EARTHGANG wants to talk about Artificial Intelligence. This isn’t exactly new territory for the duo — their last two EPs, late 2023’s RIP Human Art and early 2024’s ROBOPHOBIA, were also ostensibly preoccupied with the consequences of generative machine learning. Their new album, however, treats the conceit more like a moodboard than a thesis statement. In place of an eco-friendly plea for listeners to stop using ChatGPT, Perfect Fantasy reimagines a positive future for AI while bending the pair’s Southern revivalism into pleasingly psychedelic form; these songs beg to be played at high volume while enjoying the final dregs of pre-Daylight Savings sunshine.
Newly independent, the pair come bearing a number of high-wattage features on Perfect Fantasy: Pharrell, Snoop Dogg, and T-Pain, but also Little Dragon, Damon Albarn, and Eric Bellinger. But my favorite of the bunch has to be the Cochise feature “ELECTRIC,” which takes a pristine rage beat and sets the trio loose …