Creative Ebb and Flow (Publications & New Mixes)

Every creative has their own process for bringing something into being. Mine has changed significantly over the years; before, I would stumble during the last few months of the year due to holidays and massive amounts of traveling to visit family. Now that I'm back home near family, I travel less, which means the holiday season takes up less head space.

It took me awhile to find my proper writing place in the new apartment. First I tried different sides of the table in my cramped dining room.

No dice.

Then I tried sitting in the living room chair. Again, nada.

It took me herniating, and then rupturing, the disc between my L5 and L4 vertebrae to find the perfect place to create: right there on the floor.

It's been over half a year since the surgery and I still find myself splayed out on the floor working on the next book. I find it strangely comfortable and the position puts me in a mental place that's conducive for massive output. Since January, I've completed 6 stories totaling close to 100 pages and I can tell you that these pieces are easily some of the strangest I've ever written and I love that.

On the writing front, I had an older piece finally published over at New Dead Families. Zack Wentz, the editor, saw promise in the story and offered up some editorial suggestions over multiple emails. Without his help, the story would not be nearly as good as it is now. He made some great points and nearly all his edits appear in "Los Comederos," which you can read right here.

I've also created a few new DJ mixes since my last posting in March (sorry; I was riding the creative wave and had zero interest in updating this blog at the time). We had a ton of rain near the end of April and much of May (the weather remains chilly and wet), so the climate fundamentally affected my mood. This, of course, translated into making some new mixes, which you can find below. The rain can be a great creative influence for its rhythmic nature and the chaos it can create simply by being.

A lot of classic old school hip hop instrumentals along with some new school cats making some great chillhop stuff. Dark and jazzy. 

You can listen to this one right here.

19 tracks

54 minutes

89 bpm

Bourbon & Blunts: Storm

J.Dilla - Flyyyyy

The Basement Khemist - Vibrate (Instrumental)

Sadat X ft. Grand Puba - Open Bar (Instrumental)

Shadez of Brooklyn - Change (Instrumental)

Lord Finesse  - True and Livin (Instrumental)

O.C. - Can't Go Wrong (Instrumental)

Lord Finesse - Gameplan (Instrumental)

Blackstar - Respiration (Flying High Instrumental)

Mono:Massive - Do Some Real

Philanthrope - SoulandBody

Anitek - Little Nails

Mono:Massive - Bamboo

The Unspoken Heard - Elevator Music (Instrumental)

Philanthrope & Devaloop - Forgotten Nights

1st Down - Front Street (Instrumental)

Nomad - Blessed 2 Mic Check (Instrumental)

Saukrates - Hate Runs Deep (Remix Instrumental)

J.Dilla - R U Listening? (Instrumental)

Anitek - Mechanism

Inspired by the weather, but recorded on a sunny morning. More old school hip hop instrumentals mixed with some new school chillhop; all jazzy and perfect for a slow sunny morning or chilled out on the patio during a light thunderstorm.  

You can listen to this one right here.

23 tracks

65 minutes

89 bpm

Bourbon & Blunts: Thunder

Mono:Massive & Philanthrope - Live It Everyday

Mono:Massive & Philanthrope - Monothrope

Shag - Cerulean

Jurassic 5 - Thin Line (Instrumental)

O.C. - The Crow (Instrumental)

Philanthrope & Devaloop - Takealookaround

Full Crate - Never Never

Anitek - Room Chase

O.C. - Hypocrite (Instrumental)

Soul Position - Run

PH Theme - Le Peuple de L'Herbe

The ParanormL - Shapes of Jazz

Figub Brazlevic - Father & Son

Haz - Ghetto Morning

El Sun - Dorothy Dillarock

Dj Four One One - Highest Melodies (Intro Loop)

Shingo Suzuki - Red Earth

Mass Influence - Rhyme Placement (Instrumental)

Lord Finesse - Soul Plan (Instrumental)

Philanthrope & Devaloop - Tito

Grimeshine - Freefall

Presto - Avenues 

Gyvus - Koi

"The monster I kill every day is the monster of realism. The monster who attacks me every day is destruction. Out of the duel comes the transformation. I turn destruction into creation over and over again."

- Anaïs Nin

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