Jamal Moss, or Hieroglyphic Being, is a mad techno scientist with an inexhaustible work ethic. The Chicago native has dropped over 30 full-length releases in the last decade, recorded under a litany of aliases, and collaborated with everyone from Planet Mu's Ital to Marshall Allen, the band lead of Sun Ra's Arkestra. The track above is lifted from his most recent album, We Are Not The First, which sees him exploring the furthest reaches of free-form intergalactic techno with a group of collaborators who go by the name J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Bul (the acronym stands for Journey Into The Unexpected Ensemble).The ensemble is headed up by the aforementioned Marshall Allen on keyboard and sax, as well as a rotating cast of collaborators: Elliot Levin, Shahzad Ismaily, Ben Vida, Shelley Hirsch, Rafael Sanchez and Greg Fox. Across the album's 11 tracks, they layer modular synths, spoken word, chunky drum machines, live drumming, flute and guitar to craft what Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne calls "a pulsing, clanging din of chirp and squeal."The video for "F**ck the Ghetto / Think About Outer Space" is based on the "cosmic escape directive" of poet Rafael Sanchez, who provides the text you're hearing over Jamal's chugging acid techno. It's inspired by the tradition of "dreamers who use the language and concepts of space to escape the confines of daily life, politics, discrimination and class," says a representative of the NYC design studio Georgia, who produced the video. "We hope the piece will extend the notion of outer space to the space immediately outside of self, including the sidewalk."Hieroglyphic Being and J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl's album, We Are Not The First is out today via Rvng Intl.
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