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I Love Party -Welcome 2 da Dance Floor-
Release Date: 4/24/13
Price: 1886 yen
The first release in Universal’s I Love Party series, which focuses on dance pop songs. Waaay too mainstream for my tastes. It doesn’t help that a lot of the songs are already a few years old.
What’s Up! The Best ~ 10th Anniversary
Release Date: 12/4/13 12/25/13
Price: 2838 yen
Ah, now we know why V.I.P didn’t come out in December like it usually does. It seems that Universal have reserved the month for the 10th anniversary release of their own long-running R&B/Hip-Hop/Dance compilation series, What’s Up! No track list yet, but it’ll be a 2-disc set. Disc 1 will focus on dance, including the latest EDM hits. Disc 2 will feature R&B/Hip-Hop from the past decade. The set will come in a 2-disc wide case, as well as a cardboard sleeve.
Pre-order at CDJapan.
Anison Mix Tape! mixed by DJ Makoto
Release Date: 11/27/13
Price: 2000 yen
New anime song compilation mixed by DJ Makoto. Final list is mostly the same is the preliminary one, except “Hohoemi no Bakudan” replaces “Namikaze Satellite.” No one seems to have any samples up, nor is the album available digitally, so it’s unclear what musical genresare represented. The description does mention “tension max,” which could point to something fast.
Dancemania 25 Tracks
Release Date: 2/15/12
Price: 750 yen
It seems that Universals has been updating some old iTunes releases, giving them cleaner artwork and, in some cases, lower prices. The most notable is Dancemania 25 Tracks, which is down to 750 yen from 1200 yen.
Other price drops include:
Wa Euro Best -Download Selection- 1200 yen ? 750 yen
Anim80s 1200 yen ? 750 yen
The downside to all of this is that it seems they’re taking down older stuff. I noticed I no longer have cloud access to the Wa Euro Best releases. -_-
ZIP Hot 100 No. 1 Mega Hits – ZIP-FM 20th Anniversary Special
Release Date: 11/20/13
Price: 900 yen
The digital counterpart to ZIP Hot 100 1993-2013 All Time No. 1 Hits features 14 full versions from the CD … which already had full versions. So, yeah, this is kind of pointless if you already have the CD.
ZIPmania Super Greatest Hits – ZIP-FM 20th Anniversary Special
Release Date: 11/20/13
Price: 900 yen
Update (11/26/13): As pointed out by Mike D in the comments, the full album is back up on iTunes Japan with the correct track list.
EDM ~Erotic Dance Music~ mixed by DJ Rie
Release Date: 12/18/13
Price: 1900 yen
Another EDM compilation, this time from Victor Japan. I did a double-take when I first saw the title, thinking it was somehow related to E-Rotic, but no such luck. I’m not really sure why it’s an “erotic” dance mix, but it may have something to do with the fact that it’s being mixed by a female DJ, DJ Rie.
Million Dance 2
Release Date: 12/25/13
Price: 1886 yen
Wow, this is quite a surprise. The sequel to Warner’s Million Dance will come out on Christmas day, less than two months after the first CD. The series is interesting because it features dance music from around the world. In fact, they’re currently recruiting Japanese producers on Facebook. The first release included a track from Prog5, which is one of the aliases of Shohei Matsumoto (aka Heavens Wire), so I can’t wait to see who might show up on the sequel.
I’m just disappointed they didn’t go with Billion Dance. 🙁
Super Hits 90’s -J-Pop & Yo-Gaku Best- mixed by DJ Mike-Masa
Release Date: 10/30/13
Price: 1886 yen
A 2-disc compilation from FARM Records that’s exclusive to Tsutaya Records stores. The first disc features covers of J-Pop hits while the second disc has international hits.
ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 11/13/13
Price: 2190 yen
Update (11/25/13): A bit of good news for Dancemania fans. ZIPmania All Best Mix managed to snag a spot on the Oricon weekly Top 100, debuting at 97 for the week of its release. It’s far from the days when Dancemania releases routinely broke the Top 20, but when you compare it to VIP X (115), Super Eurobeat Vol. 225 (182), Speed Anime Trance Best 19 (111) or even Dancemania Party (184), it’s a surprisingly solid number. ZIPmania’s companion release, ZIP Hot 100, debuted at 125.
And for those that missed it in the comments, the old Dancemania website has been reproduced on Universal’s site: http://microsites.universal-music.co.jp/dancemania/
ZIP Hot 100 1993-2013 All Time No. 1 Hits
Release Date: 11/13/13
Price: 2190 yen
This release features songs that have reached the top of the ZIP Hot 100 charts over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the list skews highly in favor of more recent Universal artists. I think the only EMI artist on the list is Janet Jackson, so I’m not sure how much this will appeal to Dancemania fans. There are 20 full-length tracks plus some talk from ZIP-FM DJs.
Christmas ga 100-bai Tanoshiku Naru Party Mix
Release Date: 11/5/13 (Original Release: 11/14/12)
Price: 1886 yen
Looks like EMI are re-issuing the Saifam-produced Christmas album from last year, similar to what they used to do with Christmas Speed.
Best Hits 55 Megamix mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah! & DJ Yu-ki
Release Date: 8/21/13
Price: 1905 yen
Two-disc set featuring 55 popular songs mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah! and DJ Yu-ki, featuring Fatman Scoop. Tracks are licensed from Aqua Project and Power Music. Unfortunately, it’s exclusive to Tsutaya Records.
Million Dance
Release Date: 10/30/13
Price: 1886 yen
Warner have really been on a dance kick lately. It really warms my heart to see dance back on the forefront after being treated like a bastard child during the ’00s. This compilation is particularly interesting because it mostly eschews mainstream acts in favor of more obscure European artists. It also has a few Japanese artists, like DJ Dirt Flare and Prog5 (Shohei Matsumoto/Heavens Wire).
Don’t ask me what on Earth the title means, though. I just hope there’s a sequel so they can call it Billion Dance.
V.I.P. 10th Anniversary Best Mix
Release Date: 10/30/13
Price: 2171 yen
The 10th release in the V.I.P. series will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series, which began in 2003. Although the series started off featuring only R&B and Hip-Hop, recently there’s been a shift in focus to dance to reflect changing musical tastes.
Also interesting is that Universal now have a VIP page up on their own website, suggesting that the EMI website will no longer be updated in the future.
DanceMaster | 
11 29th, 2013| 
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