Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 11/13/13
Price: 2190 yen

Dancemania lives! ZIPmania All Best Mix has been resurrected from the dead and will (hopefully) come out this November!

There’s also a new early list out, and dare I say it? It’s not that bad. There’s quite a bit of EDM, and even the more mainstream artists mostly appear with remixes. Dancemania gets representation in the form of Misa, E-Rotic, and Crazy Frog (uggh), though there’s also eurodance from Da Buzz and O-Zone, the latter of which appears in Almighty form. Even trance gets in on the action, with Groove Coverage and DJ Ten’s remix of “Ass Up!” making appearances. Also interesting will be a newly commissioned dance remix of Che’Nelle’s “Aishiteru.”

I swear, if they cancel this again…

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ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 11/13/13
Price: 2190 yen

It appears the reports of Dancemania’s death are greatly exaggerated. That’s right, ZIP Hot 100 and ZIP Mania All Best Mix have been given a reprieve and have been rescheduled for release this November! This release will focus more on the pop side of ZIP-FM, and includes songs that hit No. 1 on the ZIP Hot 100 charts. A It’s unclear whether this will also count as a Dancemania release, or if it will even be mixed.

Make sure to check out the updated early list. It’s unfortunately pretty light on EMI artists and perhaps a bit too heavy on more recent offerings.

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ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 9/18/13
Price: 2190 yen

ZIPmania All Best Mix’s companion release will feature songs from ZIP-FM’s Hot 100 charts. The early list has a few repeats from ZIPmania All Best Mix, which I hope isn’t the case on the final list.

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ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 9/18/13 ? Release Cancelled
Price: 2190 yen

Update (8/26/13): Sigh, I was afraid this would happen. CD Japan now lists ZIPmania and its companion release as cancelled. Fuck you, Universal.

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ZIP Hot 100 1993-2013 All Time No. 1 Hits
Release Date: 9/18/13
Price: 2190 yen

The 20th anniversary festivities don’t end with ZIPmania All Best Mix. In addition to the ZIP Dance Hits 20, ZIP-FM also have a more general ZIP Hot 100 chart with music from all genres. This release will focus more on the pop side of ZIP-FM, and includes artists like Eminem, t.A.T.u, and Black Eyed Peas. It’s unclear whether this will also count as a Dancemania release.

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ZIPmania All Best Mix
Release Date: 9/18/13
Price: 2190 yen

ZIPmania lives!!! Holy crap, EMI/Universal are really pumping out some unexpected releases this year. After reviving the Speed series after a 6-year hiatus, they’ve gone ahead and revived ZIPmania, which hasn’t seen a release since ZIPmania 7 in 2004.

ZIP-FM is a popular radio station in Nagoya, Japan that happens to be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Their influential ZIP Dance Hits 20 chart used to be full of Dancemania artists back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and they had a close relationship with EMI for years.

A few artists have been revealed, and the sad reality is that Dancemania will forever be changed by EMI’s sale to Universal. Misa and Pandora do make appearances, as does Katy Perry, but the rest of the list is populated by Universal artists like Lady Gaga, LMFAO, Jennifer Lopez, and Rihanna. One of things I used to love about Dancemania was that it focused more on European artists, so I can’t help but be disappointed that more mainstream artists are showing up. And unless EMI license the tracks from Warner, we might be missing tracks like “Dub-I-Dub” or “Butterfly” that would truly make this an anniversary release.

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Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen

The album is out, and samples are now up on CDJapan. I’m starting to think that no one at Akiba Koubou knows what “Speed” means. As with the disappointingly slow Utattemita Speed albums, Enka Speed never reaches the highs of a traditional Dancemania Speed album, appearing to peak at only 160 BPM. They would’ve been better off calling this Utattemita Enka instead of linking it to the Dancemania Speed series. -_-

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The 90s Mega Party
Artist: Captain Jack
Release Date: 5/3/13

“New” album from Captain Jack, though it’s really just another greatest hits collection including some of the new remixes that have come out in recent years.

Available on Amazon as well as other online retailers.

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Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen

Update (5/7/13): Cover art is out! I have no idea what a bus (RV?) has to do with Enka. The cover does look like it’s by Mega Graphics, though it’s disappointing they’re not using the old, familiar SPEED logo.

I’ve also listed the original BPMs of the presumed 3 repeats on the album. The repeats originally ranged from 144-160 BPM. Needless to say, I really hope they rearrange them. Hell, I’ll settle for just increasing the tempo, but no way in hell should the last song on a Speed album be only 160 BPM.

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Unreleased & Rare Remixies
Release Date: 2012
Price: $16

A doujin release from famed trance/eurobeat artist, Remo-Con. As the title suggests, it features rare and unreleased remixes. You can listen to samples on the official website. Disko Warp has a few copies of the CD up for sale on their Bandcamp.

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Update! (5/31/13): Apologies for the slight delay, but winners have been chosen for the contest. Terezinha wins first prize for remembering the time when EMI tried to force “Rhythm & Police” on every Speed compilation possible. I used a random number generator to determine the second prize, and the winner is Saolo.

All other participants will receive one song download from Juno Download OR iTunes US OR Amazon MP3 US. Please keep an eye out for an e-mail from me shortly! Thanks to everyone for participating!

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Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen

Update (4/24/13): It’s official! Enka Speed is being listed as a “Dancemania presents” release, meaning that it will be the first Dancemania Speed release since 2007’s Happy Speed, and the first to be released under EMI Records Japan/Universal. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ll be running a contest, with prizes ranging from Disko Warp downloads to iTunes/Amazon/JunoDownload/KingBeat credits. I’m still deciding on details, but keep an eye out in the near future for more information, or feel free to comment one what kind of prizes you’d like to see.

Still no details on who will be producing the album, though it’s confirmed that there are 20 tracks scheduled.

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Give It Up 2013 (Single)
Artist: Captain Jack
Release Date: 4/22/13

Captain Jack is back with another update of a classic CJ song, this time with lots of new remixes of “Give It Up.” Remixers include Ace da Brain, Marc Reason, Black$$star, Damon Paul, and many others. Captain Jack also has yet another new female vocalist, Michelle Stanley, who replaces Laura Martin after 3 years. The official Captain Jack website also has a new design, though there’s not much there yet.

Available on Amazon.

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Enka Speed
Release Date: 5/29/13
Price: 1905 yen

I…what? Huh? Is this real life? In late May, EMI will release a new compilation titled, “Enka Speed.” Now, keep in mind that it’s not yet confirmed that this will be a Dancemania release, but after Speed Buyuuden no theme would surprise me. Enka is a style of Japanese pop ballads that’s primarily popular among older generations. In other words, it’s the complete opposite of Speed, so it’ll be interesting to see how they combine the different styles. If this is indeed a Dancemania release, then hopefully it’s produced by Saifam or Ventura, and isn’t just a bunch of pitched up repeats from Akiba Koubou like those abominable Utatte Mita Speed releases.

Pre-order at CDJapan.

Supereurobeat
Artist: Vibration All Stars
Price: $8.99 per album; $1.29 per track

Volumes 36-39 of LED’s Supereurobeat series have finally been released to iTunes this March. I was starting to think Luigi Stanga would never get around to releasing the rest of the catalogue, but with these four releases I believe all of LED’s Eurobeat songs are now available on iTunes. Vol. 36-38 are primarily composed of tracks that were licensed to FARM for their Eurobeat compilations, as well as tracks from EMI’s Natsu Monogatari series. Many of these tracks have been available for quite a while on Juno Download. However, there were two tracks from Natsu Monogatari 2009 that have never been available for purchase. Until now.

That’s right, Supereurobeat Vol. 39 features the digital debuts of both “Destination to Desire” and “Good Night Tokyo,” the final two songs released by LED Records/Vibration. They’re listed under different artists than they were on Dancemania, but they’re unmistakably the same tracks.

Also noteworthy is “Re-light My Fire” on Vol. 38, which I always forget is an LED track. It appeared on Happy Paradise 2 but apparently has never been released digitally, either. Good on LED for remembering to release it.

I’m glad the entirety of LED’s catalogue is now available, but it seems somewhat bittersweet because there’s an aura of finality surrounding their release. It’s as if we can never again expect anything new from LED. 🙁

Full list of available albums and Dancemania-related tracks after the jump.

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