Suff Daddy is a producer originally from Düsseldorf, but now based in Berlin. He’s been releasing music for about the last fifteen years, and in that time he’s worked with artists like Donwill, Ta-ku, and Twit One, just to name a few. His most recent project, Basically Sober, came out in February of 2022. Now he’s back with a new full-length album, Hair of the Dog. It doesn’t take long in listening to Hair of the Dog to understand why Suff Daddy has emerged over the last decade as one of the best instrumental hip hop artists.

Raw Poetic is an artist from D.C. who initially came on the scene as part of the duo Panacea, but he’s been forging a path as a solo artist for a while now. In recent years, he’s collaborated on some brilliant albums with Damu the Fudgemunk and Archie Schepp. His last album, Space Beyond the Solar System, came out in December of the past year. Now he’s back with a brand new project, Away Back In.

A.M. Breakups is a producer who got started releasing music over fifteen years ago in Brooklyn, but these days he’s been calling New Orleans home. Over the years, he’s been part of groups like Cult Favorite with ELUCID and We Are Not For Them with Warren Britt and The Gent. The last we heard from him was in 2021, when he dropped a collaborative EP, OGB. Now he’s back with a new full-length solo album, REDIVIDER.

Mick Jenkins is an emcee from Chicago who got started releasing music in the mid-2010s. In that time, he’” gained a lot of respect and acclaim, which has afforded him the opportunities of working with artists such as Robert Glasper, Chance the Rapper, Disclosure, and more. His most recent solo album came in 2021, when he dropped Elephant in the Room. Now he’s back with a new full-length album, The Patience.

VuVuVu are a five-piece group from Tel Aviv, consisting of Amir Sadot on bass, Itamar Weinstein on drums, Tomer Zuk on clavinet, Yonaton Nahmias on guitar, and Matan Caspi on percussion. Up until now, the group has mainly served as a backing band for acts like Kutiman and Sababa 5. Now they are stepping out on their own and releasing their debut self-titled album on Wax Thematique. Listening to VuVuVu, you can’t help but think of the great retro funk and soul acts out of New York of the past two decades, such as Budos Band or El Michels Affair, or their inspiration in acts like Dennis Coffey or David Axelrod.

Simon Richmond is a producer originally from London, but now based in St. Leonards-on-sea, East Sussex. He has been releasing music for over thirty years, working under different aliases, such as Boswick Gates and Pacific Rim Dubs, and with such groups as Cousin Grizzly and Fresh Handmade Collective. Over the years, he’s worked with everyone from Art of Noise to Nenah Cherry. He originally debuted the alias Palm Skin Productions back in the early ‘90s, when he released a series of four EPs on Mo Wax that established him as a trip hop/electronica artist of note.

Amin Payne is a producer from Melbourne who has been releasing music for over a decade now. In that time, he has released projects with Ben Bada Boom and worked with artists like Silentjay. In 2019, he released a project called The G-Funk Tape, a tribute to that early ‘90s West Coast sound. Now he’s come back with a second volume titled G-Funk the System. Sometimes all you need is a project to deliver the promise of the title.

Zilla Rocca is an artist from Philadelphia who has been making music for over fifteen years, rocking with The Wrecking Crew and making albums in recent years with andrew and DJ Chong Wizard. Now he’s teamed up with Chicago producer Jason Griff to drop a new album, Stacking Chips. Jason Griff is a Chicago producer who has only been releasing music for about the last four years, but he’s already made some huge strides, collaborating with emcee Alaska on 2021’s Human Zoo, and then again this January when they dropped Pop Songs for the Apocalypse.

Brycon is a producer from the Bay Area who has been releasing music for over a decade. In that time, he has collaborated with a lot of other artists, usually also from the Bay, such as Equipto, Professa Gabel, or Dregs One, just to name a few. However, two years ago, Brycon extended that reach across the Pacific to work with Japanese producer iLL Sugi on a project called Music For Indoor Cats.

Pale Jay is a relatively new artist from Los Angeles, who released his debut EP, The Celestial Suite, in 2021 on PLYGRND Music. Now he’s making his debut on Colemine with his first full-length album, Bewilderment. If you were to look at the name Pale Jay and then look at the cover of the album or press photos, you might think that you were in for something along the lines of some ironic hipster hip hop.