There Is No Acid In This House

Album review

Jamal Moss has always been a prolific artist, but his release schedule went into overdrive when the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Drawing from his archive of over 3,000 compositions since he started the Hieroglyphic Being project in 1996, he's digitally self-released dozens of volumes of cosmic experiments and raw, radioactive dance tracks, with his frequent email updates and social media posts inviting listeners to "COME JOIN MY SONIC CULT." There Is No Acid in This House, Moss' first release for London's Soul Jazz Records in four years, is a sprawling, 74-minute set that draws from the psychedelic side of house without falling back on acid's standard TB-303 squelch. Opening with the album's longest track, "Communion of the Highest Order" has a lush, extended intro guiding listeners through the catacombs before arriving at a steady kick drum and detailed, constantly changing electronic percussion. The rest of the tracks remain beat-forward, with sparkling synth riffs and prismatic sequences flowing in and out of the mix at will. All of the tracks fade in and out, suggesting that they are part of a continuum of constant creation with no beginning or end. This isn't one of Moss' more overtly jazzy-sounding releases, but his music always has a free-form, improvisational quality to it, favoring in-the-moment expression over conventional structures, placing his music within the sonic lineage of Sun Ra and the AACM as well as Chicago's house pioneers. "Look Over There 9 O'Clock" is one of the album's more head-turning tracks due to its wonderstruck vocal loop and rumbling vibrations. Vaguely church-like organs color a track titled "Mephisto's Pulpit of Stank," and an arsenal of hammering synthetic percussion is shaped by out-of-control filters during the elevated "Deconstructing the Path." "Let Me Know How U Really Feel" is outlandish yet sensitive, with multiple channels of buzzing delay cloaking wistful melodies. Moss' bottomless discography might be daunting, but it really does seem like he never misses, and There Is No Acid in This House is just as worthwhile as the rest of his releases.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo