Livetune Makes the Most of Hatsune Miku

by 26 Comments

I discovered a great band this week and they are called Livetune. We’ve done posts about Hatsune Miku and her Vocaloid powers before, but I’ve never really enjoyed the songs she was featured in. Until now. Their songs are upbeat, catchy, and make some of the best usage of Vocaloid technology in my opinion.

For those of you unfamiliar with Vocaloids, they’re basically software that people can use to produce vocals. You type in the words and the note and the pitch and all that jazz and just like that you have a professional singer belting out your catchy lyrics. There are many different Vocaloids, but Hatsune Miku is hands down the most popular. If you want to learn more about them and how they will one day conquer the known world, you can read more about them in my post here, or Koichi’s post here.

But anyway, Livetune formed in 2007 and have been making catchy electro J-pop ever since. So far they have one regular album, one remix album, and a single CD that just came out earlier this week. I really enjoy their work and I hope you will too.

Hatsune Miku at Her Best

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqJNc9KVIZE']

Unfortunately this is the only official PV (promotional video) that Livetune has out for their tracks. It’s also the song that was released on single earlier this week and featured in a Japanese Google Chrome commercial. Not bad, eh?

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh0dqDK9yEM&feature=relmfu']

This song’s a bit more chill and laid back than the others but I still think it’s pretty good. And by chill and laid back I mean as compared to the other Livetune tracks.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62uUZqz0Z8&feature=relmfu']

I like this song. It makes me happy. I never really had anything against Vocaloids before, I just didn’t think that the music going along with their singing was that great (most of the time). I think Livetune does a great job implementing Miku’s vocals into their songs.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5kUd72R_tg&feature=relmfu']

Livetune used to be a two man gig (Kz and Kajuki P) but Kajuki P ended up leaving the group in March of 2009. You can check out Livetune’s Last.fm page here.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6mMMYSqlM4&feature=relmfu']

This song is definitely more chill than the other ones. I’m not really a huge fan of it myself but I figured I should share it anyway for those who like slower more laid back songs such as this. I like the music just fine, but I think the Vocaloid voice just isn’t the greatest choice for this sort of tune. What do you think?

Remixes

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7509SHAozs&feature=relmfu']

Livetune even does remixes! I really like this one a lot. Electro J-pop remixes are always a good thing. The above song is probably my favorite out of the three I included here.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DK5NhcXEps&feature=relmfu']

Orinially, Livetune was signed with Victor Entertainment (the same label as Sakanaction) but recently made the switch to Toy’s Factory in 2012. You can also check out Livetune’s official site over at Livetune.jp.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phlv8x2Tosg&feature=relmfu']

I’m not sure if they have any other remixes floating around somewhere but these were the best ones I could come up with. Which remixed track do you like best?

Full Length Album

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DePHBA0raeM']

Remember that remix album I mentioned earlier? Well here it is in its entirety. Listen! Enjoy! I’ve yet to check out the original, un-remixed album, but I usually like remixes better than the original songs anyway. How do you like it?

I also enjoy the heavy play on words for the name of this album. It’s called Re:Mikus. You can take it a couple ways – like, a reply to all Mikus, or read it as “remix” with a Japanese accent (remikusu). Pretty clever, huh?

So, have any of you heard of Livetune before? Whatcha think? Have any other favorite bands that make good usage of Vocaloid talents? Share in the comments!

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!

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  • TenaeTaylor

    I do agree that Last Night, Good Night wasn’t the best choice for a Vocaloid and should have been sung by a person but it’s still a great song!

  • Mescale

    To get the best out of a vocaloid takes a lot of tweaking and experience, also if your music is crap the vocaloid won’t save it.

    I recently picked up a CD Electric Love, which has some good songs on.

    Sweet Devil I like.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfCMrtCGxA 

    Also Electric Love

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YnoAjovdzc 

    And some random stuff.

    Kaai Yuki
    Disco Chocolate

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8HhQIs18Q4 

    Megurine Luka
    Corruption Garden

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFf958rdfgY 

    Its hard to know what ground to cover there is all the really popular ones, you’ve probably already heard, and I assume you don’t like, like Sweet Magic, Gravity = Reality, Bad Apple, etc. 

    That said its not like I have a good taste in music, so it could be I just made you listen to really bad things.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/S2AC2WEJ46RIBHCC5MSWDRTGRM Julia

    OH DEAR GOD IT’S SO CATCHY!!!

    It will be the end of us all.

  • http://twitter.com/Ball_Tazer Michael

    OMG JOHN! I LOVE LIVETUNE TOO! You really have nice taste in music.

  • Ash28

    This is really good :D … but I’m still hooked on Sakanaction

  • JatinChittoor

    just got the “Tell Your World EP” love the tracks!!!

  • Julian Gregor

    Like metal or more heavier songs and vocaloid then check out yuyoyuppe/
    ゆよゆっぺ  he is a niconico singer and makes vocaloid albums as well, mostly using Megurine Luka which sounds pretty damn awesome
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDgRSxkxHz0 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9A8g_Jzgs&feature=related 

  • Chrispowell86

    I’m sorry but this is some of the worst music l’ve ever heard. ‘World Order’ on the other hand…

  • http://twitter.com/_amywheeler Amy Wheeler

    I don’t really like Hatsune Miku stuff… but I flipping adore Gumi.  This was my first Gumi song:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X17i0K5gc3g

  • Tiffany

     It’s pretty good for Miku but I wouldn’t say it’s her best. Try Mitchie M’s “Freely Tomorrow” or “Eazy Dance.”

  • CelestialSushi

    I’ve totally heard of livetune before! :D In fact, does anyone else want to join me in bugging the American iTunes store to get more of livetune’s music?  They recently added “Tell Your World”, but I really want them to get the “Re:package” album, as well as the song “Yellow”.  Great stuff, great stuff… thanks for writing this article ^_^

    Also, if you haven’t heard of her, there’s an artist on YouTube called rockleetist, who does English covers of Vocaloid songs, including a few songs by livetune (I also like some of EasyPop’s music; he did “Happy Synthesizer”, which I love :D)

  • mrquadrant4

    There are a lot of Producers (Vocaloid users) with a similar style to Livetune although kz’s style is rather distinct in how he uses Miku.  It’s almost like his signature.

    Here’s a very small sample of other Producers with a tendency towards an electropop style.  Most of these producers have consistently had songs that reach the top 30 in the Weekly Vocaloid Ranking.

    19s Sound Factory aka Sweets(lol)-P (スイーツ(笑)P)
    Aruka-P (あルカP) aka MSATOSHI
    Capmira-P (キャプミラP) aka CaptainMirai (キャプテンミライ)
    EasyPop
    Hachiouji-P (八王子P) aka 8#Prince
    Daniwell-P (daniwellP)
    emon(Tes.)   [Note: the whole name is "emon(Tes.)"]
    EZFG
    HSP aka Hanasoumen-P (鼻そうめんP)
    Kofun-P (古墳P)
    Lamaze-P (ラマーズP)
    Misoshiru-P (味噌汁P)
    Output-P (アウトプットP)
    samfree
    Sasakure-P (ささくれP) aka sasakure.UK
    Sevencolors(Nana)
    Toku P (とくP)
    Treow aka ELECTROCUTICA
    U-Ji aka Reichourui-P (霊長類P)
    Uramanbou aka Ie_no_Ura_de_Manbou_ga_Shinderu-P (家の裏でマンボウが死んでるP)
    Utata-P (うたたP) aka t.Komine

    If you put their Japanese P names in () along with オリジナル as search terms in YouTube, you’ll have a good chance of finding many of the reposted original videos from Nico Nico Douga.

  • John

    Oh well! Different strokes for different folks. World Order is good stuff though.

  • Xaetic

    Livetune is my favorite! You have a good music taste! 

  • worm

    I’m not a electro fan but I liked some of the songs. Thanks for introducing me to this inner part of me :D

  • John

    Awesome, thanks for sharing all these – I’ll definitely have to check them out later.

  • John

    No problem, glad you enjoyed :)

  • John

    Awesome! Thanks, I’m surprised I didn’t learn of them sooner.

  • John

    Oh, cool – I’ll definitely have to check these out – thanks.

  • John

    Haha, great – glad to hear it.

  • John

    The Vocaloid forces are slowly gathering momentum D:

  • John

    This… is a very strange combination, haha

  • NinjaLorenzo

    I was already a big fan of Miku, but from now on Tell Your World will be my no. 1 favorite. Thanks for showing me! :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1092450533 Bianca Sanchez

    Thanks for always recommending great music. Quite catchy for a vocaloid ^_^

  • Cat

    The best song is SPiCa, imo, and favourite band is either supercell or livetune :3

  • Cat

    Try searching for choucho! Her last night good night is amazing ^_^