Hieroglyphic Being

Hieroglyphic Being — one of the many monikers of legendary Chicago musician Jamal Moss — announces his new album Dance Music 4 Bad People, out April 18th via Smalltown Supersound and shares its lead single “I’m in a Strange Loop.” Tapping back into the same cosmic frequencies responsible for the prolific house virtuoso’s most vital work, Dance Music 4 Bad People sees Moss coaxing anthems for those up to no good from out of the ether. With driving drum machine workouts and low-slung synth sexuality, Hieroglyphic Being pays homage to human fallibility, drawing focus on the revolutionary potential of house music and club culture that is so often lost to the chaos of the present. 

Moss’s ability to capture fleeting moments of transience provide us insight into the esoteric knowledge hinted at within his music. The lysergic tempo change of today’s single, “I’m in a Strange Loop,” for instance, stretches out its rippling organ to revel in its celestial detail. The track puts on display what Moss calls “synth expressionism” or “rhythmic cubism,” combining layered loops and tempo shifts into an atmospheric, kaleidoscopic, and danceable composition. 

As the tongue-in-cheek title suggests, Dance Music 4 Bad People looks to the eternal quality of Moss’ art to throw moral compasses into disarray, speaking truth to the evil energies that have permeated the club industrial complex of today while challenging black and white notions of good and bad that are instrumentalized for the persecution of those at the fringes. For Moss, this is a tension he has observed since he first heard the sound pioneered by Ron Hardy at the legendary Muzic Box, when Chicago house music was born. “Back then, especially during the Reagan era and the police brutality of the so-called crime and crack epidemic, the one thing I noticed in my community was that house music actually helped us escape from all that negative stuff and make everybody in the environment support each other more.” 

It’s this loose vitality that Moss understands to be in short supply in the dance music scene today. “Festivals and clubs profess to propagate safe spaces, but you’ve probably seen it firsthand: you look around and a good percent of people in the club are not happy.” Taking aim at the entire ecosystem, from the malaise and malcontentedness of modern audiences to the false solidarity and commodification of minority positions within the commercial entity of dance music, Moss offers up the raw, unrefined power of the tracks collected on Dance Music 4 Bad People as an antidote.

As the American empire crumbles, the Hieroglyphic Being strides forward with a clear vision to broadcast a sage warning. “If you let other people dictate to you how you are supposed to feel about someone else, it goes into a dark space, especially when there’s nothing good you can say about them,” he says. “Get out of your comfort zone and reach out to people so you can learn more about them.” Though the temptation to judge can be irresistible, Moss believes in the primordial power of the Chicago house sound. Rather than condemn some as bad and others as good, Dance Music 4 Bad People helps us all to recognise each other through the smoke and strobe light. The Hieroglyphic Being speaks through the sound with a message of optimism and hope. “Everybody should be loved, adored, respected, no matter the path you take.”