Earoh is a producer from Los Angeles who first came to our attention back in 2015, when he released a beat tape on Hot Record Societe called This Is Water. While he’s followed that up with beat tapes, EPs, and singles, the one thing we haven’t gotten out of him is a full-length album. That changes now with the release of Ambien Moon. Ambien Moon has interesting origins, recorded over the span of three weeks as Earoh traveled across New Zealand’s South Island, even incorporating field recordings along the way.

Big Lo is an emcee from Pensacola who has been carving out his own little niche in the hip hop community for several years now. His most recent proper release came in summer of last year, when he dropped the Wunderland Apokalypse EP. Now he comes back with a full-length album done with producer CxxxLxxx, The Illegalist. The term “illegalism” refers to an anarchist philosophy developed in the early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism.

Psymun is a producer from Minneapolis who has been releasing music for several years now. Over the years, he’s collaborated with a few musicians, most notably on a full length album with vocalist K.Raydio. While he’s released some smaller projects in recent years, it’s been four years since his last full-length release. Now he finally comes through with TAPE. TAPE is an interesting project, in that it kind of plays like an old-school mixtape.

Ayentee is an emcee and producer from the Bay Area who has been releasing music since the early 2000s. It’s been four years since his last release, Automation Vacation. He now returns with his ode to all the working people out there, My Retirement Plan Is Death. Sometimes it can be easy to romanticize the artists you like, and just assume their life is fun and easy because you only know them from the albums you listen to and fun times you have at shows, but the fact is that real life is something that we all have to deal with in one form or another.

Soultru is an artist originally form Davenport, Iowa, now based in Quad Cities. About two years ago, he released an EP by the name of Backpack. Always meaning this to be part of a bigger project, Soultru now comes back with volume two in the series, Backpack: Continued. Now, if you’re reading a hip hop blog like this one, when you hear the word “backpack,” you’re probably going to think of some leftfield beats and wordy, nerdy rappers.

Matt Black is not just the Detroit producer better known as Peace To Mateo, he’s also the founder of the record label Young Heavy Souls. While the label has been releasing albums at a steady pace, with recent efforts from Norty and Vapor Eyes, Peace To Mateo has been taking his time to get this album right. Now the time if finally here for Some Strange Reason. Over the last two years, he’s abandoned his past style of sample-based production and worked up his first album of completely original productions, meaning that there is a lot of live instrumentation (from a lot of different artists), and then manipulation thereof.

The White Blinds are a relatively new funk/jazz group from Los Angeles, a trio composed of drummer Michael Duffy of Ozomatli, organist Carey Frank of Tedeschi Trucks, and guitarist Matt Hornbeck. Together, they’ve sought to create a throwback sound, which comes across on their debut album, Get To Steppin’. When these three got together, they were looking towards musicians like The Meters, Jimmy Smith, and Jimmy McGriff as inspiration, and it comes through on this album.

Toronto emcee and Backburner member Wordburglar has been at this for a while, developing a reputation as a wordsmith with a knack for punchlines. As much as he’s been working, it’s been three years since his last solo album, Rapplicable Skills. Now he comes back with another classic, Rhyme Your Business. Wordburglar has been nothing if not consistent over the years, and he delivers everything you want out of a Wordburglar album on Rhyme Your Business.

Yuvi Havkin, aka Rejoicer, is a producer from Tel Aviv who has been helping cultivate Israel’s beat scene with his own Raw Tapes label. Now he makes his debut on Stones Throw with his full-length album, Energy Dreams. In case you were wondering like a beat artist from Tel Aviv sounds like, the answer in this case is that he sounds very much like one from Los Angeles. This is neither a good or bad thing, but I listened to the album once without reading up on anything about Rejoicer, and just assumed based on his sound and that he’s signed to Stones Throw that he’s from L.

New York emcee/producer ELUCID keeps busy. Only a couple of weeks after releasing the full-length debut of his new group with Milo, Nostrum Grocers, he comes right back with a new album from his previously established group with billy woods, Armand Hammer. A little under a year since their last album, Rome, came out, they return with Paraffin. There’s something to be said about meeting expectations and staying consistent. Ever since Armand Hammer dropped their debut album, Race Music, back in 2013, they’ve worked at a steady pace to deliver dense and challenging hip hop.