Gig review: Tom Thum - Breaking the Habit, Underbelly Bristo Square (Venue 300), Edinburgh

TOM Thum has an endless supply of party tricks. He can play a whistle through his nose. Why does he do that, you may wonder? Because it leaves his mouth free to beatbox along, dummy. And because he can.

Tom Thum – Beating the Habit

Underbelly Bristo Square (Venue 300)

Star rating: * * *

Thum is the beatboxing member of Australia’s Tom Tom Crew, whose ability to generate sounds, both musical and otherwise, goes beyond hip-hop skills – Thum is a self-confessed “Tourettic noisemaker”, and his solo show riffs on the idea that his involuntary talent is losing him friends. Essentially though, it’s a vehicle for celebrating those skills.

For openers, he recreates Fauré’s Pavane – admittedly not the full choral majesty, but an impressive scratch hip-hop version, followed by a vintage jazz rendition (with vinyl crackle) and a dubstep remix. Using a table of sampling and effects gizmos, he builds a dance track from the rhythm upwards, imitating specific percussion sounds from the clipped hiss of the hi-hat to the pop of the cowbell. He is also a fine singer, though his self-penned Home Stay Blues won’t give BB King any sleepless nights.

He also leads the audience in a quick workshop and takes a sound effects request spot. These elements don’t hang together all that cohesively, but Thum’s beats shake the room and the hour fair flies by.

• Until 27 August. Today 6:45pm