Search - Mu :: Out of Breach: Manchester's Revenge

Sick and twisted punk funk

cosmokane31 | San Francisco, CA United States | 05/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mu are a husband-and-wife duo, Maurice Fulton and Mutsumu Kanamori. Fulton has an impressively long resume in house and hip hop, but his production here is pretty much unclassifiable. Over tweaky electronic mayhem that references breakbeat, house, rock, and even blues, Kanamori screams broken-English lyrics about hating lots of things, including former label Tigersushi, haters of Michael Jackson, and haters in general. In both their obsession with pop culture and their diction, the lyrics bring to mind Wesley Willis. If Willis were female, Japanese, and worked with Aphex Twin, the results might sound like this. This is a very digital, sick, and twisted record - who knows how long its shelf life will be, but it has surprising depth."

Better luck next time.

Angry Mofo | 12/17/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I guess I'm a hater now. But hear me out anyway, because I actually like Mu's first album. This album sounds like a collection of B-sides for the songs on the first album: the same exact style, but without the good parts. As you might expect, there's lots of noise, lots of Mutsumi Kanamori's distorted vocals and crazy lyrics. Except now there are no sudden pop breakdowns like in "Let's Get Sick," no driving keyboard lines like in "Why I Left," no funky guitar lines like in "Tell You Something," fewer atmospheric bits, and no fun announcements of "You know what? We done!"



That's the problem. This album just isn't fun at all. Kanamori actually sounds kind of defensive when she attacks the "Haters": "I may have no talent, but...you don't have the magic power, do you?" Well, I guess it's true that any time someone becomes successful, a bunch of haters pop up to spoil the party. But if you have to spend a whole track addressing that, well...didn't Axl Rose do that at one point? Look on the bright side, Mu! Your first album received many positive reviews! Relax! Light up a beer! Forget those haters!



It's not just haters who come in for abuse. Most of the album is about settling scores with someone or other. Kanamori also disses the owner of Mu's former record label. The charges: "He has no respect of what I do / Talks down to me / He's mean / He's unfair / Very, very evil man." Take that, label owner! I can totally identify with her here, since I've run into a couple of guys like that. I'm not sure I'd write a song about them, though.



There's also a critique of "So Weak People," and a track about some unfortunate whose demeanour resembles that of a small female dog. Kanamori says, "I'm sick of so weak people / who can't solve their own [problems] / Dragging people who have nothing / To do with this stupid problem." Dragging people such as the listeners of this album, perhaps? Unsurprisingly, there's a lot more profanity here than on the first album. This is usually the first indication that one doesn't have much to say.



After all these petty squabbles, it would be a relief to hear Kanamori try to spread some positive vibes. Unfortunately, the only time this occurs on the whole album is in a track called "Throwing Up," which includes lots of vomiting noises to illustrate the negative consequences of alcohol abuse. They should totally use that song in those high school programs that try to dissuade teenagers from drinking.



It may seem stupid to look at Mu's lyrics, of all things, but Kanamori is the focus of this album. Her voice appears throughout almost every song, with fewer instrumental stretches than on the first album. But the overall sound is very similar. Kanamori sticks to her "dominatrix voice" and her "screechy voice," both featured prominently on the first album. Those growly bass lines reappear in many songs. The abrupt shifts in dynamics, unfortunately, do not.



The one exception is "Stop Bothering Michael Jackson," which goes from a dense, aggressive diss track to a moody ambient fade-out with deep bass and piano chords. The bass also reappears at the end, on "Extreme," which is by far the best track on the album, and hopefully represents some kind of new direction. There, it gyrates in awesome long, funky lines, which could have provided a foundation for a really great dance song.



But there is no such song here. For example, why did anyone like "Paris Hilton"? Is it because Kanamori squawks like a chicken a couple of times? The underlying beat is completely generic. Not only that, but it sounds weak next to the intense pounding rhythms from the first album. That just leaves Kanamori's sarcastic lyrics, but come on, they're about Paris Hilton. That's such an easy target that there's nothing to say about it, funny or otherwise. And Mu already made fun of trashy pop culture in "My Name Is Tommi" on the first album.



It's enough to look at the difference in the cover art. If you look at the cover of Out Of Breach, you'll know exactly what this album sounds like. Kanamori's got a butcher knife and a hand sticking out of her head, and she's got messed-up hair and a demonic grin, and she's all unpredictable and crazy. Whereas the black-and-white cover of Afro Finger And Gel really is unpredictable.



This album is a perfect example of what rock critics call the "sophomore slump." Mu have beaten the style of their first album into the ground, and the result is mostly just boring. Hey, it happens. Let's hope it's not the end. It would be a bad way to go out."