Friggin' Dilla, I love his beats man. I just got my advance copy of Dilla's Donut Shop which is a limited release through Stones Throw. Oh, before I forget Seu Jorge has something new on Stones Throw too! Well technically speaking it's out through "Now-Again Records". Nevertheless, the Portuguese wonder boy teamed up with Almaz to make a new record which is currently on tour. For those of you going "who the hell is Seu Jorge?" you might remember him from City of God or as the singing guitarist in The Life Aquatic who did all the amazing David Bowie covers (which I own all of them hehe). Anyways if you want to check out what they sound like, you can download "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" by clicking here.

Ok back to Dilla… Donut Shop is actually just 6 tracks of some classic Dilla instrumentals. It kicks off with a beat sampling a song that I once tried to flip several times and failed, The Safety Dance. I love how it was done and I was vibing the whole way, another minute and I woulda been busting freestyles. One here we also got the Mos Def instrumental to "History" and the Busta instrumental for "You Can't Hold A Torch". It's a must own for DJ's and beat makers.

Here's a copy paste from the site:

"A collaboration of Serato, Stones Throw and the J Dilla Estate.  This is a 2LP collection of J Dilla instrumentals backed with Serato Control Tone for Serato DJs. 
2 SIDES MUSIC Six J Dilla Instrumentals - three previously unreleased tracks, and three previously unreleased instrumentals for Mos Def, Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip.
2 SIDES SERATO Serato Control Tone for use with Serato Scratch Live DJ software."

It's vinyl only and comes with two records, and two very stylish Donut Slipmats for your tables. If you want a preview, click here for The Safety Dance Mp3. Here's the link to order your own copy, http://www.stonesthrow.com/store/special-edition/jdilla/donut-shop-serato-2lp-slipmats or click here if you're lazy: I'm LAZY.

So yeah, aside from that I will hopefully get my ass in the studio soon and drop some of my own new unreleased goodness soon. Peace out my ninjas!

Hey guys, ok check it, I'm sure you've all heard already but I got another remix track up on the NIN site. It's a slightly dubbed out mix of "Me, I'm Not" off the Year Zero album. You can listen to it and download it for free off the site here http://remix.nin.com/play/mix?id=20971. I debated for a sec about making a whole album of NIN remixes, BUT I will hold off until I'm done recording the Lucy album and if there is enough interest in hearing such a thing.

Speaking of new projects… Aesop Rock and Cage are teaming up to bring us the new "Two of Every Animal". It should be a mix of both on vocals and Aes on the beats. I liked "Hail Mary Mallon" so this should be interesting. And Felt 3 was super sick.

I'm hosting another blog too btw. For all of you guys into art and photography, a few friends of mine have decided to bring their photography skills to the cyber world. There aren't any posts up yet but you can subscribe or at least check it out here http://threegirlsandacamera.blogspot.com/

Lamebot is trudging along, we still need lyrics for 2 more songs and to lay down the vocals for all of them… getting in the studio has been an issue for both Iron Lung and Lamebot, but what can we do? I'm sure you guys will love our covers (which range from The Rolling Stone to Kanye West lol) and the EP. We're still looking for a label to help us release the EP so if you know of anything help us out!

Ok, well I think that's it for now, back to cleaning house and cleaning my hard drives :/

Yo yo what up my ninjas? See the blog got a nice lil facelift… that's NY in the pic of course… I miss that city. Anyways here goes a few quick things bout what's going.

1. 
   
   New project dropped called "Iron Phil-Aments"
   1. It was a collab project between me and Phil G where I handled the production and mixing and only made 2 guest appearances on vocals. You can listen to it or get your free copy on datpiff.com here Iron Phil-aments FREE on Datpiff.com
      
2. 
   
   A few older albums with broken links are back online
   1. Underground Oddities Vol 1 is back online here Underground_Oddities_Vol_1 FREE on Datpiff.com
      
   2. 
      
      Severe Warning Promo, the mega mix I made for The Weathermen is also back and ready for pimpin' here The_Weathermen Severe Warning Promo Mixed by Iron Lung
      1. By the way I had to throw in random songs because there is a 5 track minimum to be able to set them for download, so the first track is the actual mega mix, the other 4 are just goodies.
         
3. My remix with NIN is now available to listen and a free download from their site here The Greater Good Remix Featuring Iron Lung
   
4. 
   
   I recently signed on to do a song for DJ A.I. on an upcoming album being released through Godsendant.
   1. It's actually for a concept album about a city called "Neo-Gotham" and its super heroes. My song is written from the point of view of my favorite comic book character, Spawn.
      

SunDream is WanderLust Dream on production and 7^th Sun and Low Key providing the vocals.

Photosynthesis has a very West Coast summertime feel. The overall message of the record is very uplifting and maintains its sustenance throughout the entire album. The intro was a bit confusing to me because of the styles mixed but I found myself ignoring what was said and just vibing the beat. "Laws of Nature" and "Sacred Plants" (which seems to contain a part of a verse that was intended for a failed Iron Lung collab) are both very strong songs and represent the main idea of the album well, the mixture of both emcees blends well in those tracks and are will more than likely make you want to blast your system. "Bills" is a good transition to the self-explanatory "Summer Jam" which made me feel like going outside and hugging nature. There were only a few let down songs, but that could be due to my distaste for auto-tune in hip hop music, for example "Star Seed" seemed to insist upon itself. However, "Living Water" brings the album right back on track, I loved the beat for this song and the lyrics where on point.

Again, despite the auto tuned vocals in the middle of the track, "Stormy Weather" works well. The beat is very well made and 7^th Sun and Low Key's voices fit it well. "Change the Frequency" is pretty awesome. The small spoken word section near the end of the song is what did it for me and the auto tune actually does makes sense for this track given its title and content. As for "Abduction"; I just didn't seem to get. I couldn't get into it until about 2:40 when the beat changes up, I guess when can put it in the let down section for me. "Lights in the Sky" is an incredibly good track. 7^th Sun's faster delivery sits nice next to the acoustic guitar breaks and the Low Key coming back into the song. It's definitely one of the bangers on this album and had me back to higher volumes. "Healing Energy" kept me listening at max volume. The beginning of the track got my head bobbing and I was set. My only issue is I think it might have been a track better suited just for 7^th Sun by himself. Wanderlust's producing has evolved again, I found myself repeating this track just to listen to more of the beat. I heard a small Dub Step style bass in the background and I was hooked. The album's closer "Clear Skies" is a good selection to end it all on. The beat is a mixture of a chilled out tone and upbeat synths. The two emcees gave the track plenty of space to breath which lets the listener really appreciate the sounds capping off the album.

Overall, Photosynthesis is a well thought out concept album that exudes summer, nature, and an overall good vibe. 7^th Sun and Wanderlust always make a good combination and the addition of Low Key adds to the relaxed feel of it all. Despite the auto tune and just 2 tracks I would more than likely skip on future listens, this is one album that will stay in my car for the entire summer. Somehow, this album reminds me of the very first Atmosphere album with Slug and MC Spawn, "Overcast!" maybe in the way that I look forward to hearing what the next evolution of SunDream will sound like.

Clearing the air

Ok, ok, so I feel like I have to clear a few things up. I may be an asshole but I hate being a dick. So, if you have recently asked me to do a song with you or produce something for you or something along those lines and I haven't gotten back to you or straight up refused, it's for three reasons:

1. I no longer have my own home studio, I'm working out of Volume Studios in Hialeah and they squeeze me in for free, so it's not really in my control when I can record because I'm pretty broke.
   
2. Because of #1, I have a pretty decent backlog of songs I need to record and I kind of have them in order already. I'll post them here for you to see.
   
3. I just don't like you, your material, or something of the sort… but if that REALLY is the reason why, I'm sure I would've said something.
   

So no I haven't forgotten, no I'm not dodging you on purpose, yes I know the Def Jux Mixtape is already late… these are all things I'm working on. Everyone who is waiting on a song from me has been spoiled by my notoriously quick turnaround times when I had my own setup. Datpiff.com is waiting on the Def Jux thing so that's first on my list. Actually let me just go ahead and show you my list.

Lung's need to record list

No More Books    - Def Jux Mixtape (being recorded live in 1 take) 

Getaway Car     - Def Jux Mixtape (re-do vocals and mix down)

Perfect World    - Def Jux Mixtape (re-do vocals and mix down)

Citronella     - Def Jux Mixtape (1 and a half verses of freshness)

Warning         - MuseSick collab (she's been waiting awhile and its only 2 verses)

Lethal          - Collab track with PoisonHands (vocals were done in 1 take, just need to mix it down)

Home            - Single produced by Skott Phree (only 2 verses)

Grand Illusion     - Phil G collab (1 verse awesomeness)

Table Talk             - Underground Oddities Vol 2

Mirrors Facing Mirrors     - Underground Oddities Vol 2

Our Season             - Underground Oddities Vol 2

The Cycle             - TSATR Project

Kissing As A Public Secret     - TSATR Project

Poison Ivy             - TSATR Project

!SPOILER ALERT!

After all this is done, I can start recording the 5 new songs for the F@WKYOULUCY album, which will be my first and final album as Iron Lung; It's actually going to be a short album too, 9 songs and a couple bonus instrumentals. Start sending me your questions and hate mail "because Lung is all ears."Oh also, I'm a bit stumped for album artwork so you can send me some art or ideas to my email, IronLungMiami@yahoo.com, you have a good chance your art will make it onto the album somehow. Hope everyone has a good week.

Love Always,

Lung

What up my ninjas….

So in true asshole fashion I completely forgot to talk about a few things in my last blog and I got lil new tidbits of news too.

Schizphonics

Quite possibly the best high energy hip hop show I've seen. I first met these guys in Jacksonville, FL 2008 while playing the Creeks Art and Music Festival. I liked their set, and since that, they've been hard at work making new material. "Schizophonics" drove all the way down to play "The Blender" show with us here in Miami and it was 2 kart-wheels past awesome. Each of them have this incredible flow I found myself trying to follow while I was working the sound lol. They got the crowd into it early and didn't let anyone not enjoy themselves. They were definitely a stand out act. Some of my friends who copped their CD at the show are still bumping them now. "Radio rap… is not hip hop" now that's a chant!

Hopefully I'll get stuff done in time to do another show with them, quite possibly in Jacksonville or Orlando.

Juxtaposition, DatPiff and more

The upcoming mash-up project for "Def Jux" seems to be running a bit late but still on schedule. The other songs I have left to record verses for can get done in one session, and then a few more sessions to finish mixing it all. I'm not sure if I'll have time to put some remixes on this thing but either way, DatPiff.com will be the exclusive place to download it. There are only a few songs needed to finish up "Underground Oddities Vol 2" so they might be released at around the same time. After that, it's just 3 songs for the "Serpent and the Rainbow" single and hopefully show time once again.

That's pretty much it aside from the fact the list of movies I've been meaning to see but somehow keep forgetting to go to keeps growing…

• A Nightmare on Elm Street
  
• Iron Man 2
  
• Survival of the Dead
  
• Splice
  

Any other suggestions? Just one question though, why does everyone think releasing a movie in 3-D will make a shitty movie amazing??? STEP-UP 3-D?!?! WHY!?!?! The Step-Up movies are ok if, like most dance movies, you ignore the dialogue and just watch it like a really long music video. There's only so much you can do for the actual story and it's played out. That and they always throw in B-boys like pizza toppings; lord knows it would never work the other way around: "yeah we're a breaking crew, yo we should get some ballet ninjas in here!" lol 3-D really…. And in Paris?! Ugh why…. I'll end up downloading it lol.

What up everyone?!?! A bunch of new things to get started on here… this is gonna be a long one so clear some time!

NEW SITES

I guess I should start by saying I've upped my internet game a bit. I got a Facebook a little while ago and a Reverbnation as well. Now, I'm writing 1 blog that will hopefully be importing to all the sites I'm on (Blogpost.com, Myspace.com, facebook.com, soundcloud.com, reverbnation.com) so sorry if you get some info twice. I used to have an MP3.com but ever since they changed their format, I stopped using it and updating it. I recently updated my Soundclick.com but seriously, who goes on that thing? I just wanted to make sure my old bio was taken off. I got soundcloud at a friend's suggestion and I like it because you can actually tell me something about the tracks I put up there at any specific point in time, like "Oh, I like the synth @1:08" or something of that sort. I fought the Facebook thing for a while but its proven to be where most people are at and I've been on MySpace since 2002 so I'll never go… despite crazy password changing account hacking ex gf's I'm still here lol. And it's where I get to show off my crazy Photoshop layout skills :D

REVERB

Reverbnation is actually really fucking cool. I don't know why I did get on that sooner. If you don't have a page there I suggest you go make a profile and follow me there and Facebook since those are now the profiles I check on the most! RN has a cool store feature on the site where you can now FINALLY purchase some of the newer Iron Lung shirts everyone has been hounding me for. The do basic shirts so the crazy huge design ones will have to wait, along with the LHC hoodie so I can find a supplier to do things the right way. Along with the shirts, RN is also exclusively carrying a REISSUE of "Samurai Electro"; my 2008 EP that was given out locally in the central Florida area and at the Atmosphere "When Life Gives You Lemons" tour. (Btw if you got a CD from the atmosphere show, blueprint and I talked about working on a project together in the future so stay tuned!) This reissue has a total of 14 tracks. If you got the original free download, you know it has 4 tracks (track 4 has an extra hidden song after about 30 seconds of silence which was all recorded in 1 take). The first 4 tracks are the same; the difference is that now you also get the 5 instrumentals and the 5 acapellas as well on 1 CD. And you can get a physical copy mailed too, not just the mp3s! As we speak, I'm uploading for the physical version of "The Lonely Hearts Club (FL Chapter)". If you have no clue what that is, it is my first full length instrumental album. The download version included an enhanced CD flash website. I honestly don't have the money to host a separate domain JUST for that, so if you plan on buying a physical copy of LHC or just want to see what I did on Flash you can download it here. LHC Enhanced CD Flash Site or copy paste this link if your browser sucks http://www.mediafire.com/?vd0ljtmzuwk and you can also download all the artwork contributed for the LHC ART project here LHC: Music=Art=Life or again copy paste this link if your browser sucks http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=117ba962d31ef91eab1eab3e9fa335ca6aabd19520b0e1de

DEF JUX

Ok to all the jukies out there, I honestly have no clue what's going on with Def Jux right anymore and I have friends on both sides of the issue so as of now, I'm staying out of it. All I do know is that the Mash Up project is still in progress and I need to head back to the studio to finish recording it. Right now it stands at a total of 5 tracks including a live version of "No More Books" that I always open shows with (over El-P's "Good Morning"). It's also going to include my acapellas for every track. I was also thinking about maybe making a new beat or two and dropping them to some old verses from some of the jukies. If that's gonna be too much of a process, I won't do it. I want to have this thing in your hands by mid June, along with "Underground Oddities Vol 2". The Def Jux / Iron Lung Mash Up might be an exclusive download from DatPiff.com, still not sure about that one. After those 2 projects are in the bag, I'm immediately starting work on a few single releases that will be sold through RN as cheaply as possible.

LUCY

I pretty much have no downtime music wise until the new LUCY project is done and laying in a coffin, so I may not be so willing to do shows and collabs until then, so don't be offended because I can't start recording for it until everything else is done and as it stands now, I'm looking at about 9 tracks, 3 of which are older, unmastered recordings from 2008 and 1 is an instrumental. At the end of it I'll also be including 3 of the instrumentals from the record, putting the play time right around 50 minutes. The title for it is F@WKYOULUCY and it will be sold through RN and or CDBABY once it's done. This will more than likely be my last self-propelled release until I get some kind of deal (distribution or otherwise). I have standing arrangements for short EP's with producers "Skott Phree" and "Mr. Poison Hands". The idea behind it is mainly just trying to finish something I started a long time ago, this has been about 3 years in the making and it's mainly because I didn't want to write about it. Coming up with the lyrics for this, I had to put myself in a dark and angry place, and I didn't like being there. It depressed me and angered me and was no good. Eventually my feelings changed and it got harder to connect with that specific time. So my writing about it is now from a more objective point of view and a bit more creative then I would have allowed myself to be a few years ago. I hope you like it, or I'll be hanging by myself with a rafter and a belt ;)

THE BLENDER

<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40985296@N06/4623558754/sizes/l/in/set-72157624098429820/">

The show at Volume Studios went over well and it was my first time holding an event so I'm glad the people came through. We barely made enough to cover the room rental but it worked out in the end. I wanna give a big thank you to my boy Leo from "Urbe Prima" for helping me with the sound, live sound is not my thing so yeah, thanks for helping me out! And "Urbe Prima" played an amazing set; it was my first time hearing the new lineup too. "The Steak Dolls" also rocked the placed for their first show in almost 5 years! Hopefully we'll hear more about them later. Canio, DJ Dirty Gill, The Late Messenger and DJ iCue had to cancel but since we had to cut the show times due to angry neighbors, it seemed to be for the better. We started almost a full hour late. Local emcee Sky Skrappa filled in as the opening act followed by Hollywood Money (whom I may be producing a mixtape for soon) and then I took the mic and actually cut my set short to save time. It was a damn good time too, capped off by a diet breaking 3,000 calorie sandwich and a 3am trip to the beach! After the show, a bunch of the people there kept telling me how much they liked "Skeleton Dance" (a brand new song I did live at the show). I'll try and get that recorded as a single ASAP!

FUTURE SHOWS

Right now I'm not really looking to book anything at least until I finish my next 3 projects, so that I'll have more material for longer sets and more stuff for you guys to hear. RN and Eventful.com have me booked for 3 shows in 2 states and I really have no clue how it happened because I was never contacted. One of them is in Washington State and I feel they might have gotten me mixed up with the powercore band. Same name so it seems possible. Anyways, yeah I guess I'm taking a break from shows in order to record. To make up for it, I PROMISE FREE COMPILATION CDs at my next shows filled with new stuff and some oldie but goodies.

EBDE AND LAMEBOT

For the handful of you who truly follow me closely, you may or may not know I am now in 2 very different projects aside from my usual stuff. EBDE (En Busca De Ella) is a metal / hardcore band we got going. Member wise so far we got me and my boy Richard doing vocals and my boy Frank on rhythm guitar and my man Sy who I have yet to actually jam with will hopefully be taking up drum duty. I need a new lead guitarist and a place to practice. If you want to hear our 2 demo songs you can check it out here EBDE's Myspace or copy paste this: http://www.myspace.com/enbuscadeella Leave a comment on that page or my page or here on this blog and lemme know what you think. The songs are nothing final, just an idea of what we're going for sound wise.

Ah, Lamebot. This was a bit of a random idea but it came while I was chilling with the bass player for "The Steak Dolls" Carlos (aka Triple D). Long story short, we decided to start an electronic band and here we are, still unclear about the sound or direction but working on some songs into what we think Lamebot should be. None of it is convention as per usual from me and from what I have seen so far, we will be mixing a lot of different styles together on this project. Triple D is handling most of the keys and will be playing guitar and singing on most of the tracks, and I'll be handling a lot of the production, and some of the vocals here and there. We're also looking to work with singers of all genres on this, so if you wanna be on a Lamebot song, link me to your samples of your work!

YOU'RE DONE!

Kinda lol. That was a lot, I didn't know I had so much to say. I'm sorry I stole your time, but I'm sure you read the conveniently labeled titles and skimmed the info you were actually interested in. I'll write more as the other projects start coming to a close. Till then hit me up! Peace out ninjas!!

Much <3

Lung