Lettermans

Bendik Giske is a saxophonist, and his album, Surrender, features pretty much nothing but him and his saxophone. He made the album by putting tiny microphones all over his body to capture the sound of him exerting his breath into the sax. Sounds weird, but the effect is actually incredible. In a way, you can hear him in the same way that you hear the instrument; they work as two different machines, but come together to make a single body of ambient jazz music. The project was inspired by a trip to Berghain, which is unexpectedly noticeable for an album dominated by a single horn instrument.

My friend put me on to Big Baby Scumbag a few months ago with the "Dale Earnhardt" video. Being from the South myself, that combo of ATVs, Waffle House, NASCAR, and Natty Light definitely hit home. I checked back in on him recently and found "Major Payne" – another banger, this time featuring a No Limit-style album cover and a video with #TYBG spray painted on an abandoned truck. Immediately, I'm a fan. He kinda sounds like Young Dolph but mixed with Lil B (see: "Pimp C Freestyle") and the general foolery that comes with being from Awful Records.

Pedro is a breakbeat and house producer from Porto, Portugal, who cites guys like Theo Parrish as among his biggest influences. His solo music is a bit hard to find outside of this release, but of what's out there, it all falls into this intoxicating swirl of jazz, soul, R&B, and breakbeat. Jenna Camille – a soulful R&B vocalist from the DC area – seems like an unlikely pairing just off distance alone, but she fits the production style perfectly. "Float", the 2nd track on the EP, feels like a perfect actualization of their vision. The drum pattern picking up towards the end of the track is an insane highlight.

I found "Janet" while digging through Frank's blonded radio catalog about 2 years too late. It was one of the tracks I just couldn't let finish – there's something about that synth. It has that same crackling feeling that a lot of music from Jai Paul's camp has; on one hand the song feels mysterious and reflective, but on the other hand it has this strong undercurrent that keeps it from feeling... soft. Turns out Hadley does have a loose affiliation with not only the Paul Institute, but also Vegyn, who Frank linked up with in London between albums. Cool group of people.

When Tyler first released Bastard in 2009, pop music sounded like the last thing he would ever try, and yet, IGOR is also the only logical outcome of his ten years of experimentation. The album is rich, blending Tyler's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, soul, R&B, and electronic music into a luxurious pool of heartbreak and triumph. It's complex, and finally worthy of collaboration with the heroes that molded his musical identity: Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Santigold, La Roux, Cee Lo Green, and more.

Ted Kamal started making waves on SoundCloud in 2017 with a series of insane drum-and-bass remixes of Playboi Carti tracks. He occupies a bizarre intersection of UK garage music and whatever you want to call what Carti makes, which means he's obviously very niche, but if you're into either of those lanes, his music scratches an itch you didn't even know was there.

Clube Da Esquina started off as a music collective in Minas Gerais, Brazil in the late 60s and early 70s. While the political undertones draw natural comparisons to Brazil's Tropicália movement, what makes the album unique is the ridiculously far-reaching set of musical references that it blends together. The album is at once Bossa Nova, psychedelic rock, and orchestral string music, darting in a million different directions, all beautiful. Without knowing a lick of Portuguese, the album is still gripping from start to finish, and one of the most incredible pieces of music to come out of a nation that can't stop dancing.

Chassol – a jazz pianist from Paris – travels to India to record the sounds of Varanasi, Delhi, and Calcutta among other cities. Much of Indiamore drifts along with field recordings of muffled conversations and prayers, setting the stage for Chassol's speciality in "speech harmonization" – a technique where he matches a note to each syllable pronounced in the recordings. It finds elements of musicality in every day conversation, blowing them up into exaggerated and colorful bursts of free-wheeling jazz.

With production credits for Kendrick, Earl, and Snoop, it feels like BADBADNOTGOOD have garnered more of a reputation as instrumentally savvy rap producers than as legitimate jazz musicians in their own right. For whatever reason, "Confessions, Pt. III" didn't make their last album, but it features a whirlwind of a solo from legendary saxophonist Collin Stetson. The song feels restless, at times making you wonder how Stetson even manages to breathe throughout his 7-minute appearance.