Thug Life Army

Cut Chemist (born Lucas McFadden) was the DJ and producer for LA hip-hop dynamos Jurassic 5 (the underground hip-hop rap group which traveled the country and world via packages like Lollapalooza and The Warped Tour), five years playing the turntables with the Grammy-winning Latin alternative band Ozomatli, and several years releasing highly bootlegged hip-hop and rap mixtapes (such as his Brainfreeze Original Soundtrack collaboration with DJ Shadow in 1999, a much sought eBay delight that lead to another popular meeting of the two in 2001's Product Placement tour and DVD). Throughout it all, Cut Chemist found the time to helm his own recurring club nights in Los Angeles.These days he can often be found on Saturday nights playing at "Funky Sole" at Hollywood lounge Star Shoes.

Warner Bros. Records has announced the release date of July 11^th for famed turntable wizard, Cut Chemist's solo debut, titled The Audience's Listening.

The album is the encyclopedia of musical varieties - the tracks span from the lush, guitar-driven, Brazilian-inspired "The Garden" to the futuristic old school track (if there be a term), "The Storm," - featuring rap artists, Mr. Lif and Edan layered on Cut's brass, percussive beats. If you''ve heard it, Cut probably already owns it in his vinyl collection.

The Audience's Listening also represents a significant change in production for Cut Chemist, as he's moved on from the traditionalists MPC to a proper studio environment. "I used the Litmus Test (last year's album of mash-ups, bootlegs, and remixes) as my teaching ground for this," he says. "I was computer illiterate for a lot of years, and couldn''t really find anybody to help me, so I figured out slowly how to do certain things and just gradually taught myself the ins and outs."

Cut Chemist has spent years in the laboratory concocting the album through rare, odd, and eccentric samples gathered through a lifetime's worth of record digging around the world.  Inspired by all sounds unusual and unexpected, the album is an education in hip-hop, jazz, soul, rock, funk and pop.

Cut Chemist, DJ extraordinaire behind Jurassic 5, will be releasing, The Audience's Listening, July 11.