There’s always a cracking atmosphere at the wonderfully odd Oxford Improvisers gigs, gigs of the sort that make any guestlist-snapping reviewer rife with qualms for swooping in on their close-knit and cordial culture. But never mind.

Nostromo are a local improv quartet with the affable O.I. promoter Dominic Lash on double bass. Mighty blower Pete McPhail is a dazzling multi-instrumentalist, wielding a clackity, tongued flute, and three saxes: an all-out alto, a moody baritone and a chirping soprano. Drummer Roger Telford initiates a gentle meltdown, merging into a somnolent, rumbling daze, bowing the edges of his cymbals into a rich magnetic haze. As it seems with the improv music I’ve come across, Nostromo play their instruments rather than their notes, surging into a beautiful spontaneous cacophony, with slumbering earth rolls from Telford. Things really get interesting when the keys and bass unexpectedly work together, which resembles an interplay of musical Tourette’s; a sudden peal of intermittent ‘chucking’ or sporadic conversation, a nervous shiver or a spluttered, accidental sentence. Nostromi supply rich, exciting viewing, and they aren’t afraid to slip into coherent tonality – a wonderfully brooding Sun Ra riff signals a triumphant finale.

Paulo Angeli is a superb player of the Sardinian guitar; an oversized take on the Spanish variety which is played upright. His European axe has been rendered into a fantastic Frankenstein’s monster apparatus of added-on music boxes, springs, prepared pegs and 16 direct inputs, with different strings diverting into either of PA’s speakers, a bobbing stereo effect created. His set begins with a credit card wedged in between the strings, plucking sprightly, variegated flickers. Attached to the instrument are six foot pedals, each corresponding to a string. While Angeli taps a mic’d up plastic bag, the pedals cause a magnificent rhythmic reverberation. A hand-held radio feeds into the guitar’s pick-up, bordering on white noise. Things grow; barred harmonics abound with crunchy low-strung string noise resonating around our freshly painted Port. This is astonishing playing – the captivating performer that makes you forget you’ve enthusiastically foot-tapped someone else’s chair for ten minutes. Angeli bows, smacks, raps his guitar into a harshness that soon turns tuneful. Distortion fills the PA, that lovely crunchy type: a tender crispy noise. Hammered-on walking bass, jaunty bebop melodic lines – Angeli’s multitasking capabilities reach astonishing heights. After a particularly moving cover of Bjork’s ‘Unravel’ , Angeli ends with a round of plucking and droning, allowing one glorious chord to remain for a good ten seconds, stands up and thanks the cracking Oxford Imps regulars.

By Pascal Ansell.