Is trance like the new fad in japan? It seems like every doujin album these days has a lot of arrangers doing trance tracks. Personally I don't care much for trance, though if done right to the right song it can work, but what happened to good old hard rock and metal? Has that boat sailed?

I'm not so familiar to the current rage in Japan, but I know trance was a rage in Korea a decade ago. Europe, of course, still dominates the trance love. =P

I haven't found many trance releases...There have always been a number of guys who do primarily dance/trance stuff. Doujin arranges have been awkwardly slow this year...Nowhere near as many as a couple years ago.

Have a look at "Jailbreak" from Jesus is Dead, from C70 (I believe). Perfectly insane hard rock arranges all the way through. If anyone thinks "Eight Melodies" from Earthbound wouldn't work as a rock arrage...well, listen. It's very similar to "Get Out of My Way" from Guilty Gear XX#Reload Korean Version:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/ranma124x

Also, Woodsoft has a couple of albums out that seem to have slipped under the radar: K-Style Konami Arrange and Maicoso Basic Magazine, which covers a bunch of Falcom, Sega and Namco stuff. They also have another one titled Retro PC Game. So good to see they're still putting out some good stuff.

Lukar also has one out for the second Saga game (Final Fantasy Legends 2), called "Legend 1". It's a mini-album (6 tracks) and surprisingly, it doesn't arrange the battle theme from the game (the most recognizable tune, I think most would agree). Lukar is incredible...His Dragonslayer 4 (aka Legacy of the Wizard) arrange is spot-on perfect.

Mintjam's 5th Gig has some good material on it, but it's original stuff. Not that it's a BAD thing, but I would really like to see these guys tackle some popular franchises a little more indepth. "Be Positive!" is spectacular though.

And there is Atelier Iris 2 Arrange, which features two of the biggest doujin arrangers around. Only differences between it and the above ones are the price, availability and the publisher.

It's probably just the ones I'm listening to then, because I just got a bunch more doujin albums and all the ones I've had a chance to go through have been heavy on trance (2 Chrono arrange albums and a Square assorted). But yeah, you'll always have guys like Mintjam, SOJ, Crow's Claw and Woodsoft, doing the rock. Too bad Mintjam's 4th Gig had singing.

Thanks for the heads up on the DS IV album, but looking at the track list there's no arrange for "All Together Now"??

Might as well post it here, fans of the rock and doujin need to check out G5 Project, it's a collabo effort of 5 guitarists including cats from Serenade and Mintjam. All original music and it's absolutely fantastic, the only downside is the CD only has 8 tracks.

Finally got that Dragon Slayer IV (Legacy of the Wizard) Doujin CD, awesome stuff. DS IV is definitely Falcom's most underrated game and soundtrack as well Yuzo's finest work. I just wish more tracks were covered, especially the haunting "All Together Now".

Yeah, that was the first time I heard Lukar. With all respect to Mintjam and Hiramatsu, that guy's got my vote as my favorite doujin act. The DSIV album is short, but meaty...I'm sure he got every ounce of potential out of all of those songs he arranged. I end up with a new favorite song everytime I listen through it (although Meia's theme always stands out the most for me, since it's developed a bit more than all of the 2 minute tracks).

Him and Hiramatsu also did Chaos and Order, another favorite doujin album of mine.

Now Lukar just needs to turn his attention to the whole of the original Sorcerian...Or Ys.

Goldfish, that Jailbreak song is great, thanks!

I actually have that Chaos and Order album just sitting unopened as I haven't even listened to it yet, heh. I still didn't get past SOJ's Elegy of the Battle with its Aleste, Rayxanber and Valis awesomeness.

I think Elegy of the Battle was one of the first ones niki dug up...I remember getting to it real early and being nearly knocked over by the two Valis arranges. I just have to remember Hiramatsu=Sword of Justice (I originally thought Hiramatsu=Crow's Claw...doh!)

Odd tidbit: For Elegy of the Battle, that guitar solo on track 8 (08. The Fantasm Soldier Valis Ver.2.0 [Fantasm Soldier Valis])...Is that well known or something? It was used note-for-note on another doujin album (Hellion Sounds arrange of Battle 1 from Final Fantasy USA...though Hellion's version was synth guitar, while Hiramatsu's was live). I've never heard it outside of those two instances.

Edit: Random fun. Grab her while she's up. The two tracks with the solo are in here, plus some random stuff I grabbed from my folders.

http://download.yousendit.com/CCB0162B280C844A

Hmm, I dunno, I never noticed that.

Speaking of Crow's Claw, have you checked out his recent stuff? He seems to get better with each album, I got his "Broken Phantasm" album (Dante on the front) which is awesome and heavy and his original album "Parental Advisory Explicit Guitar" the LP, which I haven't had a chance to delve into yet but I'm sure rawks.

SOJ gets around, he's featured on midi-mushi's new non-midi album "Metamorphisis" which is more or less a "best of" with real instrumentation. Definitely need to check this one out.

Info: http://mushi.net/

Don't waste your time with the English section, it's far outdated.

I was actually thinking of starting a new thread like this 'till I saw this pop back up.

I'm a complete newbie to the doujin cd scene, I actually stumbled into it on accident when I bought the Broken Thunder - Thunder Force VI album.

I thought it was an actual Technosoft cd, so I was less than impressed.

I did get a recent chance to sample Type R 2nd Side - Chrono Trigger and NanoSweep 3, both of which I liked.

My question is, which cds are worth tracking down?  I like just about any type of music style, my vgm taste are quite varied.

And, where do you get them from?  I've seen some on ebay, but one seller wants $100 for Type R 2nd!  ebay

Actually, Broken Thunder isn't a doujin. It's a re-release of the soundtrack to the ill-fated ThunderForce VI. It was composed by long-time Tecnosoft and TF soundman Tsukumo Haykutarou. 

As for recommendations, I already made a gush topic about one album "Found da album of da YEAr", but it's not without cause "Lost Vampire Killer" (aka Dracula Neo Classic ) is amazing. Outside of that it kind of depends on what soundtracks you're into and what genres of music you like because there's everything from more Square than you can count to weird japanese games I've never heard of it. But favorite prolific artists/groups of mine are (in no order):

Sword of Justice
Crow's Claw
Lukar (thanks to GF for bringing him to my attention)
Mintjam
Magical Trick Society
Serenade (only 2 albums and they need to make a new one cuz they rawk)
Woodsoft
Project Scytia
Bau-haus (this seems more like a label as I haven't found continuity with their releases)

Outside of them, there a bunch of guys who've done an album or two that are wothwhile listens. Just be warned some CDs are short, like there's this amazing Ys IV doujin CD called "Spiritual Energy" that only clocks in at 22 mins. (though most CDs are 30-50 mins.), though I didn't mind with this particular CD because what is there is fantastic.

As far as purchasing them, there's Daisuke on Ebay but his selection is terribly limited and prices high (I don't even know what's up with the $100 price tag on some CDs?), you could also go to Comiket or order them from japanese online shops and personal websites. The only problem is they won't ship outside of Japan (except for white canvas, but their selection sucks). So the answer is to find a friend or someone in Japan to order them for you and have them shipped to them, and then they ship them to you, and then .

That's odd thing about the doujin scene...It's REALLY hard to buy them, since the makers rarely sell them outside of Japan. Most of what gets discovered is done by people on Japanese P2P networks and gets passed around through FTP's and VGMCentral. Not like a normal release, where you can buy from multiple outlets and many people know about it...That's why so many people aren't familiar with them, let alone know they exist (and Nemo's over here showcasing stuff I haven't even heard of yet and I stay pretty up to date! Heh...)

I try to spread the word and keep everything I find in my VGMCentral share for the taking. I think I have around 10-15GB of doujin arrange music there.

About Woodsoft: I think they're more of a label as well...Hiramatsu (SoJ), Lukar, Jesus is Dead, Puchi, Yuji Takase and several others contribute to their albums. Scary bunch, since everyone just needs to pitch in 1-2 tracks each to make a killer album.

Addendum to the list below:

SSH (probably the first well-known doujin arranger, though he seems to have a steady composing/arranging job now)
foorai
Akineko
Preludio
Jesus is Dead
A' (the arrangers on Broken Thunder also have several doujin arranges out...Mostly piano arranges)
Hellion Sounds
Tokapon
Phoenix Project
Iwao
+Out of Sight

And also a plug to Coco for selling one of my favorite doujin albums. This is about the price the albums originally retail for:

http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/index.p … em_num=287

Yeah, it's tough to find about all the great doujin albums out there even if you know japanese. Another bad thing is how limited their prints are, so most stores now just have stuff from C69 and 70 plus some non-festival releases, but there's some stuff that only gets sold at Comiket and that's it. That's why I try to grab anything that seems interesting before it's gone. I suppose that's the thrill of the hunt, trying to find something interesting and obtaining it. There's also YAJ for buying doujins, but I'd only recommend it for older albums you can't find anywhere else as the fees make them pricey.

Well, full electronica music will always be easier to do for non profesionals than live instrumentations.

But yeah, it's been a while that Doujin rockers didnt release anything. C70 had no Hellion Sounds, Serenade / ViViX or Toshinori Hiramatsu.

The new Jesus is Dead and LukarDow kinda made up for it, though? (eh GF ? )