Fan Music

I legitimately think that Touhou and well, the Touhou fan community is best known for one thing in particular. Music. It’s one of the single most easiest things to just stumble upon and just to get into. Listening to a random song and it being a Touhou remix, a popular meme song that is one or even just listening to a Youtuber and well... Touhou music.

But that’s also the major thing. That is often a small selection of what these is. The tip of the iceberg as it was- Hell, often these songs are a mere drop in the ocean of the total works out there.

So. I’ll be using the term "circle" a whole bunch in this. This term is shorthand for "Doujin Circle", which is often the group behind the specific work. While "band" can work, often circles do intermingle a hell of a lot more and can often include supporting members who aren’t musicians.

Where do you get these?

So. Much like other fanworks. Getting physical versions of fan made music is on the hard and easy side. While that is a paradox of a statement, there is a reason why I have the personal term of "Holy Grails" for fan works and a good few of them happen to be albums.

I would personally consider the most... "Popular" one these days for a large amount of artists, primarily Japanese based ones producing physical copies, is Booth. I’ve mentioned that it functions a bit like Etsy but for music? It’s actually a bit more advance than one would think. As it is entirely possible to get both physical and digital off the store with some storefronts even offering both in the same purchase.

And once more, I bring up Melonbooks. As yes. While the name might make you think they only handle the doujinshi side of things, they actually do handle music as well. And much to my annoyance, even have their own dedicated label which has compilation albums that can have unique recordings of songs.

And your usual second-hand dealers are often rather good for getting older circles or albums that are out of print. I often use Mandarake and Yahoo Auctions/Shopping to find most of them.

But what about the digital side? Considering that I’m on the slightly more weird side for wanting the majority of my collection being physical. There are a good few circles that are purely digital alongside it’s often easier these days to get into circles via digital means.

Well. Bandcamp. It might seem a bit of a no brainer but even on the Japanese side, it’s starting to become a bit more of a common sight to see every so often. And while it does have a method to handle physical media, it’s not in the similar way that Booth does.

And uh... Well. A large amount of circles do also have a presence on video platforms. Such as Youtube, NicoNico and Bilibili. However, in this day and age, Youtube has become the default for a lot of them. And while some do have a presence on streaming sites like Spotify and digital storefronts like Amazon and Apple Music, often it’s the larger circles or ones with a bit more of a presence.

Recommened Music

My bias for things is arguably best shown in music. As while I do listen to a lot of genres, a lot of my favourites, which in turn, do influence what is both recommended and what is often what I do love. So, do expect a lot of rock and metal influenced tracks and circles in what I recommend. However, if you just want some other sources to find songs.

There is the online radio station and Podcast hoster, Gensokyo Radio. What Gensokyo Radio showcases is a bit similar to what I enjoy, however has a bit more varied selection alongside having a full showcase of the albums and circles that they showcase.

If you’re a bit more knowledgeable on your Touhou characters or are just looking for a specific genre, then using TouhouDB may help. While it falls into the same trappings of the Touhou Wiki, in being a fan driven project of cataloguing music. It does, however, have a more accurate list of releases than the Wiki. Best example being that the Wiki doesn’t have all the releases of 9bFOX, compared to TouhouDB.

However, if you legitimately just want a random song every day and still have a Tumblr. Go give Rus over on Touhou Tunes a follow. Or hell, just go look though his blog. As he just posts a different track every day, some recommended by the community. Meaning there is often a wide range of different tracks and albums featured.

Circles

A lot of these circle recommendations are often ones that I listen to quite often and do have at least some physical copies if possible. If not, I’ve got their music in some fashion.

SOUND HOLIC

hatsunetsumiko’s

Silver Forest

Holmgang Ov Gensokyo

Right. Holmgang ov Gensokyo is rather complex to talk about. While a lot of the circles I talk about are often created to be the "band" of sorts for some artists, often then making others to diversify their ranges and the like. Holmgang ov Gensokyo isn’t fully that. HoG is self described as a sampler of metal. And well, yeah it is that. Basing itself off the Barrage Am Ring circle, a similar project with a similar goal. Holmgang ov Gensokyo showcases metal artists on an international scale with their yearly releases. And while there are a few returning ones, the majority of artists on the albums are new artists that aren’t featured on prior ones.

The project itself is helmed by ArmpitMaiden whom also helms the circle Maiden’s Cappricio. And yes, name purposely chosen. With common collaborators on the albums being Yumi Sakata and Realmweaver. All are fantastic artists on their own.

If you're looking for recommendations. This is where it gets a bit tricky for me. As I legitimately do love a lot of the albums. However, I do recommend Night Festival of Ten-Thousand Demons by ArmpitMaiden and Realmweaver. It's a three part song spanning nearly 14 minutes

Katikatiyama

Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets

ParaDot

UNDEAD CORPORATION

Knife

Shinra-Bansho

A-ONE

Diao ye zong

Fractrick

IOSYS

Butaotome

Foreground Eclipse

Kairo

TUMENECO

Akatsuki Records

CLOCKWORKS TRACER

flap+frog

Pizuya's Cell

COOL&CREATE

SOUTH OF HEAVEN

Laz

Mille Oculos

Tokyo Active NEETs

Yuuhei Satellite

However, there are times where while I don’t fully "vibe" with the sound of a circle. I do feel that there is a standout track in their works.