LAST COLOR [SCL Project/VanaN'Ice] Vocaloid Album
HOLY SHIT. I'M ALIVE!
That was longest hiatus ever and it happened without any warning, so I'm sorry to anyone who follows my blog! I didn't just forget about it or decide not to do it anymore or anything like that.
Skip down to "MOVING ON" if you don't care about the explanation. Otherwise, read on!
There was a big plumbing problem, wherein a pipe had burst under the foundation of the house. While this was good in the sense that it did not result in burst pipe = flooded house, fixing it was a massive undertaking. The entire downstairs had to be replumbed from scratch, thus entailing the destruction of most of the downstairs down to the wall studs. Said destruction included the kitchen.
I have been in temporary lodgings with my parents for a little over a month while the catastrophe is in progress. I haven't been kept exactly up to date on the details but evidently the replumbing was the easy part, and the reconstruction has been repeatedly hampered such as by the discovery of hidden old termite damage. On top of this I was saddled with very strenuous final projects which had me in more or less full-scale panic mode for about a week.
As a result of staying with my parents, I don't have access to all my usual materials and items I use for blog posts and was too stressed and distracted in any case--things had to be prioritized and unfortunately making my posts needed to be dropped. I will probably be at my parents' for another week, possibly more. It's a disaster.
MOVING ON...
Today I'm excited to bring you a showcase of LAST COLOR, an album by SCL Project featuring VanaN'Ice and produced by well-known Vocaloid label EXIT TUNES. First, some background.
SCL Project is comprised of producer NatsuP (Lyrics , Arranging), Haku (Guitar/drum/arranging), Haru Aki (illustration, movie, lyrics), and Jii (illustration, adviser). NatsuP on her own is responsible for several noteworthy tracks, the most famous being "Paranoid Doll" using Kamui Gakupo which was actually covered by Gackt as the result of a contest.
Their music is in an archetypical J-rock, Visual Kei style, using Kaito, Kamui Gakupo, and Kagamine Len, which they have styled as a Visual Kei band called VanaN'Ice. The name is a combination of all three Vocaloids' character items--banana (Len), Nasu [eggplant] (Gakupo), and ice cream (Kaito.) In PVs each character is also given an instrument to "play." Kaito's name is stylized as Kyte instead. Their costumes are always elaborate, usually with Len dressed as a girl (a standard practice for a VK band.)
VanaN'Ice actually has their own maintained website.
(VanaN'Ice in their IMITATION BLACK outfits.)
"LAST COLOR" is actually the third album released by SCL Project, the first having been simply "VanaN'Ice" and the second, "Blue Rose." LAST COLOR has the most tracks of any of the three and includes remastered versions of the tracks on "VanaN'Ice."
Mine was ordered from CDJapan and is still available: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=QWCE-221
The CD contains a total of 16 tracks, 12 standard and 4 bonus. Some of them are freely available for download via NatsuP's nicovideo channel, but most are new and exclusive to the CD. I'll post some of the freely available songs for those who have never heard NatsuP or SCL Project's work. I know not everyone has a nicovideo account so I will post youtube mirrors as well. These are not all of the tracks available freely, I chose only my favorites for examples.
IMITATION BLACK: Nicovideo Youtube
Arrest Rose: Nicovideo Youtube
Setsugetsuka [Fleeting Moon Flower]: Nicovideo Youtube
Room 13943 (The only song to feature a "guest singer," Hiyama Kiyoteru): Nicovideo Youtube
Some of the tracks on "LAST COLOR" do not use all of VanaN'Ice, but they are still considered to be by that "band." If you like the above tracks, then you will most likely enjoy the others on this album.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the first press bonus, a large poster, but subsequent releases of the CD still came with a randomly-picked rubber keychain!
The album artwork uses the "IMITATION BLACK" outfits, with Len clearly the focus. The keychain is actually contained in a separate CD case, showing only the back so it is impossible to tell which one you got until you open it.
Then when you open it up and flip it around, you can see which character you got!
I was pleased to have gotten Kaito, as I really wanted him, but would have been happy with any of the three really. If anyone's selling Gakupo or Len, let me know, I would like to have the three of them together!
When you un-shrinkwrap the CD you can see that the actual art on the back is different (the back visible while wrapped is actually a paper cover.)
On the back of the paper cover are two "tickets" to a VanaN'Ice concert! Some form of concert was actually held around the time of "LAST COLOR"'s release I believe. I thought this was a nice touch of realism.
Opening up the case you can see the CD is decorated with the same art as the front.
The booklet inside contains illustrations from each PV along with lyrics for every song.
The new tracks are beautiful. I've always been a fan of NatsuP (she's one of my favorite Vocaloid producers) but SCL Project's work is really exceptional. The remastered versions of IMITATION BLACK, Fate:Rebirth and Setsugetsuka alone are well worth it even if you have the original releases from nico; I was especially happy for Setsugetsuka because it's my favorite song. Off "LAST COLOR"'s new tracks I especially liked Dark Side of the Moon and Escape.
There are a LOT of Vocaloid fans out there but I urge any of you to buy the music of your favorite artists if possible! Most of the time it's really not that expensive and a lot of love goes into the final product.
This turned out to be ridiculously long, but the point is I'm back, alive somehow, and should be active again barring further disasters.
That was longest hiatus ever and it happened without any warning, so I'm sorry to anyone who follows my blog! I didn't just forget about it or decide not to do it anymore or anything like that.
Skip down to "MOVING ON" if you don't care about the explanation. Otherwise, read on!
There was a big plumbing problem, wherein a pipe had burst under the foundation of the house. While this was good in the sense that it did not result in burst pipe = flooded house, fixing it was a massive undertaking. The entire downstairs had to be replumbed from scratch, thus entailing the destruction of most of the downstairs down to the wall studs. Said destruction included the kitchen.
I have been in temporary lodgings with my parents for a little over a month while the catastrophe is in progress. I haven't been kept exactly up to date on the details but evidently the replumbing was the easy part, and the reconstruction has been repeatedly hampered such as by the discovery of hidden old termite damage. On top of this I was saddled with very strenuous final projects which had me in more or less full-scale panic mode for about a week.
As a result of staying with my parents, I don't have access to all my usual materials and items I use for blog posts and was too stressed and distracted in any case--things had to be prioritized and unfortunately making my posts needed to be dropped. I will probably be at my parents' for another week, possibly more. It's a disaster.
MOVING ON...
Today I'm excited to bring you a showcase of LAST COLOR, an album by SCL Project featuring VanaN'Ice and produced by well-known Vocaloid label EXIT TUNES. First, some background.
SCL Project is comprised of producer NatsuP (Lyrics , Arranging), Haku (Guitar/drum/arranging), Haru Aki (illustration, movie, lyrics), and Jii (illustration, adviser). NatsuP on her own is responsible for several noteworthy tracks, the most famous being "Paranoid Doll" using Kamui Gakupo which was actually covered by Gackt as the result of a contest.
Their music is in an archetypical J-rock, Visual Kei style, using Kaito, Kamui Gakupo, and Kagamine Len, which they have styled as a Visual Kei band called VanaN'Ice. The name is a combination of all three Vocaloids' character items--banana (Len), Nasu [eggplant] (Gakupo), and ice cream (Kaito.) In PVs each character is also given an instrument to "play." Kaito's name is stylized as Kyte instead. Their costumes are always elaborate, usually with Len dressed as a girl (a standard practice for a VK band.)
VanaN'Ice actually has their own maintained website.
(VanaN'Ice in their IMITATION BLACK outfits.)
"LAST COLOR" is actually the third album released by SCL Project, the first having been simply "VanaN'Ice" and the second, "Blue Rose." LAST COLOR has the most tracks of any of the three and includes remastered versions of the tracks on "VanaN'Ice."
Mine was ordered from CDJapan and is still available: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=QWCE-221
The CD contains a total of 16 tracks, 12 standard and 4 bonus. Some of them are freely available for download via NatsuP's nicovideo channel, but most are new and exclusive to the CD. I'll post some of the freely available songs for those who have never heard NatsuP or SCL Project's work. I know not everyone has a nicovideo account so I will post youtube mirrors as well. These are not all of the tracks available freely, I chose only my favorites for examples.
IMITATION BLACK: Nicovideo Youtube
Arrest Rose: Nicovideo Youtube
Setsugetsuka [Fleeting Moon Flower]: Nicovideo Youtube
Room 13943 (The only song to feature a "guest singer," Hiyama Kiyoteru): Nicovideo Youtube
Some of the tracks on "LAST COLOR" do not use all of VanaN'Ice, but they are still considered to be by that "band." If you like the above tracks, then you will most likely enjoy the others on this album.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the first press bonus, a large poster, but subsequent releases of the CD still came with a randomly-picked rubber keychain!
The album artwork uses the "IMITATION BLACK" outfits, with Len clearly the focus. The keychain is actually contained in a separate CD case, showing only the back so it is impossible to tell which one you got until you open it.
Then when you open it up and flip it around, you can see which character you got!
I was pleased to have gotten Kaito, as I really wanted him, but would have been happy with any of the three really. If anyone's selling Gakupo or Len, let me know, I would like to have the three of them together!
When you un-shrinkwrap the CD you can see that the actual art on the back is different (the back visible while wrapped is actually a paper cover.)
On the back of the paper cover are two "tickets" to a VanaN'Ice concert! Some form of concert was actually held around the time of "LAST COLOR"'s release I believe. I thought this was a nice touch of realism.
Opening up the case you can see the CD is decorated with the same art as the front.
The booklet inside contains illustrations from each PV along with lyrics for every song.
The new tracks are beautiful. I've always been a fan of NatsuP (she's one of my favorite Vocaloid producers) but SCL Project's work is really exceptional. The remastered versions of IMITATION BLACK, Fate:Rebirth and Setsugetsuka alone are well worth it even if you have the original releases from nico; I was especially happy for Setsugetsuka because it's my favorite song. Off "LAST COLOR"'s new tracks I especially liked Dark Side of the Moon and Escape.
There are a LOT of Vocaloid fans out there but I urge any of you to buy the music of your favorite artists if possible! Most of the time it's really not that expensive and a lot of love goes into the final product.
This turned out to be ridiculously long, but the point is I'm back, alive somehow, and should be active again barring further disasters.