Having recently released their critically-acclaimed album 3+5, sonic terrorists Melt-Banana undertake a mammoth tour that finds them visiting all corners of the UK and tonight they make a welcome return (their fourth!) to Cambridge’s Portland Arms venue. On each date of the current jaunt support acts have been drawn from the pool of local talent and tonight it is (Casio) keyboard warrior Pete Um. Like Mark E. Smith for the Prozac generation or John Shuttleworth on acid (you decide), Pete Um delivers sensical rants over discombobulated beats, but they’re earwormy beats and ones that’ll haunt you long after they’ve faded into the ether. It helps that his songs don’t overstay their welcome, they’re short, sharp and succinct, Pete operates with a kind of punk aesthetic (only updated for the new millennium) to deliver songs about internet villains and crooked politicians. The USA might have the king of rock n’ roll, but we’ve got the king of the Casio!

It’s Melt-Banana’s fifth visit to the pokey, quaint streets of Cambridge and such is the hunger for these Japanese noise rock pioneers that tonight’s show sold out in double quick time. Since 1992 this troublesome twosome have been assaulting our eardrums and have left a tantalising trail of vinyl in their wake. With the aforementioned 3+5 breaking new sonic spheres the duo still have an air of urgency surrounding them and that becomes apparent when they take to the stage; there’s no time to waste on elongated introductions, just the sound of dogs barking (a moment of surrealism that acts as a portent for the coming 70 minutes) and then the band are off. While many bands claim to be free of genre classification, only Melt-Banana are pretenders to the throne and they veer wildly between punk, electronica, grindcore and hardcore whilst stitching it all together with a strong focus on structure. It’s a kind of controlled chaos in which they deal with songs that are pushed to the very edge of a precipice and then held precariously in such a position for the entire gig. Guitarist Ichiro Agata sculpts huge, monolithic structures from sound whilst vocalist Yasuko Onuki sings with ear-piercing tones and controls the electronics via a hand controller. It doesn’t take long for a mosh pit to erupt and it bubbles nicely throughout the whole gig. When their set comes to a crashing halt, the crowd chant for “one more song” and Melt-Banana are only to happy to oblige and reward us with nine (count ‘em!) encores (albeit eight are of the shorter variety) including an explosive ‘We Love Choco-Pa!’ that ensures no one leaves disappointed and eagerly awaiting the band’s return.