As has been the tradition for several years, December marks the return of Fake Four’s Freecember, a tradition where the label uses the month of December to help shed a light on some lesser known artists, releasing one free project a week over the course of the month to help give them a boost. Last year we saw releases from artists like Chris Conde and An Illustrated Mess. This year, we’re starting out in Austin with Chief and TheDoomsdayDevice, who gives us The Reclamation Project.

Rel McCoy, fka Relic, is a Toronto artist that has been releasing music for about the last ten years, working along the way with artists such as Fresh Kils, Eternia, Moka Only, and Shad, just to name a few. His most recent work came out in August of 2019, when he released his full-length album, A Different Crown. Now he’s back with an EP produced by Peace 586 from Freedom of Soul, No More Soda EP.

The Phasing Octopus is a relatively new artist out of Birmingham. The producer has had a busy fall/winter in 2020, with Bug[bomb] EP coming out in October, I may be annoyed or whatever coming out in November, and now serotonin overload is here in December. It might look like The Phasing Octopus is running out some short and simple projects on paper, but the reality is that these projects are actually quite involved.

Yazmin Lacey is a vocalist from Nottingham that has made a splash over the past three years with a series of jazz and R&B influenced EPs. Her most recent came just this past March, when she released Morning Matters. Now she’s returned with a collaborative project with the production duo Congi, Two Takes EP. Yazmin Lacey and Congi have worked together off and on before, but they always meant to do a proper project together.

Austin producer Flobama came up as part of Hermit Kingdom, but he’s been focusing on his solo career in recent years. In 2020 he’’s been especially busy, with an EP, an album, a beat tape, and a single under his belt so far. Just for good measure, he’s come back with one more beat tape, Bento Beats (combo #1). It’s really easy to make a mediocre beat tape, and as evidenced by the amount of decent-but-forgettable ones that come across my desk all the time.

Back in May of this year, Bay Area producer/musician mr. hong teamed up with Melbourne musician pastels to release a concept EP called café a.m. It wasn’t anything too complicated, but it was effective and relatable as they told the story of a couple meeting cute in an elevator and then going on a date at their local coffee shop. Now they are back to pick up where that EP left off with café p.

Shrimpnose is a producer from the Twin Cities that has been releasing music for about the last five years. In that time, he’s worked with artists like K.Raydio and CRASHprez, along with releasing his solo material. 2020 has been a busy year for him, having already released an EP as part of the Outlaw Ocean Project, along with two full length albums. He’s not done yet, though, as he returns at the end of the year with another EP, Small Wonders.

C.Shreve the Professor is the Asheville emcee who has been going strong over the last decade as part of the group Free the Optimus as well as a solo artist. Back in the fall of 2019, Shreve was ready to take a chance on himself and tendered his resignation at Appalachian State, where he had been working as an actual professor (not just a nickname). Unfortunately, 2020 threw a wrench into some of the big plans he might have had, but the good news is that we now have a new full length album from him done in collaboration with Bristol producer ILE Flottante, ILE.

Emapea is a Polish producer who has been making some noise over the last five years. Stateside, he is probably best known for his collaboration with Los Angeles emcee Kid Abstrakt on the album Jazzy Vibes, which came out this past summer. Now he’s back with a compilation of tracks, Reflection. Reflection is comprised of tracks that originally all had homes on a bunch of random releases, spread across several different projects, but if you didn’t know that when you pressed play, I’d doubt that you would guess that’s the case.

Elder Orange is a producer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist from Vermont. While he has been making music for much longer, he stepped out as a solo artist under the name Elder Orange just in 2018, when he released the album All My Friends Believe in Ghosts. Now, after dropping an EP called Stella this past May, Elder Orange comes back with the proper follow up album, Bricks in the Bathwater. Bricks in the Bathwater is an interesting album in several different ways.