CD Collection

蓬莱人形　～ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise

Honestly, there's something very charming about ZUN's music. I don't really know how to put it into words. I suppose it's something you should check out for yourself, as you should with all ZUN's music works. They're kind of otherworldly, but I gues that's a statement that just describes Touhou as a whole. To some, they might sound very video-gamey, but I don't know, it just adds to the charm.

蓮台野夜行　～ Ghostly Field Club

Honestly, Ghostly Field Club really do be ghostly. It gives the vibes of conducting a series of rituals late at night. And now that I think about it, isn't that what the album is actually about? Well, either way, the vibes here kinda neat. You get what's on the label.

夢違科学世紀　～ Changeability of Strange Dream

Honestly, I think out of all ZUN's older music cds, this is probably the one I'd recommend the most. Just because I feel like it has a good selection out of all his work represented here. Even pieces from Seihou are here (I say that as if there isn't Seihou stuff on the previous disc.)

卯酉東海道　～ Retrospective 53 minutes

I don't know what else to say about this album, other than the fact that it's a train ride really fits the whole theme of the album. It feels like a curated tour through ZUN's works, in a way. Much like Changeability of Strange Dream, it's a good sampling of what he's made. However, I feel like it leans a bit heavier on newer arranges of tracks tied to what is now called the First era of Windows Touhou, rather than being more about the original tracks, or newer versions of old pieces. It's still pretty good though.

大空魔術　～ Magical Astronomy

Magical Astronomy kinda the GOAT of ZUN's older CDs. Even if it's not my top recommended, it's definitely my favorite of them all. Lotta good stuff here. Generally like it's vibe, but that might be because the entire premise is a little ridiculous in the sense of them wanting to go on a private tour of the moon. Moon tourism. Possibly run by the Ushiromiyas.

FANATIC HARDCORE RED LABEL

So, I listened to these two back to back, which seems to feel as they're intended to be. I don't really have much to say, other than they're just generally nostalgic. Honestly, not a lot of about them sticks out to me. It's not a bad album, it's just not a phenomenal one either.

FANATIC HARDCORE BLACK LABEL

I feel the same as above with this album as well, but I will say that I prefer listening to this one before Red label. I feel like Just the Death of Us is a great opening to this set of cds. Dunno why, it just starts it off really strong. Unfortunately, between the two of them, I feel it's the strongest track it has to offer.

紅漆紅 ～ Akashic

I remember I picked this one up on a whim. It was a cheap album on Surugaya, and I was like "Yeah, sure. I know who Aramitama is, so I'll chance it." I honestly think it was pretty worth it. I love nonstop albums, and this one's pretty good. I think the only thing I don't like about it is that it comes with the nonstop edit after all the separated tracks, which don't really feel all that separated. It feels a bit redundant.

thE2

Honestly, this album is a lot better than I remember it being. It's a pretty decent sampling of circles all in one place. It has a very "This is a Diverse System" album vibe to it though. As in most of the songs are some form of electronica. IDK, just Diverse things, really. If you like compelation albums, give it a listen.

thE3

The same as the previous one, but this one has a bit more of a unique sampling. Not sure if I'd say I like this one or the previous one more, considering they almost feel like they have different vibes overall. This one has a bit less electronica though, but not by much. Honestly, it's just what the circle does. In all honesty, if you want to start somewhere with Touhou and you don't know where, albums like this are actually the perfect place. Even though I don't have them all listed (considering how I don't own them all), anything by Diverse that says thE kinda goes under this recommendation. It's unfortunate that these albums aren't on spotify, but I'm sure they've been uploaded to youtube, or can be found in other places.

Collapse of the sky

So, honestly, I still really like Yuyoyuppe, but talking about Yuyoyuppe's music is kind of hard. I feel like there's not much to say. If you know his Vocaloid stuff, expect the exact same with his Touhou stuff. I won't lie, I kind of like his other Touhou albums a bit more, but this is the one I have, so I'm talking about it. It's not particularly a bad album, but it feels a bit sparse. Might be due to the run time, to be honest.

bifurcation

This is one of those albums I sought out specifically. I really like aki's vocals. But I feel that should surprise nobody, considering most of the cds I own are almost all vocal tracks. I know that sounds really weird to say. Most people are probably reading this like, "Do you mean 'Song'? Because it's called a song." But Touhou fans tend to group tracks not just based on genre but whether or not they're vocal tracks or instrumental, even if it looks really awkward to say "Yeah I like Electronic Female Vocal Arranges." Either way, this album has one of my favorite arranges of 霊知の太陽信仰　～ Nuclear Fusion, which happens to be one of my favorite themes. So naturally, I had to get it.

±

A lot of times that I see this album on my shelf, my brain just kind of skips over it and goes right to Bifurcation. Dunno why. Listening to it again made me remember how much I actually enjoy it. It's all instrumental, and all based off of the PC-98 Era of Touhou, but that's honestly not a bad thing.

a+jugos

Miku CD. That's pretty much it. It's pretty alright. All Subterranean Animism. I'm not really sure what to say other than this is just one of those CDs where you listen to it, you go "Yeah that was pretty alright," and then you kind of move on. Comes with instrumentals of each track as well, so that's always good. I won't lie though, it's really unfortunate that 2 of the best tracks on here were also given alternate vocal tracks as well, and both of them are just way stronger than the Miku vocal versions.

東方彗麗歌 ～Orbit of Diffusion～

It kind of sucks to listen to an album, especially one where you remember being fond of the circle, and you come out of it and all you can do is say "Ehh." It almost seems mean. However, I'm just going to file this one under another "It's just not for me," and move on. I don't know. Maybe I'll listen to some of their other stuff, because I was honestly thinking of picking up their finale box or whatever it's called. But I suppose I could save a bit of money and put that towards some of the other circles I enjoy a bit more. Like I don't want to make them seem like they're awful, but I think I've kind of grown out of their style of music, perhaps. Also, the reason for 2 banners was because I thought they didn't have one for their album alone and saved their circle's banner, then realized I had it in the rest of my files and just put it up anyways.

星月夜 -ホシツクヨ-

Not sure what to say. I don't have a lot of feelings towards C-CLAYS to be honest. I've listened to them far less than a circle like SYNC.ART'S, but I generally see the two of them as somewhat similar. Like, they fill that same niche of being Touhou Circles focused on feminine vocals without focusing on any particular music style, and thus they dabble in a bit of everything. Though from what I've noticed, C-CLAYS leans a bit more towards electronic vs SYNC.ART's sometimes strays into ballad territory. But like I said, I don't know as much. This album was okay. I don't really know much more to say about it. I bought it because the focus was UFO. That's a common thing with me, to be honest.

ソラとトキと二色のチョウ

Probably one of my favorite CDs I own. I don't know what it is about this one. SYNC.ART's is one of the first circles I got into as well. I think I just happened to stumble into their music. Unlike some of the other stuff I tend to pick up which tends to be all some form of electronica, this circle focuses heavily on feminine vocals. I'd say their stuff leans towards being a miss, but most of the tracks on this album are pretty strong. Everything here is also arranged based off the music collections as well, instead of leaning towards the game tracks instead. Picking a single sample track here was kind of hard, because several of them are really good.

HEART CHAIN

Ok, call me a hater, but this album is just kind of there. It's not the worst, but it also doesn't really stand out. It's kind of what I mean by SYNC.ART'S is very hit or miss. Nothing hops out too much to me. I'm not even really sure why I got this, or if I just ended up grabbing it because it was there and cheap. Overconsumption at it's finest.

TRATRA -EXTRA TRACK-

Well, it's like it says on the label. Or shows I suppose. All arranges of Shou's theme. Comes with a little mini artbook in the pamphlet, which is also really neat. Also, it's a collaboration by a bunch of circles, and that's always fun to see. So if you like Tiger Patterned Bishamonten, this is a decent album to pick up. C-CLAYS kinda steals the show with this one though.

Mountain of Faith ～神々への信仰～

The first time I heard this one, I fell in love with it, to the point that I immediately sought out a copy. Upon listening again, I don't know, it's not bad at all, but it just doesn't hit the same. Does that sound weird? It probably sounds weird. I think part of it has to do that I was listening without my headphones on, which isn't the fault of the album. Still, it generally holds up despite that.

Prunus Subhirtella

I remember picking this up when I was obsessed with MyonMyon. Needless to say, ages later, I just feel a bit "whatever" about it. It's just an okay album. It gets a bit synthy at times, and IDK why, but I'm just not fond of when an album that's supposed to be metal is guitar background with the majority of the actual melody of the track is just synth. It makes it seem like the guitar is tacked on.

東方幻有夢境 ～ depth psychology of unconsciousness ～

A bit synthy at points, but generally a banger. I hate to be like "Oh the synthyness of one album irked me" and then right below it be like "this is also a bit synthy but I forgive this one," because it makes it seem like some days I'm just saying something's fine and the next it's not, but I swear I'm not doing that. Either way, I'm not super into synthy metal when it comes to Touhou but I feel like the guitar & drum work generally carries this to the point it's just not as noticeable.

DARKNESS

Do you like Guitar? Do you like Subterranean Animism's music? Then you will like this. There really isn't a lot to say here, it's just Nazz-can on the guitar doing what they do best.

Also, there is a matching album to go with this one named Brightness that was released alongside it. I don't have it though, but maybe one day I'll be able to pick it up. There's quite a few albums from this circle (and others) that I'd like to get at some point.

TOUHOU YEAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - WHAT'S A HOUTOU? DELICIOUS?

I bought quite a few albums from SBFR in a package, and honestly I picked up the two Touhou ones almost out of some obligation to try and get more Touhou CDs or something. Dunno why, for a long time I really didn't like my purchases, but listening to it again, I feel like these CDs are a really good sampling of what this circle does? Just with Touhou instead of the usual Nintendo based mixes. I don't know what else to say. Generally really unique, generally worth your time, if you can find it. I think these albums are well out of print, but you can pick up stuff on their site pretty easy these days.

TOUHOU RUSH!! -Rushdance in the Groove-

Honestly, this is a repeat of the previous entry. I feel essentially the same towards it, though I feel like the styles here are pretty unique. I wouldn't really know how to categorize these genres. Also, I will say another thing I like is the little medleys that hapi made for these 2 albums. There's always a lot of love packed into these medleys, and it shines through even here in the Touhou albums.

For Your Pieces

Okay, so this will look odd, considering I listened to these albums in reverse order, but just trust me. I listen to things in whatever order I want. But under the Plastik World section, I was saying how the tracks of some of the previous albums didn't flow and like, yeah that's what changed about Minoshima's stuff alright. Stuff here isn't bad but it definitely feels like tracks were plopped in however, with no care for the listening experience. It honestly doesn't make for a great listening experience.

PLASTIK WORLD

I remember when this came out, some people treated it like it was super revolutionary and like Minoshima had never had a good track before that. Honestly, while it's good, I don't think it's that huge of a change in his music style. His change was a slow shift that built up over several albums, and I think people just oversell the album entirely. Dunno, knowing some of his previous albums, I think the worst they had an issue with was feeling like the tracks didn't flow, and in all honesty, this one isn't perfect either.

of memories

I remember not really liking this album but buying it anyways, probably because it was cheap. I distinctly remember specifically only liking the first 2 tracks (those being the intro and how it fades into the proper first track) and nothing else. After listening to it all again, it's not that bad. It's not one of Minoshima's best but it's not as bad as I remember it.

HAUNTED DANCEHALL

Honestly my most played album out of everything here. I don't think I've sought out to buy something so fast after listening to it. I love nonstop albums, and I think the Dancehall series is Minoshima at his best. Would love to own the rest of these physically some day. For now though, I'll just say that most of Alstroemeria Records is on Spotify.

Double Counterpoint

This is one of those albums that I used to constantly put on. The way the track list flows is great. Nothing seems out of place on this one, from start to end. Even the introduction track is great. Either way, if you ever get a chance to listen to it, please do so. If you like vocal tracks, then you'll probably like this. Plus it's AR & Syrufit together. Really can't go wrong here.

SCARLET EYES

Honestly, this was one of the first albums I ever really went looking for. I had known about Touhou for a long time, but I never really knew about the music scene until late '07 when I started getting into Vocaloid. I remember searching for "Touhou Trance" or something lol. Either way, I know a lot of people are kind of mixed on REDALiCE due to the vocals, but IDK, maybe it's just the nostalgia talking but I really like them. If I had to pick a favorite track, it'd probably be Drill Smasher, followed by taboo tears you up. I remember the MV for it got really popular lol.

Also, this album came out not long after I graduated highschool, at Comiket 74. I feel so old, lmao. You should check out the site for this one, and the rest of REDALiCE'S stuff. A lot of the album art gets posted as wallpapers as well.

Crevice

So, I won't lie. This feels less like an ALiCE'S EMOTiON album and more like a HARDCORE TANO*C album that just happens to focus around Touhou. Like yes, you can argue that since REDALiCE leads both circles it's natural that the overlap is going to happen, but I think it's a bit more than that here. Like the styles of both circles just naturally tends to differ. But I suppose his later Touhou albums define the difference a bit more than this one, which is pretty early on. Either way, HT*C albums are kind of a mixed bag in my opinion, so I never know what to feel towards them, and that's kind of how to summarize my feelings here. I'm just drawing a blank.

Chaos Flare

Another album I would lump in as "Just okay." I like the fact that it's Subterranean Animism, and that it ends off with a Nuclear Fusion arrange, but like... I don't have too many strong feelings here. The Miko track feels a bit out of place, but then again, IOSYS kinda dabbles in everything and she's very much one of those singers that's immediately associated with them.

COLORS

A banger. Any album with kz on it is usually a banger. But kz on a Touhou album? Super banger. I love kz. And I love the track he did for this. But I also love this. Everything here is a treat. I love the pacing of this album, how most of the tracks are themed for PCB, and how generally upbeat it is. Also it has Yuyuko on the cover. You can't go wrong with Yuyuko.

Lycoris

Honestly, I kind of think it's one of Redalice's weaker albums. Not a whole lot here really stands out. Dunno, I just don't have all that much to say about it. I feel like it's kinda weird to just leave it like this, but it's like, if I went on any further, it'd just be me essentially writing nothing of value and how I essenitally only liked 2 tracks and not much of the rest, so take that as you will.

Sphere Calibar

I forgot how fun this album was. I dunno, maybe it's because I have such a soft spot for UFO. Well, this entire album is UFO. And most of the tracks here are generally pretty good. I found myself enjoying styles & artists I'm not as keen of on this album, but I still wonder if it's just bias. Either way, lot of vocal work here, and it's all decently upbeat too. So I guess if you like that kind of stuff, check this one out.

Intervention

Could have sworn that I edited this earlier. No worries. Either way, I feel like this is one of those albums I didn't really need to relisten to, because I've listened to it so many times. Honestly, another favorite out of all the albums I've owned. I remember getting this album when it was brand new and it was worth every cent to import. Heavy on the vocal tracks, still really good instrumental tracks when they come up, and generally really good all around. Back around the time of iPods still being relevant, this was always playing on mine. I think it's still on there, as well. Anyways, seek this one out. It's good, and it has gay ghost girls on the cover.

RED

Normally, I don't like to buy compilation albums. I think when I got this, I didn't even realize it was one until later. I just saw it at a really low price, figured it had 3 discs, and said "Okay, I'll do it." Honestly, I don't regret it. It comes in a really nice box, comes with an artbook, and the CDs are themed. First one is vocal compilation, second is instrumental compilation, and the last is completely new. If you're going to pick up anything by REDALiCE, this is probably one of the better picks for his Touhou stuff. Honestly, 5 stars on presentation alone, but the selection isn't bad either.

We Love the Toho Rmxes!

Ohhh, this is a long one. Big ass box of Touhou CDs. Like no joke, this thing has a whopping 10 discs in it, and was sold for a pretty reasonable price as well, that being 3k yen. Definitely worth it in terms of CD count considering it's 9 of their previous CDs and a 10th new one. Later boxes have a bonus disc, the Phantom Tiger No.24 EP included as well, so, lot of music in one place for a pretty good price--At least when it released. I don't think it's that expensive on the aftermarket, but I also haven't really looked in a while. Still, it's kind of a mixed bag. Very chill, easy to put on in the background stuff. Primarily instrumental. But maybe that's why it all blurs together for me. I've seen people say "This is a great place to start if you like Electronica Touhou Arranges" but like, I feel like it's only a good place to start if you're looking to grow a CD collection, not a good place to look to get into Touhou arranges as a whole.

Phantom Tiger No.24 EP

Nothing out of the ordinary here, more Iemitsu. Not really sure what to say past like "Yeah, that sure is an Iemitsu EP." I have no real feelings on it. As for the lack of sample tracks, sorry. Can't find anything on this album (which only has 5 tracks), and even finding Iemitsu stuff on youtube is like pulling teeth.

Endless Festival EP

Not really sure what to say here. I love XL project in general, and Centennial is pretty good. This EP is pretty much just remixes of the same song over and over, with 2 bonus remixes of another song. Pretty good though.

東方鋼鉄組曲

South of Heaven really does know how to do that Symphonic Metal. This is like, the good shit. Really happy to finally get this one, as I think it's easily one of their best. It's a short album based solely on EoSD, and while it's kinda short in the long run, doesn't really matter. Definitely worth the listen, especially if you want a good entrance to Touhou Metal.

THE MEDLEY OF 3PBs RGBY+GSC

Okay, let's be real here. There's one thing you're here for. It's the medley. Easily the show stopper, and everything else here is just bonus. Basically, it's a real good medley. Worth the money to import the album, but too bad it's out of print.

ゴールデン・サン＆シルバー・ムーン

So, this album and the following album are two that I essentially feel pretty much the same about. However, due to the fact that around the time they came out, doujin albums for NTD arranges were pretty much eclipsed by the popularity of doujin game arranges as well as vocaloid stuff, they felt pretty rare. Like yeah sure, you'd still get the NTD & JRPG albums here and there but they were way less in volume. So when I saw Pokemon arranges pop up, I basically bought as many as I could get my hands on, and directly from the SBFR site as well. Generally, I think most of these albums are pretty good, Golden Sun & Silver Moon, as well as the preceeding White Sun & Black Moon, have a huge selection of arranges from different artists, making them more akin to compilations than anything. And it's pretty cool to see. There's a lot of good here, and I think if you can get these albums you should try physically seeking them out. I love a lot of Disc 1's lineup. The vibes here are pretty good.

ホワイト・サン＆ブラック・ムーン

Honestly, this one is just as good, if not better than the previous album. A lot of ethereal sounding tracks on this one. But you should check them both out if you have a chance. As I said previously, the core of my commentary for this and the previous one is pretty much the same, but unfortunately I don't see this one brought up nearly as much as the previous. Unless links have just been taken down. Hapi doesn't even have an official upload on their channel, so I linked a fan upload so it wasn't just the crossfade.

BATTLE CLiMAX

I'm kind of ehh on this album. Probably not the strongest showing of arranges, but they're not bad. In particular, I really like the arrange of Green's Champion Battle theme, but it's just a longer version of the one that was in the first medley to a degree, so, feels expected. Red's Champion Battle theme is also pretty good, and so is Bid Somebody Farewell. But outside of that, unsure how to feel about some of the others.

AD:TRANCE 2

I'm not really sure what to say about these albums. They're generally pretty nice when it comes to how much music you're getting, the amount of discs you get for the price point, and the general presentation of the album. 2 & 3 are pretty similar, and from what I remember of 4, it's also the same but with an extra disc in there. These should all be on Spotify & Youtube if you want to check them out as well, so I honestly encourage that, though they're all listed as compilations instead of having the artist under the circle publishing them, which can make them a bit frustrating to find.

AD:TRANCE 3

Honestly, my commentary here is pretty much the same as above. I think the only thing notable to list here that alongside 3, 3.5 was a thing that was made, as well as a remixes disc. So it almost makes it feel like 3 was a 5 disc collection in 3 parts, but it had 3 different price tags. One day, I'd like to pick up this entire set, so the other 2 are on my goals list alongside the rest of the AD:TRANCE albums.

AD:TRANCE4

If I said I was about to say the same general thing, would you be surprised? No? Well, guess what :)

Jokes aside, I find compilation albums like this super hard to write commentary on. After all, I'm not the best when it comes to identifying genres nor am I super well versed in trance or anything like that. And when you have an album that has a lot of the same stuff, while I wouldn't say it all sounds identical, I would say that after a while, sometimes it becomes a bit hard to tell pieces apart. They're not bad pieces. I just think in general that most of Diverse System's "AD:Genre #" series are really good starting points for these genres and have a pretty good sampling of artists. IDK I just like them. I want to get more of them and in other genres. I've been eyeing the AD:HOUSE series as well, to be honest.

L'aventale

Honestly, I picked this one up on a whim. Probably not my favorite Sakuzyo album out there, but for 2 USD, I figured it was worth picking up. It's not a bad listen though. I haven't read in depth or anything about this particular album but it feels very much more like a concept album or soundtrack moreso than other albums by Sakuzyo.

For a sick boy

It's been a while since I've listened to Yuyoyuppe. Honestly, the last time before that was honestly for this list, which means it's not been too long, but it's also not a short amount of time either. And definitely not his vocaloid stuff, because last time I covered a Yuyoyuppe album that I own, it was a Touhou arrange. Unlike Touhou stuff, I fell off the vocaloid train a bit harder, even though I still generally like vocaloid. Part of me wants to say "oh, they don't make vocaloid like this anymore" but in all honesty, I'm unsure. A lot of stuff goes mainstream way faster, so many people have left the scene, and there's a lot of stuff that goes undiscovered due to to the fact that the algorithm pushes stuff a lot more than not. It feels weak to say "Oh, I just can't find all the new vocaloid stuff as easy as I used to," but unfortunately, that's how it feels these days. Still, I'd love to see styles like this revisited. Either way, I really like Yuppe's very high pitched Luka tuning. I feel like you don't really see that much at all anymore.

ヒストリアス

Unsure why I put off listening to this album again for so long, but here we are. It's not like I'm particularly against this album. In fact, I know it so well that I could say that I didn't even need to listen to it. But I did, for the sake of fairness. ALSTROeMERIA is generally really good, and Lily's vocals are always great. This CD in particular also has AVTechno participating as well, so it's generally pretty unique (Though I'm pretty sure it's just covers of AVTechno songs). I went out of my way to import this one, and it was very worth it.