Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Speed Star 2
Release Date: 4/26/15
Price: 1500 yen

RTTF Records is back this Spring M3 with a sequel to last year’s Speed Star release. The first was a fantastic mix of hardcore, speed trance, and euro speed, and the sequel looks like it’ll bring more of that speedy sound that mainstream labels no longer cater to. With BPMs ranging from 170 to a staggering 238, and genres like “Dancemania Space,” “Celtic Waltzcore,” and “Astrologic StarShoot,” there’s bound to be plenty of variety. Guest artists include Daniel Seven from Italy and UK hardcore artist, Shoujo.

The album will be available as a two-disc physical release during M3-35, but presumably it will also be made available digitally at a later date.

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Chou Ultra Anison Cover Mix!! 4 mixed by DJ mixa
Release Date: 5/20/15
Price: 1800 yen

The fourth release in the Chou Ultra Anison Cover series. The title is tentative for now, I’m sure there’ll be a ludicrous sports subtitle added later, like “Super Drive Spike.”

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Chou Ultra Anison Cover ~ Extreme Rolling Cross Mix!! mixed by DJ mixa
Release Date: 12/17/14
Price: 1800 yen

The third release in the Chou Ultra Anison Cover series.

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Chou Ultra Anison Cover ~ Mega Miracle Fine Receive Mix!! mixed by DJ mixa
Release Date: 7/23/14
Price: 1800 yen

The second release in the Chou Ultra Anison Cover series. Supposedly the arrangements are “straight covers,” meaning that they’re arranged as close to the originals as possible. There appear to be some repeats from the first album.

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Chou Ultra Anison Cover ~ Tornado Spin Smash Mix!! mixed by DJ Mixa
Release Date: 4/23/14
Price: 1800 yen

I’ve been meaning to cover this series for a while, if only for the increasingly ridiculous sports terms in the titles. The Chou Ultra Anison Cover Mix!! series is brought to you courtesy of SCM Music, the parent label of Full Moon/Akiba Koubou. The series began in April of 2014 and, as the title suggests, features covers of anime songs. Each CD is non-stop mix by DJ Mixa, with a “simple freedom” mix style, whatever that means. Samples are available online on various retailer sites like HMV, but it doesn’t look like any of the albums are available digitally.

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DJ Kaori’s Best Pop Hits
Release Date: 3/4/15 ? 3/25/15 ? 4/22/15
Price: 2300 yen

The latest release in the hugely popular DJ Kaori’s Mix series, which has sold over 4 million copies over the years since its debut in 2005. This one will focus on pop hits. It was originally scheduled for release in early March under the title “DJ Kaori’s Best Hit Pop,” but has since been delayed to late April. You can visit the official website for more info on previous entries.

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Anison Mix Laboratory ~Second Report~
Release Date: 4/29/15
Price: 2778 yen

Cover art has been revealed, and a few new additional tracks have been announced. “Sorairo Days” is probably the most out-of-place pick, since I thought they were aiming to have songs from more recent shows. Vocalist have also been announced, and it looks like mostly idol groups. Still no word on who will be producing the individual tracks, or what genres will be represented.

Universal have set up an official website for the series.

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E-Rotic feat. Lyane Leigh
Release Date: 2015

Well, hot damn, I never saw this coming. The original E-rotic lead singer, Lyane Leigh, announced in December of 2014 that she would be returning to the group, and a new album will be released some time in 2015, which happens to be the 20th anniversary of their first album, Sex Affairs. Right now the new album is being planned as a best-of release with a few new tracks. In addition to the return of Lyane, the group will have a new male rapper, Stephen Appleton. And it appears that David Brandes will still be on board as a producer.

It looks like the ’90s nostalgia boom is in full swing in Europe. Later this month, E-Rotic will perform with Captain Jack, Snap, Culture Beat, and Fun Factory at a German concert.

Keep up with the latest E-Rotic news at their new Facebook page.

Thanks to Vincent for the tip.

Say Captain Say What 2015 (Single)
Artist: Captain Jack
Release Date: 3/6/15

It’s been about two years since the last Captain Jack single, but CJ is back with a couple of new 2015 remixes of “Say Captain Say Wot.” There’ll also be a new album coming soon titled “20 Years,” which probably means another greatest hits.

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Oh, wow, I just spotted this on DJ Hyuji’s twitter. There’s currently a Finnish crowdfunding campaign going on for a Eurodance documentary titled “Never-ending Dream.” The trailer features appearances from Eurodance legends like Pandora, Udo Niebergall (producer behind Captain Jack), Bruce Lacy (the current Captain Jack), and Dr. Alban. There are also mentions of other notable Dancemania acts like E-Rotic, DJ BoBo, and Basic Element, so hopefully members from those groups will be interviewed as well. The movie is currently set to debut at the end of 2016.

EDM Anthem – Best Mix
Release Date: 5/20/15
Price: 2200 yen

Update: Early list is out. Thankfully, there are “new” tracks, or at least tracks that haven’t appeared on EDM Anthem before. 30 tracks are planned in all.

The good news is that EDM Anthem is still alive. The bad news is that the next release will be a best mix, even though I Love EDM -Hits & Anthems- already served as one. No early list yet, but hopefully they’ll sprinkle in a few new tracks.

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Tokyo Party Collection -TGC 10th Anniversary Best-
Release Date: 2/18/15
Price: 1100 yen

Digital release featuring full-length versions of 27 out of the 35 tracks from the mixed CD.

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Tokyo Girls Party -TGC 10th Anniversary Best Mega Mix- mixed by DJ Fumi*Yeah
Release Date: 2/18/15
Price: 2100 yen
Total Length: 1:21:21

Upcoming tie-in compilation from Universal. The CD will be the official mix of Tokyo Girls Collection, a fashion festival that’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Interestingly, Universal have set up a website for DJ Fumi*Yeah, who’s doing the mixing for this CD. Hopefully they’ll continue to collaborate in the future, as I really enjoy Fumi*Yeah’s mixing. It also looks like he squeezed every last bit of music he could onto the CD, as it’s over 81 minutes long. o_O

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Sick EDM Vol. 3 mixed by C’k
Release Date: 2/11/15
Price: 1852 yen
Total Length: 1:01:35

Wow, this was unexpected. Originally planned as Sick EDM Best, this release has morphed into a proper Sick EDM 03 instead. And while the first two albums were full of familiar tracks, this one actually has quite a few that have yet to appear on other Japanese compilations. It’s mostly composed of Spinnin’ Records licenses, but there’s also quite a bit of new material from Japanese artists, including a new collaboration between C’k and OHC. That said, they also decided to include “Booyah (Original Mix)” despite its appearance on Sick EDM 02 and pretty much every EDM album last year.

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Anison Mix Laboratory ~Second Report~
Release Date: 4/29/15
Price: 2778 yen

Update (2/22/15): A few new details have emerged. The album will be produced by DJ Kenzi, who some may remember produced and mixed Meganimation a couple of years ago. That seems to be a good sign that the album will lean towards a speed trance sound. Cover art will be drawn by Kaworu Watashiya. 18 songs are planned.

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