Any hardcore hip-hop expert in Austin ought to remember the name SubKulture Patriots, the fearless five-piece whose ’90s-style beats and rapid-fire lyrical exchanges gave Wu-Tang Clan and Boot Camp Clik a run for their money during their 2010s heyday. SKP’s been laying low recently, but founding mastermind Brian Tanton AKA The Brain isn’t letting a little kenopsia get in the way of his craft.

The native Texan  began experimenting with guitar and piano at a young age before graduating to hip-hop production and writing rhymes, but those early essentials have stayed close to The Brain as he’s continued to develop his unconventional, spasmodic flow. Now at the turn of a decade, The Brain is cued up to release his debut solo album, The Epidemic, on April 20th, produced entirely by longtime SubKult collaborator Ruler Why. The rhymes are remarkable, the references are extraterrestrial, and the beats are so fresh you’ll get stuff like the Gregorian chants on “So They Say” stuck in your head again and again.