In its first week, the Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo has treated local audiences to a wide gamut of sounds, from hip-hop to deep house to noise, while keeping the capital's billboards comprehensively smothered in advertising. The two-day EMAF Tokyo (Electronic Music of Art Festival), held under the auspices of the academy last weekend, offered an opportunity to take stock, catch performances by a few RBMA participants, and ponder an awkward question: Could all that promotional muscle convince listeners to drop ¥6,000 on a lineup of largely unfamiliar names?

It's no coincidence that the most expensively priced gig happening during the RBMA was also its most patchily attended. While Saturday's event managed to pack in a decent crowd, lured by the likes of Luke Vibert and Lone, on Sunday the venue had the forlorn feel of a seaside resort during the off-season — or, worse, a music industry trade show. It didn't help that the organizers of established electronic fest Taico Club were throwing a party of their own in Shibuya on the same day, competing for the attention of an already select audience. But the lack of well-known Japanese acts on the bill also probably put a dent in the attendance figures (even if it spared us some of the milquetoast main-stage offerings seen at EMAF last year).

Aside from DJ sets by Ametsub and Tomad, the only homegrown artist who merited a slot in the main room this year was producer Kyoka, and she proved to be one of the highlights. Maybe it helped that she was playing earlier in the day, making it easier for her to shrug off the demand for something vaguely danceable. Bobbing around onstage to a rhythm that wasn't always immediately apparent, she maintained the tempo of conventional techno while rearranging the familiar landmarks into an array of distant, filtered throbs and crackle. Even when the beats got more straightforward later on, she kept introducing disruptive elements; at one point, it felt like listening to early-1990s rave on a cheap stereo while an elephant moved furniture in the room upstairs.