Mu

Um – Mu (Slippery Tape, 2013)
Blurring the line between consciousness and computers, composition and computation, Mu, the solo noise project of Douglas Lucas, sounds like there’s a broken transmitter trying to call for help through messages encoded in white noise. I can’t tell if it’s analog or digitally made because it could plausibly be both. Warped, screeching oscillations whirr and rumble like a five-dimensional space helicopter traveling to the restaurant at the end of the universe. The anthropomorphic quality of this noise reminds me of Incapacitants, but it’s more bleak, chaotic, and confrontational. Moods range from droning and contemplative to loud and frenetic. Some type of machine is being broken, mistreated, harshly abused even, so this feels a bit voyeuristic and sadistic, in a weird way.

1. (13:52) Glitchy, grating contact mic buffoonery
2. (15:04) Low rumbling drone erupts into some harsh noise
3. (30:01) Gentle industrial ambient, mostly on the quiet side with scattered windy sounds