Sweatson Klank is a producer from Los Angeles, formerly known as TAKE. Over the past decade or so, he’s worked with labels such as Ghostly, Alphapup, Brainfeeder, and Project Mooncircle. His last project came about a year ago, when he dropped the full length album, Fine Lines. Now he comes back with an EP, Low Moon. One of the things that has made Sweatson Klank interesting over the years is the way in which he’s managed to balance some weird and sophisticated musical elements while still remaining pop friendly and accessible.

melodiesinfonie is producer from Switzerland, who in his early years contributed to labels like Soulection and Melting Pot music, while also touring extensively across Europe and beyond. Now he comes on to Jakarta Records to release his full length album, A Journey To You. One of the things that hit me as I listened to A Journey To You is just how “live” the album sounds. As melodiesinfonie was coming up, he definitely fit the profile of “beatmaker.

Sarah Violette is an emcee from Portland, Maine, formerly known as Essence. She’s been putting out music since the beginning of the decade, with her latest EP, Pay No Mind, coming out just this past February. Now she comes back with a collection of orphan songs, Scraps. Scraps is a collection of songs that were recorded between 2014-2017 that never made it on to a mixtape or album, for various reasons.

Nolan the Ninja is an emcee and producer from Detroit who has been making some noise over the last five years, with a collection of mixtapes, beat tapes, EPs, singles, and albums to his name in that time period. He caught quite a few ears in this time period, including Mello Music Group, who announced his signing earlier this year. He now makes his debut on the label with his latest album, SPORTEE.

Zerolex is a producer from France who initially came on our radar as part of the four-producer group known as Cotton Claw. In 2016, he took a bold step when he released his debut solo album, M.I.L.D., which remains one of the best electronic albums to come out in the past decade. He now returns to the spotlight with an EP that goes off in a bold new direction, Touché​-​Coulé.

Shungu is a producer from Brussels who has been releasing music since 2012. He’s been working at a prolific pace since then, with his last project, Exile Dreams, coming out on Hot Record Societe just last September. Now he returns with a new release, A Black Market Album. While Shungu is from Brussels, listening to A Black Market Album, you might suspect he was from Los Angeles. That’s because on this album, Shungu is taking some downtempo music and injecting it with a heavy dose of ‘80s electro-boogie, resulting in some big, funky laidback beats that will sound great pumping out of your car windows as you drive around in the sun.

The Midnight Hour is the partnership of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The two actually met and planned to make an album together in 2013 but got sidetracked when they began working on the score for Luke Cage. Last year, they were finally able to release their debut album, which was self-titled. They toured a lot to support the album, and in the process worked up a really tight live show.

Loyle Carner is an emcee from London who dropped his debut album, Yesterday’s Gone, in 2017. It received a lot of acclaim, including a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Now he’s come back with the difficult task of following up that debut with his sophomore effort, Not Waving, but Drowning. A lot of the time, when sophomore albums feel like a slump, it’s because the artist or group second guess themselves trying to live up to expectations.

Brooklyn emcee Miss Eaves mad a big splash back in 2017, when she released her album Feminasty, featuring the hit, “Thunder Thighs.” She followed that up with the ME AF EP last summer, along with a couple of singles. Now she comes back with another EP, Sad. While both of the previous releases were produced by KEISHH, Miss Eaves turns to producer Rich Matthews to help with the three songs on Sad.

Rejoicer is a producer from Tel Aviv who made his debut on Stones Throw last fall when he released the album Energy Dreams, which saw him fitting in nicely alongside labelmates like mndsgn. Now he returns to expand upon his sound with another EP, Heavy Smoke. If you’re not familiar with Rejoicer, Heavy Smoke isn’t a bad place to start. He exists in a little bit of an in between space, finding a place to mix in parts of downtempo hip hop, experimental electronic music, psychedelic rock, prog rock, jazz fusion, and indie rock.