[8][9] Mason released solo material as King Biscuit Time, including two EPs on Regal Records during The Beta Band's existence.

2000’s No Style EP was described by NME as “wonderfully erratic ambles into crisp electronica, soft strumming, sleepy beats and his doleful singing about love, virtue, surviving and being comfortably glum".

Mason announced the end of King Biscuit Time before the album's release, and cancelled a subsequent tour, posting on his website “Peace to you all, I’m out of here.

Paul Lester wrote in The Guardian that Black Affair “reek of: old school R&B, electro, early hip-hop, Chicago house, Detroit techno, even the pristine white synth-pop that influenced all of the previous black artists in the first place – poptronic forgemasters such as Kraftwerk, Yazoo, the Human League, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and New Order".

The Boston Phoenix stated “sensitive indie man boy breaks up cult band, goes clubbing, is sexed up by shady ladies, feels somewhere between good-bad and bad-bad, tells the world about it, repeat".

Record Collector said that by “adding his reverb-laden studio trickery, it’s as if Bovell has delved deeper into Mason’s soul and created a perfect standalone piece".

The album covers topics as diverse as his recent struggles with depression and loneliness, the suicide of David Kelly (former weapons inspector in Iraq) and the London riots.

It received positive reviews: The Quietus suggested “If Mason’s last album Boys Outside was a window on his struggles with mental ill-health, Monkey Minds… moves from micro to macro as he harnesses his strong sense of social justice, while continuing to hone the crisp electronics that so perfectly soundtrack his ghostly, exhortatory vocals".

[21] The Independent called it "his most rewarding release since the Beta Band";[22] Record Collector stated it was “An attack on the lack of dissenting voices in popular culture, if this isn’t Mason’s bona fide masterpiece, it’s certainly approaching it”.