Hey, buddy, did you hear the news? It's Track Reviews.
Okay. Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a track review.
My thoughts, my feelings, my emotions, my criticisms of a brand new track from the one and only singer, rapper, producer, songwriter, every-thinger, JPEGMAFIA.
His latest full-length LP, he's been teasing it like crazy for months now. Months and months and months, in fact. But now it would seem we are actually starting to get a slow drip of teasers and singles from it. A very recent one not too long ago featuring a long-time collaborator Freaky, which generally, by JPEG Mafia standards, I thought was just okay. Certainly did not hold a candle to pass collaborations with him. Tracks such as "I Might Vote For Donald Trump," total banger. It is a track that could grow on me when I hear it more in the context of the upcoming album, though.
But, but, but, but, but, a second teaser has hit the towers. It would seem we have another track from this Peggy album cycle, which I'm excited to hear. Going in raw. Have not heard this shit. We will see what it's got. It is titled "Sin Miedo" or Without Fear. And without any further ado, let's see what it's got.
Ba-bam. Okay, going to try it one more time. I'm going to try it again.
Okay, maybe one more time.
Okay. All right. I can see why this song has the title that it does. You have to go completely with no fear whatsoever into trying to pull this off.
Absolutely, excuse me, what the fuck?
This is so overwhelming and unhinged, but also special and entertaining in the way that JPEMAFIA specifically is when he is his best.
Not that I feel like this is the best song structure he's ever come through with, or even that this is his most dense and interesting track, lyrically speaking. But as far as some quippy one-liners go, and especially the magic and insanity Peggy historically is able to just whip up in the DAW. This is one of the most exciting and bold tracks he's put out in a while.
For one, you have these shouty and manipulated vocal samples panning and jumping all over the place across the mix as the track is ramping up on the intro. I'm pretty sure that's a 2 Live Crew vocal sample. Pretty sure I've even heard that track cropping up on TikTok in a few spots in the last several years.
Peggy working this shouty, just hype, old-school rap party-type vocal sample and throwing it on top of these really punchy staccato walls of fuzzy bass. The whole thing really sounds like it's a lofi dance party, or it's like ramping up for a lofi dance party of some sort. It's the nastiest, most cut rate DJ you've heard in your life, operating off really cheap equipment, but the sound is still gnarly as hell.
But then all of a sudden, of course, because it's JPEGMAFIA, you have this incredible and just sudden vibe and groove switch into some chugging metal guitars. Some soaring solos, too. In a way, at this point in the song, it feels like it's building up towards something, which is maybe my biggest reservation about the track overall. That it never quite settles down into one thing for too long and sounds like it's constantly on its way to introducing the final resting place or drop it will eventually hit. But the closest it comes to that is this electro-type groove switch on the back end in the final leg, which in a way feels like a much more consistent variation of what the track was kicking off with in the first place.
Either way, I think the track has a very solid, glitzy, electro-style ending. Very fun, very punchy, very groovy. This track is a really overwhelming, hype, multi-genre experience that's choppy and thrilling and weird in a way that is, Again, very specifically JPEGMAFIA.
And yet, simultaneously on this track, it sounds like he's trying some new shit and breaking some new ground, at least, which is a good thing because it's not really a Peggy album cycle if he's not throwing out some stuff that's going to be challenging and unexpected.
So With that being said, really messing with this one, enjoying it a lot, and it most definitely has me more hype for this upcoming record than the last single did. Especially considering I really want to hear how it fits into an overall chaotic tapestry of songs that are of a similar level of chaos in length, as tends to be the case when you're looking at any given JPEGMAFIA tracklist.
That's it. Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Let me know down in the comments.
Anthony Fantano, JPEGMAFIA, forever.
What do you think?
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