Hieroglyphic Being

Chicago native Jamal Moss, widely recognized under the moniker Hieroglyphic Being, ranks among electronic dance music’s boldest experimentalists. His abstract, forward-looking works draw from free jazz, industrial textures, musique concrète, techno, and house, favoring raw spontaneity and inventive processes over refined studio sheen or broad appeal. Frequently relying on analog gear and rudimentary capture methods, Moss cultivates a gritty, unpolished aesthetic across a vast catalog that encompasses dozens of albums and EPs issued under aliases including I.B.M. and the Sun God. Standout entries feature the expansive 2015 free-jazz excursion We Are Not the First, credited jointly to J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl, the compact 2016 The Disco's of Imhotep, and the 2022 set There Is No Acid in This House. Quadric Surfaces, a 2024 collection of soundtrack pieces, followed. Through his Mathematics Recordings imprint, Moss sustains Chicago’s acid-house lineage via his own output alongside contributions from Steve Poindexter, Lil' Louis, John Heckle, and EDMX (DMX Krew).

Born in 1973, Moss immersed himself in the city’s acid-house community of the late ’80s and early ’90s, shaping sonic environments for the Liquid Love gatherings at the storied Powerplant venue before launching the Liquid Sex series. Encounters with Chicago house originators Adonis and Steve Poindexter profoundly shaped his trajectory. Between 1993 and 1996 he hosted the house-focused Jack-FM program on WNUR, then inaugurated Mathematics Recordings in 1996 via a limited white-label 12" shared with Poindexter. That partnership extended to a 1997 double 12" on Djax-Up-Beats under the Chicago Bad Boys name alongside Kareem Smith. Moss also joined Melvin Oliphant and Daryl Cura in Dirty Criminals, appearing on the collective’s initial two International Deejay Gigolo Records releases.

Momentum for his solo work accelerated in the mid-2000s with Spectral Sound EPs on the Ghostly International subsidiary, a 2004 appearance at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, and endorsements from XLR8R and URB. Subsequent material surfaced on Morphine Records, Klang Elektronik, and Dope Jams. Entering the 2010s, his release pace rendered comprehensive tracking nearly impossible, with multiple limited CD-R albums emerging annually; more avant-garde efforts on Alter, Further Records, and audioMER extended his reach beyond club audiences. In 2013 he teamed with Daniel Martin-McCormick (Ital) as Interplanetary Prophets for the Planet Mu EP Zero Hour, after which the same label compiled earlier self-released material as The Seer of Cosmic Visions, credited to Hieroglyphic Being and the Configurative or Modular Me Trio.

The 2015 Rvng Intl. album We Are Not the First united Hieroglyphic Being with Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, drummer Greg Fox, vocalist Shelley Hirsch, and additional players under the J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl banner, earning widespread underground acclaim; Soul Jazz Records simultaneously reissued the prior limited 2013 CD-R The Acid Documents. In 2016 Soul Jazz presented KMT, the first full-length from Africans with Mainframes—Moss’s enduring collaboration with Noleian Reusse—while Technicolour, the Ninja Tune subsidiary that had issued the 2014 EP The Fourth Dimensions of a Nubian Mystic, released The Disco's of Imhotep. Moss delivered a third Soul Jazz album, Red Notes, in 2018, merging live instrumentation with electronic overdubs across nine pieces, and Moog Recordings Library issued The Replicant Dream Sequence, captured at the Moog Sound Lab UK. Additional digital installments of The Language of Strings appeared that year alongside a double-LP edition. The five-track Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism closed 2019.

Throughout the early 2020s Moss self-issued dozens of digital recordings spanning raw acid workouts and ambient explorations. Jeff Mills’s Axis label released the digital-only Dance of the Living Image in 2021. Modern Love issued the Jamal Moss project Thanks 4 the Tracks U Lost in 2022, sharing its title with a parallel Hieroglyphic Being digital series, while another double-LP, The Shittest Sounds U Don't Ever Want 2 Hear with Spiritual Name Titles 2 Prove How Deep I Am, compiled remastered selections from yet another similarly titled sequence. Soul Jazz received There Is No Acid in This House that same year. Apnea followed with the 2023 double-LP The Moon Dance. Later Moss partnered with Polish saxophonist Jerzy Maczyński as UHF (Universal Harmonies & Frequencies) for the Yeyeh album Tune IN. Viernulvier Records issued Quadric Surfaces in 2024, gathering scores composed for the abstract animation films Parallel Spheres and Figures in Mynd.