Every day, I sift through the hundreds of tracks that bombard my inbox. On a biweekly basis, I tell you about the two artists whose music most impressed me. This time, it's Chicago's Hieroglyphic Being's acid-house renovations and Seattle quintet Dining Dead's acerbic art rock.

Hieroglyphic Being, “I'm in a Strange Loop” (Smalltown Supersound)

Chicago producer Hieroglyphic Being (aka Jamal Moss) has been making spines tingle, skulls vibrate, and asses move for nearly 30 years. (Anyone who caught HB at 2013's Debacle Fest can attest to the man's ability to bring the heat live.) With deep roots in the Windy City's paradigm-shifting house scene, Moss nonetheless has gone off on radical tangents from that fertile dance-music source with releases on several prestigious labels, including Planet Mu, Soul Jazz, and RVNG Intl. He's part of an elite cadre of electronic musicians who have maintained phenomenal quality control for decades; others include Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Surgeon, and Autechre. 

While acid house—and various mutations thereof—has been Moss's main mode, his output has been anything but one-dimensional. With the J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl (featuring Sun Ra Arkestra legend Marshall Allen), Moss explores the seldom-trodden intersection of club music and avant-garde jazz. See 2015's We Are Not the First for a prime example of their unique fusions. He's also delved into bizarre strains of ambient music with his "Imaginary Landscapes" series. 

Hieroglyphic Being's new album, Dance Music 4 Bad People (out April 18), flaunts his extraordinary renovations of acid house over eight riveting tracks. The pummeling opener, "U R Not Dying U R Just Waking Up," rides an elastic, corrugated Roland 303 riff to fry for, while Moss adorns the swift, martial beats with an array of strafing synth tones. The Sturm und Drang house of "The Secret Teachings of the Ages" achieves dance-floor seduction through a sly funkiness that would impress Sylvester Stewart. "The Map of Salt & Stars" exudes the muted, intriguing air of a rave happening in an alternate, weirder universe, not unlike Aphex Twin's more subterranean cuts. Who needs drugs when this jam is playing?

"The Art of Living a Meaningless Existence" boasts a life-or-death suspense that's rare in club music. The mood is distinctly "up against the wall, motherfucker," set to an irresistibly twitchy rhythm. The LP's first single, "I'm in a Strange Loop," sets eldritch, Sun Ra-like organ motifs whirling in a frantic avant-house context. When the tempo slows to a slow trudge, the organ tones spiral into an otherworldly dimension. It is Moss's special skill to create tracks to which you can dance while also investing them with an innate strangeness that makes you think "Where the hell am I?"

Dining Dead, "Burn Your Dinner" (self-released)

Anyone making rock sound fresh and interesting in 2025 deserves respect—and maybe even a tax break. Working from a feminist perspective, Seattle quintet Dining Dead have avoided the dreaded stasis and/or rote maneuvers that afflict most rock groups 70-some years after the genre's birth on Is This a House? (recorded with Jeff McNulty at Seattle's Mysterious Red X and self-released on April 11). 

Dining Dead's 2021 debut album, Medium Rare, offers tuneful rock that's just eccentric enough to ward off ennui. Its touchstones include solo Mary Timony and Helium, if they were more enamored of classic rock than prog and post-punk. Medium Rare's songs are certainly pleasant, well-sung and well-played, but nothing about them really grabs you by the collar and raises your pulse or eyebrows. 

However, Is This a House? is the opposite of a sophomore slump, as is apparent from the opening track, "Overture." Clearly, Dining Dead have progressed to a higher level of musicianship and songwriting prowess, as this mostly instrumental piece marked by deft dynamics, Sammy Skidmore's supple vocals, and Emma Hayes and Skidmore's blissful guitars, à la early Felt, proves. Kennedy Webb's violin asserts itself as the band's secret weapon, subtly embellishing melodies and adding richly somber colors. "Against the Wall" sprouts out of that song, its cool, gliding rock burgeoning into a momentous anthem. "I think I'll be reborn," Skidmore sings in this inspirational tune of self-actualization. 

On "Angel of Logic," bassist Shannon Barberry and drummer Bogie Pieper reveal their formidable rhythmic punch in this bit of acerbic art rock, elevated by Hayes's crispy, warped guitar solo and Skidmore's relatable line, "It's so hard to get sober from yourself." Even when they're coming off as bubbly, there's an undercurrent of conflict and emotional complexity, as evidenced by "Evaporate," which rises on Webb's gorgeously melancholy violin solo. 

"Wavelength" sounds like another low-key anthem, mellowly rolling and jangling into the zone that the Velvet Underground achieved with "What Goes On." The roiling "Goddammit" presents a roller coaster of emotions, buoyed by an incredible coda that goes off on a tangent as surprising and satisfying as that in Derek & the Dominos' "Layla." The incisive, coiled rock of "Burn Your Dinner" seems poised to go nuts at any second, in the vein of early Throwing Muses. This two-minute gem would be a hit single in a just world. Somebody sign this special band already. 

Dining Dead perform May 4 at Easy Street Records, 5 pm, free, all ages (RSVP required).