American producer Evan Mast carved the niche experimental hip-hop project E*Vax alongside his full-time band Ratatat, delivering his debut album, Parking Lot Music, in 2001 before following it up 20 years later with E.Vax.

Before Mast joined Mike Stroud to form Ratatat in 2001, he had been producing lo-fi, glitchy instrumental hip-hop under the name E*Vax, releasing his debut single, "Glacial Sports," in 1998 on his and his brother's label, Audio Dregs. Two more releases followed in 2000, "Cross Country Ski" and "Foiled," on Static Caravan, before he issued his full-length debut, Parking Lot Music, in 2001. With most of him time spent on Ratatat, Mast flirted with hip-hop production over the intervening years, working with the likes of Jay-Z on "$100 Bill," Despot on "House of Bricks," and writing and producing for Kanye West for his Kids See Ghosts project, and for his ninth solo album Jesus Is King. Mast returned to his own project in 2021, issuing the follow-up to his debut some 20 years later. The resulting self-titled album saw Mast delivering a mix of organic-sounding, glitchy instrumental hip-hop. ~ Rich Wilson, Rovi