After a slow month in music last month, February has shown us the best of what this year has to offer the music world. With new music from up-and-coming artists and long-awaited albums from one of the biggest new stars out there, this month has already surpassed expectations for music releases this year.

“Drip or Drown 2” (Explicit) – Gunna

Early this February, rising rap superstar Gunna released his third album, “Drip or Drown 2.” The Atlanta rapper sprang to stardom with the release of “Drip Season” in 2016.

After seeing his potential, rap star and record label owner Young Thug signed Gunna to his new record label, YSL, in 2016. Since then, Gunna has released multiple singles, two mixtapes, and one collaborative album before releasing this full-length album.

As with much of Gunna’s music, he uses a basic background trap beat with heavy bass all behind his mumbled, quick repetitive rapping. The songs “Outstanding” and “Yao Ming” demonstrate this unique Gunna rap style.

However, he changes it up a little with the song “3 Headed Snake” with fellow rapper and record label owner Young Thug. With this track, we hear Gunna actually using his vocals with both fast rapping and slower singing. This, combined with the unique vocals and talent of Young Thug creates an amazing song and is one of the best on the album.

“Helium” – Homeshake

On Feb. 15, genre-blending artist Homeshake released his fourth album, “Helium.”  

Since his debut release in 2014, singer-songwriter Peter Sagar has been blending multiple genres together with great success under the name Homeshake. By combining piano and heavily processed guitars with relaxing techno beats, this soothing techno genre is great to listen to late at night.

While this genre of music is not one to get a lot of radio time, the music that he creates is almost psychedelic in a way and this paired with the spaced-out lyrics of Sagar creates a smoothness that fans of all genres of music can vibe to.

In this newest album, half of the songs are just instrumentals . The songs “Salu Says Hi” and “Early” are two tracks on the album that even though they have no lyrics, the combination of instruments creates a relaxing feeling that is very calming.

On the other hand, the songs “Nothing Could Be Better” and “Like Mariah” have more basic, yet just as beautiful background beats. Even though these songs’ instruments are much more basic and feature more loop tracks than the others. The fact that they are paired with Sagar’s unique voice makes these two songs that much better.

With his fourth album and a genre full of room for growth, “Helium” is a lesser-known album that should be checked out.

“Scrawny” – Wallows

Early this February, rising indie-pop band Wallows released their newest single, “Scrawny,” as a pre-release off their new album. As of right now, this album has an unknown release date.

The three-man band out of California has been making music together since they were teenagers. However, they have only been releasing music together since last year. Despite having no albums released, the band has teased the release of their first album and Wallows fans are eagerly awaiting a date announcement.

With this newest release, Wallows continues the unique style of indie-pop music that they have used since their debut. The combination of basic drum beats with catchy, processed guitar riffs creates a memorable beat that fans can bob their head to. This background beat paired with the spaced-out vocals combines together for yet another great Wallows song that has us waiting for their new album.