Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?
is a title suitable for the madness of 2020 and its timeliness is further proof that
Fantastic Negrito
is the rare modern blues musician whose eye is keenly upon the present, not the past. His insistence on grappling with the realities of now also meant that he never resigned himself to playing traditional chord changes, preferring to rely as heavily on funk, hip-hop, soul, and rock as the blues themselves. Such eclecticism gels into a recognizable signature on
, the third album
Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz
has released as
since 2016. Here,
leans heavily on
Prince
for both his kinetic funk workouts and slow jams, so much so that the album can sometimes seem like a sideways tribute to the Purple One. He dips into paisley-flavored rock in the vein of
Sly Stone
on "Platypus Dipster" and reels in
E-40
for an interpolation of the Bay Area rapper's classic "Captain Save a Hoe," but these are accents on an album that's so firmly grounded in funk, it only seems to hint at the blues. This will only be a problem for purists, as
crackles with energy, wit, and passion, attributes that are worthwhile effective compensation for
's relatively streamlined attack here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine