Marrow is an artist from Toronto who has been making music in different forms and under different names for over a decade. Recently, you might have heard him under the name Flux Apogee, which was a collaboration with a Russian producer, Ilya Id, who dropped the album Flux Apogee in March of 2018. Now he returns to the name Marrow, the original name he performed under from 2004-2008. There is a full length album coming later in the year, but first up is an instrumental collection, his third, Aviation of Pontius Pilate.

Moderator is a producer from Αθήνα, Greece who has been rising quickly over the last couple of years, with stellar albums like The World Within and last year’s Sinner’s Syndrome. Now he comes back with a different sound and even more growth with his latest album, The Mosaics. The first thing that will hit you about The Mosaics is that this album absolutely bangs. Moderator has delivered some really beautiful downtempo and hip hop, but on this album he’s bringing the party.

Please Wait is a new group featuring Australian producer Ta-ku and Toronto musician Matt McWaters. The two found each other online years ago, and have slowly been exchanging ideas over time, which has finally resulted in their debut EP, Black & White. Chances are that you’re more familiar with Ta-ku than Matt McWaters, but that should just mean that you’re prepared to hear some beautiful downtempo music, so you’ll be just fine listening to Black & White.

The last time we heard from the do-it-all artist known as Rabbi Darkside was in April of 2018, when he paired up with Mr. Simmonds as part of the group The Hues Brothers, who released their album Radioactivity. Now he’s come back with a short solo project, A Skeleton at a Typewriter. A Skeleton at a Typewriter was born out of an experiment with the creative process at the beginning of the year.

An ILLustrated Mess is the Flagstaff duo of emcee Prosodic and producer Cecil Tso. They’ve been going strong since they dropped their debut EP in 2012. The two found each other in high school and bonded over their Native heritage and love of music. Now, with the help of Fake Four’s Freecember series of releases, they hope to reach a wider audience with their debut album, Last Night, and All of Our Glorious Mishaps.

Back in October of 2018, we got the debut album from Danger Grove, the collaboration between Ottawa artist Jesse Dangerously and Colorado producer Lizard Grove, which was titled Want, For Nothing. Now before the years end, they have given us something of a companion EP, Want, For Want, of Wanting. This is not the most typical EP, in that this is not just a collection of five songs that didn’t make the album, or anything like that.

Over the years, Rhymesayers has kept to the older model of promoting releases, with well planned out schedules that include presales, singles, videos, and tour announcements. However, as 2019 comes to a close, it appears that they are experimenting with new models, as Brother Ali dropped an album produced by Evidence with very little warning. This continued into the end of the year when Atmosphere dropped a new album out of nowhere, Whenever.

Duncecap is an emcee from Brooklyn who has been putting out music since the beginning of the decade. His most recent release, Rapping is for Idiots, came out about two years ago. Now he’s returned with a new EP, miserable then. If you listened to Rapping is for Idiots, you might think of Duncecap as an artist who dabbles in the absurd or surreal, making fun hip hop that gets its points across through with a sense of humor.

Noveliss is an emcee from Detroit who came up as part of the crew Clear Soul Forces. Over the past few years, he’s concentrated on his solo career, which has allowed him to explore his love of anime and other parts of Japanese culture through his hip hop. Just last year, he released a project called Cerebral Apex, which was essentially the soundtrack to a manga he wrote with artist Aaron Hendrick.

Seattle label illect has been having a good 2019, with some standout releases including albums from Rel McCoy and Sareem Poems & Newselph. What you might not expect from the label, though, is an instrumental release from a French producer. Well, however unexpected, they’ve paired up with an artist by the name of Terem to release an EP called Still Growing. Still Growing might be an unusual release after all the boom bap and other emcee driven hip hop that illect has put out over the years, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good.