Containing a 1980s-style atmosphere and noted by one reviewer to be the duo's cleanest sounding release so far, the extended play was influenced by Russian disco records Frankel found on eBay.

"[2] The rhythm of each track was developed first before writing the melodies and lyrics,[2] given that the main goal of the EP was for it to be "instantly rhythmically gratifying", as member Nick Millhiser described.

[4][7] Halfway into the song, diva vocals from the East Coast Inspirational Singers group join in, which Frankel, "literally found them on the internet.

traveled to Los Angeles to work with DJ and production duo Oliver on the song, but with little success in making the type of track Holy Ghost!

said in their January 2016 announcement of the EP that a fifth track might be included; "We’re still messing around, because we have a lot of demos from this last year and a half, and we’re sifting through, figuring out if there’s one more we want to finish.

first announced in a January 7, 2016, interview with The Boston Globe that an extended play titled Crime Cutz was to be released in late spring of that year.

[9] An official Ben Fries-directed video for the song depicted multicolored lights flashing to the beat, with Aubrey Cook starring as the dancer.

[11] On April 22, 2016, DFA released a "Crime Cutz" remix EP featuring two re-cuts of the song, one by Alan Palomo's project Neon Indian and another by producer Eli Escobar.

"[1] Austin Reed, writing for Pretty Much Amazing, praised the band for returning to a little-to-no effort approach that was used in making their self-titled debut album: "Dynamics fell short because neither Frankel nor bandmate Nick Millhiser seemed 100% convinced that what they were doing made any sense.

[15] Cameron Cook of Pitchfork honored Crime Cutz as "a bright, tight, tense mini-epic, solidifying [Holy Ghost!]

"[4] His only major criticism of the EP was its lack of stylistic variety: "you spend a lot of the record hoping for something to take them even further over the edge, but they continue to pull back until the very end.