Mickey Morphingaz (more fingers – geddit?) has a surprisingly low internet profile, and given that my review copy of this EP got lost somewhere in the postal ether, I don’t know an awful lot about him. As far as I can work out, he’s an Australian-born turntablist who has spent a good deal of time in Europe, Berlin and London in particular. As a performer, Morphingaz recently came to my attention when he did a most admirable job filling in as DJ for Belleruche, and I saw him again at the launch of this EP. I had a chance to talk to him in person at the EP launch, and he came across as passionate and humble, so I can only assume that spiel on the inside cover of this EP is very much tongue-in-cheek: “Everybody knows turntablism is the future of music. Everybody knows that the skill set of the turntablist is unparalleled within the sphere of live performance” – it continues on, too.

Presumably the fact that this is the Business Card EP means that it is meant to showcase the producer’s skills, but having seen the guy actually play, I have to say that this EP falls a little short. Hey Mickey samples Toni Basil’s Mickey, and probably comes closest to succeeding from a “demonstrating skills” point of view. With some heavy scratching and deep, textured samples, this is a theme song to be proud of. Emu and Platterpussy are cut and paste affairs that don’t really come together as coherent tracks, and the vocals on Platterpussy in particular, are delivered in an almost bored monotone.

There is some impressive scratching, especially in an interlude in the middle of Emu, while Flaming Galah is a 2-minute track that would be more at home as a spacer track on a full-length album, and while it’s well put together, its inclusion here suggests that the producer was a little short on material. Moi Aussie, as well as being a clever pun, is a trip hoppy number that wouldn’t be out of place on a Ninja Tune compilation. The beat is broken and nicely blunted, and the track just seems to work much better than the rest of the EP.

Mickey Morphingaz is a skilful turntablist, and while there are some interesting ideas displayed on this EP, as a “business card”, it doesn’t quite work.