trance, a third hardcore, and a third DURRHURR (or mint strawberry pineapple blueberry all in one).

The first third consists of trance tracks such as the reverb-heavy opener Milky Child. セプテットテープセット throws acid onto the field, with a start abusing various effectors at the start before becoming fairly standard afterwards. Flandre Underground Rave Party!is the highlight of the album, feeling like a track you would hear at a club by not being too direct of a remix with an explosion of energy at the end, and FLANDRE SCALET as our piece of Engrish for the album as a bonus.

The middle is the weakest portion, being entirely hardstyle tracks. saw-soul thundering bass drowns out the more subtle layers. TRAUMA MUThAfUckA and cruel punisher use samples that anyone who has looked into the Japanese Hardcore scene for more than an hour would immediately recognize. cruel punisher is the best song of the three, borrowing breakcore and trance elements, but it's not saying a whole lot. もふもふ, frankly, baffles me as to what to label it as, with quiet melodies and distorted uplighting drones done in the form of ambient, and a deep bass seen in techno techno but at the tempo of hardcore. ?63HiiraossHuikgoeH53? corporates breakcore, chiptune, many shifts between various instruments, tempo shifts, etc. that makes it stand out the most from the nine, but in the end come off as an abandomed clustefuck that could be passed off as a B-Side track on ABT&HM(P). Code Red Biological 2010 is another remix of U.N. Own was Her? and is significantly weaker than Party Rave, but still has a fantastic buildup with increasing beats, musical layering, and fade-ins.

What we have here is not an album, but three collective extended plays aimed at different audiences. If you like trance, the first half is for you. Hard style nut? Dig into the center. Want a mish-mosh or a surprise? Skip to the seventh track and leave the player on until the end of the album. If you like all of them, you're mostly like going to find something you like out of this.

Blasterhead - Blasterhead Works 1995-2003

Blasterhead
Blasterhead Works 1995-2003
[Blasterhead; 2003]
5.0





I remember listening to Blasterhead's first original album back several months ago, gnashing my teeth after every track, criticizing the fuzzy recordings, and the abuse of the hardcore bass beat for track after track after track. I dismissed it as complete and utter garbage and a ghastly selection of songs for one to choose for their first album. Upon a second listen, I have grown fond of several of the tracks. However, enjoying five or six tracks out of sixteen doesn't really bode well, since that still leaves you with the other two-thirds being hard to keep down inside my "J-Core"-jaded stomach.

Much like the chillout/ambient techno Retake and the dnb/breakbeat sora nuxx, BW95-03 takes a different direction with the genres prominently displayed, with hardcore/acid techno being dominating the 67 minutes on the compact disc. Guitar loops play a huge part in BW 95-03, including in the acid techno opener Shadow Under The Shadow. If you hate Alec Empire, don't feel ashamed if you skip Pop Chaser, Hurry Up Pizza Boy, Do It Runrun, and Friendship. Coastal Waters And Wood gives listeners a vague idea of what to expect from sora nuxx. After we take another acid techno detour with Girls On The Palmtop, we return to hardcore. R-99 is strikingly similar to Do It Runrun if slowed down, and the resemblance 4M L.E.D.-G vs GUHROOY's ErAseRmoToR maXimUM is humorous. The jewel of the album Fire's bass drills are delicious, and Close Your Eyes (GB Edit) proves that chiptune can have pretty music as it fades in and out, bringing Blasterhead's first real release to a close.


This isn't anywhere close to as bad as I recalled it being, but it's still a far cry from his future releases like the two albums mentioned early on in the review and Killbots EP if you are a fan of chiptune. To those who were unimpressed with BW, give the other releases a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Sharpnelsound - Mad Breaks

DJ Sharpnel
Mad Breaks
[Sharpnelsound; 2005]
8.0






I have never liked DJ Sharpnel. They're overhyped, mediocre, and ride on a the gimmick non-genre "lolicore". They're are far better J-Core artists out there. DJ Technorch has made great song after great song, and was my gateway to doujin music. REDALiCE isn't all that, but he has Angel Rings and a few decent arranges backing him up. USAO wrote some pretty nice shit for USAO CD vol. 3, I enjoyed Roughsketch's 108 Sketches, along with t+pazolite work on the same album and neetmania. I guess what I'm trying to say is that nearly everyone can have one time they do something right, and for Jea and Lemmy, that release is Mad Breaks, an hour long album of J-Core that actually frightens me with how good it is.

Don't get me wrong. I still hate him and his anime-clip-splicing parlor trick, but this proves to have some craftmanship put into it. It opens up with the surprisingly slow (by Sharpnel terms) Gate Of Dreams, which proves promising with not a single chipmunk-voiced sampled clip. Hot Pepperz kicks up the tempo (along with the quirkiness factor) and uses audio clips from Galaxy Angel. Zettai Remix by Society Suckers rips classical music and evolves into an audio-splicing track in the significantly more interesting second half, and we return to Sharpnel with the hardcore part-hip-hop, part-hardcore techno, and part-chiptune Star Wars homage titled Bounty Wars, followed up with the even more enjoyable hardcore rockabilly rave Complecks Baby.

You Don't Know What is the most honest song title in doujin history, as I have no clue whether it wants to be a speedcore song or a hardcore hip-hop mix. It seems to have thrown its hands in the air shouting "fuck it" and splits it 50/50. Together As One flounders with the same amen break sample we hear throughout half the album and generally has very little to offer. If you cannot tell that SF-C and SF-R are "tradional" Japanese hardcore remix of Chun Li and Ryu's theme respectively from Street Fighter II and have owned/knew someone with an SNES, you've wasted your childhood.

The out-of-place saxophone sampling and vocal rips gives Solitude Sun some personality and sophistication, which the mindless and wild Speed Disco Vol. 2 compliments it by being the exact polar opposite. The piano and synth melodies 20031023 are so out of place on Mad Breaks, you could probably fool a few people into thinking it's a Touhou remix. Although I'm not a fan of Mugenjou Project's Audiovisualism, I can easily imagine it growing on some people. The album ends on a good note with Blue Army, which actually deserves praise people give it.

I will not lie: I originally revisited this album to completely tear the shit out of it as writing a review trashing something is easier than praising it. Instead, I listened to an hour of mostly pretty great music. It balances the silliness that attracted an overseas audience while still keeping the geeky-side of the hardcore techno scene in mind. Not too stupid while not too retardedly abrasive. Instead of riding this off as a freakish fluke, perhaps I should reevaluate my stance on the most famous duo in the doujin community.