RandoMax Radio's Producers Guild - Episode #1: The Automator

Producers Guild is a series focusing on the creators behind the boards of your favorite songs. I tried this once before roughly seventy years ago, but even with positive feedback I received, I ultimately didn't like my own format, which was just an excuse to throw up a bunch of embedded YouTube videos. Here, at the very end of 2018, it has finally returned in a manner which I think you two will find much more engaging and entertaining. I'd like to keep this reboot going for a while, so this time around I'm going to need you to leave your comments with suggestions, questions, criticism, whatever you have for me, so that I can gauge the interest of the readers. Now let's get to today's post.

Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (sometimes known as Dan the Automator, occasionally as Nathaniel Merriweather depending on the project) is a San Fransicso-based producer and deejay who just so happens to be a classically-trained violinist, which helps explain his use of string instruments throughout many of his better instrumentals. I've oftentimes said, both on the blog and in my real life, that if money were no object and there was a way to do this humanely, I'd want The Automator to score every event that occurs during my day-to-day, as I find his music to be a combination of old-school traditionalism and inspirational, aspirational futuristic shit, if that description makes any fucking sense. It will if you've ever listened to his beats for the first album from Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon persona, Dr. Octagonecologyst, anyway, but he has many more styles and genres to draw from for today's post.

Nakamura may be best known for his time in the deejay circuit (which is how he first got a hold of a copy of a Kool Keith twelve-inch marked as a Dr. Octagon song, ultimately inspiring the man to pitch himself to Keith as the project's composer) and within the world of hip hop, primarily artists who were based on the West Coast such as Del the Funky Homosapien (and his Hieroglyphics crew) and DJ Shadow, but he's put in over ten thousand hours in studios around the world, producing songs for a diverse array of artists from all across the spectrum. He's comfortable jumping from genre to genre, working with acts such as Damon Albarn (for the first album from Gorillaz), Prince Paul (see: Handsome Boy Modeling School, whose third album is allegedly dropping in 2019!), Faith No More's Mike Patton (alongside Elysium Fields' Jennifer Charles in Lovage), British band Kasabian, various members of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Harlem rapper Black Rob, Glassjay's Daryl Palumbo (for Head Automatica), and the list goes on. It grows even longer if one counts the numerous remixes Dan has been commissioned to conjure from the ether: in that particular field he's logged in time with the vocals from such folks as Depeche Mode, Redman, Interpol, Stereolab, the Beastie Boys, and so on.

Instead of plying you two with a selection of music videos that will ultimately do nothing for the cause, as you'll subconsciously focus on the visual medium instead of the actual music, I've chosen to go a different route. As such, welcome to the first episode of RandoMax Radio's Producers Guild.



What we have here is a mix that follows in the same general format of my RandoMax episodes, in that the songs chosen are compiled in a somewhat indiscriminate manner, my only rule being that every track featured is one that I liked in the moment, a feeling which hopefully transfers to you, the listener. There are two main differences, the first being that, for obvious reasons, every song featured will be one produced (or co-produced, in some cases) by The Automator. By presenting this, I hope to showcase a wide array of the man's work behind the boards by utilizing some of the best examples I could find, a lot of which are personal favorites that have earned their permanent spots on my phone. There may be some rarer songs that pop up occasionally, but my goal is to introduce readers to the producers, not force them to undergo some baseless scavenger hunt for their least-known gems, although if those particular songs fit my mood at the time, all bets are off.

The second difference is that I plan on giving you two the tracklisting for Producers Guild mixes immediately, although I still think the "random" nature of the mix is still enjoyable if you don't know what's coming. It's the best way for you to see at a glance just how wide (or narrow) a net a producer has cast for their body of work. Episode one features eighteen Automator compositions over a little more than an hour, perfect to score your day at work and, hopefully, facilitate conversation regarding their spot in the Guild.

PRODUCERS GUILD EPISODE #1: THE AUTOMATOR
1. DJ Shadow & The Automator - Theme From Don
2. Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers (Stop Confusing Me Mix)
3. Cornershop - Sleep On The Left Side
4. Gorillaz - Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo) (featuring Ibrahim Ferrer)
5. Little Barrie - Why Don't You Do It
6. Galactic - Bongo Joe
7. Deltron 3030 - Virus
8. Chali 2NA - Anchor Man
9. Depeche Mode - Only When I Lose Myself (Dan the Automator Remix)
10. Dr. Octagon - Operation Zero
11. Dean Martin - Jingle Bells (Dan the Automator Remix)
12. Lovage - Strangers on a Train
13. Men Without Pants - Let's Meet In Real Life
14. Handsome Boy Modeling School - The World's Gone Mad (featuring Del the Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy, and Alex Kapranos)
15. Féfé -On Me Dit (Ou Babel Blues)
16. Dr. Octagon - A Visit To The Gynecologist (Instrumental)
17. Mr. Dead - Chemically Imbalanced (featuring Big Pat and MC Paul Barman)
18. Willie Bobo - Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries (Dan the Automator Remix)

For the first entry in this series, I went a tiny bit overboard with the Dr. Octagon stuff, but they're all songs I truly love and think you'll find interesting (especially "Operation Zero", which was released earlier this year and deserves just as cult-y of an audience as the first album). It's a fairly good mixture of hip hop and other musical genres, with a holiday song thrown in just because the timing was perfect. Can't say that every potential entry will be this eclectic - it kind of depends on the producer involved. But I feel this is representative of The Automator's catalog, with plenty of leftovers for an entire separate volume should response warrant.

Does Dan Nakamura belong in the HHID and RandoMax Radio's Producers Guild? What sets him apart from his peers? What has he done that would disqualify him from entry? What are your favorite Automator productions? Why didn't Max bring back the Drink Coasters series instead? (Because I have different plans for that, which you didn't hear from me, shhh.) Let's meet up in the comments to discuss, and listen to the mix, which I hope you'll enjoy.

See you in a week.

-Max