Just like regular music, only free.

About 80 people packed into Shibuya's O-Nest on Friday night to enjoy the latest in the ongoing adventures of Saya and Takashi Ueno, AKA Tenniscoats. Supported by a mixed bag of similarly-minded groups, the pair finally took to the stage with the kind of accidentalism that makes their albums such an intimate experience. Professionalism is obviously no concern of theirs; the mostly seated audience were treated to a largely improvised set, feeling more like friends at an impromptu Ueno party than paying punters at one of Tokyo's better known live houses.

An evening of great performances got underway with a stellar set from 4 Bonjour's Parties - a little-known 7-piece that deserves to go on to great things (surely being signed to US label, Mush, will help matters). Imagine Nick Drake's instrumental tracks played by a woodwind trio over driving electro-acoustic beats and you'll be some way towards understanding what they're about. Their next gig, also at O-Nest, is on June 6th. Just go.

Nhhmbase followed, playing a less-than-usually-energetic set, complete with bar stools, that showed off their prog mastery of seemingly unprecedented time signatures (it's all done with mirrors, I assure you). In other hands, this stuff would be a bit too up its own arse to be interesting, but Mamoru's vocal gymnastics are a thing to behold. His obvious love of performing is infectious, too, and you come away with the impression that he's still tapping away at the rhythms in his head long after the institution lights have been put out.

Of course, the same can be said of Tenniscoats, who seem to have the energy of 50 musicians, let alone 2. TADA Music chatted with Saya before the gig and she explained that, along with Oneone (her side project with Deerhoof's Satomi), she's also currently mixing the new Tenniscoats/Pastels album. Presumably alone, as Takashi - her modtastic husband - is currently seeing to the release of a new solo album via the Room40 label, as well as performing with the Tenniscoats-esque Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi. Their performance here tonight did enough to put everyone in a suitably horizontal mood. Those who had been up for nhhmbase dosed heavily on KKKK's brand of aural heroin, and settled in for dreams to come.

A Tenniscoats set is a lesson in how to appear unprepared, but you won't hear anyone demanding their money back. Unlike "professional" Japanese bands, the pair spend as little time chatting between songs as possible, and the few words they do say seem to be prompts - hints reminding each other, and their band, which song they've just started. Of course, the lack of planning allows the band to stay on their toes, which is why they've successfully scaled the heights of the Japanese improv scene. Takashi's face is a constant study in bemusement. He's obviously not happy to play a song the same way twice, and you get the impression he's not even happy to play it on the same instrument twice, either. He frequently drops his trusty Fender in favor of a battered sax, an array of harmonicas, a ring-modulator, and - notable this evening - a bugle, any one of which is guaranteed to tease Saya out of her concentration.

This paints a Tenniscoats gig as a jazz event of sorts, which it undoubtedly is, though without the pomposity you might associate with that. Midway through the set, Kabaddi Kabaddi's drummer is brought back onstage to play a game of musical shiritori, which he soon spills out into the audience - even TADA Music has a go, though the results are desultory. Towards the end of the set, the sharply dressed Takashi breaks out into the most goofy dance routine this side of the 50's - hard to imagine Paul Weller doing anything similar. In many ways it is jazz, but I don't remember jazz ever having been this fun.

The show ends in a similarly spontaneous way: Takashi thinks the gig's over, Saya's not sure. Their dutiful band kicks up a rock'n'roll figure, and Takashi reluctantly comes back to duet with his wife on a Japanese standard that delights the older members of the audience. And then it's over. We all know it's over because Saya quickly calls a post-gig band meeting in the shallow wings, in full view of the audience. It's hard to know how she feels about the performance, but one gets the distinct impression that appearing this unready takes a lot of hard work.

Tenniscoats are featured on our free download, TADA Sampler Volume Four. Click here for more information.

The current Tenniscoats tour touches down at Umeda Shangrila, Osaka, on June 15th, playing support to meteoric wunderkind, Shugo Tokumaru. Catch the same event at Club Upset, Nagoya, on the 16th, and Shibuya O-West, Tokyo, on the 17th. The 'Coats join forces with Deerhoof for an amazing event up at Bessie Hall, Sapporo, on the 18th, before bringing the current run to an end at Weird Meddle Record, Sapporo, on the 19th.