In a team-up that will make perfect sense to some and baffle the rest, Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku is going on tour with Anamanaguchi, a band fronted by a hacked Nintendo Entertainment System.
For those in the "baffled" category, Hatsune Miku is a digital persona created by Crypton Future Media for its line of Vocaloid-powered voice synthesizers, while Anamanaguchi is a New York-based chiptune band. (Or music makers that hack various retro game consoles and cartridges to make their sound.)
Vocaloid software can create fully-vocalized music tracks by simply plugging in melodies to a backing track, leading to a user-created discography that's estimated to include over 100,000 songs.
Popularity of the voice synthesizer aside, Hatsune Miku has become an internet celebrity herself, appearing in hologram form, Tupac-style, to open for Lady Gaga and appear on The Late Show alongside a bewildered David Letterman (see above).
Despite the computerized celebrity having no corporeal form, real-life bodies have been filling up seats to see Miku's official North American tour starting this April, with the Mexico City stop of the tour already sold out.
Anamanaguchi, who announced their collaboration with the Vocaloid star today, will be performing in every US city participating in the tour.
On top of being one of the leading names in chiptune music, creating songs with modded NES cartridges backed by guitars and drums, Anamanaguchi has also successfully funded an album on Kickstarter and launched a slice of pizza into the final frontier (see below).
Given the New York band's affinity for Japanese pop music (or J-Pop), on top of their catchy tunes, the pairing of Hatsune Miku and Anamanaguchi simply makes sense for fans of happy, upbeat or simply tech-driven music.
If the eclectic, electric crossover holds appeal to you, tickets are still available online through the Hatsune Miku Expo's web page, and while attendees have been told that glowsticks that don't interfere with Hatsune Miku's hologram technology are allowed, space pizza will more than likely not be allowed on the premises.
