![]() ![]() ![]() It retains his characteristic lo-fi sound and, as such, feels raw and authentic – a throwback to the classic Chicago house sound without ever sounding derivative. Despite the sheer amount of things going on, what becomes abundantly clear from the outset is that this is, at its core, is a quintessential Hieroglyphic Being album. Cleverly, Moss takes the edge off the glitchy mayhem by injecting some impossibly cool soulful organ that rides out all the way to the track’s conclusion. The phenomenally titled “Youth Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults” opens the album with a dizzying storm of whirling backward loops and squelchy synths. In effect he applies the attitude, freedom, and sounds of jazz, especially it’s liberal application of form and structure before fusing it with characteristic leftfield techno and Chicago house. On this album, Moss takes his cues from jazz as he describes the album as, “an homage to the Blue Note jazz sound of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock”. While that album was purposely concise and succinct, The Red Notes sees Moss let loose as he trusts the listener to buckle up and stay along for the ride. Last LP, 2016’s The Disco’s of Imhotep seemed like the perfect summation of his career up to that point as he confidently moved from trippy experimental techno to classic kinetic Chicago house all with a healthy sprinkling of jazz fusion. With releases on his own Mathematics Recordings label and a slew of releases for Spectral Sound and Soul Jazz, he has proven himself time and time again to be a unique talent. He is a willfully prolific artist, confident in his ability but certainly not one to shout about it. Hieroglyphic Being, aka Jamal Moss, is an artist who marches to the beat of his own drum. His appetite and passion for the Chicago club scene as a DJ, producer, and promoter has solidified his standing as one of the most important house artists to come from Chicago since the peak years of Chicago house in the mid to late ’80s. There are, of course, broad generalisations - such as using major keys for happy scenes and minor keys for sad - but cinematic music requires a much more complex look at mood and emotion.For many enlightened club goers in Chicago, Hieroglyphic Being is as much a part of the house and techno scene as the sticky floors and the sweaty walls. ![]() Whatever the pattern, an essential skill is the ability to set an atmosphere or mood. Other composers, such as John Carpenter and Cliff Martinez, tend to use ‘pedal tones’ and arpeggios to lock the audience in. It has a bold, powerful sound and can be heard all over his work in the Batman films and Inception. Or, for more dramatic work, a simpler pattern would be Dmin - Bb - C. For example, Hans Zimmer tends to write in D minor, and uses only a few different chord patterns to great effect.Ī classic Zimmer-style pattern in D minor would go, Dmin - Bb - F - C. Each composer leans towards certain patterns. Put simply, often the most common patterns are the most effective. In order to be effective, the composer strikes the common ground between them all, trading in on common sequences and patterns found throughout music. A Hollywood blockbuster attracts a diverse range of people, some of whom will have expert knowledge of music, some of whom will not. The primary goal of modern cinematic music is to be effective - reinforce the drama and lead the audience’s emotions. ![]()
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