The record’s title »The Acid Documents« might be a bit misleading, considering that it reminds us of old tapes, having rotted away in boxes in an old attic until someone incidentally stumbled upon them. Or of an old floppy disc, which was made readable with great difficulty in order to finally be allowed to listen to this raw diamond of sophisticated cheeping, pausing for a moment of awe. Or of dancing ecstatically. To be honest, these collected acid-etudes don’t seem to be that old, after all. Jamal Moss a.k.a. Hieroglyphic Being just likes things to be more entangled, in general. Like on this record, which follows the ghosts of Chicago’s heroes like Phuture, Adonis or Lil’ Louis, but which also mixes traditional acid-elements with the spirit of tribal rituals. Once again, Jamal Moss is presenting himself as an Afro-futurist in Sun Ra’s tradition, cruising outer space with the resources of house. The spectrum of sounds is reduced to the most puristic means, until one could almost think that nothing happens in these tracks, whatsoever. Only slowly will you realize that Hieroglyphic Being knows how to interlace his rhythms with such discrete elegance that he only needs to do very little in order to achieve very much. And, of course, he’s using a 303.
David Vunk
Scheurneus EP
Moustache