IOSYS, the usual breeding ground for Nico memes and all sorts of craziness, has released three new denpa-filled albums during R5: Touhou Makashinsai (東方真華神祭) and a two-disc, 27 track collaboration with various artists… entitled Gossun-Remix. As you’ve probably guessed, the two discs (cleverly labeled as Eins and Zwei) contain nothing but remixes of IOSYS’ most (in)famous song: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. Read on to what I think about this denpa overload.
Let’s talk about Makashinsai before moving on to Gossun-Remix.
Veterans of IOSYS (lovers and haters alike) should know what to expect from Makashinsai. It doesn’t set itself apart from any of IOSYS’ previous Touhou remix albums in any way whatsoever, with the subtle distinction that every track on Makashinsai is vocal. Does that make the album any better?
Well, yes and no. The slower tracks on Makashinsai, in particularly “Pray” (Track 1) and “Hourai no Omoihito” (Track 11), benefit from having vocals. It’s clear to me immediately after listening to both aforementioned tracks that they would have been much worse had the vocals been removed. The vocals become the defining feature of both pieces, giving them depth and more flavor. However, the opposite is true for the more denpa-based, faster tracks in this album. “Border of Extacy,” (Track 2) in particular, becomes an earsore after the initial amusement factor wears off, usually halfway during the first playthrough. In fact, most of the faster tracks on Makashinsai are both unoriginal and sometimes downright annoying; off-pitch vocals combined with grating electronic effects isn’t my idea of a good listening experience. Songs such as the previously mentioned “Border of Extacy” are simply skipped when I listen to this album now.
Continuing with their recent trend, IOSYS has chosen to put a few heavier, more metal-esque tracks in Makashisai, to good effect. Both “rock” songs on the album, “Shinjyou no Namae no Shita ni” (Track 10) and “B・E・E・R” (Track 15) sound very solid. While nothing amazing, they represent, to me, an improvement over the more freakishly-happy denpa-inducing tracks that dominate Makashinsai.
So what are my favorite songs? I have two on this album: “Gyouretsu no dekiru Eirin Shinryoujyo” (Track 9) and “Hakurei Jinja Chounaikai Onto” (Track 14). Why? They’re both catchy. They have good rhythm, decent vocals and a melody that simply drew me in upon the first listen. Plus, the flashes released on Nico probably helped.
Ultimately, Makashinsai simply isn’t as good of an album as some of IOSYS’ other Touhou remix albums. While not downright horrid, it’s not spectacular, either. I would recommend it for listening every once in a while, but I won’t be loading this entire album on my iPod anytime soon.
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Now, speaking of denpa, we have the mother of all catchy songs: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. Gossun-Remix is a two-disc collaboration produced by IOSYS, featuring circles such as Cis-Trance, Alstroemeria Records, dBu, Barbarian on the Groove, Innocent Key, and a few others. There are a few remixes done by IOSYS, as well. So, how does this two-disc, 27-track hypnosis device fare as music?
Not bad, actually. The two discs, entitled Eins and Zwei, are both pretty decent, although Eins is clearly the better disc of the two. It may just be personal preference, but since I perfer heavier techno sounds, Cis-Trance’s and Alstroemeria’s remixes of the song were definitely the most memorable and catchy in my mind. To be fair, though, Innocent Key, dBu and Live House S.S.H. all had memorable mixes. It’s extremely challenging to take such a piece of music and transform it into something completely different; as an example, Live House SSH chose to do a heavy metal remix of Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. Ultimately, it worked out extremely well, and the track stands out as one of the best in 27.
Not that disc Zwei didn’t have its golden moments. In particular, Barbarian on the Groove had an especially hilarious remix, featuring a hectic pace and lots of guitar, giving the entire track a slightly latin feel. REDALiCE also had a solid remix utilizing heavy bass and a fast-paced beat.
Of course, where there is good, there inevitably must be bad. A few remixes fell flat on their metaphorical faces. In particular, the first track on Zwei was excrutiatingly painful to listen to, as male vocals and death-metal esque screaming simply don’t work for “Marisa Stole the Precious Thing.” SOUND HOLIC gave a good effort, attempting to remix the track with a more jazzy feel, but it ended up being a bit jumbled and a bit messy, as well as a bit cacaphonic, which didn’t impress me at all. In addition, both of IOSYS’ original remixes of their song didn’t work out too well either; while they didn’t fail to the degree as some of the other tracks did, they weren’t exactly eye-popping amazing in the first place.
Ultimately, no remix on the album is as good as the original track. Something was lost, perhaps the original catchyness of the piece. However, make no mistake: Gossun-Remix works out fairly well as music. My personal recommendation is not to listen to the entire album, but rather, put it in your party shuffle. It’s a pleasant suprise once in a while to hear Barbarian on the Groove’s remix of Marisa Stole the Precious Thing every once in a while, but listening to 27 different attempts to remix the same song in a row becomes a chore very fast. I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed the album, although it definitely has its faults.
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That ends my little rant for (against?) IOSYS and their newly released works at R5. Some may like to claim that IOSYS is now simply attemptoing to milk their own popularity, pointing to Gossun-Remix as evidence. Makashinsai does show a bit of a slump in performance, but I hope they’ll be back with something better once C74 rolls around.
The opinion expressed above is mine and mine only. Don’t blame Gensokyo.org for my ranting.
