Human Cropcircles: Reviews

Can a single human being make a difference? Can he or she stop the forces of evil dead in their tracks? These are questions that ran through my head when hearing this sick eleven track CD from Human Cropcircles. This album draws comparisons to September 11th, 2001 - a day etched in everyone's memory.
"Tiananmen Square" starts with "Prologue" in which Ubiquitous vents his frustration of the accounts and facts that led to the attack. This song will hit some real hard and bring back memories about where you were on that fateful day. The beat is serene with a nice piano loop and is the ying to the raw lyrics (the yang) that Ubiquitous spits. There are vocal samples of former Dead Kennnedy's icon Jello Biafra (on the interlude "Death March (U.S.)" and "Us Or Them") and a real ill poem from Allen Ginsberg on the track "America".
The production by Sike, JKR70, and Eggnog is excellent, stirring up many emotions. On some tracks you'll feel angry ("Us Or Them") and others sad or depressed ("Prologue," "Tiananmen Square" and "Epilogue"). Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. Great albums are those that stir up different feelings and emotions. Great albums are what wears out replay buttons.
The interludes are just as groundbreaking as the songs. This is not for those who do not want to learn or are open to opinions and facts. If you want to hear about cars and women and material shit don't even put this in your CD player.
For 11 tracks (including two interludes, two remixes and seven full songs) this CD packs a powerful punch. Lyrically Ubiquitous has a complex but easily digestible style. You'll rewind not because you didn't understand Ubiquitous but to hear what he said again. Unbelievable flow. And unfortunately all this comes to an end with the track "One". This album symbolizes what KRS-One said many years ago, "You must learn!"

The Human Cropcircles is one of those collectives that should be heard. All the love that this humble site is giving, is only handed over, because they deserve it. Just listen to their music and you will find out yourself, how good their music is, how complex their beats are, that allows them to be as expressive as a well written novel. And now there is new music to check out, as we are treated to another album. However, this time around Hexagram 23 is handing over his half of the responsibility to Joker 70, who on here did all the beats, that are most of the times left instrumental, but in some circumstances, coupled with lyrics, and that's often a good enough reason for his brother Hex' to return to the studio, to drop some verses.

That's the case on "Fun (The No More Pounding Remix)", where Hex' is making his flow nestling in between the spoken word and the off beat, him discussing the ill conditions for the artists, himself as well as the music. On "Underground / Cloudscape" he shares the beat with Vertigone of The Guild, with Joker coupling the words with something harsh and threatening, that even finds the room to change somewhere during its duration. There are other tracks with words, but without Hex', namely "Seeding / Shifting / Seething", where Eanna is given some time on this 11 and a half minute long piece. And with the long voice samples it's hard to distinguish that part from all the other different chapters that are aligned. Easier to spot are Negro Sco (of HHA) and Staria (playing the didgeridoo), as their part is to spit their poetry over "Toys In The Attic", before on "Windows Carbon" Joker himself steps to the mic.

But this album is so much more about the instrumental exhibitions. And what they are suffering from is too many ideas. Because rather than creating one track, with a smaller number of ideas, that are connected, Joker attaches different worlds, if not to say galaxies to one cut, and that analogy certainly matches the science fiction, space sounds on here. What also makes it hard to describe the beats, or to say which ones are the strongest or most appealing (okay, one of the illest is certainly "Aliens / Formalism"), as they are forever changing, escape your grasp quicker than you can form an opinion on 'em. But what we can say, especially in comparison to the last offering, that the good art of taking lengthy voice excerpts and putting them on soundscapes is still done. On here Joker even opts for singing, coming from as varied sources as the musical Hair or Björk.

This is good. Sometimes a little confusing and hard on you, but it's really good. Hence this should not be read about, but be heard, and your effort to climb into the sound structures, the plot of tales and twists and turns, that's told in musical ways, will be well rewarding.

"how difficult can it be to keep a sound from spreading?"

from the first strains of "creature comforts" - the opening cut on their 'Human Pride And The Lack Thereof' long player - it's clear that Human Cropcircles are not your run of the mill hip-hop producers. if you're looking for dull loops lifted from hits of yesteryear and tired, well worn drum breaks, then you've got the wrong CD (and, i could suggest, the wrong web site). hexagram 23 and joker 70 - the Missouri based brothers behind the cryptic moniker - have created one of the most original debuts i've heard in a long time. coupling superbly crafted beats with imaginitive vocal samples, the 58 minutes and 30 seconds that comprises 'Human Pride...' are some of the most intricate and well thought out you'll absorb this year.

for those looking to draw similarities between Human Cropcircles and other artists, i'd suggest that the duo sit somewhere between Presage's Jel and UK producer Luke Vibert, the man behind the boards on the first two Big Dada 12"s. there are elements of New Flesh For Old's Part 2 in there too, as well as moments that wouldn't be out of place on a DJ Wally album, but to be perfectly honest, Human Cropcircles are far from flattered by the comparisons. at times i thought i was listening to Prince Paul's 'Psychoanalysis' ("false divine" in particular), at others Anti-Pop's Earl Blaize ("lurker") and moments of the Automator's 'A Better Tomorrow' ("icicles").

whilst it is predominantly an instrumental album, vocal cuts like "lurker" and "my brother" (which both feature the lyrical stylings of hexagram himself to good effect) add another element to the mix and further show the depth and versatility of the Human Cropcircles arsenal. guest spots from Negro Sco of 7 Fold Symphony (on "Lucky I'm Mad") and Vertigone of The Essays & Lucid of Collective Conscious ("Salvation") further enhance the mix and the excellent "six" offers a suggestion of what Q-Bert's 'Wave Twisters' might have sounded like had he created it on the MPC rather than the 1210s. with it's undertones of mistrust and paranoia, 'Human Pride...' manages to evoke the same edgy quality that a John Carpenter score has, creating a mood of cynicism and mistrust but then guiding the listener through it via the various informed (though obviously disembodied) voices of the overlayed sound bites.

overall, hexagram 23 and joker 70 have created the kind of work only graf artists (in the majority) seem to manage - taking in influences from so many diverse sources and creating an LP that manages to have a very distinct character without constantly needing an emcee on each track to maintain it. the album is intelligent, informative and most importantly one of the best instrumental outings you're likely to hear this year. yes, there's room for improvement, but i'd be hard pressed to name an album in which there wasn't - if Human Cropcircles don't blow up like Michelangelo Antonioni it won't be anything to do with any lack of quality, that's for certain.