Missy D is an artist from Vancouver who has been releasing music for the past six years. In that time, she’s had a steady string of releases, and often collaborated with her friend Kimmortal. There have been a few singles here and there, but her last EP, Yes Mama, came in March 2020. Now she’s back with a new project, Case Départ. For the project, Missy D enlisted the help of producer David Tallarico, along with additional help from Fyksen and 8een.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio have been steadily growing in popularity since the release of their first album, Close But No Cigar! in 2018. They have done that through a steady release of great jazz/funk albums and constant touring. For Record Store Day this year, they take us back to their earlier days, when they came to Plaid Room Records to celebrate the release of their Live at KEXP! album for Record Store Day 2018.

Spectateur is a producer from Nantes, France who has been releasing music for the last decade. Over the past two years, he’s released three “animal” EPs, with Pelican coming in May of last year. Now he’s back with a different type of project, Nocturne. While there isn’t necessarily a theme to this project the way that Spectateur’s last run had one, there is a tone to the album that can be inferred from the title.

Athens, Georgia artist Linqua Franqa made a splash when they released their debut album, Model Minority, in 2018. Since that time, there have been a lot of changes in Franqa’s life, from launching a music and politics podcast with Dope Knife called Waiting on Reparations, going to grad school, working as county commissioner, giving birth, and coming out. It’s been an eventful few years since that release, leaving us to wonder when Franqa would finally find time to release a proper sophomore album.

Twit One is a producer from Cologne, Germany who has been releasing music for over a decade now. Over the years, he’s worked with people like Miles Bonny, Juju Rogers, and Suff Daddy, just to name a few, all while maintaining a steady solo career. In fact, his last full-length album, Audda Control, came out in November of last year. Now he’s back with a new 10”, Prelude to a Disaster.

Mickey O’Brien is an artist from Sudbury, Canada. While he released his debut solo album, My Drift, in 2019, he had been working for years before that as the frontman for the group Kill The Autocrats, where many knew him as OB. That said, there’s still a learning curve to starting a new chapter in your musical career, where people get to know you all over again in a new light.

BLKrKRT is a producer from Fort Worth who has been on a tear in recent years, releasing complex and original instrumental projects as Black Siddhartha, Ancestors, and Black Rock & Roll. The third and most recent volume of his Black Rock & Roll series came just this past February. Now he’s back with a different sort of project, indigo 4.0. When you work on ambitious projects like the ones mentioned, it can be nice to rebound with something simple and short, something where the stakes are low.

Randal Bravery is a producer from Milwaukee who has been releasing music since the mid-2010s and who is also part of the Ruby Yacht crew. His last album, Weed-Head, came out in October of last year. Now he has teamed up with Chicago artist and Why? Records co-founder Joshua Virtue to release a new album, Spectacular!! If you’ve spent time with either artist’s music, you know you’re getting something abstract with this album.

Sault is a British collective of musicians who had breakout success in 2020 with the release of two albums, Untitled (Rise) and Untitled (Black Is). While little is still known about the group and its members, people were excited by the way the music moved between hip hop, soul, R&B, gospel, and pop, speaking very presciently to the times. They followed that up with Nine, released last year, which continued to build upon that foundation.

Claud Six is an artist from Portland, Oregon who has been releasing music for over a decade, whether it be as a solo artist or as a member of groups like Jellyfish Brigade, BCxLD, Hives Inquiry Squad, Shut-ins and the Colony, and R4PC4MP. His most recent solo album, Pantry, came out in January of 2021. Now he’s back with a new solo effort, In Case We Shouldn’t Make It. As you might infer from the title of this album, Claud Six wrote this music over the last two years as his attempt to process a non-stop cycle of checking the news to see something terrible and then getting messages from friends and family that essentially said, “Shit’s crazy?