I don't think I have the power do this through a web site such as Clear And Refreshing but if the Japanese government has some kind of Legion D'Honneur award then I'd like to nominate whoever it was who decided that tonight would be a free bar. And it's tripping on such good vibes that I enter to see Marshmallow Parachute careering and crashing around the stage like drunken Turks with matching pudding-basin haircuts. In fact, in terms of hair and moves it's a pretty good pointer towards the kind of alt-rock antics that tonight is going to provide.

All-girl punk band Hachimitsu Doki step up next and valiantly attempt to drag this much-abused genre kicking and screaming out of the creative gutter where their cheap, Blink 182-influenced peers have left it for dead. That they are successful in this is largely due to their volatile, fractious guitar stutters, feather boas, and the Go! Go! 7188 type enka stylings which occasionally poke their nose in round the edges. It's unpredictable, colourful and always one step to the side of convention.

I'm running out of ways to describe just how good The Students are. If they haven't already hit it big then it's not for want of songs, character or sense of humour. Tonight they jump right in with the fast songs and just don't let the momentum slip. Akiko is rocking a kind of Avril Lavigne meets Kim Deal look and Tetsurou just lurks behind the drum kit grinning sheepishly and absorbing the catcalls from the by now exceedingly merry audience. Like all great stars it seems like the less he does, the more attention he gets. If I had to criticize, I'd say that what they lack, compared to other bands tonight, is that little bit of technical spit and polish to make the A&R men sit up and take notice.

Last up then are tonight's curators; Water Skater. The 1980s dB's haircuts and Buddy Holly glasses are out in force and before they even play a note you just know they're going to sound like Weezer. Which they do. The mixture of melodic guitar lines and slow-motion thrashy bits is a well-worn formula but when such classic components are arranged with such love, care and attention it's impossible not to be won over. -Ian Martin, Apr.25.04