Nickodemus is a New York producer and deejay who has been making music in some form or fashion for about twenty years now. In the six years since his last album, Moon People, Nickodemus continued to travel, explore, and collaborate, always expanding his sound. The results are in the music of A Long Engagement. One of the major things that becomes apparent as you listen to this album is that Nickodemus is a deejay, and he’s performed live often over the course of his career.

Curta is an emcee and producer from Denver who started putting out music a few years ago. Just about one year ago, he released his last EP, Click Bait. Now he comes back with another EP, End of Future Park. Named after a random sign placed in Denver by the Colorado Department of Transportation, Curta felt the idea of “future park” speaking to him as there was a wave of closures of DIY venues across the state in 2016.

Raw Poetic is a D.C. artist best known as one half of the duo formerly known as Panacea. The last we heard from him was just back in December, when he paired up with Damu The Fudemunk to release the album The Reflecting Sea. Now he comes back with a true solo album in Paging Mother Earth. If you listened to Raw Poetic’s last album, or any album with Panacea, you probably have a feel for how Raw Poetic sounds working in the typical emcee and producer pairing, where he lays done some great rhymes over great beats.

Midori is a producer with roots in both Paris and Tokyo, as he also works as a DJ and runs the Menace record label. The last time he worked with Cascade Records was to release his 2016 EP, Green. Now he comes back with another EP, Kumo. Kumo EP is a fairly straightforward downtempo release from Midori. It opens with some noise and static on the opening track, “Into Nowhere Again,” but this gives way to this really lush and gentle soundscape with a lot of fluttering keyboards and woodwind sounds.

729 is the new project from Birmingham artists Ozu and Erthling. While the two have been in each other’s orbits for a while, this marks their first official collaboration together. They start things off with an EP appropriately titled Greetings. While Erthling is a dual threat, producing and rhyming, for this project he’s sticking to the beats while Ozu hops on the mic. If you’re familiar with Ertling’s production, you know that he possesses the ability to get weird and ethereal with his beats, but he also knows how to rock the crowd with some beats that bang.

Artson is an emcee originally from El Paso. After spending some time in L.A., he now resides in Las Vegas. After releasing his last EP, E.A.R.T.H., he garnered a bit of acclaim, including a handful of Native American Music Awards. Now, two years later, he comes back with a full-length album, Brave Star. As you might guess from the title and cover art, there is homage being paid to the one and only Black Star album with Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

R4PC4MP is new group with some old friends, Lucas Dix and Blake Ambrose. The two first met each other growing up in Wisconsin, but now both reside in Portland, Oregon. Dix had been out there for several years, working on projects like Jellyfish Brigade and Shut-ins and the Colony, but Ambrose only recently moved out to join his friend in the Pacific Northwest. So while they’ve known each other for a long time and have made appearances on each other’s projects, this is the first time we get a proper album from the two as a duo.

Paul White is a producer from South London, best known for working with artists like Danny Brown, Open Mike Eagle, Eric Biddines, and Homeboy Sandman. For his latest effort, he gives a solo album that’s like nothing he’s done before, aptly titled Rejuvenate. If you’re familiar with White’s previous work, you know that one of the things that he’s best known for is his reworking of samples from psychedelic samples to create these lush, funky soundscapes.

Height Keech is a producer/multi-instrumentalist and self-described rapper/talk-singer from Baltimore who has been putting out music for over fifteen years. Just last fall, he teamed up with Philly emcee Ialive to release the excellent album, Timewave Zero. Now he comes back with a proper solo album, Computer Rocker. One of the most interesting aspects of Computer Rocker is the way in which it defies easy categorization. There have been producers who sampled garage rock before, but I can’t think of one who found this sweet spot between just actually writing and recording some garage rock and making hip hop beats by sampling garage rock.

Toronto emcee The Mighty Rhino burst onto the scene when dropped his debut album, He Whom The Beat Sets Free Is Free Indeed, back in 2011. Since that time he’s showed up here and there with some guest verses and been part of some group projects, but fans have been patiently waiting for the proper follow up to that first album they loved so much. The wait is finally over as he now drops We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness.