THE FIN. FADED LIGHT [VIDEO]

Wow I haven't heard a new song from these guys in ages. Well, actually, this song isn't that new really – in fact it's like a year old. It's just that very recently it's received a video treatment, which does serve to update a song. And it's come at a good time, well, perhaps me writing about it right now has come at a good time since the video's been out a while – The fin.'s debut EP Glowing Red On The Shore, which also includes the song of theirs I wrote about back in May, 'Misty Forest' , and which is out tomorrow (6th December).

The fin. is a Japanese band from I'm not sure whereabouts in Japan. But where they're from doesn't particularly matter: they're good, they sound good, and that's kind of all that matters really. Yep, it's better to be meritocratic about these things rather than operate on a geographical bias. In any case, let's talk about the video. It's a trip around London on a double-decker bus and also a trip into the English countryside, shot to create the illusion of seeming much older than it is – and it works really nicely, having a retro sound themselves, the retro look to the video is the perfect companion to their song, 'Faded Light'.

Moving between the driving stadium-rock-esque sweeps of supremely delayed and reverb guitar first blasted out in the song's intro, and the relatively sparse, indie-summoning verses – where the raw, simple drumbeat joins hands with the basic plucked lines of the bass – 'Faded Light' is an homage to the music of yesteryear. The vocals, coming from The fin.'s singer and songwriter frontman Yuto Uchino, are thin and soaked in a wonderful echo, adding subtle touches of nostalgic emotion to the song in rich layers.

Overall, it's an epic-sounding slice of indie that sounds like nothing else at the moment, nothing that I've heard anyway. It's this mix of old and new with influences from all over the place: vocals that conjure a kind of MGMT-slant on singing and guitar sounds that clang and thrum in ecstatic U2-like handraising numbers. But rather than clashing, its different elements blend into each other like only the sweetest of memories can do.

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OLDTIMER [オールドタイマー] CANARIA [LIVE]

I've been meaning to write about this for a long time but I just haven't gotten round to it. Why is that? Something you feel like you want to do sometimes turns into something you have to do, and I don't work well under obligations, even if they are self-made. It's weird isn't it. A choir of weird. But that's neither here nor there is it now. We can breathe and move on. Time has ticked and that is that.

I first wrote about OLDTIMER at the beginning-ish of this year, after (and about) the release of their My Girl EP. They actually took the time to send me a package with a cute note and a few copies of the CD - all of which were hand-illustrated. Naturally I have a lot of time for them. I heard them first on a live recording of their stuff, which had plenty of energy and noise to it, and this latest song goes in much the same way: energetic and noisy.

What are they? They're a self-described "indie rock band" from Tokyo, but I'd say they're like a shoegazing indie pop rock band. Not much difference I suppose except my definition is more specific. Now, if you can accept that, let's have a listen shall we?

Straight away you're thrown headlong into a high-energy fast-paced belter of a track. The drums gallop ahead, dragging everything behind it, with singer Lilia Masami's pretty vocals floating in the ocean of noise. The guitar has a fantastic sound - this is what I first noticed. It screeches along bending out of tune and creating a sound that is quite gloriously unsettling. Gives it a bizarre alternate-reality surf-rock vibe. Listen to it though. Great guitar, really. Leaves you reeling in the spaciest of ways.

The bassline is pretty magnificent, too, let's be honest. Against the noisy screams of the guitar, its smooth sound and complex notes give the song a jolly upbeat background. A piece of pop against a noise-art installation or something. The "doo-doo-do-do" vocals do something similar as well, as do the vocals in general, giving the song a pop feeling and contrasting with the un-pop guitar. Lovely. I had a feeling that they'd get even better, and they have.

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Listen to OLDTIMER on Soundcloud
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SCSCS SOCCER LIVE

These guys are experimental math rock band scscs from Japan. As much as these are good at what they do, with their precise and quirky melodies, it would be interesting to hear a better quality, more polished recording than those found on their Myspace. Though filled with humble charm, their intricate sound I think may sound better with more attention paid to production.

I don't know much about them, so production aside, I love their sound. Funk math? I don't know what to call it, but from the tight drumming to the twanging start-stop guitars, it's unique stuff, more of which could be hiding out there somewhere, or waiting in the future. They might not be well-known, but they are certainly worth a look. Trawl the web to find out more about them.

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