Human Cropcircles

It wouldn’t be a complete surprise to find the latest effort from Human Cropcircles in heavy rotation at Michael Moore’s next house party. Tiananmen Square pepper-sprays the frustration of social unrest with samples of political poetry, anti-Bush speeches and conspiracy theories layered over dark, hypnotic beats. C.E.S. Cru rapper Ubiquitous joins the Cropcircles to break up the monotony of beats with a healthy dose of left-wing flows, keeping things just fair and balanced enough to carry Tiananmen above becoming tiresome propaganda. Meanwhile, Capture Enemy Soldiers provides some of the same political lyricism, only with more street-level grit that finds C.E.S. Cru (Ubiquitous, Godemis and Sorceress) leaning liberally on its colleagues for support. The Cru has compiled a solid army of its own — featuring top regional talents like Vertigone, Miles Bonny, Reach and Kid Called Computer — to wage war with Enemy Soldiers. But the C.E.S. Cru manages to avoid too many cooks in the kitchen with a polished and precise backdrop of beats. Tracks such as “Cost Effective Strategy” and “Perfect Essence” show that this crew can be as confident, fiery and versatile in the studio as it is onstage.