Bass Clef @ Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 19 Jun

Ralph Cumbers is a multi-instrumentalist, but not a conventional one. His one-man show under the tag Bass Clef is a demonstration of brass and wind instruments teamed with a synth, all knob-twists and switch-slides.

He makes a humble entrance on to the stage, the beginning of his show marked not by an introduction but with a fusion of techno and garage roaring from the speakers. His set begins in a comfortable and modest way, the tracks, as they progress, sharing with each other steady offbeats and solid foundations. The audience reacts with heavy shifts of feet, and lucid head-and-shoulder sways.

The pulsing beats emanating from Cumbers' synth are soon accompanied by delayed blasts from his trombone, which mutate – along with the machine's throbs – to faintly emulate a siren; perhaps as an alert to the audience’s subconscious that Bass Clef is a name to be remembered. This orchestral mimicry continues with him teasing his slide whistle, which amalgamates with the sound of his more shrill metal pea whistle – the two manifesting as a sort of wind section. His inclusion of non-conformist objects as instruments lends his set several unpredictable turns, and brings with is a sense of carnival.

Bass Clef's sound is a welcome, refreshing take on techno, filled with dark but delicate glitchy beats and global sonics. Tonight's set – part of a Slip Discs showcase – feels like it would be more fitting of a late night event, but Cumbers' satisfied audience seem to have lost all sense of time. [Edwina Chan]