Responsible for a killer album as one half of MM / KM with Kassem Mosse, Mix Mup has quietly been proving himself as one of the lofi scene’s most striking producers, and on his first release for Joy O and Will Bankhead’s Hinge Finger the man steps up to the big leagues. After The Job is a scintillating EP; the mood decidedly ominous, the sounds gnarled and muddy. The title track’s a monster, running a Tina Turner sample under a freight-train of click-clack percussion and obtrusive bass figures. The track’s structure, too, is deliciously warped, its stop-start opening giving way to crushed kicks and videogame synths that ramp up the lumbering momentum.
One might expect such a star turn to be accompanied by a series of me-too fillers on the flip side, but Mix Mup keeps his sound consistent and exciting throughout. Copa Jams runs at a more typical pace but loses none of the stalking atmosphere, as detuned strings fall awkwardly over a growling bassline and beats locked in the high end. Doomed takes these sonic signatures and drowns them in dirt, melodic fragments adrift in a sea of gravelly percussive detritus that builds a strong groove over its 7 minute runtime. Finally Mix Mup pulls another stunner out of the bag on beautiful beatless closer Bungalow, an ethereal piece that evokes pure wonder through a patient series of reverbed blips and deep synth washes. The finale hints at untold dimensions of Mix Mup’s sound that are just as promising as what we’ve heard so far, making his future productions an exciting prospect indeed. As a whole, After The Job is a lesson on the perfectly-crafted EP: thrilling and disorientating, always catching the listener off-guard while never sacrificing the groove.