Balkan brass meets breakbeat

It's lucky that the Forty Thieves do it with such panache. Aiden Love, the godfather of the operation, began assembling his merry band of musicians back in 2003 to add a live element to the samples and beats that he was creating, inspired by the melodies of eastern European Gypsy music and the grooves of contemporaries such as Massive Attack and Kruder and Dorfmeister.

On record, much of the Forty Thieves repertoire is downtempo, almost ambient, but they start off tonight with a junglistic number, demonstrating the manifold talents of Serb percussionist Rastko.

The brass remains on the laptop, with the main melodic lines picked out, in Klesmer style, by clarinet and violin, which are both superbly and sensitively played. It all works surprisingly well with Love's thumping electro-dub bassines.

Clarinet player Arun Ghosh - taking a break from gigging with his own splendid indo-jazz sextet - is a spine-tingling inspiration and a remarkable performer.

They are joined by oud player Andy Gibson, who, after a great solo in the first track, remains somewhat in the background for the rest of the set.

The oud - a type of arabic lute - adds an edge and intricacy to the mix and more could be made of this extremely tight and versatile player.

Singer Angela adds some colour and flare to the stage on the more traditional numbers, which turn out to be the most spirited of the night.

The backing tracks are reminscent at times of early 1990s dancefloor experimenters such as Dub Syndicate and Adrian Sherwood, as well as worldbeat luminaries Transglobal Underground, though the live additions create a cinematic soundscape that is all their own.

Although clearly designed for all-night clubs rather than seated theatres, the musicianship and ideas of the Orkestar make for a great night out in any venue.

DAN GLAZEBROOK