Flume and JPEGMAFIA are gleefully unhinged in their latest collaboration, “Track 1,” a seven-minute animated video featuring new music.
In a music industry where collaborations are often predictable publicity stunts, these longtime friends tossed convention into the shredder for “Track 1.” As the first glimpse into their new EP, We Live In A Society, it suggests something genuinely innovative in the works.
Neither Flume nor JPEGMAFIA have announced the EP’s release date but the former revealed in an Instagram Story that the project will feature four tracks. They first joined forces back in 2019 for “How to Build a Relationship,” which appeared on Flume’s scintillating mixtape Hi This Is Flume. The duo then reunited for “New Black History” from JPEGMAFIA’s 2024 album I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU.
The experimental “Track 1,” Flume’s first release in over two years, arrives as a perfect blend of both artists’ most distinctive traits. Flume’s meticulous, texture-obsessed production pairs with JPEGMAFIA’s raw, confrontational energy to deliver an experimental masterstroke at the intersection of hip-hop and electronic music.
The seven-minute animated video by James Blagden serves as both companion piece and origin story, capturing a studio session where the boundaries between collaboration and friendly antagonism blur. JPEGMAFIA’s merciless roasting of Flume’s production skills—including a playful threat to replace him with Fred again.. in the studio—unfolds against a hallucinatory backdrop of morphing cartoonized bodies and psychedelic color fields. Blagden at one point outfits Peggy with a phallic nose.
As far as the music goes, it’s fresh and inventive, true to form these boundary-pushing artists. Glitched-out beats create a framework for Peggy’s abrasive vocal stylings before giving way to what can only be described as peak Flume at the 4:25 mark, when a honeyed bass drop wraps around the hypnotic vocal refrain, “How it’s supposed to feel.”
You can watch the animated video for “Track 1” below.
Follow Flume:
X: x.com/flumemusic
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Follow JPEGMAFIA:
X: x.com/jpegmafia
Instagram: instagram.com/jpegmafia
Facebook: facebook.com/jpegmafia
Spotify: spoti.fi/3XXXbBi
