- Jamal Moss alternates between romance and grotesquerie on one of his best vinyl releases ever.
- If you want an artist who really embodies the history and evolution of Chicago house, look no further than Jamal Moss. (You might know him better as Hieroglyphic Being). More than many of his peers, Moss has kept the jacking, resolutely DIY spirit of early house alive through his endless self-releases, numerous side projects and the rickety brilliance of his Mathematics Recordings label. When he goes under his given name things can really get weird, but on Thanks 4 The Tracks U Lost, his debut for esteemed Manchester label Modern Love, he delivers some of his prettiest, most romantic work to date: sweet, perfumed melodies over jacking drum machine grooves.
With its luminous keyboard runs, "The Lust With-IN" makes for a head-turning opener. Awash with reverb, it's so all-consuming and chilly that it feels like stepping into a walk-in freezer, capturing the rarefied atmosphere of some of the early Warp IDM records. The drums are breezy but assertive, and Moss's keyboard runs have a hint of jazz in the way they come out in passionate spurts, far from the quantized grid of most techno. "Poisonous Effects" is equally beautiful, a long, extended sigh with heartfelt melodies and a rippling groove that loses none of Moss's usual edge.
If you're looking for a classic Hieroglyphic Being beat-down, you'll find it in the funky "This Is 4 The Rave Bangers II," with its near-explosive pads, or "When Love Knows No Bounds," which features springy, three-dimensional drum machine hits. It's an effortless live jam, the work of someone who doesn't need to know exactly where they're going to get there. Some of Moss's best records have this peculiar feel of rushing urgently to nowhere in particular.
Here Moss is channeling not Trax Records or DJ International but Wax Trax—think Ministry et al—replete with serrated basslines, huge drums and a general sense of giddy panic. Closer "Erotic Abuse" centers around a grotty melody with the crunchy brittleness of rotten wood, but it's "I Can't Escape From U" that truly goes full EBM. If the other tracks on the LP are uncommonly beautiful, then this one is grotesque. The textures are squishy and organic like a Cronenberg film, and the clammy vocals add a distinctly punky snarl.
The best moment in "I Can't Escape From U" comes when a synthetic double bass crashes its way in and then forces a breakdown. Now you have to listen to its uncomfortable nylon artificiality, where the plucks of strings sound more like warped belches. It's startling and a little funny, packing everything great about Jamal Moss into just a few bars. Thanks 4 The Tracks U Lost juggles raw spirit, gorgeous melody and a jazz hand's sense for improvisation into one of the most vital house records you'll hear all year.
Tracklist01. The Lust With-IN
02. This Is 4 The Rave Bangers II
03. Poisonous Effects
04. I Can't Escape From U
05. When Love Knows No Bounds
06. Erotic Abuse