Piko (ピコ) to release a new single in April 2012

Piko (ピコ) is a Japanese male singer who first came to fame through the Japanese equivalent of Youtube, NicoNicoDouga by posting cover songs. Piko also provided his voice for the Vocaloid Utatane Piko. Piko has a rare talent of being able to sing in both masculine and feminine vocal tones, see for example Piko - Nisoku Hokou and Piko & Sekihan - Cendrillon (the female-like voice is Piko, yes, the high notes at the beginning too! :3). 

Piko has released so far two albums and four singles. He will add to his collection of singles on April 25, 2012 when he will release his 5th single called「咲色リフレイン」（エミイロリフレイン）(Emiiro Refrain). 

This single was produced by L'arc en Ciel's bassist TETSUYA. This is TETSUYA's first time producing music for another artist. This single is a bonus for Piko because he is a huge fan of the Japanese rock band L'arc en Ciel.

TETSUYA expressed his hopes that everyone will enjoy the new song by Piko. He commented that Piko's wide vocal range allowed him to produce a beautiful song, and that he is happy with the final product.

Piko said that he never imagined to be able to work with TETSUYA, let alone sing a song he wrote. It has been reported that Piko has given this song his very best effort.

"Emiiro Refrain" will be sold in three versions, a limited edition, regular edition, and a limited time offer edition.

Source: http://natalie.mu/music/news/66402

Vocaloid Laboratory (ボーカロイド ラボラトリー)

Vocaloid Laboratory is a compilation album (released in 2011) of very well known Vocaloid songs which are covered by human voices. The tracklist includes:

• Double Lariat (Original: Luka)
• Mozaik Role (Original: Gumi)
• Butterfly on Right Shoulder (Original: Len)
• Eh? Aa, sou (Original: Miku)
• Nisoku Hoko (Original: Miku)
• Sweet Devil (Original: Miku)
• Fire@Flower (Original: Len)
• ...plus many more.

The singers of this album include:

実谷なな, ヲタみん, レナ, GARNiDELiA, 吉河順央, 霧島若歌, MARiA, ゼブラ, ささかまリス子, 宮崎りゅう，斉藤総助，森永明治 from AIZEN, リツカ, ef.

Personally, I don't recognise these singers other than Rena.

Why I like this album: The producers of this album have spiced up the original songs by making them more rock-ish and electronic by adding heavier percussions. For several songs they turn it into 'pop' and Jazz style. The heavier beats encourages me to dance when I listen to the songs. The real human voices give me more "feeling" towards the songs I'm very familiar with because the human singers put emotion when they sing the songs, as opposed to just the Vocaloids singing the words.

One song I wasn't too impressed with was the cover of Nisoku Hoko (二息歩行). I thought that they set the tempo too fast, and that they over emphasized the back beat of the song,. It was as if they were forcing out the guitar chords, drowning out the vocals. To me Nisoku Hoko is meant to be a relatively sad, but at the same time a happy song. It is a song about growth, love and hurt. The increased tempo made me lose the sad feeling of the song and the singer gave me the feeling of happiness, not the kind of sadness one feels regarding departure. Personally, I like the cover of Nisoku Hoko that Piko (or even Valshe) did instead (Will post another blog about Piko and Valshe soon! :D).

The album art depicts two girls sitting on a black and white checkered floor with one side covered in broken clocks and moss and the other side blossomed over with flowers. One girl appears to be a fairy with a broken wing and is holding a violin. While the other girl, presumably human, is holding a cello. It seems to me that the artist is saying that music can have both a beautiful side and a not so pure side. It all really depends on the person making the music and on the listener.

Overall, I give this album 9 out of 10 . This album is definitely going on my favourites list, and it will be one album I'll play when I have friends over.

Miku 39 Concert 2012 Review

Overall, it was an exceptional concert. Great songs, great musicians accompanying the Vocaloids: Miku, Luka, Rin, Len, Kaito and Meiko, and great graphics.


Personally I prefer day 1, the audience seemed to be more energetic in Day 1, and I may also be biased because Kaito sung on day 1 too. But Day 2 songs were much "better", in the sense that they were more catchy and famous songs.

Kaito singing Pane Dhriria.

I totally screamed when Kaito came out! I also fangirled when Rin and then Len sang respectively Daughter of Evil and Servant of Evil. Even more so when Len sang Fire@Flower. Miku wore this really pretty white princess dress when she sang Melt. It certainly made my heart melt, she looked so cute in it.
They gave Miku six pure white wings when she sang Hatsune Miku no Gekishou - a perfect angel.


Luka's performance was terrific. I loved her songs: Double Lariat, Luka Luka Night Fever - especially her dance, and RIP=Release.
When Rin came on stage with Kokoro and Iroha Uta I had a big smile over my face, I really fell in love with her outfit.

Miku singing Hatsune Miku no Gekishou.

Day 2 opened with livetunez's Tell Your World. I thought that was very well planned and appropriate considering all the promotion with MikuXGoogle lately.
Poppipo (English ver) was sung on Day 2, and Miku wore an American style cheerleader outfit. It wasn't my favourite outfit, more so that it just wasn't "Miku".
But then straight after was Romeo and Cinderella, and her outfit was amazing! I loved it! I want to have an exact same dress. It made Miku look so mature. Her dance steps for R&C was very sexy and seductive.
The jazz version of UraOmote Lovers was awesome. I love Wowaka's songs.
I preferred the original version of Moon rather than the jazz style which was played at the concert.


One thing that made me disappointed was that whenever Miku sang really high notes (like in World is mine, Moon) they dampened and dimmed her voice, so it was more like a whisper of a high note, rather than an impactful sound.
The choreograph for The disappearance of Hatsune Miku was very beautiful. Especially at the end when Miku "disappears", she literally shatters in pieces of red fragments.
I'm not a real fan of Meiko and I think that her character animation at the concert could've been better. She just seemed too stiff when she was dancing. I guess same could be said about Kaito. But it's the first time that these two characters appeared at a Vocaloid live.

Our princess Miku singing Melt.

I loved Len's outfit for Butterfly on Right Shoulder. His jacket looked so cool. But then I'm a shouta-con, so I'd fall in love with him easily.
Luka's Day 2 outfit was pretty sexy - leather jacket, leather mini skirt, black stockings and black military style boots.
Jazzed version of Magnet? Yes pur-lease!! I want a recording of this version! The only thing I found strange were the shoes that Luka and Miku were wearing. I didn't think it fitted with the Japanese style dress they had on.
Then followed Wowaka's World End Dancehall. I was very happy that another Wowaka song made it into the concert. This song was full of hip shaking from Miku and Luka ;), and very cute outfits.

The pianist/keyboardist - Jun Abe was really professional. Also, on Day 1 OSTER came up and played with Miku, LamazeP also played his harmonica when Miku sang Poppipo. It was very exciting to see the faces of the people who created some of my favourite songs.

Finally, I wish I was at the concert live. Hopefully one day the Japan music industry will ship some bands/vocaloids over here to Australia and have a concert. Because then, no matter what the price I will definitely go!