Bob Mould's latest album, Modulate, finds him dipping a toe and 10 fingers into the unfamiliar waters of computer pop, pitting his familiar surges of guitar and tightly clenched vocals against a tapestry of samplers, synthesisers, loops and drum machines. As he pointed out from the Dingwalls stage, the disc received "somewhat mixed reviews", though once you peel away the sonic trappings, much of the songwriting underneath is squarely in the great Mouldian tradition of big, clangy chords and melodies that are prettier than he makes them sound.

However, Mould seems to have taken the fans' feelings on board, for he relegated the Modulate material to a subsidiary slot in the back half of his set. Of course, being just one bloke with a guitar, he was always going to have a problem replicating the recorded sound. As it was, he had compromised and brought along a functional pre-recorded bass and drums setup that did duty for material from various phases of his career.

Intelligibility isn't one of Mould's most pressing concerns, though it was occasionally possible to pick out a few words from Hoover Dam or See a Little Light. From the moment he arrived on stage and tuned up his acoustic 12-string, his guitar sound was amped up to produce all kinds of overtones and clashing harmonics, while his voice had been treated to sound as if he was singing through a transistor radio with a ruptured speaker.

An austere, shaven- headed figure, Mould isn't much given to matey banter, and he restricted his comments to a couple of information bulletins. However, when he let rip, it reminded you how influential he has been in the development of American indie-rock. His intense delivery and resonant, folk-punk guitar style left their imprint on all kinds of people, not least the early REM, while songs from his Husker Du days like Make No Sense At All or Too Far Down remain classics of the genre. It would be nice to see him with a band again, though.