The "oh sh*t" has always been the unshakable currency of hip-hop. Sure, there've been attempts to devalue it - the lackluster opening battles in the movie 8 Mile come to mind - but experienced hip-hop heads don't go around wasting their monthly "oh sh*t" budget.

After seeing The Pirate Signal for the first time in about a year, though, I've got to say this: Spendthrift head-nodders, be ready to break your neck, break out your wallet and break the god damn bank.

The Signal slimmed down since last year, streamlined to emcee/producer Yonnas Abraham and DJ A-WHAT, and in that time, they've thrown together a tight new sound. That's not "tight" in outdated slang. We're talking tightly wound. And with each surprise that comes with each unraveling, there's another and another "oh sh*t" moment.

The new stuff, including "You Will Get Dirty," which you can hear on their myspace, is put together with a patient hand. It's lean and economical. And while there's still the same sense of songwriting as 2004's Norma(l) Hugh Manchild's American Revolution(s), the new stuff isn't so overtly political. And that's cool.

That's cool because the most controversial, most political things to come out of the Pirate Signal aren't straight-up condemnations of one politician or another, or calls to arms for form of government X over Y. See them live. The revolution is in the record needle. It's in the swelling horn that gets just a little painfully loud before falling into the beat. It's in screams into the mic when the music drops. It reaches into the viscera and twists.

It's a shame the crowd was a little sparse when they got up at the Gothic. The Urban Citizen Project assembled some great bands for some great nonprofits that night, but when you start the show at 7, it takes a while to get people in the door.