Dubious Discourse

Dubious Disc · Mar 2, 2025

(Full disclosure: This post contains no mentions of any Z-A stuff. If you're looking for my thoughts on Z-A, they are not here. There's nothing here except me talking about Kansai dialect for some reason.)

oh yeah, and there's this too c:

Chinozo strikes again

Pleasantly surprised at the tuning in this one! Miku's voice has a lot more power here than she usually does in Chinozo songs. The MORE MORE JUMP! version is really good too, even though I don't know anything about the story or whatever behind it. I don't typically listen to Project Sekai music (except ULTRA C and the Chururira! cover because they scratch my brain), mostly because of my preference for listening to individual singers rather than groups, but I do like that version. And in the end, it still sounds like Chinozo.

Anyway, Chinozo also recently announced that he's starting a duo unit with Yoru, an utaite that he's collabed with in the past, and they're releasing their first new songs next week c: March 5th, I believe. I really like the previous song that Chinozo wrote for Yoru, so I'm excited to see what new music they make! I wonder if Arusechika will still illustrate their MV's or if they'll have someone else. I guess we'll see

I feel like this is gonna devolve off-topic really quickly, but I noticed Chinozo using Kansai dialect during the announcement stream, which caught me off guard, even though I already knew that he's from Kansai. I guess it's because most of the people I've heard speaking Kansai-ben are more the comedic type, while Chinozo is just kinda a normal person. So it feels a bit unexpected.

You're gonna laugh at me for this but I'm pretty sure the main reason I can understand or recognize Kansai-ben is just because of Kero from Cardcaptor Sakura. Up until watching it I hadn't been exposed much to Kansai dialect, or at least enough to recognize it, but after consistently hearing that little goober's comically exaggerated Osaka dialect for however many episodes I was pretty much forced to get used to it. I specifically remember barely understanding a word of what he was saying at the beginning, but eventually I managed to get the hang of it.

I'm still not so good at identifying Kansai dialect beyond the more obvious characteristics. Stuff like different words (akan, honma, chau, etc), -yan and -nen endings, using -hen to negate verbs, etc. But that's mostly just scratching the surface. Like, when I look through the list of differences on the Wikipedia article, there's a lot of things I do recognize, but there's also a ton of subtle differences with pronunciation and grammatical elements that I probably wouldn't be able to spot just from listening.

Now that I've finished Cardcaptor Sakura (and now that it's not on Netflix anymore), I'd say my current most consistent exposure to Kansai dialect is probably Gero, from all his non-music YouTuber stuff. Since he isn't a fictional character with scripted dialogue it's a bit different, but in pretty much every video it's not too hard to come across small things where I go "yep, definitely Kansai." I know there's a lot of characters in media that speak in Kansai dialect but I haven't come across them yet (mainly because I still consume everything in English apart from YouTube), so I mostly have to rely on natural speech from various real-life personalities.

I guess I'm partly interested in Kansai dialect because I have several OC's from Johto, and I think it would be interesting to imagine how they would actually talk. Plus I just don't really know anything about Kansai, having never been there, so I'm curious about it in general and how it's different from Kanto. I probably would like to visit Osaka sometime in the future. Honestly, I just want to visit any part of Japan that isn't Tokyo or the singular prefecture where my relatives live d: like there's this whole country out there and I've only been to a tiny part of it.

Music section, but I have to rapid-fire it this time. This year's Vocaloid Collection stuff dropped this past week, which means a lot of songs and remixes at the exact same time, so I'm trying to keep things short so I can mention everything I want to. (Not everything here is from VocaColle, but all the remixes are.)

New songs:

Super Superhero by PinocchioP (feat. Hatsune Miku) - THIS ONE'S GOOD. Love the "corrupted by power" story.
Mae no hanashi by Sasuke Haraguchi (feat. Kasane Teto, Hatsune Miku) - Thank you for using UTAU Teto ^__^ The MV for this one is so cool!! I always love this kind of scrapbook-looking effect.
Telepathy by DECO*27 (feat. Hatsune Miku) - I think the world needs more meme-infused music videos like this. Song is a banger too.
A Spoonful of SPELL by r-906 (feat. Hatsune Miku) - The song itself is good, of course (r-906's tuning and instrumental sections are always so nice) but can I just talk about the storytelling in the MV? The visuals are so simple and yet so compelling.
3RDEYEBLIND by Wada Takeaki (feat. REML) - Even more Wada Takeaki music, yay! I usually find REML's voice annoying but she sounds good here.

New remixes:

Faraway by Hiiragi Kirai - (Hizumi Rei remix) - Speedcore Faraway! Thank you Hizumi Rei for keeping us Hiiragi Kirai fans alive Crazy banger as always. Plus I like how the MV has the same "...oh right, this song is from a horror game." vibe as the original lol
Faraway by Hiiragi Kirai - (wotaku remix) - Hardbass Faraway! This would be a lot better without the weird background vocals imo, but it's catchy as it is.
SHANTI by wotaku - (Fushi remix) - Rock SHANTI! This one goes so hard, it's a lot more menacing than the original. Like the threat is more in your face instead of lurking in the background.
Fixer by nulut (Natsuyama Yotsugi remix) - Jazz (Swing?) Fixer! With Rin and Len, too! It's so peak, everything works so well.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

SaikyoSoul by KANKAN - Been a while since we got some battle music from KANKAN! Super hype
Super Peace by Surii - This feels different from Surii's previous music, but at the same time it just has so much Surii energy. The electronic dance-y sounds are really cool.

New covers:

Sou - Monitoring (DECO*27) - Monitoring again... But it doesn't bother me so much now. I like how much calmer and softer this version is, it really changes the whole energy of the song.

As thanks for staying until the end of this particularly tiresome blog post, here's some artwork c: I don't usually post my art here but I figured I'd make an exception for today.

Dubious Disc · Mar 25, 2025

I thought I'd manage to get a post out during spring break, but I guess not lol.

The first Uchu Pilot songs are out! I can't embed them both without taking up a bunch of space, so I'll just link them here: Muchu / Raze Me
I like how one song has a more recognizable Chinozo vibe, with the visuals and upbeat feel, while one is a bit of a departure from his usual style. I actually like Raze Me better, it's pretty rare to hear darker-sounding music from Chinozo so it's a cool change of pace. Yoru's voice works well with both songs too, he matches both the upbeat and dark moods nicely.

Looking forward to seeing what these two do next!

I must have written and deleted like three completely different drafts before finally settling on something to actually write about. I guess the ideas haven't really been flowing lately. (Plus I've been working on a paper at the same time, so my brain's been too clogged with art history to really focus on anything else.)

I did a still life recently where the reference I used was just a random photo I took of some stuff in a grocery store. (I know, I know you're supposed to draw them from life, but like... I couldn't just sit and draw in the middle of a Kroger aisle.) The photo on its own was pretty unartistic, like the lighting and composition were mediocre at best, but my idea was that I could start with an image that was obviously not artistic and turn it into art.

Like, the reference photo certainly doesn't qualify as art. It isn't good photography. It's just a random image from my phone camera. You could show it to someone and they wouldn't care at all. But the drawing is art. It's deliberate. It isn't just me pointing my phone at something and pressing the shutter without thinking, it's weeks of sketching and building up colors. The very fact that I invested time and effort into drawing it gives it meaning, because it must have meant something in order for me to have spent so long on it.

That's what I want someone to think if they see that drawing. I'd want them to wonder why the heck someone would bother drawing something so mundane in so much detail. Or, on the flip side, maybe it would make them appreciate that mundane thing more. Like, you probably don't think too deeply about the stuff you see in the grocery store apart from the lens of what you need to buy, but seeing it portrayed in art might make you think about it differently.

I like to draw mundane things. When I'm drawing from life, doing more realistic stuff, I don't like to pick an "artistic" subject matter, something that already looks nice. Flowers or nicely arranged foods or whatever. If it's something that does look nice, it'll be something that just happens to look cool, like the reflection in a glass of water, rather than something that's been made that way. I like drawing the boring everyday stuff that people overlook, and maybe making them (and myself) look at it in another way.

I guess I've realized that I don't want to be pretentious with my art. I don't want to use art to make grand, deep statements about life or society or whatnot. There's nothing wrong with using art to convey a message, of course, but that's not what I personally do. If anything, if someone looks at a drawing I made, I want them to wonder what the artist is like. I really want my personality to come through in what I make, for every piece of art to show a piece of what goes on in my head.

Even though you won't see my traditional art here, this still applies to my digital art, although in a much less subtle way, since I mostly draw fan art. That automatically tells you something about me, because it shows what I like, what I care about enough to put effort into drawing it.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, I dunno. I've never thought much about why I draw apart from "because I like to draw." I like the process of drawing. If I don't have some kind of artwork in progress at any given time, even if it's something small, I tend to feel a bit empty inside. I feel like I might actually enjoy the drawing process more than actually having a finished piece, like it does feel good to finally get something done but the feeling fades pretty quickly and the piece ends up being just another file in my art folder. I feel most connected with my art when I'm actually making it.

I could go on longer about this, but I'm trying to break my habit of being excessively long-winded in these posts (not trying at all). I like to draw :)

60% of this music section is just covers of Telepathy, but that's fine. I like the funny meme song.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

Tsumi to Mitsu by syudou feat. Mori Calliope - (Title is a pun on tsumi to batsu, "crime and punishment". In Japanese it's also a palindrome) Neat to hear another more chill-sounding syudou song in the same vibe as Love Trip Summer, as opposed to the high-energy rock that he normally uses for his original music. I like seeing collabs between Japanese and Western artists, so it's neat to see Calliope here too, even though my knowledge of Vtuber stuff is nonexistent lol. Her voice does complement syudou's well. It was also a pleasant surprise to see Rou Shitou's artwork in the MV! I don't think they've illustrated for syudou before (I mostly associate their art with Chogakusei) but I recognized their art style right away, I really like the soft scratchy-looking rendering they use.
- (Someday I have to make a post that just talks about my favorite Vocaloid MV illustrators and their art styles. Arguably I'm more qualified to talk about this than the actual music lol. Non-zero chance it's nothing but rambling about Ryuuseee's linework.)

New covers:

Amatsuki - Telepathy (DECO*27) - Lots of Telepathy this time, but I picked Amatsuki's to properly list here because I always like Amatsuki's Deco covers in particular, his voice just really works with this fast-paced pop style. Although I guess I don't have anything to say about this cover specifically, just that I like how it sounds lol
- Other Telepathy covers for your consideration: nPn feat. flower (always appreciate a flower cover) / Cubic-P feat. Kasane Teto (UTAU Teto's goofy voice really fits, love the custom MV as well. I recognized the Krita UI in the drawing segment lol) / Chogakusei (Chogakusei) / Cocolu Genjin (a good balance between the energy of the original and the flair and personality of her own voice) / Mafumafu (cute! I was expecting a Monitoring cover, so I'm happy to see Telepathy instead)
96Neko & nqrse - APT. (ROSÉ & Bruno Mars) - (I will allow one [1] K-pop song in this establishment. anyway this is an utaite cover so still within my general domain) Both of their English sounds really good here, but I need to shout out nqrse in particular, I honestly like his part more than Bruno Mars' part in the original lol. The attitude in 96Neko's voice is fun too.
ARAKI - Panda Hero (HACHI) (flashing lights warning) - Genuinely kinda surprised that ARAKI hasn't covered Panda Hero before now lol. This goes so hard though!! The shouts and "yeah"s in the chorus are very characteristic of ARAKI and it's a lot of fun to listen to. The arrangement is absolute fire too, easily my favorite Panda Hero remix that I've heard. 10/10 cover

I'm in the process of writing a proper intro to add to the first post, now that I've gotten a better idea of the structure and topics that I like to use here. Hard to believe it's been almost a year already!

escolopendror · Mar 26, 2025

Dubious Disc said:
(Someday I have to make a post that just talks about my favorite Vocaloid MV illustrators and their art styles. Arguably I'm more qualified to talk about this than the actual music lol. Non-zero chance it's nothing but rambling about Ryuuseee's linework.)

You should!! I'm sure there are a lot of MV artists with interesting styles that some people here haven't seen. And it'd be cool to know your opinion about the art as well :D

I was excited to finally read that 'art post' you've been writing

As someone who has pretty much zero art education, I can relate to being more inclined to drawing things I enjoy or that I personally find cool. There's this mystification(??) of art where most enthusiasts (or non-artists, whatever) think that there must either be a very deep, profound message behind the piece or that it's just non-sense from an incomprehensible mind. I'm not saying that it's shallow to lean into this idea; but I find mundane, even nerdy stuff way more humane.

Dubious Disc said:
There's nothing wrong with using art to convey a message, of course, but that's not what I personally do. If anything, if someone looks at a drawing I made, I want them to wonder what the artist is like. I really want my personality to come through in what I make, for every piece of art to show a piece of what goes on in my head.

I like the thought of art that conveys a message vs. art that represents the artist themself

Dubious Disc said:
Even though you won't see my traditional art here, this still applies to my digital art, although in a much less subtle way, since I mostly draw fan art. That automatically tells you something about me, because it shows what I like, what I care about enough to put effort into drawing it.

Yess, you get it! The stigma around fanart drives me absolutely insane. There's, unironically, so much passion in art drawn by fans

Dubious Disc · Mar 27, 2025

escolopendror said:
You should!! I'm sure there are a lot of MV artists with interesting styles that some people here haven't seen. And it'd be cool to know your opinion about the art as well :D

This would easily turn into one of my most annoying (positive) posts here, there's so much that I want to share from so many different artists lol
Now that I think about it, there's this one illustrator I like whose use of line kinda has a similar personality to yours, I'll have to show you some of his work

escolopendror said:
I was excited to finally read that 'art post' you've been writing As someone who has pretty much zero art education, I can relate to being more inclined to drawing things I enjoy or that I personally find cool. There's this mystification(??) of art where most enthusiasts (or non-artists, whatever) think that there must either be a very deep, profound message behind the piece or that it's just non-sense from an incomprehensible mind. I'm not saying that it's shallow to lean into this idea; but I find mundane, even nerdy stuff way more humane.
I like the thought of art that conveys a message vs. art that represents the artist themself

I do appreciate the fact that the more advanced drawing classes I'm in encourage us to pick subjects that are important to us first and foremost, instead of trying to be deep for the sake of being deep. It's cool because then sometimes you find that a deeper meaning emerges unexpectedly, it just happens naturally since it's a subject you're already connected with. To me it's more fun to find a meaning in something random than to start out with a meaning and look for a way to convey it. (Of course that doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, it's just what I enjoy doing more

)

escolopendror said:
Yess, you get it! The stigma around fanart drives me absolutely insane. There's, unironically, so much passion in art drawn by fans

Someday I'll have the courage to show my fan art irl o7 I think some of the stigma comes from the fact that people can just be really judgmental sometimes, it's not easy to be cringe but free ( . .)

cinderace · Mar 27, 2025

Dubious Disc said:
I guess I've realized that I don't want to be pretentious with my art. I don't want to use art to make grand, deep statements about life or society or whatnot. There's nothing wrong with using art to convey a message, of course, but that's not what I personally do. If anything, if someone looks at a drawing I made, I want them to wonder what the artist is like. I really want my personality to come through in what I make, for every piece of art to show a piece of what goes on in my head.

Even though you won't see my traditional art here, this still applies to my digital art, although in a much less subtle way, since I mostly draw fan art. That automatically tells you something about me, because it shows what I like, what I care about enough to put effort into drawing it.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, I dunno. I've never thought much about why I draw apart from "because I like to draw." I like the process of drawing. If I don't have some kind of artwork in progress at any given time, even if it's something small, I tend to feel a bit empty inside. I feel like I might actually enjoy the drawing process more than actually having a finished piece, like it does feel good to finally get something done but the feeling fades pretty quickly and the piece ends up being just another file in my art folder. I feel most connected with my art when I'm actually making it.

I could go on longer about this, but I'm trying to break my habit of being excessively long-winded in these posts (not trying at all). I like to draw :)

hope its okay to join in on this as well, but i totally feel that. i think art is very personal to each individual that makes it. at least for me, my "message" is within the very act of making it in it of itself. i know for me and a lot of other artists, art is just kind of an expression of self . i don't draw because im An Artist with a Grand Message to Display to the World, i draw in like the same way i breathe air or move my muscles, its just a Part of me yknow. its just something i've been Doing since i was a kid so like. gestures. i hope this makes sense + i like your commentary on it a lot

Dubious Disc · Mar 28, 2025

hatsunemiku said:
hope its okay to join in on this as well, but i totally feel that. i think art is very personal to each individual that makes it. at least for me, my "message" is within the very act of making it in it of itself. i know for me and a lot of other artists, art is just kind of an expression of self . i don't draw because im An Artist with a Grand Message to Display to the World, i draw in like the same way i breathe air or move my muscles, its just a Part of me yknow. its just something i've been Doing since i was a kid so like. gestures. i hope this makes sense + i like your commentary on it a lot

Yeah exactly! You explained it perfectly

Sometimes art is just the most natural way that I can express what's in my mind, especially as someone who can't put things into words easily. I feel like there's this perception that artists should make art for others or for society, but for many it's just a personal thing and there's nothing wrong with that.

Dubious Disc · Apr 6, 2025

It's been a year (and one day)!!! I really wanted this post to be done by the actual same day, but then a bunch of unforeseen things happened this week, so I couldn't get it done in time. :( But at least I'm here now!

Dubious Disc said:
So I've decided to try out profile theming for a bit, picking different images for my banner and sig to match my avi, but who knows if I'll actually be able to keep it up lol. There's a few songs I've been wanting to theme in particular, but eventually I might just end up getting lazy and going back to my default.

I actually have managed to keep up with this! I don't always theme specific songs, sometimes it's just characters in general, but I've done a pretty good job keeping a consistent visual profile theme.

(I don't even remember what my "default" was. Maybe that Axl avi I got from Oki's art shop ages ago? Who knows.)

Dubious Disc said:
Right now it's TAMAYA-themed, since that's my favorite song. It lives in a special place in my heart. I'm a big fan of Chinozo, if you couldn't tell.

I still have fond memories of theming TAMAYA, maybe I should bring it back sometime lol. It's not my favorite Vocaloid song anymore, it's not even my favorite Chinozo song (currently my favorite is PetaPeta, as discussed in an earlier post somewhere), but I'm still fond of it. I do prefer the self cover, too.
Still a big fan of Chinozo, though!! He's still my favorite Vocaloid producer. Him and Hiiragi Kirai, they're both my favorites.

Dubious Disc said:
Been listening to Chogakusei's EP that released last week. [...] I've been obsessed with Overlook in particular, it's just really catchy all around and keeps getting stuck in my head. (Fair warning, the MV contains a lot of animated blood. Both the song and video are references to The Shining, that's why it's like that.)

What do you mean it's already been a year since Overlook??? I will say I like a lot more of Chogakusei's original music now than I did then, even though I don't listen to him as much as I used to.

Dubious Disc said:
The other song that's been taking over my brain is Incubator, which is just a complete banger.

My past self would be very happy to learn that Incubator finally has an official music video lol. This song still goes hard.

It's a bit interesting looking back at what was on my mind a year ago. Although I'm not particularly embarrassed about the stuff I've written, I imagine I probably will be in a few years' time. Not because I've written anything inherently embarrassing, but just because people naturally change over time and I'll be bound to think "man, did I really act like this?" Maybe after a while I'll come back here and cringe at myself for making such a big deal out of Chinozo's music, or going into a bunch of detail about my OC's, or turning into a mess of hype every time a collab between my favorite artists happened.

Even looking back at my short-lived blog from 2023 where I mostly reviewed video game music makes me feel a bit odd. And my early posts here are kinda awkward too, but I guess that's because I hadn't really gotten into the rhythm of how I like to write and structure each post. Now it's strictly an "intro (+ Chinozo music video embed, if relevant) --> content --> music section --> outro" format, but it took a while to get there.

There's this pattern that everyone has, of always thinking of the things you did in the past as cringe. Like, when I think of the art I made as a kid, and the stories I wrote and whatnot. It's kinda weirdly endearing, but at the same time I can't help but laugh at my past self for the stuff I came up with. I got into Undertale in middle school, and all my art from that time period is exactly what you would expect from a preteen Undertale fan: chock-full of OC's, AU's, crossovers, edgy self-inserts, you name it.

(And now, whenever I feel inclined to make a self-insert character, they always end up being just a random nobody who does nothing interesting. Hence why Z, my trainersona, just sits at home with her Porygon2 all day and never talks to anyone.)

The thing is, though, I feel like my art from then was, while less self-aware, also more genuine. In a way, I almost admire my past self for just putting whatever I imagined directly onto paper without thinking about how silly it might look. I miss that freedom. Nowadays I feel awkward drawing anything that could be considered "cringe", and I have to tell myself that it's just an art exercise in order to feel okay about it.

You hear people saying that if you cringe at your past self, it means you've matured. But I fear that although I've matured, my increased self-awareness is coming at the cost of sincerity. Instead of truly expressing myself, I have to filter everything I say and do to make sure I won't be made fun of. And even if I'm just sketching something nobody else will see, I can't get rid of the judgmental voice in my head that laughs at me for drawing fandom crossovers or YouTuber fan art or concepts for a Sonic OC.

This doesn't just apply to art, I feel like it affects my communication in general. I'm no longer able to just say whatever I'm thinking, or jump into any conversation: I have to think about whether others want to hear what I have to say, or whether I'd be welcome in that conversation. (And usually my answer ends up being "no", regardless of what they might actually think.)

To bring this back to where I started, all of this ties back into the fact that I've been using this blog as an outlet to talk about my interests. I guess it's an effort on my part to recover some of that sincerity, to really show how I feel about something for once, instead of always being afraid to say what's on my mind. And I have to refer to it as "being annoying" because I know that's how it comes off sometimes.

Now that I think about it, I've never given much thought to how I'm perceived as a Vocaloid fan - like, I see it from the inside, with the awareness that vocal synth music spans a huge range of genres with incredible diversity in style, but the majority of people just think of Vocaloid as pop music with Hatsune Miku. (Or super upbeat cheery music with terribly disturbing lyrics.) So I guess I am able to be honest about my interest in Vocaloid specifically because I'm self-conscious about it. I express as much as I can in order to make people aware that the music I like isn't just Miku pop, it's actually a huge world with all sorts.

(I can be as annoying as I want about utaite because I'm pretty sure nobody else knows what I'm talking about, which is kinda freeing in its own way. If what I'm saying is just nonsense to you, that means you can't judge me for it o7) and if by chance you do listen to utaite, hello!! feel free to recommend me some of your favorite covers. also, give Gero and/or Meychan a listen sometime

Also, since this blog is a small space just for myself, I don't feel as much like I'm bothering other people. I tend to feel uncomfortable posting about my interests in other threads where people presumably don't care about them, but in places like here or my art thread, I'm less worried about being judged by others. So the environment matters too.

So basically, I'm glad I've kept this up for a year! It's been nice having a place where I can just dump out whatever's in my head without bothering people who don't care. I've found this a pretty useful place to get things out of my mind so I don't keep dwelling on them. And when I come back here in the future, cringing at my current self preserved here... well, that's just how it is. At least I was genuine

Thanks for sticking around :)

Last time I only had non-Vocaloid stuff to talk about, so this time it's the opposite c:

New songs:

D/N/A by Azari (feat. Kasane Teto SV, flower) - Teto and flower! Teto and a synth that isn't Miku!! An unusual duo, but it's surprisingly good, the contrast between Teto's smooth voice and flower's raspy voice is really cool. Love the sounds in the instrumental too, it's very crisp and Azari-esque in its drama. I think I've actually listened to the off vocal more than the original at this point lol. (Also I like the muffled chiptune sounds at the beginning. I still have a weakness for chiptune.)
- It feels very odd to see Azari with a proper channel name after being blank for so long lol. I guess they're building a new identity.
Marmelo by Folicca (feat. KAFU) (needle warning) - There's a jazzy vibe to this one! It's still electronic, but it's got a laid-back swing-like rhythm that really makes it stand out. This is another song where the instrumental sounds really good on its own, too.
iNeeQUE by Police Piccadilly (feat. RIME) - I love this kind of "driving at night" vibe that Police Piccadilly does, it sounds really good with the CeVIO voices too. This song's a bit faster than usual, but still pretty chill.
The Almost Person by Nanae (feat. Hatsune Miku and RIME) - A tiny song by a tiny producer that popped up in my recommendations one day. I came out of curiosity about the Miku/RIME combo, stayed for the relaxing beats and the lyrics about being an artificial human.
Facade Question by 32ki (feat. Hatsune Miku, Kasane Teto, Kasane Teto SV) - Thank you for using UTAU Teto ;___; I have mixed feelings on 32ki's style, so I'm not really sure how I feel about this song yet. I do really appreciate Teto being put in Project Voltage for April Fool's, even as I've grown tired of the months-long Teto onslaught. It's really fitting and I'm almost disappointed that I didn't see it coming lol.
You Me Me by r-906 (feat. LeuR) - This is another "driving at night"-type chill vibe lol. It's interesting seeing how different r-906's recent songs have been: the Hole is upbeat dance music, A Spoonful of SPELL is really tense and dark and dramatic, and now You Me Me is very relaxing and synthwave-y. It fits this synth's softer-sounding voice, too. It's nice to see r-906's own animation in the MV! His artwork and animation is pretty cool, hope we get to see more in the future.

We got a Deltarune release date!! Looking forward to what chapters 3 and 4 have in store

cinderace · Apr 6, 2025

again hope it’s ok to jump in HAHA, i just relate to a lot of things you tend to talk about it seems ?!

i defo understand what it’s like to look back and cringe but feel like you’ve lost some kind of sincerity. at least for me i always try to be as honest with other people as i can and be very authentic to myself and what i like so maybe ill inspire other people to do the same ?! i guess my point is the right people won’t care if you’re a little “cringe” or “annoying” yk.. i’m glad this blog is a safe space for you to do so, cuz i think you deserve (and everyone) an outlet to express yourself and the things you’re passionate abt!!!

also i’m not a hugeeee utaite guy but i do listen on occasion :3 big alfakyun fan check her out if you haven’t already…. i also dabble in akiakane ..!

escolopendror · Apr 6, 2025

Dubious Disc said:
The thing is, though, I feel like my art from then was, while less self-aware, also more genuine. In a way, I almost admire my past self for just putting whatever I imagined directly onto paper without thinking about how silly it might look. I miss that freedom. Nowadays I feel awkward drawing anything that could be considered "cringe", and I have to tell myself that it's just an art exercise in order to feel okay about it.

It's weird; recently there's a lot of that "be cringe and be free" sentiment online but it's hard to follow that advice because you're handicapping yourself. I am very guilty of that myself (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Dubious Disc said:
You hear people saying that if you cringe at your past self, it means you've matured. But I fear that although I've matured, my increased self-awareness is coming at the cost of sincerity. Instead of truly expressing myself, I have to filter everything I say and do to make sure I won't be made fun of. And even if I'm just sketching something nobody else will see, I can't get rid of the judgmental voice in my head that laughs at me for drawing fandom crossovers or YouTuber fan art or concepts for a Sonic OC.

People also say that you're your worst critic and it's true X( There's nothing wrong with drawing these "cringy" things but there's always that embarrassing feeling that never goes away. I try to fight it as much as I can but there are so many WIPs and ideas I never finished (or even started) due to my own insecurity.

Dubious Disc said:
To bring this back to where I started, all of this ties back into the fact that I've been using this blog as an outlet to talk about my interests. I guess it's an effort on my part to recover some of that sincerity, to really show how I feel about something for once, instead of always being afraid to say what's on my mind. And I have to refer to it as "being annoying" because I know that's how it comes off sometimes.

Be as annoying as you want! If the alternative is you never talking about the music you enjoy or sharing your fanart, I'd rather see you being annoying than boring. And if you want competition, I can always be more annoying hehe

A very relatable post, the cringe never goes away but being cringe is being human, in a way ( ◡‿◡ )

Dubious Disc · Apr 6, 2025

hatsunemiku said:
at least for me i always try to be as honest with other people as i can and be very authentic to myself and what i like so maybe ill inspire other people to do the same ?! i guess my point is the right people won’t care if you’re a little “cringe” or “annoying” yk.. i’m glad this blog is a safe space for you to do so, cuz i think you deserve (and everyone) an outlet to express yourself and the things you’re passionate abt!!!

I think seeing others be themselves can definitely be encouraging for someone who's trying to be more authentic

I feel like I've always looked at it from the negative side like "people will think I'm annoying for expressing myself" but yeah there absolutely is a positive "people might be inspired to express themselves more" way to think about it too.

hatsunemiku said:
also i’m not a hugeeee utaite guy but i do listen on occasion :3 big alfakyun fan check her out if you haven’t already…. i also dabble in akiakane ..!

I do listen to Alfakyun sometimes!

(initially found her through the ROKI collab with Gero lol) I like the one-person duet covers where she uses two different voices, those are pretty cool.

escolopendror said:
It's weird; recently there's a lot of that "be cringe and be free" sentiment online but it's hard to follow that advice because you're handicapping yourself. I am very guilty of that myself (￣▽￣*)ゞ

People also say that you're your worst critic and it's true X( There's nothing wrong with drawing these "cringy" things but there's always that embarrassing feeling that never goes away.

We're always our own biggest haters... if someone actually told me that my art was cringe I'd probably just be able to laugh it off, but being told by myself that I'm cringe is much harder to ignore

escolopendror said:
Be as annoying as you want! If the alternative is you never talking about the music you enjoy or sharing your fanart, I'd rather see you being annoying than boring. And if you want competition, I can always be more annoying hehe

Heck yeah! Keep being annoying about the soccer game and I'll keep being annoying about the singing robots o7

Dubious Disc · Apr 29, 2025

big change of pace from the usual! just to be on the safe side, this video has some flashing lights and slight motion-sickness camera work, so watch with care

I was just thinking, why am I restricting these embedded music videos to Chinozo, anyway? I mean, despite all my Chinozo posting, there's plenty of other stuff I listen to, right? I should be inflicting all kinds of music on you, not just the same thing every time. I've been listening to Gero probably more than any other artist these past few months, so I don't see why I shouldn't give some Gero music the spotlight too.
Anyway, there's a live performance of Unknown Mother-Goose, for your consideration. (It's a cover - I recommend listening to the original Vocaloid song as well, it's really good.)

We also got a live version of Vita around the same time, if you want something more loud and chaotic. Vita was actually the song that introduced me to Gero in the first place, so I'm glad we finally have a live version of it. I don't really have the means to attend live shows, so seeing clips like these are a lot of fun.
I always wonder how they record these. Like how do they move the cameras around so much?

Thinking back to Vita, it's a bit intriguing how I can no longer remember my first impression of it. I specifically remember listening to the Vocaloid version when I was first getting into Hiiragi Kirai, and going "oh cool there's a human vocal version too, wonder how this guy sounds", but I don't even know what I initially thought of it. Like there's some songs where I can still recall what I thought and felt the first time I listened to them, but there's others that I've heard so many times and I'm so familiar with that I barely remember when I first heard them.

The "I wish I could hear this song for the first time again" feeling is kinda strange, when you think about it. But it's interesting too. Like, usually when I listen to a song for the first time, it's not with any particular emotion. There's plenty of songs that you listen to once, don't vibe with, and never listen to again because you don't really care either way. The first listen is just when you're testing the song out to see whether or not you like it. It's the second time onward, when you realize that this song is really good, where you actually get that "first listen" feel.

I remember hearing someone say something along the lines of "every song you hear sounds like the month and year you discovered it in", which is kinda funny at first glance but then I realized that it's also weirdly true. I think about all the songs that I associate with Christmas only because I first listened to them in December, regardless of whether they're actually Christmas-related. (among these are Tsumiki's "phony", Neru's "Becoming Potatoes", and quite a few tracks from the Mega Man X games.) And everything that I listened to a lot in early 2024 specifically will always sound like early 2024 to me. (Not for any particular reason, just that a lot of stuff I liked and listened to on repeat came out around that time.)

Music associates with memories really easily, the same way that smells do. Sometimes it's nice, like if you have a song that reminds you of something happy or someone you like, but other times it kinda gets in the way. Like when I think about some songs that I used to listen to a lot in high school but then fell off after a while, when I listen to them now they're inextricably linked with those high school memories. And all the music that I listen to now will probably remind me forever of college, even after I graduate. I've got mixed feelings about this, because sometimes I like being transported to times I've lost but sometimes I just wish I could listen to the song itself without all the baggage my mind has dumped on it.

So I guess "I wish I could hear this for the first time again" to me means something like "I wish I could experience this again in its pure form, without any of the associations that it's built up over time."

I really enjoy hearing early 2010s pop songs on the radio, because they're nostalgic to me. On the other hand, as much as I like the Undertale soundtrack, I find it almost difficult to listen to because of the nuclear gut punch of raw nostalgia that it always gives me. It forces me back into 2016-2017 regardless of whether I want to. So even the nostalgia you get from music isn't always the same - sometimes it's fun, and other times it's painful.

It's also sorta interesting that everyone associates different memories with different things, so even if two people listen to the same song or eat the same food or smell the same scent, they might not necessarily have the same experience. If you've never played Undertale, listening to the soundtrack won't bring you a ton of memories like it does for me. And if you're particularly nostalgic for a video game from your childhood that I've never played, you'll feel much more emotion from the soundtrack than I will. Neither of us are more "correct" than the other, it's just that our individual minds and memories color the things we consume in a unique way. It's like what I've heard a lot in art history about how when you're interpreting an artwork, you also bring your own experiences and biases and whatnot to that interpretation, and your reading could be just as valid as someone else's who looks at it differently.

I suppose this applies to interpreting song lyrics as well. So your own particular "version" of a song, even if it externally sounds the same, might be very different from someone else's, because you've associated it with different things and you read a different meaning into it.

This is just something I think about a normal amount. Memories in general are something I think about a normal amount.

No particular intro to today's music section. Lots of good stuff though!

New songs:

Our Oath by Chinozo (feat. flower, KAFU) - Yes, new Chinozo, but I'm choosing not to embed it for an incredibly petty reason (it was uploaded on April 1st and so I naturally thought it was fake and refused to listen to it for like two weeks before realizing it was legit). Anyway, it's another Maimaimaigoen collab song! Kinda a sequel to Baby Daze and Mother Days. It's on the shorter side, but still nice.
Wonderdogs' Parade by Natsuyama Yotsugi (feat. IA, Hatsune Miku) - Surprised to see a song with IA! I feel like we don't hear much of her. This is a banger!! The chorus in particular is super catchy.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

Bouquet for Me by Ado (music: HoneyWorks) - As someone who's generally kinda iffy about HoneyWorks' music, this is actually pretty good? It's very cheering and encouraging.
ROCKSTAR by Ado (music: jon-YAKITORY) (blood warning) - Very different vibes lol. Ado's genre range has no limits. I always love some aggressive-sounding music with aggressive-sounding vocals.
Kekka Orai by Kocchi no Kento - This feels a lot more dramatic than Kocchi no Kento's usual music, but it's really cool! It feels both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time. (Instantly recognized that the video was animated by the same person who did the MV for Meychan's "fake", that pixel art style is super distinctive.)
SPEED by natori - (You guys neeeeed to see the plot twist at the end of the music video lmao) Love the energy!! I'm always a sucker for fast songs with catchy bass. The electronic noises and the choppy voice after the chorus are a plus too.
良い人 (Good person) by Sou (music: Sasuke Haraguchi) - I really like the contrast of Sou's calm voice with darker-sounding music, you get this kinda cool, detached vibe that I haven't heard from anyone else. I actually don't think I would have recognized this as a Sasuke Haraguchi song, it feels very different from his usual music. But that's not a bad thing, I do really like this more serious style. The Flipnote-looking animation is awesome too.

New covers:

Chogakusei - An Unaware Drunk (Kanaria) - #1 in the "covers I thought already existed but apparently didn't until now" list. Glad it exists now, though! Solid cover, definitely worth the wait.
Chogakusei & Wolpis Carter - Daidaidaidaidaikirai (Amala) - Banger "rivals arguing" song, now with 100% more yelling! I love how angry they both sound, especially in the chorus. High shouting + low shouting will always be my favorite voice combo.
Ado - HIBANA (DECO*27) - ADO HIBANA!!! IT'S PEAK!!! The English part is so good too! Easily my new favorite Ado cover. I don't even know what my previous favorite was (probably Tinplate's Dance by default), but this is an instant new favorite.

I was also pretty surprised to see NANAOAKARI on THE FIRST TAKE! I heard that her Turing Love performance with Sou was the first time an utaite had appeared on THE FIRST TAKE, which is pretty cool if it's true! Glad Sou got to be the first :) I've never been a big fan of Turing Love, but with how popular it is, I'm not surprised that that's the song they went with lol.

New Kairiki Bear album too!! I've already expressed my disappointment at no new songs or self covers with flower, but in the end it's not a big deal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, covers always exist - I've already found a flower cover of one of the tracks, so I don't mind that the official self cover is with Teto.

I was not expecting to see a live-action Exit 8 video from Sushi Ramen Riku, but I'm not complaining lol. It's always entertaining and pretty impressive to see how much effort he puts into these kinds of parody videos. My favorite part was definitely the moving security camera sign, I was so surprised to see that it wasn't CGI (and the way they got it to move around like that was pretty creative).
I haven't played Exit 8 myself (and there's really not much point, since I already know where all the anomalies are d: ) but I like watching other people play it, it's always fun to see how they react and figure things out.

This semester has gone by so fast... I don't have finals, but I do have final projects and papers coming up, so I expect they'll be eating me alive these next few weeks

I'm glad the weather's getting nicer though, I like studying outside.

lisianthusakura · May 17, 2025

Very, very small thing, but I think we're the same with music, your description spoke to me a lot. I tend to have entire songs and albums I don't listen to until a specific time of year, especially winter LOL... it's connected to not wanting to wear the things I love out -- enjoying them too much, I suppose? Live-action Exit 8 from Sushi Ramen Riku seems chaotic, I'll need to give a listen sometime. Always enjoy reading your blogposts, Disc!! (ado hibana!? IA song!?? wow!)

Dubious Disc · May 24, 2025

lisianthusakura said:
Very, very small thing, but I think we're the same with music, your description spoke to me a lot. I tend to have entire songs and albums I don't listen to until a specific time of year, especially winter LOL... it's connected to not wanting to wear the things I love out -- enjoying them too much, I suppose?

Yeah I definitely understand this! It's a bit sad to realize that something I love doesn't hit the same way anymore because I've listened to it too much. Sometimes I have to make myself take breaks from constantly consuming the same things I like, just so that I don't get burnt out from them. Everything in moderation

Congrats to everyone graduating this year!!!

I've barely even paid attention to the actual song here because I've been too busy losing my mind over the visuals, I never would have expected to see a syudou MV with all the regular illustrators collaborating. I always love seeing interactions between characters from previous music videos, so seeing everyone together in this school AU type scenario is incredibly fun. I could watch this for hours on repeat and find new hidden details every time.

I still need to get around to making that post where I just talk about ~~Ryuuseee's linework~~ a bunch of illustrators that I like. Eventually...

I've safely completed another year of college! This year was pretty tricky in terms of coursework, especially second semester, but I managed to make it through, and I learned a lot, so that's what counts.

Summer break hasn't been treating me well, though. I thought my stress levels would go down now that I don't have course work to worry about, but even without any external stressors my anxiety is still acting up and making me feel unwell in a million tiny different ways. I worry about feeling bad, and then worrying makes me feel worse, which makes me worry more, and the cycle repeats itself.

Being on break doesn't necessarily make it worse, because having stuff to work on and deadlines to meet just makes things even more stressful, but having too much free time isn't much better. I get stuck in my head really easily, and it doesn't take long to start dwelling on something that doesn't feel right and blow it out of proportion and send myself into a panic.

I find that I usually, although not always, feel better when I'm busy. Whenever I'm doing something that isn't part of my normal routine, and gives me something out of myself to focus on. Like if I'm going for a walk somewhere, or going shopping, or following a recipe, even just getting absorbed in a song or a Youtube video or something like that. It gets me out of my head, so that I'm so busy interacting with the world around me that I don't pay so much excessive attention to how I'm feeling inside. I guess this is why I didn't have as much of these anxiety issues on campus, because there was enough going on around me that it kept my mind occupied. At home, though, where it's fairly low-key and there's not much going on, it's easier for my mind to get bored and start attacking itself.

I really want to do a lot of new things this summer. I don't really know what, but I want to go places and do stuff. I want to travel, I want to look around new shops without buying anything, I want to walk around in nature, I want to be able to talk to people, I just want to do something fun. I need to get out of my head. I'm almost afraid that this summer will turn out exactly like last summer, where nothing fun happens and I don't make any sort of memories. I don't want to be stuck inside wasting time and feeling like garbage for three months.

Summer wasn't built for people like me. Summer was built for people with lots of friends and lots of fun outdoorsy things to do, not lonely people who worry so much that it hurts them. Or people who don't like hot weather, for that matter. It isn't uncomfortably warm out yet, but it probably will be by next month. Expect me to link the "IT'S TOO HOT!!!" song again in a future post at some point lol.

Sorry, I've been pretty negative in this post d: I just haven't been feeling well lately and I've been getting bad vibes from summer break so far. I'm trying to find small things to enjoy, look for fun in the mundane and all, but it only goes so far in helping me feel better. It's hard to have fun when I feel bad both mentally and physically.

Yay music :) I don't know where I'd be without my tunes.

New songs:

Irregular Man by masarada (feat. Kasane Teto SV) (blood warning, flashing lights) - Almost a year of waiting for a new masarada drop has absolutely paid off!! I love how much personality this song has, it's overflowing with chaotic energy. A lot of people have pointed out that masarada's songs all have a central theme of "it's okay to be yourself/live your own way", but they express it in different ways: in this case it's like "conforming is boring, do something crazy that nobody's ever seen!" Banger song, banger animation as always.
Nihil-san by ¿?shimon (feat. flower) (flashing lights warning)- aaaaaaaaaaugh it's so good... I have no idea why I don't listen to shimon more, his chaotic industrial-type music and flower tuning is almost scientifically calculated to scratch my brain itch. The visuals here are so cool too... Kuroume's art? Backrooms???
- Shoutout to the self cover as well, the rap part is cool as always and the switch between a softer and harsher voice is really satisfying to hear.
Carnivorous Planet by Guchiry (feat. Sato Sasara) - Dark-sounding vocarock can never go wrong. I'm surprised that it took this long to find a song with Sasara, considering she's the very first CeVIO. I like how her voice sounds here though! It's got a darker aura despite being a cuter-sounding voice. I don't know if this is her "normal" sound, since Guchiry's tuning tends to change synths' voices very dramatically, but still.
PLAY by Giga (feat. Hatsune Miku) - Banger!! I have no idea how Giga always manages to make such insanely catchy music.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

mimic value by dongdang (music: seeeeecun) - First original song from dongdang! The amount of emotion that comes through is really nice, both in the vocals and the lyrics. It's a chill song but still hits hard.
I Love Internet by Chogakusei - Although this isn't the first original Chogakusei song overall, it is the first one that he wrote himself instead of working with another producer, so it kinda is a first original in a way. And it's a vibe! Catchy internet addiction song by an artist raised on the internet. It's one of those songs where it's hard to figure out where the chorus is supposed to be, so it was a bit confusing to listen to at first, but it's grown on me. (and yay for more Rou Shitou art with the cool rendering lol)
PLAY by Rib (music: Giga) - Same song as the Miku version mentioned above, but this is the human vocal version. This is really good too! I've never listened much to Rib but he sounds pretty cool here.
Soremoiine (That's good too) by Kocchi no Kento - Everything about this from the music to the animation has "nostalgic kids anime" vibes, and it's deeply comforting. Like I can curl up here and forget about my problems for a while.

Rib also has a new album out that has some collab covers, and two of them are MATORYOSHKA with Ado and Goodbye Sengen with Soraru. They sound crazy good in the preview, if I don't get to hear the full versions of them somewhere on Youtube I might actually lose my mind.

New Chinozo song in the works as well

Judging by the character design, I'm guessing this one will have Teto. (Edit: It actually ended up being a completely different synth that I never knew about! My horizons have broadened

)

I hope I can get my Art Fight stuff updated in time... most of the work is redrawing existing refs and writing descriptions for new characters (i.e. trying to come up with names for them because I'm bad at coming up with names lol). I've been debating whether I want to add Z as well, like it'd be cool to see art of her but at the same time it feels weird that she could be drawn by people I don't know, since she's supposed to be a representation of myself. Maybe I'm thinking too far into it, I dunno.

cinderace · May 24, 2025

Dubious Disc said:
I hope I can get my Art Fight stuff updated in time... most of the work is redrawing existing refs and writing descriptions for new characters (i.e. trying to come up with names for them because I'm bad at coming up with names lol). I've been debating whether I want to add Z as well, like it'd be cool to see art of her but at the same time it feels weird that she could be drawn by people I don't know, since she's supposed to be a representation of myself. Maybe I'm thinking too far into it, I dunno.

gasp ! could i get your artfight....

Dubious Disc · May 24, 2025

cinderace said:
gasp ! could i get your artfight....

here! pretty much everything needs updating though lol

Dubious Disc · Jun 16, 2025

It's that time again!

There's quite a few Chinese-themed Vocaloid songs out there, like 1 2 Fanclub and HAO, so it's unexpected but kinda cool to see one from Chinozo as well. The song actually uses a Chinese Vocaloid, Luo Tianyi, although here it's her Japanese voicebank.

Also Chinozo recently updated his channel header, and the new artwork has portraits of a bunch of his MV characters, it's incredibly cute! Arusechika's art is a gift to humanity. I really hope we get to see the full-body versions of all the character artworks eventually

And it looks like PetaPeta is the next song that's getting a novel adaptation! I honestly haven't been paying much attention to the the novel series lol but I'm glad that PetaPeta is getting the spotlight, since it's much less popular than the other songs that have gotten adapted. Plus this means we get more artwork c:

I could write an entire post just dissecting PetaPeta and how it's about gifted kid burnout and wanting to be free from all the pressure to be perfect and follow the rules, but I've already done that in the past lmao. There's a lot of Chinozo songs that I have my own theories and interpretations for, like I think I've also talked about how I see TAMAYA as a song about accepting your own flaws. And I think Cheese and No Branding are both about social media and the pressure to craft an ideal image of yourself. Elite is probably also about being a gifted kid, but one who's still self-confident instead of just straight-up being done. Silence-chan is about jealousy, although that's been officially confirmed so I can't say it's a personal theory d: Although I can't fully tell what Shamer is about, from my perspective I can almost see some aspec undertones, like someone who doesn't feel love strongly but feels obligated to get into relationships anyway (and then always regrets it afterward).

Writing it like this makes it look like I spend a long time coming up with theories and stuff, but this is the exception, not the rule lol. Usually I just listen without thinking about it, I have to be really dedicated to something if I want to analyze it. I guess I need a strong personal connection with the song or whatever other media before I can start looking at it through my own lens, and creating an interpretation that reflects a part of myself rather than passively listening. It's the difference between just observing what the creator or the wider community has accepted as the work's meaning, versus being comfortable looking at it in my own way that might not necessarily reconcile with what it's "supposed to be about". Because I'm very emotionally attached to Chinozo's music, I find it easier to look at it through my eyes and read it in ways that resonate with me in particular, since I already consider it to be a part of me.

(I also have my own set of theories about Hiiragi Kirai's music, mainly the color series that everyone tries to analyze and figure out. At first I thought there was some sort of official meaning behind all the songs, but seeing how everyone's interpretations are different and complicated in their own ways, I figure mine is just one more in the pile lol. It's just something I think about for fun, looking for connections and whatnot

)

I think a lot about what Panopticon means, too. I don't know what specific meaning r-906 intended it to have, but something about the "the one who's watching you more closely than anyone is yourself" theme in the lyrics and visuals really speaks to me. (Also, did you know Panopticon was made in GarageBand?? one of my favorite songs was straight-up made on an iPhone

)

I don't know why I'm not as vocal about r-906 as my other favorite producers, like at this point in time I probably like r-906's music more than Chinozo's and yet somehow I never talk about it. I guess I've just gotten so accustomed to always making a big deal about Chinozo that it would feel weird trying to switch gears now. Sometimes I wonder how many of my so-called favorite things I actually still like as much as I used to, as opposed to just sticking with them out of inertia.

Anyway, to get back to the main point, I don't usually feel qualified to come up with a personal interpretation for a particular song (or media in general). I'm just not really good at that sort of deep thinking and analysis, it's why I never did well in high school literature classes d: If I do come up with something, I have to go really heavy on the emphasis that this is just my opinion, and nobody should look at it as the work's objective "meaning".

That being said, I think it's pretty obvious that PetaPeta is about gifted kid burnout. I can't see what else it would be about.

(smooth transition from music discussion to more music discussion)

New songs (Vocaloid):

Heart Dream by Kairiki Bear (feat. Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin) - More COMPASS music from Kairiki Bear! Having never played the game or watched the anime I can't figure out whether these two's story is supposed to be bright or dark, like both of their individual character songs seem to be pretty negative but then the songs where they're together feel more uplifting. This one's like a weird bright/dark mix? Dunno. I still like it, though, I always like Kairiki Bear's style. The visuals are neat too, I never get tired of Vocaloid MV's with illustrator collabs c:
Vulthoom by Fujiwara Hagane (feat. flower, Kasane Teto SV) - More flower and Teto! This one's pretty different from D/N/A though, it's got a whole fairy tale type story going on and the vibes are a lot more positive too. I like flower's tuning here as well, usually people give her a high voice (which isn't a bad thing, some of my favorite producers use a higher-pitched flower) but I think this lower voice really brings out her raspy sound.
HAPPY GAME by Natsuyama Yotsugi (feat. Hatsune Miku, Kasane Teto SV) - Natsuyama Yotsugi's contribution to the Miku/Teto cinematic universe! I haven't totally figured out what this song is actually about, like I think there's more layers to the magical girl Miku vs. worker Teto contrast, but it's still cool as it is. All the different rhythms are really catchy and fun to listen to.
Rinne Lensei by danloP (feat. Kagamine Len) - This one is interesting, self-aware meta Vocaloid songs are always a neat subject but it's my first time seeing one that doesn't use Miku (who, to be fair, is probably the most fitting choice). I saw a comment talking about something along these lines, but using Len for this kind of song gives it a slightly different nuance because of his connection with Rin - like, is his mindset influenced by her absence? There's some interesting stuff to think about in general about the Kagamines' identities, like whether they're two inseparable halves or if they can stand on their own as individuals. I just find twin characters in general interesting, okay? yes I know they aren't officially twins but i can see them as twins if i want to Anyway, the song is really good! Always love electronic sounds!

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

Dead End Dance by ARAKI - That's a banger! ARAKI + dark rock is always a winning combo.

New covers:

dongdang - All I Can See Is You (r-906) - R-906!!! dongdang's soft voice fits really nicely with the clean, minimal sound of r-906's music, this feels like a more chill laid-back version of the original. I really hope he covers Panopticon someday... please.....
Sou & Ivudot - Telepathy (DECO*27) - TELEPATHY!!! More Telepathy! I do kinda like Sou's part better here, although Ivudot's shout at the end was peak lol.
Kanaria - KING (self cover) - KING SELF COVER??!! I've hoped for so long that Kanaria would do a self cover of KING, and it's finally here... and with a super crisp remix too! KING might be one of the most-covered Vocaloid songs of all time, so there's something powerful about finally hearing a cover from the original producer. He has a very classy voice, I'm not sure how else to describe it.

One week until the Art Fight theme reveal! I don't even remember which ones I voted for lol. I've heard a lot of hype for Fossils/Crystals, which I'd be pretty okay with. Destruction/Creation would be cool too, or Time/Space. As long as it isn't Heart/Soul or Lovestruck/Heartbreak (or Arctic/Tropic because I hate any kind of extreme temperature) I'm fine with anything.
I managed to get all my existing characters updated, but I still have to add the new ones...

I'm still not really feeling like myself. Worrying about everything is taxing .__.

Been making my way through a playthrough of the new Deltarune chapters. Lots to take in ( . .) Soundtrack is a vibe, though!

Dubious Disc · Jun 29, 2025

I find it so funny how they just went with the goofiest possible shot for this thumbnail. just Little Guy Yelling lmao

Meychan's back!
I've seen plenty of creators go on hiatus over the years, but this is my first time seeing someone actually return. I mean, a year isn't that long, all things considered, but still. Now I can go back to looking forward to new covers lol. One actually dropped recently, but that's for next post. Or just new songs in general, I think he does more original music than covers these days.

This song isn't new, but it's my favorite Meychan song and I like its good vibes so I figured it'd be nice to put here. (It was either that or the Tinplate's Dance cover, which I'm still looking for an excuse to post here lol. It's my #1 favorite utaite cover, I'll get it on this blog one way or another.)

Sometime I should share my favorite utaite covers, although I fear it would be really hard to narrow it down to a manageable list lol. Plus it's harder to explain what I like about them. With actual songs you talk about the music and the lyrics and whatnot, but covers are about the voice itself, which is harder for me to describe. Sometimes I can pinpoint a specific thing that I like, like if there's a particularly good shout, or if it conveys an emotion in a good way, but other times it's just like... the whole thing is just good. I've listened to dozens of Tinplate's Dance covers, and I love them all, but I don't know what it is about Meychan's specifically that sets it apart in my mind.

It's funny how I find it hard to stick to just one particular topic of music to talk about, like I try to focus on utaite covers but then my mind wanders to utaite original songs, or Vocaloid self covers. Self covers are interesting too, I could probably dedicate a whole post to them. I don't know how common the "Vocaloid is for people who can't sing" stereotype is, but either way it's cool to learn that many Vocaloid producers are actually really good singers and use vocal synths for the enjoyment of it, not out of "necessity". And then there's also the territory of collab songs that have multiple official versions, some human and some Vocaloid, and the nuances that the different voices bring to each version...

There's just so much I could talk about, and it gets so hard to keep it to a reasonable amount that I start to lose interest in actually talking about it. Like, how do I strike a balance between being able to go over everything I like and not overwhelming or boring anyone? I don't want to just post a huge list of links. Plus I'd feel a bit self-conscious about it, I think. I'll probably feel self-conscious about this post by tomorrow.

I guess, since I've been talking about Meychan already, I can just share some of the Meychan covers that I like. I've mentioned Tinplate's Dance already, and I'll probably continue randomly bringing it up in future posts given the opportunity. Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder is a very close second favorite, I love the original to pieces but this cover and the jazzy band arrangement gives it a whole different mood. Fixer and Fragile are nice too. I will also leave you with ROKI, Panda Hero, and raisond'être kaleidoscope, and send you on your way.

Meychan is kind of an outlier among the artists I like. Typically I listen to loud rock-style singers who yell a lot. But it's good to listen to a variety of things. d:

a bunch of stuff came out like yesterday but I'm not bothered to write about them yet. these are from last week.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

Y.O.L.O by ARAKI - Another ARAKI song so soon? A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I had to double- and triple-check to see if this was an anime opening, it has so much anime OP energy. That or battle music, this is definitely battle music too. Absolutely love the guitars.
Philadelphia by Gero (music: wotaku) - Full transparency: I'm not really a rap person. That said, I thought it'd be a shame to overlook it, since it's the first Gero original song in more than a year, and even if I don't vibe with the genre I do still like the vocals. It's very reminiscent of the low voice he used in the SHANTI cover (which makes sense since SHANTI was also written by wotaku, so there's a lot of overlap in the songs' styles).

New covers:

Machita Chima - Vocalo-Colosseum (DIVELA) - Yay for Vocalo-Colosseum in 2025! I've always thought the chorus must be so much fun to sing if you get all the rhythm and timing right. I like how this cover makes the onomatopoeias genuinely sound really cool, like they would normally have a very slight childish vibe just because of how they're written but here it just sounds confident and serious.
Harusaruhi - Dear Doppelganger (kemu) - Yay for Dear Doppelganger in 2025! The little screams or voice breaks or whatever the heck they're called are pretty cool.
Wolpis Carter & Eruno & Risuru & Nyanyaochu - HIBANA (DECO*27) - I feel slightly unsettled by the fact that their group name says "team of 3" when there's 4 of them. They all sound great on their own, of course, but the parts where they all sing together are like... transcendent. It really makes the emotion come through.

Art Fight is almost here! I'm on Team Crystals, it was a pretty easy pick d: I don't really care about fossils either way, and I like Crystals' pink color way more. All my characters have finally been uploaded and updated, so I'm all set o7

I haven't been drawing a lot lately, partly due to art block and partly because I want to save my energy, but I'll probably need to get back in the groove before July actually starts. It takes a while to really get my creative gears going after I've had them stopped for a while. I need to adjust my workspace too, right now my tablet is in a position that makes my arm sore if I draw for too long so I have to find a more comfortable setup. Don't want to injure myself or anything.

I sat on this draft for a week, and then the tab ran out of memory and crashed right before I was going to post it. Thankfully everything was saved, but jeez, what a scare.

Dubious Disc · Jul 14, 2025

I wanted to post this way sooner, but I got stuck in internet outage purgatory for a few days d:

I don't think I've hyped up DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai as much as I should, but this very unexpected Mafumafu/Meychan collab cover has finally given me the opportunity, so consider this an official DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai hype post from me. Listen to it! It's a banger!! Don't use the subtitles though, they're not well translated d: I'm still a big fan of Vocaloid duets where the lyrics are just two people arguing with each other (e.g. Childish War, Unfriendly Hater, Isn't It "A", please recommend me more if you know any), they always have so much personality and they make for interesting covers too. Case in point, Mafumafu and Meychan! I would have been happy hearing either one of them on this song, but hearing them together is even cooler.

I kinda hope Amatsuki will cover DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai sometime. Maybe with 96Neko? Sou and Ivudot's duo would be cool too. Doesn't matter who, I just want to hear more

Art Fight is here!! So far I've managed to get one attack out almost every day, I think it's a pretty good goal to set for myself since it keeps me motivated without being stressful. Plus it forces me to stop overthinking whether a piece is really done or if I should add just a little bit more. I might take a break for a few days though, since I've been getting headachy again.

A side effect of Art Fight season is that I always find myself struggling to figure out what to comment on art that I receive - like, I wish I could be as effusive and expressive as the comments that I see and get, but it's so hard to really put things into words. I'm wired to say things precisely, so I kinda envy the people who can spill out incoherent all-caps keysmashes. They can express themselves in such a genuine way, and I feel bad that it doesn't come naturally to me. I just hope it doesn't make me come off as ungrateful or unenthusiastic.

Plus I've gotten so used to the Bulba emotes that I sometimes find myself at a loss when I can't use them lol. Ideally I'd be able to go "

" on every attack I get and it would convey my thoughts way more accurately than the mere written word. Obviously this isn't Art Fight exclusive, I struggle to put emotions into words in any situation.

In different news, we recently got some more updates on the PetaPeta novel adaptation, including the cover art! I appreciate that they kept the character design mostly the same, although I am a bit disappointed that they got rid of the purple hoodie d: They revealed his name, too, which I also appreciate. Now both of my favorite Chinozo characters have official names

even though I continue to just call them "the guy from [song title]" lol

It's also kinda interesting that they've gone with a music, performing arts theme for the story, rather than the academic focus of the original song. I wouldn't have seen him as a musician, it came as a surprise lol. It looks like the pressure he's under is more self-imposed, like fear of failure, rather than others' high expectations. But I think there's still room for the "accept your flaws" message, they're just doing it with a different narrative.

This is actually a shortened list of all the new music I wanted to talk about. It's a lot.

New songs (Vocaloid):

Tag by Haruno (feat. Luo Tianyi) - Came out of curiosity about another Luo Tianyi song, stayed for the catchy bass and minimalist chill vibe. Also, r-906 worked on the animation?! Not all of it, the parts with the character were done by torishima (an animator who's worked with r-906 before), but he did the hand animations, and I think he worked on the storyboard as well. So that's pretty cool! I do like the visuals, they have the same minimal feel as the song itself. Very low-key, but still tells a story.
- Self cover is nice too! I always support self covers.
Don't Believe in T by PinocchioP (feat. Hatsune Miku, Kasane Teto SV) - PinocchioP's contribution to the Miku/Teto cinematic universe! Just in terms of the voices themselves this might be one of my favorite Miku/Teto combos, Teto and PinocchioP's Miku sound surprisingly good together. The story is pretty compelling (as usual), I like that it treads some of the same "accepting a fake reality" themes as Mesmerizer.
Undo by Miyamori Bungaku (feat. Kagamine Rin & Len) - I'm usually not big on sequel/spiritual successor type songs, but this is actually really good! It feels like an alternate-universe version of Parry, where it's more light-hearted and cheery instead of action-y and competitive. I still love the animation and colors, I'm really glad the same animator from Parry did this MV too.
Polka of Saturn by NayutalieN (feat. Hatsune Miku) - I've missed NayutalieN!! And they're dropping a new album after so long... It's so good to hear a classic NayutalieN song again, even though it has a new flavor it's still the instantly recognizable Nayutan style.
Idiot by isonosuke (feat. Chis-A) - The official theme song of people who worry that they're being annoying by talking too much about their interests. Watching this really made me feel seen lol. Painfully relatable! 11/10!

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

UNHEALTHY by RuLu feat. KANKAN - RuLu is still on my long bucket list of artists I want to listen to but haven't yet. I really like the guitars here, it's nice that the song kicks off with them. Really brings you in. I think the "Honky Tonky Magic" lyric might be a reference to Honky Tonky Night, another song that features KANKAN, so that's pretty cool if it's the case.
- The Vocaloid version is worth mentioning as well, I like this warbly autotune-sounding voice that people sometimes give flower.
GATAGOTO by issey (flashing lights, unsettling imagery) - I'm usually not good with horror stuff, but I actually really vibe with issey's horror-type songs. I enjoyed Nightmare Restaurant a lot, so I like how Gatagoto uses the same mix of live-action and animation to really amplify the spooky feel. We love irl glitches!! And Ichimaru's animation too. The chorus is a banger, and I honestly keep forgetting how good issey sounds - I appreciate how this song shows both the low and high sides of his voice.
Kagome Kagome by Masayoshi Oishi - Masayoshi Oishi is also on my long bucket list of artists I want to listen to but haven't yet. I've been grooving to this song for days now, it's super danceable.

New covers:

Cocolu Genjin - Tinplate's Dance (Spiky MIX ver.) (Hinata Electric Works) - First SymaG and now Cocolu Genjin, this has been a good year for Tinplate's Dance cover remakes lol. The original is already one of my favorite Tinplate's Dance covers, so I'm glad to see it getting a new remix.
ARAKI - Hibikase (Reol/Giga) (flashing lights) - ARAKI HIBIKASE?! This goes SO HARD. The rock arrangement? Perfection. This is as ARAKI as it gets. The video is insane too, this has got to be the coolest-looking utaite cover I've ever seen. I still have a weakness for tech-y glowing cyber aesthetics lol.
Ado - Ego Rock (Surii) - ADO EGO ROCK????!!!! After all this time?! She covered the short version years ago, and I've always hoped for the full version someday, but I never thought it would actually happen!
Meychan - MKDR (DSCF) (DECO*27) - I don't have the words to do this cover justice.
- I appreciate the subtle simplicity of the visuals, the monochrome aesthetic is really effective.

There's also a new Gero song out but I'm waiting until next post to go over it. It's kind of a Big Deal and I don't want it getting lost in this long list d:

( . .) ~♫

Dubious Disc · Aug 8, 2025

I couldn't really think of any relevant music to post here, so have a random Amatsuki live. Flashing lights warning still applies but there shouldn't be as much dizzying camera motion in this one. Song is Love Hero by Last Note. and it's a banger.

And here goes August again.

For the past few weeks I've had problems with eye strain, and I would get bad headaches from looking at my laptop screen, so I decided to take a break from digital art for a while. I finally got my new glasses today, so hopefully the problems will go away once my eyes adjust, but it'll probably still take a few weeks. It's honestly kind of a downer that I can't draw much, since that's normally how I de-stress and pass the time, so it sucks that when I try to draw now it just makes me dizzy and makes my eyes hurt. I really hope the new glasses fix things.

It was also annoying because it meant that I couldn't work on Art Fight attacks, so I was feeling upset about that for a while, but for the last few days I did some traditional attacks instead just to end on a good note. And anyway, I did get around to all the attacks I wanted to do, so I think I was still pretty productive despite the setbacks.
It's kinda funny that out of all the attacks I got this year, only three were from the opposite team, and only one wasn't a revenge. For the first half of the month I only got friendly fire lol. (To be fair I also did mostly friendly fire, but still.)

I was glad to get a lot of cool art of my mages! Although next year I might have to indicate a preference for my Johto trainer squad, I'm still more emotionally attached to them ( . .) And I'm glad I got to experiment and try some new things, as usual. I do still like drawing things for people, there's something nice about being able to just randomly gift art to people even if I don't know them. I've thought about doing avatar requests, to scratch the art-gifting itch and give me something to do over the summer, but it'll have to wait until my eyes get better.

The vision problems were the main reason that I had to go offline for a while, but I also had some other health issues that got in my way, and that really sucked too. I'm feeling better now, but my mind always takes longer than my body to recover, so the anxiety surrounding it is still sticking around.

It always bothers me when something like this happens and messes up my routine. First I get eye problems, then I get sick, and before I know it I've wasted three weeks of summer waiting to get better. I mean, it feels like my summers usually consist of wasting time waiting for something to happen, so it's not anything new. I wanted to do new things and have adventures this summer, but then I didn't. Either the weather was too uncomfortable, or I wasn't feeling well, or my eyes were bothering me, or of course I was just feeling too lazy and telling myself "nah, I still have time" until that time runs out. And then I find myself back in class wishing I hadn't wasted almost four months of summer break. I guess I don't like summer as much as I used to.

sorry this ended up being another long list lol. I try to remind myself that I'm under no obligation to make these quick and concise, but my conscience still gets to me.

New songs (Vocaloid):

Newton Dance (Star NayutaN ver.) by NayutalieN (feat. Hatsune Miku) - NEWTON DANCE!! This is definitely the track I was most looking forward to from the new album. The original was arranged by Chinozo, so it's really cool to hear NayutalieN's interpretation of the same instrumental, with their characteristic guitars and electronic sounds. The singular complaint I have is that it doesn't keep the "Nayutan clap" from the middle of the guitar solo :'( Other than that, it's peak! I'll always love Newton Dance.
- It's funny, I never fully appreciated the fact that the original song was arranged by Chinozo until I heard this version - like, I heard this remix that's entirely NayutalieN, and then I went back to the original and realized "oh right, this instrumental is absolutely Chinozo lol." It's like in a movie where the main character is transported to an alternate reality where their friends don't exist, and then when they get back to the real world they learn to appreciate them more - hearing a Newton Dance without Chinozo is what really helped me notice Chinozo's presence in the original Newton Dance.
Cherry Pop by DECO*27 (feat. Hatsune Miku) - This might sound weird, but this almost feels like video game music? I'm not even saying that because of the chiptune, something about it just really sounds like it belongs in a game. Like, listen to it and imagine it as a Gen 9 rival battle theme. Especially the intro and chorus. Does anyone see my vision? idk that's just the vibe I get. Amatsuki please cover this
Game Changer by Kradness (feat. Kagamine Rin & Len) - I was a bit surprised to come across this, since Kradness is an utaite and I don't recall him having done Vocaloid music before this, but it's neat all the same o7 It's actually an alternate version of one of his original songs from a few years ago. I'm always glad to hear more gaming-themed Rin and Len songs, there's surprisingly a lot of them. I think this is dubstep but who knows, I can't identify genres to save my life d:
GOAT! by Kurousagi (feat. Ci flower, Kasane Teto, KAFU) - Shoutout to songs with both human voices and vocal synths!! Everyone blends together really well, the vocals' different personalities set each other off nicely. Kurousagi himself doesn't sound out of place at all, although it helps that these are generally more realistic-sounding synths (even UTAU Teto sounds realistic with yasai31's tuning). I'm a fan of how Ci flower sounds here in particular, until now I haven't heard her with the same androgynous vibe as v4 flower.

New songs (non-Vocaloid):

SAKKI by Meychan - (flashing lights) It's pretty rare to hear this kind of fighting music from Meychan, I'm surprised! Love to hear it.
100万回生まれ変わっても (Even if I'm reborn a million times) by Gero (music: Meychan) - What I love about this collab is that even though it only has Gero's vocal, Meychan still has such a strong presence throughout the entire song. The lyrics and even the MV feel like they're from Meychan's point of view - you can really feel that this song was written not just by Meychan as an artist, but also by Meychan as Gero's friend and longtime biggest fan.
MURI MURI EVOLUTION by NANAOAKARI (music: NayutalieN) - I honestly have more to say about the visuals than the song itself (which is still very good, a classic Nanao/Nayutan combo), any MV with a bunch of different illustrators is awesome in my book. It was quite a surprise to see Ichimaru's art here, especially without any of the dark undertones they usually have lol. But it's a lot of fun seeing all the different art styles and how they work together.
Reiwa by ARAKI - Another departure from the usual, I don't think I've ever heard ARAKI on a dramatic slow-paced song like this, even as a cover. This really hits hard.
Kamidanomi by syudou - (flashing lights) This also feels pretty different from what syudou has done before, like it's not straight rock but it's also not like his other upbeat songs, it's got a more unique flavor. I like how it's both light and dark at the same time. Also Kawasemi's animation

New covers:

SymaG - Fleeting Lullaby (Ado/FAKE TYPE.) - (flashing lights) This remix is fun because it extracts the electro swing of the original with almost scientific precision and replaces it with rock, while still accurately preserving the FAKE TYPE. vibe. I was so caught off guard by the sudden metal voice in the chorus lol but it's very much SymaG's style.
Rinu & Colon - DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai (Amala) - I was hoping to hear Rinu on DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai, so it's good to hear for real! The other guy sounds cool too. I'm gonna keep collecting more DaiKirai covers the same way I did with Fatal and Telepathy lol.
Rinu & Root - Childish War (Reol/Giga) - Finally, the sibling rivalry song covered by actual siblings! to be fair I don't know if they're actually related irl but I sometimes see them referred to as brothers, so close enough d: Their voices have such distinct personalities, it's almost like they're voice-acted characters.
Wolpis Carter & Eruno & Risuru & Nyanyaochu - D/N/A (Azari) - I said this the last time I talked about this group, but they sound so good when it's all four of them at the same time. The original, both the Teto/flower and Nightcord versions, feel like they're expressing a kind of calm, restrained desperation, but here it's like they're letting it all out.

I took like two weeks to finish this draft but I'm tired of hurting my eyes working on it, so off it goes d:

Dubious Disc · Aug 23, 2025

Can I offer you some Sonic the Hedgehog music in this trying time?
I don't actually know much about Crazy Raccoon, apart from the fact that they do streaming and esports stuff and very occasionally music. I'm just happy that we now have an official Sonic collab song with Amatsuki in it

guh I miss listening to Sonic music. Also, I finally watched Sonic 3! I enjoyed it a lot, definitely my favorite so far.

I think my eyes are better now? I had to send my glasses in again for readjusting, but they came back recently and I've been feeling better with them so far. Now I need to draw as much as possible before the semester starts next week

So for the past few months my family's been thinking about going to Japan again in the next year or so, so we can visit relatives, but honestly the prospect makes me a little nervous. Now that I'm the only person in my immediate family who speaks Japanese, and my grip on the language is not as great as I'd like, the idea that I'd have to do the majority of the communication and navigation is rather frightening. If it was just a matter of reading or understanding I'd be a bit more comfortable, but I'm uneasy about having to actually talk to people.

Which has made me recently realize that I reeeeeally need to brush up on keigo (essentially a more formal/respectful way of speaking). I know I'm going to stumble over my words a lot, and I'm gonna sound awkward and ill at ease even in the simplest interactions, but I just don't want to accidentally be rude. I probably would have learned keigo properly if I had studied Japanese formally, but learning through casual exposure, while still teaching me a lot of new words, has left some noticeable gaps in my vocab. Just by wandering around the internet I've learned many assorted ways to insult people, but not so much about being polite lol.

Keigo is tough for me because it falls under the realm of "intricate, confusing social guidelines that you need to have a scientific knowledge of otherwise people will judge you" that have given me trouble all my life. I have a hard time gripping mysterious unspoken rules of politeness, so it's a bit daunting to learn and memorize a whole different way of speaking to be socially acceptable.

I guess I feel a greater urgency to learn keigo over regular vocab stuff because, like I said, I don't want to look rude. It's one thing to accidentally use the wrong word, but that's just a matter of correcting myself and moving on. I don't think people will think worse of me for mispronouncing something, but saying something rude or overly casual is harder to live down. Maybe this is just me being way too worried about what people think of me, I don't know. But in a place where there's so much emphasis on politeness and knowing your social position, I'm even more nervous than usual about making a faux pas.

I dunno, I just feel like in the past few years I've started to feel a disconnect from my Japanese identity, like I'm only Japanese on a technicality because of my DNA and where my family happens to be from. Like I haven't bothered to engage at all with that part of my heritage, and learning the language and culture and whatnot. When I was younger I didn't think much about it, especially since some of my classmates would make fun of me for being Asian, but now that I'm seeing how invested people can get in Japanese culture, I feel sort of inadequate in comparison. I should have that knowledge, but I don't, and that makes me feel like kind of a faker.

I know I'm probably being too hard on myself. It's just that I tend to be overly aware of when I'm out of my depth in any given situation, and I focus on what I can't do instead of what I can do. It's only in the past two years or so that I've consciously gotten a better grip on learning Japanese, and ironically I feel like my confidence in actually being able to communicate has decreased. Like, the more I learn, the more I realize that I don't know. I know there's a specific word for this phenomenon, but I can't remember it right now and it's bothering me lol.

presenting a reasonable-length music section (mostly covers) before the inevitable return of the Long List once the Vocaloid Collection starts this weekend. have fun c:

New songs (Vocaloid):

Congratulate me!! by Meddmia (feat. Hatsune Miku) - CONGRATULATIONS!! (on dropping a new song after six months) (also it was his birthday) The one thing that just keeps coming to mind is that this is completely, quintessentially, a birthday song by Meddmia. The lyrics have such a strong "Meddmia's take on a birthday-themed song" vibe. I don't really know if that makes sense. I like the buzzing synth in the background, it's very reminiscent of the one in Unfriendly Hater. (to be fair it's probably the exact same one. they're both by the same person)
Serpent by Amala (feat. Hiiragi Yuki) - (flashing lights) Electronic/traditional Japanese music fusions... with slightly scratchy tuning and a flipnote-style MV... the switches between fast, chaotic parts and slow, dramatic parts... this one is really good!!

New covers:

Amala - DaiDaiDaiDaiDaiKirai (self cover) - More DaiKirai! It's basically a law of nature that every Vocaloid self cover has to have a super cool-sounding voice. With just one vocal it sounds less like a rivalry between two people and more like a one-sided hate, kinda neat how the song's energy changes when it's a solo.
dongdang - Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder (noripy) - ough... the arrangement... I admit I haven't actually listened to any other Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder covers apart from Meychan's, so I'm not familiar with the other remixes that are out there, but I really love this arrange. It has a moody, "late night city lights" vibe, compared to the stylish pop of the original. dongdang's voice matches that vibe perfectly too, since it's softer and has less of a punch than Len's.
Rib & Ado - MATORYOSHKA (HACHI) - FINALLY!!! I remember agonizing over the fact that the collab covers from that album weren't on Youtube, and now they've finally appeared! I hate to downplay Rib, since it's his album after all, but I was way more excited to hear Ado on MATORYOSHKA lol. I feel like Ado's voice overpowers Rib's at some parts, but other than that I like the contrast between them.
Rib & Soraru - Goodbye Sengen (Chinozo) - For so long I was fully convinced that a Soraru cover of Goodbye Sengen already existed, so it threw me off to see this in the album lol. I really like this! I think Goodbye Sengen, like a lot of Chinozo songs, sounds particularly good with softer voices.
Chogakusei & Amatsuki - D/N/A (Azari) - (blood warning) PEAK???? My favorite voice-contrast duo?? I've waited for Chogakusei to cover D/N/A since pretty much the day it released, but I was definitely not expecting Amatsuki to be the other vocal. I really like the ending in particular, where they switch between each other - it's my favorite part of the song in general, but here it really brings out the difference in their voices. I'm very mildly disappointed that Rou Shitou didn't do the artwork this time but. that doesn't really matter d:
- Also, slightly belated congrats to Chogakusei on reaching a million subscribers! ~~Maybe now he'll finally cover Usseewa (desperate)~~

Since I talk a lot about utaite on this blog, it would be remiss of me not to mention the recent news about luz. I haven't mentioned luz on this blog before, since I'm not a regular listener of his, but he was close to and collaborated with a lot of the utaites I like and was a well-known artist himself. (tw death) It was such a shock to hear about his passing, it still feels surreal to think about. it's clear that he was a big part of the music world that I've been following, and that his music and voice touched so many people.
my condolences to his friends, family, and fans. rest in peace, luz, your song will never be forgotten.

For the sake of not ending this section on sad news, we also just got an announcement about a new Chogakusei album in October! I'm glad to see Sasuke Haraguchi, issey, and Miyamori Bungaku among the composers.

The lineup for this year's Youtube Music Weekend is out! I'll be looking forward to Kairiki Bear, syudou, and Surii for sure, and I might catch issey and NANAOAKARI if theirs are still available after the premiere. There's a few others I want to check out, but I'm prioritizing these. And Chinozo is participating this year!! Not as an individual, it's a band that he's part of, but still c:
This summer's Vocaloid Collection is coming up too! Hopefully we get some cool remixes. Next post will probably be completely dedicated to music stuff, with both Music Weekend and VocaColle to recap at the same time.

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