Anamanaguchi - Miku [Teal]

Anamanaguchi's Miku is a love song for a virtual pop star, sung by the virtual pop star herself, and it arrives here on teal vinyl with a digital download card.

The New York band built its name on chiptune, wiring the sounds of vintage game consoles into hyperactive punk-pop, and in 2016 they wrote "Miku" with Hatsune Miku, the Vocaloid voice turned global icon. That year they opened the North American Miku Expo tour, returning each night to perform the song alongside her for the encore. It became one of their most-streamed tracks and later took on a second life through viral dance videos.

This record gathers nine versions of the song. The original "Miku" is a sugar-rush blast of bright synths and an irresistible hook, and it is joined by a Japanese-language version, an instrumental and "Miku (NES Remix)", which squeezes everything back into 8-bit bleeps. Remixers including LLLL, Carpainter, Ben Aqua, Mino Mino and Lazerdisk pull it into glossier, stranger and clubbier shapes.

Taken together, it is a playful study in how far one great melody can bend before it breaks, and how much fun it is to hear it try.

For collectors of internet pop history and Vocaloid fans alike, it is a bright, joyful artefact.