Sole has had a long and winding career that has taken him across the country, out of the country, across the country, and then back again, working with different producers, emcees, and live bands along the way, the whole time cultivating his style as a confrontational anarchist emcee. While he’s actually been producing for years, he’s intensified his efforts on those fronts in recent years, releasing the entirely self-produced Let Them Eat Sand just about one year ago.

A.M. Breakups is a producer from Brooklyn who has worked as part of groups like Cult Favorite and We Are Not For Them, as well as working as a solo artist. Last May, A.M. Breakups released a collection of instrumental tracks called Architecture 1 | Babel. Not only was the collection enjoyable, it also held the promise of more collections to come. Well, we didn’t have to wait much longer, since it’s less than a year later and we’re already up to volume 3, Architecture 3 I Hubris.

Columbus vocalist/producer Renee Dion first made a splash about five years ago, when she collaborated with producer Jon Rogers to deliver the album Moonlight. Her most recent release was her self-produced album, Haven, which came out in 2017. She now comes back with a surprise EP, Sonic Chocolate. If I was going to describe this EP in one word, it would be smooth. Dion uses a mix of synthesizers, bass, and drum machines to create an ‘80s-influenced style of R&B, one that sounds a little bit West Coast in its overall style, but is kept on a much more intimate level, never getting too loud or funky.

Magna Carda is a group out of Austin that has been going strong for the better part of this decade. Starting with 2014’s Van Geaux, they’ve been on a steady roll of really creative and soulful hip hop albums. We last heard from them in December of 2017, when they released their Coffee Table Talk Vol. One EP. Now they come back with a new EP for Valentine’s Day, Ladee.

Cody Cody Jones is an emcee from Pittsburgh who used to perform under the name Stillborn Identity. We last heard from him just about a year ago when he released Year of the Dog. Rap of the Month. Now he follows that up with his ambitious project, Follow Your Heart And You’ll End Up Alone. For this project, Jones enlisted the help of several producers, including Proseed, ialive, C Money Burns, Naedon, Eric Yeschke, Vegas Gold, Joey Smooth, Jumbled, and himself.

Last month, Minneapolis artist K.Raydio decided that she needed to break a period of relative quiet and just put some music out and get things in motion. She started what she’s calling the “Sync” series with 1:11, a short collection of demos that she wrote, produced, sang, and recorded all by herself. It’s now time for the second installment in the series, 2:22. While there is a certain rough-around-the-edges quality to a project like this, it’s interesting to see how even in the course of a month, things sound a little more polished.

Doomtree producer Lazerbeak has been a busy man in recent years, producing for Longshot, Dessa, Shredders, Mixed Blood Majority, Lizzo, and others. While he was doing all of that, he looked up and realized that it had been seven years since his last solo album, Lava Bangers. Well, the good news is that he finally made time for himself again, and we now get the long-awaited follow up album, Luther.

Pacific Yew is an artist from Fort Worth who has been releasing his own unique style of music since the beginning of this decade. We last heard from him just this past June, when he released the album, ((((Bathing)))). He now follows that up with another full-length album, ((((Maidenhair)))). If you’re not familiar with Pacific Yew, his is a style that won’t blow you away at first, but it will sneak up on you.

Back in 2014, former Pharcyde emcee Slimkid3 teamed up with Jurassic 5 producer/deejay DJ Nu-Mark to release a self-titled album on Delicious Vinyl, which was everything you wanted from a veteran pairing like that. Now they’ve come back together and added a new voice in Austin Antoine, releasing their first EP under the name of TRDMRK. First things first – this EP bangs. Over the years, DJ Nu-Mark has been able to develop a good balance between making pop tracks that bump and making some off-kilter weirdo rap.

Mr. Hong first came on our radar back in 2015, when he released his debut EP, Colors. Since that time, the San Francisco producer has given us some truly beautiful EPs, essentially created as time permitted as he graduated from college and worked his day job. His last release came in May of 2018, when he gave us One Year Later. Now, after all this time, we finally get a full-length album from him, midnight.