DanceMaster | 
08 25th, 2014| 
Cyber Trance Summer Drive – EP
Release Date: 8/20/14
Price: 500 yen
Avex continue their summer trolling with another EP of readily available songs. As far as I can remember, “Be the One” never actually appeared on a Cyber Trance release.
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Aug
25
Aug
9
Wings (Single)
Artist: tAisuke & OHC
Release Date: 7/2/14
Price: 600 yen
New collaboration between tAisuke and Overhead Champion. Available on a variety of online stores like iTunes, Beatport, and Amazon.
Jul
22
Super Best Trance Summer Drive – EP
Release Date: 7/23/14
Price: 500 yen
Welp, I think Avex are just straight up trolling now. It’s been a year since the first set of SBT EPs came and went, but it looks like they’re releasing at least one new SBT EP this year. First of all, it’s 50 yen more expensive than before. Second, the edits of most of the tracks are quite short, basically radio edit length. But to really rub salt in the wound, they chose mostly non-trance remixes. Three out of the five songs are basically hyper techno. It can’t be said enough: Fuck you, Avex.
Jul
13
We’re so Happy
Artist: Ryu*
Release Date: 9/17/14
Price: 2000 yen
Ryu*’s 6th album drops this September with more extended versions of his Bemani productions plus new tracks. 15 tracks are planned. Bonus items include a cell phone strap and sticker. Visit the official website for more info.
Jul
11
Exit Trance presents Speed Anime Trance Best 22
Release Date: 10/1/14
Price: 2000 yen
It looks like the reports of SATB’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The 22nd release in the series lands on October 1, which probably means there’ll only be two releases this year after all, but I guess that’s better than one. Surprisingly, the album is already listed on the official SATB website. Scheduled tracks include the OP themes from Jojo, Sidonia, and No Game No Life. 20 tracks are scheduled for now, but the last time they said that it turned into 15. Here’s hoping they go back to at least 18.
Jun
4
Let’s Do It Now!!
Artist: kors k
Release Date: 6/4/14
Price: 1852 yen
The first major album from kors k. Bonus items include a cell phone strap, sticker, poster, and clear file. Retailer-exclusive bonuses include special remix CDs featuring remixes by DJ Shimamura and Redalice. Konamistyle also has a limited set featuring tons of extra bonuses like a remix CD, smartphone sticker, event ticket, and a 4GB USB memory stick. The official website has samples and more info.
May
26
Back to Basics -EP-
Artist: Overhead Champion
Release Date: 5/21/14
Price: 600 yen
It’s been 5 years since his last release, but Overhead Champion is back with new trance tracks! When this was announced I was afraid it was going to be EDM, but it’s pure, unabashed J-Trance.
The EP appears to be available worldwide on a variety of services, including Amazon MP3, iTunes, Beatport, and others.
2014 is the 10-year anniversary of the J-Trance boom, when series like Mega Trance, Trance Paradise, and Super Best Trance all started (though the original Trance Rave actually came out in 2001). Keep an eye out later this year when I’ll do posts on older J-Trance releases that predated the start of this blog.
Apr
22
Nagare Hoshi Egao
Release Date: 4/27/14
Price: 1000 yen
Starving Trancer is getting in on the M3 action, releasing a new event only CD on April 27. The title track is a trance song with vocals by Daisy × Daisy. The second track, “Yellow Appear,” is more interesting in that has some Eurobeat/Techno influences. Soo…when do we finally get a Starving Trancer album?
Apr
9
A lot of goings-on the in the world of Exit Tunes lately, some of which I’ve mentioned in the comments. I thought I’d summarize them in a blog post for convenience.
The biggest news is that DJ Uto has left Exit Tunes. The founder and president of Quake Records (now Exit Tunes) made the announcement on April 2 on twitter. He has since been removed from the Exit Tunes Artists page. DJ Uto was a huge proponent of trance, and I’m very much worried that he was the only one keeping Speed Anime Trance Best on life support. Without his influence the series may go away altogether. Of course, when DJ U*Hey? left FARM Records and started a new label, Star Music, he still kept ties with FARM. It’s entirely possible that DJ Uto left to go back to his trance roots, and will continue to collaborate with Exit Tunes in the future.
With the departure of DJ UTo, Exit Tunes is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pony Canyon. The new Exit Tunes president is Shusaku Yoshida (also the current head of Pony Canyon), whom DJ Uto said was a “nice guy” on twitter. Yoshida might be nice, but he likely has no allegiance to trance. Expect the Bemani-related releases to continue, but the fates of Exit Trance and Quake Trance remain up in the air.
Exit Tunes has a launched a new sub-label, melt Lab. It appears that the new label will be focused on drama CDs, namely the Mafia’s Blood series which I’ve posted about before. Exit Tunes is no stranger to drama CDs, what with that really weird Sekihan storybook CD from a while ago, but to devote an entire sub-label to it suggests even more of a divergence from the label’s origins.
So, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for Exit Tunes.
Mar
31
Exit Trance presents Speed Anime Trance Best 21
Release Date: 4/2/14
Price: 1905 yen
Update (4/1/14): The album is up on iTunes Japan, and despite the fewer tracks it’s still 1800 yen. Also, the track lengths I posted previously were apparently for the iTunes release. The CD version is definitely a non-stop mix, as the edits are a bit shorter than the digital release.
The first SATB release of 2014 is out this week, and the announcement that it’ll only have 15 tracks is like an admission that the series is on its last legs. Cutting the number of tracks is a frequent cost-saving measure when sales slow down. Dancemania went from ~25 down to 18, Super Eurobeat went from 18 to 15, and even the original Exit Trance series went from 48 to 24 to 20 before they stopped completely.
MK gets the most tracks with 4, with Dizzi Mystica not far behind with 3. Icon, plazma, and Hommarju get 2 each, while the remaining tracks are split between Flash back dominant and kinoto. Acid=Stone Valley, who only made his return to the series a couple of albums ago, makes no appearance here. The Exit Tunes website is still advertising the CD as a non-stop mix, though the edits are quite long given the number of tracks.
Bonus items include a strap, bath poster, and postcard. They can’t even afford the clear files anymore ;_;
Mar
29
Let’s Do It Now!!
Artist: kors k
Release Date: 6/4/14
Price: 1852 yen
Oh, this is quite a surprise. Kors k has appeared a couple of times on Exit Trance compilations in the past, but his last appearance was back in 2008. It’s just a little odd that Exit Tunes would give him his own album before someone like Starving Trancer or MK, but I guess the Bemani connection makes him more marketable. No track list yet, but 13 tracks are scheduled, and I’m sort of assuming at least some of them will be from IIDX. Bonus items include a cell phone strap, sticker, poster, and clear file. Retailer-exclusive bonuses have yet to be revealed. The official website has already launched, but is pretty sparse at the moment.
Mar
16
Exit Trance presents Speed Anime Trance Best 21
Release Date: 4/2/14
Price: 1905 yen
The first SATB release of 2014 is coming out in a few weeks, and the announcement that it’ll only have 15 tracks is like an admission that the series is on its last legs. Cutting the number of tracks is a frequent cost-saving measure when sales slow down. Dancemania went from ~25 down to 18, Super Eurobeat went from 18 to 15, and even the original Exit Trance series went from 48 to 24 to 20 before they stopped completely.
MK gets the most tracks with 4, with Dizzi Mystica not far behind with 3. Icon, plazma, and Hommarju get 2 each, while the remaining tracks are split between Flash back dominant and kinoto. Acid=Stone Valley, who only made his return to the series a couple of albums ago, makes no appearance here. The Exit Tunes website is still advertising the CD as a non-stop mix, though the edits are quite long given the number of tracks.
Bonus items include a strap, bath poster, and postcard. They can’t even afford the clear files anymore ;_;
Mar
3
Toho Speed 01
Release Date: 12/30/13
Price: 1500 yen
A speed/trance/drum’n’bass Toho compilation from the doujin label, Lila’c Records. The crossfade demo sounds pretty good, though their definition of “Speed” seems to be ~155-180 BPM. The main CD is a non-stop mix, but it looks like they were offering a bonus CD-R labeled “Toho Speed Extended 01” that included full versions of some of the tracks. I think the bonus CD was only available during Comiket 85, however.
Feb
14
Crazy Shakin’ Love (Single)
Artist: Sweet Surrender
Release Date: 8/19/13
Price: 3.96 USD
Debut single from the idol unit, Sweet Surrender. The second track, “Kirari * Shooting Star,” was produced by Shohei Matsumoto (a.k.a. Heavens Wire) and features a classic Hime Trance sound. The single is available digitally worldwide on a number of platforms, including Amazon MP3 and iTunes.
Jan
12
Exit Trance presents Speed Anime Trance Best 21
Release Date: 4/2/14
Price: 1905 yen
The first SATB release of 2014 has just been announced for an April release, which puts the series on track for 3 or fewer releases this year. Bonus items include a strap and a bath poster. Track list details are scarce, though the official site mentions 20 tracks are scheduled.
Pre-order at CDJapan.
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