Ebi Soda is a group from Brighton who have only been around for a short time, but they have quickly been thrown into the mix of the exciting jazz scene in the UK. They released their first album, Ugh, in 2020, which caught the attention of Tru Thoughts, who now release their sophomore album, Honk If You’re Sad. Ebi Soda is a jazz quintet at their core, but these guys also came up in the late 2010s, which means that they also listen to a wide variety of music, from dub to trap to post punk and beyond.

Jon Rogers is a producer from Columbus, Ohio, formerly known as Maggz. With a career going back over ten years, he’s worked with everyone from Rene Dion to Moka Only, as well as maintaining a solo career. His most recent release came in 2020, when he gave us the beat tape, 8-Pad Technique. Now he has returned with one of his most interesting projects to date, Athletic Manuvers. Athletic Manuvers is a short release, with nine tracks clocking in at just over ten minutes, but Jon Rogers manages to do a lot in that time period.

Werkha is a producer from Manchester who has been releasing music for about ten years, dropping a lot of singles, EPs, and remixes, as well as working with artists like Bryony Jarman-Pinto and Quantic. His first album, Colours of a Red Brick Raft, came out on Tru Thoughts back in 2015. He moved over to First Word with his 2020 EP, The Rigour. Now everything has finally lined up for him to drop his sophomore album, All Werk is Play.

Power Struggle is an emcee who originally got started in Minneapolis, performing with group like Oddjobs and Kill the Vultures. Eventually, he made it out to The Bay, and he made his debut on Beatrock Music in 2010 with his solo album, Remittances. In recent years he has been a little quiet, with his last EP, This MIC Kills Fascists, coming out in 2016. Now he’s back, though, with a new EP called Aspirations.

Ockham’s Blazer is a new group consisting of some familiar and not so familiar faces. Toronto producer Fresh Kils and New York emcee PremRock have worked together on multiple projects over the years, but this time they’ve expanded the lineup to include Christoph “Chrizzle” Mateka on production and keys, Guido Spannocchi on alto sax, July Skone on percussion, Anthony Rinaldi on bari sax, and Julian Preuschi on trumpet, most of whom play in a group called PRAQ!

New York emcee/producer Uncommon Nasa and Chicago emcee Short Fuze have been friends and collaborators going back over ten years, but in 2020 they made their official debut as the duo Guillotine Crowns when they dropped their debut album, The First Stand. Two years later, and they are back to solidify their status with their sophomore album, Hills to Die On. Much like the first album, Hills to Die On is completely produced by Uncommon Nasa, with the exception of one track that is coproduced by Digdug.

Rel McCoy, fka Relic, is an emcee/producer from Toronto who has been making music since the earl ‘00s. In that time, he’s worked with everyone from Fresh Kils to Moka Only. Most recently, he worked with Eternia, producing her 2021 comeback album, Free. Now he returns with an instrumental album, Melancholy Flowers. While Rel McCoy has produced for himself and others, he hasn’t released much in the way of instrumental projects.

About five years ago, A.D. Carson made some waves when, as a grad student, he turned in a peer-reviewed hip hop album called Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions as his doctoral dissertation at his Rhetoric department at Clemson. He then made waves once again when he got hired and assumed the title of assistant professor of Hip-Hop & the Global South at the University of Virginia. While he’s spending plenty of time these days teaching in classrooms and presenting at academic conferences, he never stopped making music and rhyming.

Rebecca Vasmant is a producer and DJ from Glasgow. She made her recording debut just last year on !K7 when she released her full-length album, With Love, From Glasgow. Now she has come right back with a new EP to make her debut on Tru Thoughts, Dance Yourself Free. Dance Yourself Free might just be four tracks long, but when the EP clocks in at 26 minutes, you can rest assured that Rebecca Vasmant is taking her time to deliver some really well-developed, soulful, and thoughtful dance music for you.

Carrtoons is a producer/multi-instrumentalist from New York who started releasing music five years ago. His output has been pretty steady in that time, and it’s also found him recently collaborating with the likes of Reuben James and Marcus Machado. His most recent solo release came in 2020, when he released the album Saturday Morning. Now he’s back with a new album, making his debut on Wichita with Homegrown. If you’ve never listened to Carrtoons before, Homegrown is a great place to start, because you get a really well-rounded look at the artist.