Snaxx

Mndsgn’s 2018 mixtape Snax gathered stray remixes and edits by the Los Angeles producer, a.k.a. Ringgo Ancheta; the title was meant to suggest appetizers nibbled while the cook works in the kitchen. But instead of the anticipated meal, he follows up with Snaxx, an accompanying collection of beats and sketches rescued from his hard drive. Track lengths are short, and the mood is breezy, casual; a given idea (a captivating drum break, a fetching set of chord changes) plays out exactly as long as it needs to before he moves on to the next. This being Mndsgn, the mood stays plenty cohesive anyway, with tape-warped keys smeared over lean boom-bap grooves, and teasing snippets of G-funk or jazz flute giving you something to hold on to before it all goes up in a wisp of smoke. A trio of vocal tracks toward the album’s end raise the stakes, dangling airy R&B and drowsy rapping—a teasing preview, perhaps, of the main course.