Ep. 62: Myco Lyco - Fungal Frequencies, Biodata Sonification & the Music of Mushrooms (feat. Noah Kalos)

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed by the presence of Noah Kalos, founder of the groundbreaking Youtube and social media channels “MycoLyco”. This work is a blend of his passions for nature, mycology and electronic music. He originally got hooked on electronic music production at the age of 17, but in the past 6 years Noah took that passion to the next level, getting deep into digital music hardware and electrical engineering. Noah majored in studio art at Oberlin College and then spent 5+ years living in the woods transitioning between outdoor roles as a camp counselor and nature therapist. During his time in the wild, he became familiar with all kinds of wild foods and has been a longtime mycology enthusiast. In the wake of the pandemic, Noah decided to focus on growing mushrooms. His plan was to convert his music studio into a mycology lab, but after a fateful connection between mycelium and synth electrodes, the studio and lab became one in the same. Now with his MycoLyco project, Noah has been giving us all a window into the incredible musical frequencies of fungi.

(Intro and Outro music is the sound of mushrooms from the new MycoLyco album!)

Topics Covered:

• Noah’s Origin Story  
• Years Spent Living in Nature  
• Mushroom Cultivation & Cordyceps  
• Marriage of Synth and Mushroom - Birth of Myco Lyco  
• Waves and Resistance Converting into Digital Sounds  
• Biodata Sonification  
• Responses to Stimuli & Rhythmic Spiking Behaviors  
• Hooking up Crystals, Cacti and Orchids to the Synthesizer  
• Unique Hallmarks of Mushroom Sound Waves  
• Is there Sonic Communication Between Mushrooms?  
• Mycelium Sentience  
• Fungi Offering New Perspectives  
• Explosion of Citizen Science and Autodidactic Learning  
• Tips for Exploring Modular Synth  
• Future Plans for Myco Lyco  

Episode Resources:

• Myco Lyco Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmw-u-2kzPQPO5n9sTpcyA  
• Myco Lyco Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mycolyco?lang=en  
• Myco Lyco IG: https://www.instagram.com/mycolyco/  
• Myco Lyco FB: https://www.facebook.com/mycolycomycology/ 
• Midisprout/Plantwave: https://www.midisprout.com/  
• Instruo Scion: https://www.instruomodular.com/   
• MAKEN0ISE YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/MAKEN0ISE  
• Divkid YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/DivKidVideo  
• Andrew is Music YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/songstowearpantsto   
• Arduino Uno: https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3    
• Biodata Sonification Github: https://github.com/13-37-org/midi-biodata