Ray Lozano is a German-Filipino artist who was born and raised in Cologne. After making a few appearances on other peoples’ projects over the last couple of years, Lozano is now ready to release her debut album, Pairing Mode. Working on her songwriting mainly through her main instruments of bass and piano, Lozano has given us a sophisticated neo-soul project with Pairing Mode. Written mostly in 2020 and 2021, Lozano is focusing on themes of connection and re-connection, those basic human needs to know that someone else out there cares about us.

Chicago artist NNAMDÏ is currently on tour supporting his latest album, Please Have a Seat. He recently took the time during a stop at Saturn in Birmingham to talk with us about the album, his songwriting process, adapting the music for the stage, Dr. Mario, and so much more. Scratched Vinyl: Before we get into anything else, you came out on stage tonight in this amazing jump suit. Where did this come from?

CoCec is the collaboration between Flagstaff artists Collin “.smallz” Haviland on vocals and Cecil Tso, aka Tsoh Tso on the beats. They first came together in 2018 to drop the EP Life Sucks but the Music is Good. While they had talked off and on about doing a proper follow up to that project, this was not the path they initially imagined the new project would take. Starting with a compilation of beats that Tso had shopped around to other artists, only to have them pass or sleep on them, CoCec initially thought they might just make something like a mixtape to just tide themselves over as they figured out what the next move would be.

Sensational is an emcee from Brooklyn who originally made his debut on the 1993 Jungle Brothers single, “Troopin’ on the Downlow,” using the name Torture. He made his solo debut in 1997 with the album Loaded With Power. Over the years, he’s had his ups and downs, but he’s recorded with the likes of Handsome Boy Modeling School and Spectre, and put out releases on labels like Ipecac. For his latest release, he’s teamed up with prolific Calgary producer The Dirty Sample to make an album called The Spot Rocker.

Supastition is an emcee/producer originally from North Carolina, but now based in Atlanta. He’s been releasing music for over twenty years now, and over that time period he’s worked with acts like KRS-ONE, Cunninlynguists, Little Brother, and Oddisee, just to name a few. His last solo release came in 2019, when he released Sacrifice EP. He now returns with a new EP, Every Last Word. Sometimes the phrase “grown man raps” gets thrown around without much meaning attached to it, but Every Last Word is really and truly some grown man raps.

Ian Grant, aka IG Culture, is a producer from London who was part of the Broken Beat movement, getting his start in the early to mid-‘90s. Over the years, he was part of all sorts of different projects, including NameBrandSound with Alex Phountzi of Bugz in the Attic. In 1997, IG Culture launched a project called New Sector Movements, which was a malleable group that at times included other Broken Beat musicians such as Kaidi Tatham, Izzy Dunn, Julie Dexter and Eska Mtungwazi.

Chairman Maf is a producer from Sheffield who has been releasing music for the past decade. Almost one year ago, he gave us his latest instrumental album, King Cook. Now he is right back with his eighth full-length album, Butternut. When you have an artist like Chairman Maf, who works at such a steady pace and doesn’t radically shift his style from project to project, it can be hard to see immediate growth when you listen to a new album.

Afroham is an artist from Rotterdam who has released five singles over the last two years, and has worked with labels like Chillhop. Now the young artist takes the next step, releasing his debut EP, Quantum Love, on Melting Pot Music. It doesn’t take long into listening to Quantum Love to see what Afroham is all about. That’s because over the course of five tracks, he is laying down some killer neo-soul/downtempo vibes that are immediately inviting.

Sweatson Klank is a producer from Los Angeles who has been releasing music for over two decades, first under the name Take before switching over to Sweatson Klank in the early 2010s. Since signing on with Friends of Friends in 2017, he’s been delivering albums and EPs at a steady pace. His most recent album, Postcards, came out last summer. Now he’s back with a new project, Reverie EP. The nice thing about having a veteran producer like Sweatson Klank still making music is that even the shorter projects like Reverie still have a lot of substance.

Nerves Baddington is a trio from Birmingham who have been releasing music since the mid-2010s. They had a busy year in 2022, with the release of a double album, micro/macro, along with a couple of solo projects from emcee/producer inkline. Showing no signs of slowing down in 2023, they are now back with a new EP, No Survivors. Bassist/producer Kilgore Doubt was behind the majority of the production on micro/macro, and he’s back to provide the beats for No Survivors.