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- You can tell a Jamal Moss (or Hieroglyphic Being) record when you hear one, usually within seconds. His techno is loud, fast and rough around the edges, with wild synths and drum machines that seem to have a mind of their own. His new self-released record, six tracks taken from last year's Acid Attacks cassette, is peak Jamal Moss. It skids maniacally between acid house, breaks and wild-eyed electro, ascending from the standard 128 BPM to an unhinged 184, all with the chaotic touch that's become his calling card.
Moss's tracks often feel like they're on the verge of falling apart. "Acid Attacks" builds on a short vocal clip that loops for five minutes while the other elements go nuts in the background. He brutalizes the snares with heavy distortion and a flanger while riding the knobs on his synths. "The Doors Of Perception" has a head-fuck techno affect, with a psychedelic pattern of interwoven acid lines that wriggle and twitch around each other. "The Teachings Of Don Juan" occupies a similar register, though with its unhurried 15-minute arc is long enough to pass through a handful of inflection points along the way.
By the time "Chrome Yellow" comes, we've begun to reach the edge of comprehensibility. It opens with two layered drum machines that are slightly out of sync, both blasting abused kick drums and crowding each other out of the lower register. The mixer these machines were hooked up to was firmly in the red. There are sudden drops and spikes in volume as Moss slams new layers in and out of the mix, and moments where the groove stops making sense as the downbeat gets lost in the scuffle. "The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell" flies along at gabber tempo, while "The Perennial Philosophy" slows it back down for an angular electro number full of difficult rhythms and dissonant synths.
Tracklist01. Acid Attacks
02. The Doors Of Perception
03. The Teachings Of Don Juan
04. Crome Yellow
05. The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell
06. The Perennial Philosophy