Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People LP [STS431LP]

“I’ve been partying since 1984,” says Jamal Moss, the living Chicago legend known by his dedicated cult following as the one, the only, Hieroglyphic Being. “40 years later, it’s drastically different – everybody’s angry!” So sets the stage for Dance Music 4 Bad People, the artist’s first album for Smalltown Supersound. Tapping back into the same cosmic frequencies responsible for the prolific house virtuoso’s most vital work, the album sees Moss coaxing nine 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. “I have yet to walk into a club and see everybody hug and say: Let’s forgive each other, let’s move forward and make the world a better place,” he levels. “With all these conversations about sexuality, ethnicity, politics, whatever, when you walk into an environment with the music, you are supposed to celebrate all of that. Let it be and come together.”

listen

Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People LP [STS431LP]

Prins Thomas – D (Hieroglyphic Being Remixes) [STS27412]

Given the sprawl and epic that was the recent Principe Del Norte album from Prins Thomas, it is no surprise Smalltown Supersound have opted to think big for this subsequent remix 12″ series. Hieroglyphic Being kicks matters off with a pair of remixes of “D”, whose original 14 minutes made for one of the highlights of the album. In the hands of Jamal Moss, the track doesn’t transform into the corrosive monster you might expect though little of the original remains intact. The accompanying Beat Rework buries PT’s original krauty melodics deep below a killer barrage of drums and is our favourite of the two HB versions.

listen

Prins Thomas – D (Hieroglyphic Being Remixes) [STS27412]