The racket that greets our entrance into Shibuya NEST is being generated by a trio of skinny young men in tight t-shirts, apparently called After School Session. It's largely instrumental garage rock, like what they used to make when God was a boy and it were all rice fields where that multi-storey whorehouse now squats. They gain points for the guitarist's "Who the fuck is Mick Jagger?" t-shirt but all too often their exuberance and musical ambition are just one step ahead of their talent and they leave us feeling a bit flat.

Floating onstage at the head of an icy breeze come Buddhiston. Superficially bearing the trappings of emo (low-slung guitar, bass player who doesn't look at the audience, dreadlocked drummer), that they manage to transcend the limitations of their genre is due in large part to Takuya Shima's sweet, sweet vocals - which, combined with Yumi's subtle, yet highly effective keyboard flourishes, gives the music the pop edge that many of their contemporaries lack. Perhaps they rely a touch too much on Yumi's keyboards to give the songs texture where the interplay between the dual guitars could be better employed, but for emo kids looking for a more soulful, uplifting take on their angst, new album "Yes, But I'm Alive" could well be worth a look.

The whoops and yells that greet FAR and they shamble onstage contrast starkly with their unprepossessing indie-casual attire but, to start out with at least, they make a pretty good case for deserving the acclaim. The way they keep the same tempo throughout the first song and just send the guitars spiraling over and over the metronomic drum pattern has us kicking ourselves for our lazy clothes-ism but soon enough the white t-shirts and jeans start to show through and despite a strong rally at the end - down largely to some sterling drum-control - their powerful guitar offensive sounds like a lot of fuss over nothing. -Ian Martin, May.15.04