M3-24 Info Dump: Oriental, Exotic, & Special Interest

I realize I'm way behind on this, so I'll try to catch up on everything before C77.

Lotus root Orchestra - monophobia

A curious mixture of rockish ballad, stately traditional music, and folk song. The result turns out to be quite interesting. The highlight of the single is the duet between Nakae Mitsuki (中恵光城) and Ataiwadareka (あたいわだれか) in track 3.
http://yk.cage.to/index.html

MiddleIsland - Uragiri no Sabaku, Hitori Hakuchuumu (裏切りの砂漠、ひとり白昼夢)

The fiery passion of tango and flamenco as the castanets clap away and the piano runs wild, it evokes the image of the capricious Gyspy, Carmen. Sparks are flying everywhere as Nakajima Misaki's (中島岬) instrumentation and Murasaki's (紫) voice dance and duel like no one's business. This is musical consummation at its best.
http://www.middleisland.net/

mimei - Utsuro no Chou no Mekakushi Oni (虚の蝶の目隠し鬼)

Taishou aesthetics is mimei's trademark, but in this album mimei has taken a step away from the Japanese flair. Closed and restrained, combined with asakusa-kitan's (浅草稀譚) murmur-like, repressed singing, it is a suspenseful mystery in the confines of a half-Japanese, half-western mansion, reflecting the ambiguity and the contradition of the era.
http://totsu-kuni.net/

Riku Hayama + YuNa + Sentive - RE:SENTIVE

A compilation album of Sentive's past collaboration with vocalists Hayama Riku (葉山りく) and YuNa (遊女). Sentive is a circle renowned for producing doujin game music, as well as providing free music material online. If you ever play doujin game, either shareware or freeware, you might come across the name in the credit. As for the vocalists, YuNa and Hayama Riku have a similarly deep, mature voice which blends well together.
http://fatamorgana.jp/

Dolphin Time (Hayama Riku) - Budoudattawa

Riku describes this mini album as "nostalgia for the Showa era [1926–89]", combining both rock and blues. The aftertaste is more 80-ish (with a shadow of early 90s) and pop-ish, but in a good way.
http://www.rikkun.net/