Potholes in My Blog

Charlotte, N. C. producer Axnt has been on my radar for a minute now thanks in part to the homie Simon, who’s a talented a producer in his own right, and also the folks at the Durham-based Raund Haus collective. They released Axnt’s latest project, Double Image, which is a delightful blend of sounds. While hip-hop may be the root of what you’ll hear on this project, there are lovely experimental touches throughout that bring a healthy heaping of crunch, fuzz, and other speaker-punishing elements. And yet, even at its most left-field, Double Image never gets too abrasive or challenging, which is no easy feat.

Float along with J’von’s new album Dream Surfer Following up his collaboration with Lido last year, J’von is back with his newest creation Dream Surfer. The 10-song project showcases him floating on and weaving through loopy 90’s video game beats while spilling all the thoughts from his cranium; love, lust, wants, needs and most importantly, dreams.

Elaquent has been one of my favorite producers for I’m not even sure how many years now, and it’s for a pretty simple reason: he consistently releases good-to-great music that doesn’t sound complacent or buried in a single sound. The Guelph, Ontario artist messes around with his approach throughout Blessing in Disguise, which also happens to be his debut album on indie-rap bastion Mello Music Group. It’s a fitting pairing that I would have already celebrated, but hey, we just got Potholes back up and running. If you’re looking for a track to give you a feel for what you can expect on this album, peep “Copacabana.

Phonte—he of solo, Little Brother, and Foreign Exchange fame —recently released a surprise EP, Pacific Time, that succinctly showcases all of his immense skills. For me, his songwriting has always been his strong suit, and he continues to flex his crazy pen game on all four of these tracks. It’s hard to pick a favorite from the bunch, because sometimes it all just works together so damn well.