Hi, everyone. Clapthony Traptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time to review this new EP from Flume and JPEGMAFIA, We Live in a Society.

Here we have a brand new collab surprise EP from two pretty eclectic minds in the world of music trailblazing artists, Flume and JPEGMAFIA. Now, on the surface, these two come from vastly different worlds in popular music: EDM and hip hop. But it's their left field bona fides in both of these lanes that eventually brought them together to collaborate years ago at this point.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Flume is an Australian music producer who has indulged in a myriad of different electronic dance music styles over the years. Future bass, wonky, glitch hop. Often he has presented these styles in a way that appeals more to a mainstream audience. But even with the massive crossover success that he has had, he has not turned his back on experimenting for experimentation's sake or working with artists who have more of a left field appeal, which is why we have projects like the very wild and versatile 2019 mixtape, Hi, This is Flume, which is really a tape tapestry of unencumbered creativity.

I reviewed it at the time, loved it, thought it was a really refreshing release from him. This, I believe, was the first time him and JPEG Mafia had collabed on a track together, and it was one of the more memorable songs from the tape, and they just worked surprisingly well together, which is why the prospect of them teaming up once again, especially for an entire project, even if it is just an EP's length, is exciting.

However, We Live In A Society is definitely intriguing on first listen, but disappointing in its lack of moments that I really feel myself wanting to come back to.

Track one on the EP, which is titled "Track 1", is a six-minute opener, which came complete originally with an animated music video. Look, with that very funny animated video, the first listen of this track is great. Sure, the banter between Flume and Peggy as the whole first half of the thing progresses is a little stiff. You can tell it's acted out, with Peggy really crapping on the one noisy beat that Flume is just progressively showing him different variations of. The Fred Again.. dig is genuinely hilarious.

But as good as some parts of this track are, the whole thing is like starting your project off with an extended skit. Sure, once the beat does actually gain some momentum and gets going with its loose grooves and entrancing vocal samples, it's sick. But I was actually hoping to hear Peggy do his thing on the track lyrically. I mean, hearing him repeatedly complain about the beat in an over-the-top way and complimenting it as it's evolving edges you for a payoff that doesn't actually occur.

Plus, on top of it, it's hard to buy into idea that this beat is just so weird or crappy or abrasive that Peggy would just refuse to wrap on it. Like, he's definitely spit on top of much stranger, less palatable instrumentals.

So, yeah, if you went into this EP hoping to hear just some straightforward lyrical and production chemistry between Flume and JPEGMAFIA, sadly, that is also missing on the following track, "Is It Real?" Where, yes, Peggy does show up vocally a bit on track for a pretty solid refrain. But the star of the show on this cut is actually alternative RnB vocalist, Ravyn Lenae. I love the song. I love the contrast between some of the more abrasive bits of the instrumental, the stuttering, shimmery keys, and Lenae's very smooth, alluring vocal delivery. It's definitely the best track on the record by far, but maybe not exactly what I was expecting from an EP that is double-billed as Flume and JPEGMAFIA.

Then there's "AI Girlfriend", which in concept is more like it. You have Peggy vocally doing his thing while Flume mostly seems to be behind the production here. This track also features a supremely goofy chorus, an incredibly grating drop, too, which certainly makes anything Peggy might have been complaining about with the "Track 1" beat on this record feel even more hilarious by comparison.

And on top of it, we have the topic of the track, too, which is a little campy, is tongue-and-cheek, as there are literally bars about having an AI girlfriend on this track, but it's done up so much to the point where the song almost feels like a novelty cut or maybe a moment that also feels like more of a skit than a song. Though I will say "two-factor authentication / I'm saving you" – that is a bar.

But yeah, for the most part, this track just sounds like a more annoying version of something we've already heard JPEGMAFIA do on his EP2 cycle.

Then we have "The Ocean is Fake", which I think is maybe in terms of overall build what people mostly were expecting from this record, basically Peggy just rapping on some straightforward Flume beats. While, yeah, that does finally happen on the closing cut of this project, it doesn't really feel like either one of them is firing on all cylinders with this track. I mean, the instrumental is fine, but it's far from Flume's best. JPEGMAFIA sounds like he's having fun on the track, but ends the whole verse off with "Fuck it." Kind of like him and Flume are just dicking around in the studio, which is fine. I think an entire project from both of them containing at least some moments like this would have been cool and certainly could have showcased their creative chemistry and just how great of a time it was to put together a bunch of tracks with one another.

But all in all, that's what the entirety of this EP sounds like. What's worse than that is that there's not even that much material material to go off of. I don't know. I mean, if there's any silver lining to this EP being as mediocre and as underwhelming as it is for both artists, it's that maybe it is a bit of a teaser, and fingers crossed, a sign of maybe more stuff to come from both of them working together.

Because, again, obviously on each other's respective projects, they both contributed great stuff and would love to hear that continue. But honestly, I don't really feel like anything on this EP holds a candle to anything they've done together in the past. As a result, I'm just feeling like, okay. Yeah, this EP is like a strong 5 to a light 6. Yeah.

Anthony Fantano, JPEGMAFIA, Flume, Forever.