Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records is an Athens, Georgia-based record label that has been putting out great indie-rock albums for years. Last year, they broke their own mold when they released Model Minority, by the hip hop powerhouse known as Linqua Franqa. Fortunately, that wasn’t a one and done situation, as they now turn to another Athens hip hop talent, emcee/producer Wesdaruler, who releases his debut album, Ocean Drive.

Juien Mier is a producer from The Netherlands who has been releasing music for the past decade, working along the way with labels such as Lowriders Collective, Cascade, and King Deluxe. As his career has progressed, hes carved out a completely unique path, making beautiful instrumental music that defies genre, culminating in standout releases such as his 2015 album, Out of the Cloud, and his 2016 EP, Shiny Silver Lining. He now comes back with his most ambitious release to date, Industries in the Trees.

Von Pea is of course the New York emcee who has been working as a solo artist and as one half of Tanya Morgan for over a decade now. He’s always keeping himself busy, having just released a solo EP just about a year ago, and producing Donwill’s solo album just earlier this summer. That’s not enough for Von Pea, who now comes back with a full-length solo album, City For Sale.

Thorts is an emcee from Bunbury, Australia who has been making music for years, and has worked with some American artists you might be familiar with, such as Ceschi and Eligh. His last release came in January, when he released an EP with Aetcix called Frog Brothas ‘99. Now he comes back with a more personal project, and EP titled Chrysalis. The opening track to Chysalis, which is also the title track, might be just a little deceiving at first, since there is a certain amount of playfulness to the production, with some isolated short samples and bouncing bassline providing an interesting combination of weird and fun.

Moonchild is a neo-soul trio from Los Angeles that met at USC and released their first album, Be Free, in 2012. Since that time, they’ve continued to work and grow their chemistry together and build their audience. Their most recent release came in 2017, when they dropped the album Voyager. Now they’ve come back with their fourth full-length album, Little Ghost. One of the first things that will hit you when listening to Moonchild is how good their chemistry is.

Height Keech is a musician from Baltimore that has been carving out his own unique path for almost twenty years now. We last heard from him a little over a year ago when he released his full-length album, Computer Rocker. Now it’s time for his thirteenth album, Raw Routes. If you’ve listened to Height Keech before, you might have some idea what to expect from one of his albums, but if you haven’t, you might be a little surprised.

Sankofa is an emcee from Fort Wayne, Indiana who has been working at a steady pace for the better parts of two decades now. 2019 has been a particularly busy and productive year for him, with two releases already under his belt. Now he comes back with a third project, $5,000 Flashlights. A lot of album titles are pretty straightforward, but every once in a while, you get one a little odd, and if you’re lucky, the explanation is a doozy.

Homage is a producer from Cincinnati and one of the founders of Fort Ancient Records. Aside from staying busy with the label’s Fort Ancient Airlines series of releases, Homage released a solo album one year ago called Hacienda. Now he comes back with another solo album, Unfortunately. The idea behind Unfortunately is that this is an album that is about disappointment or failure, or just all the shitty things that life can hand you.

The Doomtree sub-group known as Shredders came together a couple of years ago, with P.O.S., Sims, Lazerbeak, and Paper Tiger forming together like a ball of energy. They released their first EP, Dangerous Jumps, in 2017. Now they’ve come back with another EP of all killer with Great Hits. When Shredders released their first EP in 2017, they were coming off the heels of two intense and personal solo albums from P.

Bay Area producer Mr. Hong has quietly become one of the better instrumental artists working today since releasing his first EP, Colors, just four years ago. Just earlier this year, he gave us his first full-length album, the excellent Midnight. Now he comes back with a little bit of a different look with his latest EP, Vacation. One of the things I appreciate about Mr. Hong is that even if the concept is simple or straightforward, he always finds a unifying theme to tie his projects together.