(Output/Inertia)

Sheffield based MU are husband and wife duo Mutsumi Kanamori (singer and performance artist) and Maurice Fulton (legendary DJ and producer), and Out of Breach, released on Trevor Jackson’s Output label, is their second album and it really is like nothing I’ve heard before. It’s a totally fucked up mish mash of demented and abstract programming, twisted beats, ear-piercingly screeching vocals and a very punk ethic of try anything as long as it doesn’t sound like anything else.

The most accessible track on the album is the very popular single released in 2004, Paris Hilton, a tribute to the blonde media ‘princess’, and a track that tore up dance floors the world over, except perhaps in Bhutan. Everything else takes a fair bit of effort to listen to, consider, and hopefully understand, which I imagine will test the patience of some.  I think I like this record. Less for what it does in a musical sense but more for what it achieves in an artistic and musical boundary crushing sense. Sounds wanky? Probably, but I can’t really describe it in any better terms. 

Fulton’s tracks move violently from mutant discofunk and hard, twisted punk-funk, to almost performance art soundtrack tunes, sometimes within the same track. Kanamori screeches, screams, howls and generally causes vocal and lyrical mayhem that either cause your ears to flinch in pain or your belly to scream in laughter. Either way, you WILL react to these tunes, I promise.

Album highlights for me include: the schizophrenic Stop Bothering Michael Jackson, which jolts from a demented sonic battering with accompanying vocal hollering to a wicked jam out resplendent with warm bass, delicate snare shuffles, and uplifting piano stabs; Tigerbastard with its fat distorted bass and neat drum patterns; the totally fucked up and hectic punk-funk mayhem of We Love Guys Named Luke; and finally the last track on the album, Extreme, that brings the tempo down, and reveals Fulton’s brilliance at drum programming and bass playing.

Out of Breach isn’t for everyone. If you’re not prepared to step a little outside musical norms, even for a brief moment, and try to embrace, or at least attempt to expose yourself to, something a little different, and at times confronting, then I’d suggest to give this album a miss.. its not for you.  But, if you are up for something a little different, a bit bent and demented, and something that will scare the neighbours then I highly recommend you give MU’s new album a go.  Out of Breach is a fascinating and unique record for those who are ready and willing to open themselves up to the meeting of straight up weirdness, sonic assault and doses of utmost beauty!   8/10.