One of the best parts of December is the Freecember series of releases that Fake Four puts out every year as a way to showcase lesser known artists. Three years ago, one such artist to participate in Freecember was Fresno’s Ersatz Splynter, when he released his Lalochezia EP. Now he comes back to join in the Freecember fun once again with an EP called Apartment Number One.

While Ersatz Splynter has been making music for a while, he hadn’t made a self-produced project up until this point. He initially began on this endeavor two years ago, but he hit some major road bumps along the way, more than just learning how to produce beats. After moving, he lost his day job, and then shortly after that his computer stopped working. He eventually bought a cheap used computer off of a friend and got back to it but was forced to Frankenstein an unusual recording situation that involved a loop pedal, drum pad, micro Korg, and Pro Tools. The result is an EP with a lo-fi, playful quality to the beats, which actually works well for Ersatz Splynter, an emcee who can rock a lot of different flows, from some of the fastest rapid-fire rhymes to some drawn out, half-sung words. His lyricism is just as versatile, going from extremely fun and playful to serious and timely, from the personal to the philosophical and everywhere in between. He covers a lot of ground in a short nine-track release, also throwing in a nice sung contribution from labelmate Squalloscope on “Chess Like Check,” and even throwing in a sax-lead instrumental track on top of everything else.

It’s not perfect, and I’m sure Splynter would be the first to point out that his beats aren’t quite where he’d like them to be, but he made an un-ideal recording situation work, and powered through with passion, skill, and charisma. Apartment Number One is a release I’m sure we’ll look back on as a stepping stone to something greater when Ersatz Splynter drops his next project.