producers: joker70

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.