The Red Notes is the third Soul Jazz-issued full-length by Chicago experimental house producer Jamal Moss, and compared to the first two (Hieroglyphic Being's The Acid Documents and Africans with Mainframes' K.M.T.), this one isn't nearly as noisy, pounding, or acid-drenched. It's relatively mellow, with chiming synth tones and beats that stamp or click rather than pound. Moss serves as a one-man ensemble, overdubbing numerous acoustic and electronic instruments ranging from flute and alto sax to several analog synthesizers. The liner notes include a long list of inspirations, mainly focusing on jazz (Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock), Chicago house (Larry Heard, Adonis), and kosmische (Popol Vuh, Moebius) artists, and the lengthy, free-flowing tracks embody all of those genres. They're loose, spacy, and improvisatory, but they still function as dance music. Similar to the 2016 release The Disco's of Imhotep, this album represents some of Moss' warmer, more accessible work. That album was far more concise, however, packing everything into 33 minutes, while this one sprawls out to over an hour. Opener "Youth Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults" mixes church organs with fidgeting synths and shuffling cymbals, while the calmly haunting "The Melody Lingers" and kick drum-less "Awake and Energize" are abstract re-imaginings of deep house. The fast, snappy "Video Jazz" is essentially a more euphoric variation on Lil Louis' "The Original Video Clash," and easily one of the album's most inspiring tracks. The 14-minute "The Red Notes [Original]" is the album's skybound centerpiece, and its bright, sparkling textures smooth out the drums and keyboard solos, which are actually quite complex. "The Emotional Listener" is a bit more tense, with a slight industrial grittiness underpinning house pianos and frenetic bongos. "The Tone Bather" is the album's most gleefully twisted track, with radioactive synths squirming all over a sideways thud and reverb-heavy pianos. As with nearly all of his releases, Moss displays a deep reverence for his acknowledged influences, but his freewheeling excursions could've only originated from his singular, brilliant mind.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo