Sakura no Mau Koro ni -Sotsugyou Album Dai Ichi Gakushou-

First of all, in case you wonder, this album has nothing to do with Higurashi or Umineko. Produced by Chambers Records, after putting out albums about summers and snowing winters (Natsu Uta series and Yuki Furu Uta series. In fact, we still have Natsu Uta 2 -Kimi to Kanaderu Ai no Uta- on our current tracker), this time it’s about graduation. Like its previous albums, they have also put together a group of recognizable singers together for this one, as you can see below:

1. Brand-New Spring [Rita]
2. Akaneiro no Kimi he [Oomori Mariko]
3. Ashita ni Mukatte [Yuduki]
4. a-tempo [yuiko]
5. Sotsugyou [yukana]
6. Sakura Illumination [Marie]
7. 2nd Introduction [Nakahata Takeharu]*
8. Sayonara Arigatou [Chata]
9. Bokura no Ashita [Uchiyae Yuka]
10.Let’s go on everyday -Kono Basho kara- [Mint]
11.Watashi no “Sayonara”. [Katakiri Rekka]
12.Boku ga Otona ni Naru Hi [Gojou Mayumi]
*instrumental

Personal pick of this album would be track 8. Even though I have been mentioning on IRC that Chata is the one who’s been standing out lately among the “doujin queens”, no, I didn’t pick the song because of that reason. It’s a pure coincidence.

Veil’s 2nd album – color me pop

In case you wonder why we did not release the 1st album, “assorted voices”, it’s because I have yet to get ahold of its scans. But anyway, let’s take a look at this one’s tracklist:

1. Shinsei Philosophy [Yui Yamamoto]
2. Hoshikuzu no Kizuna [Lia]
3. For the Truth [JURIE]
4. Kono Sora no Dokoka de [Aoi]
5. Fly away [misuzu feat. Aoi]
6. Aitakute [karuta & Hirona]
7. a drop in the water -duo version- [Lia & REI]
8. believe [YU⇒KA & REI]
9. Tsubasa wo Kudasai -acoustic ver- [Lia & Aoi]
10.Kagayakeru Basho [Lia, Aoi, YU⇒KA, karuta, REI, Hirona, misuzu]
11.Silent Message [Lia]

If you have my mp3 collection, you should recognize the first song, “Shinsei Philosophy”. Yes, it’s the OP song of the game “Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na -Moonlight Cradle-“. Yes, that means FEEEEEEEEENA (sorry, I just had to say that :P). And if you wonder about track 9, yes, it’s that “Tsubasa wo Kudasai”. Two things I would like to note though: 1) there’s a picture of the singer(s) under each song’s lyrics, other than first one’s, which means Yamamoto’s is missing. That’s quite a pity; 2) “Aoi” in this album is Tada Aoi, who is recognized for performing the ED of GUNSLINGER GIRL -IL TEATRINO-, “doll”, and most lately the ED of Angel Beats!, “Brave Song”.

Shimotsuki Haruka – Michibiki no Harmony

Meeting the expectation, this album is nothing short of amazing. I mean, songs like “Kaze no Kotowari” (no, it’s not “Kaze no Ri” as listed at some places), “Ruri no Tori”, “Omoi no Kanata”, “Snowdrop”, “Eien”, etc. are there, how wrong can the album go? Whether you are a fan of Shimotsukin or not, this album should easily impress you.

Tracklist:
1. Kaze no Kotowari
2. Ruri no Tori
3. Everywhere With You
4. Omoi no Kanata
5. Hajimari no story
6. Snowdrop
7. Blade of Tears
8. Hoshi no Yume -Gathering the stars of love-
9. Rakuen no Kagi
10.COSMOLAGOON
11.Tabidachi no Uta
12.Eien
13.so happy days
14.Nemuri no Hate no Aoi Hana
15.Michibiki no Harmony

The most noteworthy song of this album is none other than the original song of this album, whose title is also used for the album’s title, “Michibiki no Harmony”, featuring both music and lyrics written by Shimotsukin herself. The music is nice, but more importantly it’s the lyrics that describes how she feels about her music, or how she would like you to feel about her music. If you can understand the lyrics, it’s a pretty interesting song.

New additions to mp3 player

Added 5 new songs. You can find them in Download section, with DDL available.

1. You & Me [Tamura Yukari feat. motsu from m.o.v.e] (even though it’s not exactly a song that you can loop continuously, it can get pretty addictive. It’s the kind of song that you want to listen from time to time)
2. natalis [eufonius] (if you downloaded our single “Online RPG MapleStory November Theme Song Single – Divinity”, of which the song is from, the cover drawing depicts the song, or the other way round. Its image is like a fairytale world, but not exactly quite so. I’m not sure how to describe it well, you just have to listen to it yourself)
3. Hikari no Senritsu [Kalafina] (before my PV of that song on youtube got removed, lots of people commented that it’s the best Kalafina song. Maybe some of you don’t agree with it, but you can’t deny that it’s one of their best songs)
4. allegretto -Sora to Kimi- [KOTOKO] (OP of the so-famous high-ranked game “Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo”. Too bad there’s no English translation of the game, if it ever happens. It’s the game that gave me most laughs, and tears to many in the grand ending scene. The OP song reflects the game really well)
5. Sora no Sukima [Katakiri Rekka] (not sure why I didn’t include this song earlier. It’s the insert song of yet another so-famous even-higher-ranked game “Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo”. There is an English translation of the game, even though the translation seemed way too literal to me from the little bit I tried, you HAVE to play the game. It has changed the views of life of many. As for the song itself, there’s only one word for it: passionate. Heartrending kind of passionate)

New Background Music

How was our March BGM? I believe most of you should have enjoyed it, possibly without recognizing where it was from. Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo, whose adapation into anime failed big time, is, however, a very nice game. I haven’t got that many good laughs from an ADV game/VN for a long time. Since my gaming mood has yet to be over, I picked a BGM of another game I have played lately for our April’s BGM. This time I believe many should recognize it, since a lot of people have played it because of the existence of an English patch for it. Click “Background Music” on the right under the link section to listen to it now.

GWAVE 2009 1st Ace

Yes, I know I haven’t done any GWAVE for a while. I didn’t really plan to do this one either, but after seeing the tracklist, I decided to. If you have been following game songs, quite a few of them should be familiar to you. In fact, we have released the singles of some of the songs, such as “Promise -Tsukiyo no Kioku-” and “Shukufuku no Campanella“. Let’s take a look at the full tracklist:

1. Flyable Heart [KIYO]
2. see-saw!! [Chata]
3. Primary [Rita]
4. Promise -Tsukiyo no Kioku- [Satou Hiromi x NANA]
5. reach for the runway [Rita]
6. Natsuiro Straight! [Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets]
7. Shukufuku no Campanella [Satou Hiromi & NANA]
8. Papiliones [Itou Kanako]
9. Towararebito [YuNa]
10.Eternal recurrence [Hashimoto Miyuki]
11.Jounetsu no Wobble [Kicco]
12.Piecework [Rin]
13.Tabidachi no Yoake [Rita]
14.Call my name [Inoue Miyu x team Love Bullets]
15.KATAKUNA [RARA]
16.PrincessParty -Seishun Kinshirei- [Ayu+Miru+Ruu+Yukaina Nakamatachi]

This time I’m not going to recommend any specific songs, the whole album is just pretty nice in general. It does live up to the album title, “1st Ace (of 2009)”.