RandoMax Radio's Producers Guild - Episode #1.5: The Automator

By now, you two have hopefully listened to the first episode in the revamped Producers Guild series, which focused solely on the breadth and depth of the production work of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. Whether or not you found your new favorite song in that mix is up to you - I don't run your life, I just like every song I selected for that inaugural run. But a mere eighteen tracks only skims the surface of what the man has done throughout his career: a thorough examination requires a much deeper dive than the novice-level course I had set up previously.

In other words, I want to get weird.

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

My Gut Reaction: Dr. Octagon - Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation (April 6, 2018)

Less than two months ago, DJ Q-Bert casually announced live show dates for a reunited Dr. Octagon, a group made of Q-Bert, rapper Kool Keith, and producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura. This was, in and of itself, quite the story, as Keith and The Automator had stopped working together roughly two decades after the release of their only album, Dr. Octagonecologyst due to creative differences (Keith really hated Dan back then, is all I have to say). But as aloof this announcement was, it was accompanied by another important tidbit that was provided in such a nonchalant fashion that one would think they accidentally left it on the first draft of their show flyer: these performances were in support of a new album. Yes, the alt-hip hop gods have smiled upon us, as the world is currently burning at the hands of white supremacists, deplorables, wealthy assholes, and a self-aggrandizing orange McNugget dragging the name of the United States through the mud in his quest to somehow become the worst human being in all of existence: Dr. Octagon had reunited, they were actively touring, and new music was coming our way sooner rather than later.

The question that immediately popped up in the mind of the average fan was, of course, “Hey, isn’t Dr. Octagon dead?”

My Gut Reaction: Deltron 3030 - Event II (September 30, 2013)

Thirteen years after the fact, Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, Teren “Del tha Funkee Homosapien” Jones, and Eric “DJ Kid Koala” San finally managed to release the sequel to their 2000 magnum opus, the sci-fi opera Deltron 3030, after many false starts and empty promises. The landscape is much different than it was back in 2000: if you'll recall, Bill Clinton was still the President, and boy, were we going to be surprised at what happened next. And also, nobody was really clamoring for a sequel to Deltron 3030 as much as they just wanted to hear new music from the trio: the storyline from the original had a satisfying-enough conclusion that didn't really leave the door open for a continuation (to me, anyway). So was it worth waiting thirteen years for an album that you didn't realize you were even waiting for since you didn't honestly believe it was going to happen in the first place?

Something Different: Nathaniel Merriweather Presents...Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By (November 6, 2001)

While you two are still waiting for what I may or may not have to say about the new Jay-Z project, I'm going to take this time to tackle a subject that I have neglected for far too long on HHID: producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura.  In the past, I've referred to him as one of my favorite producers, and that still holds true today, even though his well of work seemed to dry up considerably...until this year, apparently.  Nakamura has come out of hiding (relatively speaking: it's not as though he ever really left, he just took a break from hip hop) to release a minimum of three separate albums in 2013: his recent Pillowfight collaboration with Emily Wells, the upcoming Got A Girl album alongside actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and, of course, Deltron Event II, the long-awaited sequel to Deltron 3030, a sci-fi opera where Del Tha Funkee Homosapien battled evil corporations in the future.

So today is as good a day as any to talk about his album full of love songs and shit.

Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (May 23, 2000)

Early on in the life of HHID, I expressed my love and affection for Dan "The Automator" Nakamura's production work; the man brings a cinematic quality to most anything he touches, and the artists he chooses to work with are hilariously varied (Kool Keith, Prince Paul, Depeche Mode, Interpol, Cornershop, and Sarah McLachlan, among many others), with nearly every song clicking (okay, his remix of Interpol's "Slow Hands" kind of sucked, but that's the exception, not the rule).  So it makes obvious sense that I've only written about four of the man's projects throughout my four years on the blog, right?  Wait, it doesn't?  

Handsome Boy Modeling School - White People (November 9, 2004)

Occasionally in the world of hip hop, critical acclaim carries the same value as actual currency. Just as it tends to happen in the realm of independent film, or damn near any other medium of entertainment, auteurs and artists who manage to score some well-deserved praise (and some who are just really fucking lucky) are often provided with the resources they need to ensure that lightning strikes twice, in the hopes that the act will succeed in turning a profit the second time around. At times, this idea actually works: had it not been for Bottle Rocket, Wes Anderson would never have been able to do Rushmore; Quentin Tarantino would have probably been forced to make a studio picture instead of Pulp Fiction had there been no Reservoir Dogs; and without The Room, Tommy Wiseau wouldn't have been give the opportunity to show up at sold-out late-night screenings of The Room (and make a shitload off of DVD sales).

That is the only explanation I can come up with to rationalize the existence of the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School.

The production duo, made up of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Paul "Prince Paul" Huston, dropped a well-received but poor-selling debut, So...How's Your Girl?, on Tommy Boy Records, an act that was met with confusion and scorn by mainly just me: why, after all the shit Tommy Boy Records put him through, would Prince Paul immediately run back to them to release an album? (Besides the obvious contractual reasons, of course.) He created a group called the Gravediggaz whose first album, 6 Feet Deep/N---amortis, was dedicated to trashing that very label (albeit in a horrorcore-esque fashion)! Prince Paul was, at that point, the Joss Whedon to Tommy Boy's Fox; they kept fucking him over, and yet they were Paul's best choice for wider distribution.

For all intents and purposes (except financially), The Automator and Prince Paul were successful with their star-studded debut, creating solid tracks that still resonate with audiences today, many of them outside of the hip hop spectrum: you probably have friends who hate hip hop and cannot understand why you frequent a blog proclaiming it to still be relevant, and yet, they enjoy So...How's Your Girl? The entire concept of the duo, whose name was swiped from an episode of Chris Elliott's short-lived sitcom Get A Life, was based around the idea of a fake modeling school who trained its students to live a life of beauty, all while framing the multiple skits (and a couple of strange guest appearances by Father Guido Sarducci, proof positive that Paul and Dan love SCTV and Saturday Night Live) with songs that ignored the conventional constructs of beauty, instead choosing to redefine it on their own terms.

Five years on, the provocatively titled White People, Handsome Boy Modeling School's follow-up, found a home on Elektra Records. I'm not sure why Tommy Boy passed on the sequel (except for the fact that it most certainly would have lost them even more money), but what the former label home of Busta Rhymes and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard inherited wasn't a much easier sell: while still keeping the name and some of the concepts introduced on the original project, Paul and Dan elected to move everything into some kind of ridiculous hip hop Dating Game structure, which made for some awkward pauses while listening to the album, but some fucking hilarious impressions (more on that later).

The guest list stepped it up a notch, as well. Returning vets such as Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, El-P, and De La Soul (okay, technically only Trugoy was on the first project, so sue me) were joined up by the likes of The Rza, Chino Moreno of The Deftones, The Mars Volta, Cat Power, most of Linkin Park, Pharrell Williams (of The Neptunes), Lord FInesse, Mike Patton, and John Oates (of Hall & Oates), among others. Musically, Dan and Paul, already masters of meshing a beat around the style of its star, expanded upon what they brought to the tabel on So...How's Your Girl?, venturing off into even more playful territory. They even brought back Father Guido Sardicci (for no good reason), and reintroduced Saturday Night Live star Tim Meadows to the limited art-house audience that White People attracted.

Behind the scenes, however, things were very different this time around. Citing conflicts regarding how business was being handled, Prince Paul officially severed ties with The Automator shortly after White People dropped, making this the final time (at least as of this writing) that these two would ever work together. When White People tanked on store shelves, that just made it easier for Paul to walk away; while Dan Nakamura hasn't really released as many projects since then (there have been a handful, but most of them have nothing to do with hip hop), Prince Paul has been a workaholic, releasing albums as part of a cartoon dinosaur crew, a part of an abnormally names funk band, and as a seemingly long-lost member of West Coast stalwarts Souls Of Mischief.

Here's hoping they resolve their differences, because White People is no way to end a legacy.

1. INTRO (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI)
As So...How's Your Girl? ended with a monologue from Father Guido Sarducci, it's only fitting for him to kick off the sequel. You'll never listen to this introductory track more than once, though, and even that is kind of pushing it.

2. IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU (FEAT DE LA SOUL & STARCHILD EXCALIBUR)
Even though this is a much more recent track, Dan and Paul make this sound as if this track was recorded during the 3 Ft. High & Rising sessions, which means this sounds really fucking good and even whimsical at times. Trugoy's third verse, in which he rhymes about his pen, is a standout. I'm still at a loss as to why De La never tried to get Prince Paul to even contribute a single track to any of their recent albums. If there is anything negative to say about this track, it would be that it does run a bit too long.

3. ARE YOU DOWN WITH IT (FEAT MIKE PATTON)
Less reminiscent of the work of Lovage (a group made up of Faith No More's Mike Patton, The Automator, and Jennifer Charles from Elysian Fields) and more so of the man's solo work (with a bit of Faith No More tossed in for good measure). Which means, simply, that this song sucks monkey taint juice. Through a twisty straw. In a fluorescent sippy cup.

4. THE WORLD'S GONE MAD (FEAT BARRINGTON LEVY, DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN, & ALEX KAPRANOS)
And the Handsome Boy players continue to draw from the well: “The World's Gone Mad” sounds like an Automator-helmed Gorillaz song that was never actually recorded, as it could have fit into their catalog right around the time Dan was dropped from the group by Blur's Damon Albarn in favor of Danger Mouse. The presence of Del only adds more emphasis to my theory, since he appeared on both the first Gorillaz album and the first Handsome Boy project (I'm leaving Deltron 3030 off of this list to make my point). Anyway, this song still sounds really entertaining today; Barrington Levy's voice sounds damn near majestic over Paul and Dan's beat work, taking this track over the top. Also, I'm a fan of Franz Ferdinand, so I was glad to see Alex Kapranos make an appearance, even though it seems as if he hardly did anything.

5. DATING GAME (FEAT HINES BUCHANAN, NEELAM, & TIM MEADOWS)
As I mentioned above, White People abandons the “modeling school” concept almost entirely, in favor of frank (and goofy) discussions about relationships with the opposite sex. At least, that's how I rationalize Tim Meadows reprising his Saturday Night Live character Leon Phelps (The Ladies Man) throughout the album, beginning with this skit. This interlude also features an impressive Jay-Z impersonation and a less convincing imitation of The Rza, neither of which comes from Meadows. It's funny, but you can't tell me you won't skip past it during future spins.

6. BREAKDOWN (FEAT JACK JOHNSON)
Whenever I think of Jack Johnson, I think of Andy Samberg on SNL wearing shoes that look like bare feet. My understanding is that this was an already-existing Jack Johnson track reconfigured for Dan and Paul's personal use, but thanks to their meddling, this is the only song in the man's back catalog that I will listen to willingly. It isn't perfect, but it is pretty smooth.

7. IT'S LIKE THAT (FEAT CASUAL) / I AM COMPLETE (FEAT TIM MEADOWS)
Casual, of the Hieroglyphics collective, is an acquired taste. I tend to appreciate his flow in small doses, so the fact that “It's Like That” is a solo Casual song doesn't help the cause any. Dan and Paul provide a beat which sounds alright, but it's a retread of concepts previously introduced on the first Handsome Boy album. “I Am Complete” is just a skit featuring The Ladies Man, which only serves to remind me of how far the man has fallen since his SNL years: there is no reason for him to co-star on The Bill Engvall Show. Since he had a featured role in Mean Girls, one would think that Tina Fey would throw him a bone or something. 30 Rock can always use a random guest appearance.

8. I'VE BEEN THINKING (FEAT CAT POWER)
This song fills the slot occupied by Roison Murphy's performance on “The Truth”, off of So...How's Your Girl?, so much so that it will probably be used to promote an hour-long drama on AMC that isn't Mad Men in a few years. There are some Cat Power songs I really like (side note: I'm still looking for her cover of Blondie's “Hanging On The Telephone” (originally recorded by The Nerves, although I like Blondie's version much more) that she recorded for a fucking cell phone commercial: if anybody can help, I would appreciate it), but this isn't one of them; this track crawls along on all fours so slowly that it falls asleep midway through.

9. ROCK AND ROLL (COULD NEVER HIP HOP LIKE THIS) PART 2 (FEAT DJ Q-BERT, GRAND WIZARD THEODORE, JAZZY JAY, LORD FINESSE, MIKE SHINODA, RAHZEL, & CHESTER BENNINGTON) / KNOCKERS (FEAT TIM MEADOWS)
Ostensibly a sequel to the introductory track from the first project, but this song features actual vocals alongside Grand Wizard Theodore and Jazzy Jay's praise of rock music. (Please note that I wrote “rock music” and not “rock and roll music”. There is a difference.) Mike Shinoda provides what is probably a lost Fort Minor verse from a song he hadn't yet written, while Lord Finesse chooses to remind listeners that he receives a royalty check every time a radio station chooses to relive memories of She's All That by playing Fatboy Slim's “The Rockefeller Skank”. Chester Bennington (Shinoda's Linkin Park partner) sings in his usual way, stretching his voice beyond all recognition, since the man cannot fucking sing, and his contribution doesn't fit in on White People at all, even though he is a white person. This pales in comparison to the original, and the Tim Meadows skit tacked on to the end was unnecessary.

10. THE HOURS (FEAT CHINO MORENO, EL-P, & CAGE)
I happen to like The Deftones, but I hated Chino Moreno's vocals over this lame approximation of a “rap-rock” beat by The Automator and Prince Paul. This happens to fill the slot of “annoying shouting over a bad song” that was previously filled by El-P and Alec Empire on the first album, which is why it's ironic that El-P appears on here alongside his Def Jux employee Cage. The track picks up when the they begin to rhyme, but by then it's too late.

11. CLASS SYSTEM (FEAT JULEE CRUISE & PHARRELL)
I know: I thought it was fucking weird when I read that Pharrell Williams was on a Handsome Boy Modeling School album, too. This rant against poor people (told from the point of view of a spoiled socialite, to be fair: I'm not trying to insinuate that Julee Cruise is playing herself, although it's not like I know her personally) is far deeper than anything else on White People, and as a result, it sounds out of place. I liked Skateboard P's singing (as he is freed from the blingy trappings of Neptunes production) and I ended up wanting to punch Julee's character in the fucking mouth, so in that respect, it's successful, if not very likeable as a song.

12. FIRST...AND THEN (FEAT DRES)
I liked the instrumental, but otherwise I didn't care for this one. Apparently, I'd rather hear Dres when he's rhyming with Black Sheep, instead of when he's all by himself. But you don't have to automatically agree with me: the choice is yours. (I know! Clever, right?)

13. A DAY IN THE LIFE (FEAT THE RZA, AG, & THE MARS VOLTA)/ GOOD HYGEINE (FEAT TIM MEADOWS)
With this, it can finally be written that Dan the Automator has worked with the Wu-Tang Clan, an event that I had been waiting for ever since I discovered the man's work on Dr. Octagonecologyst and the A Better Tomorrow EP. (To be fair, Prince Paul probably just picked up the phone and called in a favor from his onetime Gravediggaz bandmate, but still.) Too bad the track is the epitome of wasted potential. I don't understand why Prince Rakeem is always the go-to person for high-profile cameos on albums designed for critical acclaim (such as Intermission from the Soul Assassins, or Rasassination from Ras Kass): Masta Killa would sound better with Automator's backing. (That's a collaboration album waiting to happen, folks. Make it so!) Alas, the music here is boring, the Mars Volta fail to impress (admittedly, I've never paid much attention to any of their work, nor that of their previous incarnation, At The Drive-In), and Andre the Giant sounds sleepy. The Tim Meadows skits have also gotten old: I'm actually missing the Chris Elliott sound bites right now.

14. GREATEST MISTAKE (FEAT JAMIE CULLUM & JOHN OATES)
Fills in the hole that “Sunshine” occupied on the previous album, although to be fair, John Oates (of Hall & Oates fame) is a much bigger star than Sean Lennon, at least professionally. This easily makes for the most unexpected collaboration on White People. However, it boils down to a personal preference: I love “Sunshine”, and I find “Greatest Mistake” derivative and, to put it bluntly, pretty shitty. Take that as you will.

15. DATING GAME PART 2 (FEAT HINES BUCHANAN, NEELAM, & TIM MEADOWS)
The skit is corny, and it ends before you find out how it ends (by design, naturally), but it still manages to remind me of the interludes on the first De La Soul album. Kind of.

16. OUTRO (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI)
Father Guido Sarducci supplies the outro yet again. However, this time around, The Automator and Prince Paul simply let the tape run while he ad-libs his ass off. And boy, is it dull as hell. It was a chore to sit through the entire track, but it was worth it, as I can tell the readers to never sit through the entire track. Kids, don't ever end your rap albums like this: you're likely to get your ass kicked.

FINAL THOUGHTS: With White People, Handsome Boy Modeling School has, unfortunately, decided to copy the formula of So...How's Your Girl? to the letter, instead of actually coming up with some fresh ideas. The Automator and Prince Paul still provide mostly above-average production, but this time around they play it safe with their collaborators, even when, on paper, they appear to be close to the edge: the collaborations with Chino Moreno, Mike Patton, and The Rza should have been much better. (In contrast, the verse from Chester Bennington was exactly as shitty as I was expecting.) White People not only abandons the actual “modeling school” concept almost entirely (Tim Meadows and Father Guido Sarducci briefly mention it during their monologues, and I do mean briefly), it also threatens to leave the fans of Dan and Paul behind. As big of a fan I am of both men, I'm almost thankful that White People was the final album from the Handsome Boy Modeling School, even though I'm fully aware that this album's failure to sell was not the reason for the break-up.

BUY OR BURN? This almost brings a tear to my eye, but this deserves a burn only. Dan and Paul tried their best with the beats, but their collaborators almost consistently fail them. If you happen upon the instrumental version of this album (which was released a few weeks after the actual album), you may want to pick that up, but this isn't essential in the least.

BEST TRACKS: “The World's Gone Mad”; “If It Wasn't For You”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
The Automator's albums? Prince Paul's projects? Read about them by clicking on the artist's name.

Reader Review: Handsome Boy Modeling School - So...How's Your Girl? (October 19, 1999)

(I realize that I wrote about Handsome Boy Modeling School's So...How's Your Girl? last week, but to be honest, CJD's Reader Review is what inspired me to bump it to the top of the pile. Read on to hear a second opinion on Dan and Paul's collaborative effort.)

Handsome Boy Modeling School's So...How's Your Girl? is one of two albums I credit with sparking my interest in hip hop. The other is Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, but I think everyone will agree that enough has been said of that album on this website already.

Now I should clarify something: I was familiar with hip hop before, but by saying these albums sparked my interest, I really mean that they made me interested in the music in much more than just a superficial way. I became an active fan of the genre, and I wanted to consume as much as I could. I have been collecting music since I was 12 or so (that was 12 years ago, how old do you think I am now?), and I was getting extremely bored with the antiseptic rock and (particularly) the 80's fetish that is rampant in our modern world. (You mean like how I keep referring to New Wave music in random spurts?) It seems that nobody younger than 30 listens to the original stuff any more: has everyone forgotten how good Talking Heads, Gang of Four, Magazine, PiL, Wire and all those other bands were? Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent.

Anyhow, I borrowed Handsome Boy Modeling School's debut from a friend back in 2001, around the same time as I borrowed Wu-Tang's. I was pleasantly surprised by the wit and musical invention going on in these albums, so I went out and bought both. With Wu-Tang, it should be obvious how many artists I was introduced to (although I wish U-God had not been one of them): Handsome Boy Modeling School mainly introduced me to Prince Paul, Dan the Automator (though I was somewhat aware of him due to the Gorillaz self-titled debut), Del tha Funkee Homosapien (also kind of knew about him already because of the Gorillaz), Cibo Matto, Brand Nubian, J-Live, DJ Shadow (again, already somewhat aware of him- many, many name checks from Radiohead), De La Soul, Kid Koala (Gorillaz- I'm seeing a theme here) and El-P.

Contextually, the album may have changed a bit. It's been a while since I listened to it straight through, and I know a hell of a lot more now than I did then. Songs may have lost their luster, or I might be less surprised by what I find, so I'll include commentary on what I heard then, and how it sounds now.

And after all that I didn't even include any information about the album. Shucks.

1. ROCK AND ROLL (COULD NEVER HIP HOP LIKE THIS)
Speaking as an Irishman (bet you didn't see that coming), there are just not enough Irish accents in hip hop. And I mean proper Irish accents, not like House of Pain. So, the track... yeah. Good intro to the album, starts off with a bang (and no pretentiousness (apart from the title boast, of course), which is always a plus) and puts a Stetsasonic sample to good use. Ever so slightly overstays its welcome, however.

2. MAGNETIZING (FEAT DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN)
This would have been approximately the third song I had ever heard Del perform on (the other two being "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House" by Gorillaz). Back in the day, this would have been one of the songs I would have listened to without being blown away, but while still enjoying it enough not to skip it. Nowadays, not so much. Del commits himself acceptably and comes out of it with his reputation intact. The enemy is the beat: it's pretty dull. Slight atmospheric vibes stung by Michael-Crichton-thriller-esque piano don't hold one's attention for...what the fuck?...over six minutes? Why?

3. METAPHYSICAL (FEAT MIHO HATORI & MIKE D)
Ah, this is like having a bucket of cold perfume thrown in your face after the previous track. The beat is just nice. I liked this when I first heard it, and I still do now despite myself. Miho Hatori's nonsensical pseudo-scientific chatter will either amuse or infuriate: I go with the former, but I understand that most may not. Mike D, however, will simply infuriate. Was he paid to be in the booth for this? I imagine Ad-Rock and MCA were standing outside, watching him and shaking their heads.

4. LOOK AT THIS FACE (OH MY GOD THEY'RE GORGEOUS)
The first of two instrumental/skit tracks using samples from the short-lived TV show Get A Life, which provides Handsome Boy Modeling School with its handle. Quick, painless and fun. Little known fact: the Automator must put a classical piece over a hip hop beat at least once a day or he will die.

5. WATERWORLD (FEAT ENCORE)
There are sounds in the background which are like when people imitate water drops with their cheeks, kind of like Alan Ruck in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That's what dominates my thoughts every time I hear this, because it sounds weird and disgusting, with all that saliva flying everywhere. The song suffers from similar problems as “Magnetizing”, but is shorter (by less than a minute) and the beat is ever so slightly more propulsive. I do love Encore's line: “My scripts consist of H2O: hip hop and oxygen”. It's science.

6. ONCE AGAIN (HERE TO KICK ONE FOR YOU) (FEAT GRAND PUBA AND SADAT X)
Brilliant use of the Three Dog Night song “Old Fashioned Love Song” and solid performances from the Brand Nubian representatives adds up to something special. This song wasn't one of my favourites initially, as it suffered from being positioned straight after the far less bouncy “Waterworld”. Not that this is a party track or anything: it just has a good groove. Over time it burned its way slowly into my mind.

7. THE TRUTH (FEAT J-LIVE AND RÓISÍN MURPHY)
The first track I really loved. This is, in my experience, probably the most overplayed song on the whole album. One of those songs people hear everywhere and don't realise where it comes from. (Around my way, in any case.) Which doesn't make it bad, it just taints it somewhat in retrospect. I'll never like it again as much as I did the first time. Rapping schoolteacher J-Live turns in a loquacious performance which would put Curtis Jackson to shame (do you think he knows what 'ceteris paribus' means?). What was that I was saying about Irish accents earlier? Ms. Murphy (of Moloko fame) grew up not far away from me, we're practically neighbours, though you wouldn't be able to tell from her voice.

8. HOLY CALAMITY (BEAR WITNESS II) (FEAT DJ QUEST & DJ SHADOW)
Best track on the album, hands down. Just listen to it. I would argue it is a rare case of the sequel surpassing the original.

9. CALLING THE BIZ (FEAT BIZ MARKIE)
Pointless. But it is funny to hear Biz Markie sing in a Bee Gees voice once. And then never again.

10. THE PROJECTS (P JAYS) (FEAT DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN & DAVE FROM DE LA SOUL)
Probably my second favourite. Love that bass and harmonica combination. Trugoy and Del have fun with the concept, discussing their problems with living in the 'hood, but the image of Del in a La-Z-Boy in a thong is not appealing in any way. Funny story: back when I first heard this it took me until the second chorus to figure out that when they said "P Jays" they meant "projects". I swear I've grown since then.

11. SUNSHINE (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI, JOSH HADEN, MONEY MARK, PAULA FRAZER, & SEAN LENNON)
Am I wrong? The sample at the beginning seems to suggest a song that never turns up. I feel like it was knocked unconscious, tied up with duct tape, stuffed in the janitor's closet and replaced by this, the most boring song in the whole world. It sounds like something Air would toss off before they get to making real music. And how does it take so many people to make such crap? Unbelievably, they actually chose to release this as a single. (Conversely, I love “Sunshine” and didn't like “Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)” all that much. And so it goes.)

12. MODELING SUCKS
The second instrumental/skit. Better than the first, and as a bonus, the Automator has survived yet another day.

13. TORCH SONG TRILOGY (FEAT SENSATIONAL)
I find the sample (from a film? TV show? Not really sure) at the beginning oddly comic, but I have no idea where it comes from. I liked this, and still do. Sensational appears to be well wasted, but does a decent job with a beat which sounds like the cousin of the “Magnetizing” and “Waterworld” brothers. Fortunately, it's the slightly cooler cousin whom those two look up to. Paul and Automator finally learn that (with very few exceptions) an understated beat with a solo MC usually means the song should not go on for more than four minutes.

14. THE RUNWAY SONG (FEAT KID KOALA)
Weird. I always wonder if I'm playing this at the right RPM. Then I remember that it's a CD, and I wonder if they were. Not a bad track, but some of Kid Koala's scratching seems to get lost in a slightly muddy mix a couple of minutes in. I don't know who to blame for this, so I'll just blame everybody.

15. MEGATON B-BOY 2000 (FEAT ALEC EMPIRE & EL-P)
This is messy as hell, but I have a soft spot for noisy, shouty stuff like this. The beat reminds me slightly of Mr. Oizo's “Flat Beat”, just played through some slashed speakers or something. It might sound weird, but I bought Fantastic Damage by El-P on the basis of this. While I don't really see why I decided to do that any more, I'm glad I did because that album is good.

16. FATHER SPEAKS (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI)
A decent way to end the album, as it makes it sounds like there was actually some sort of concept the whole time. The shame of this is that they really ran with the whole 'modeling school' theme for White People, the desperately inferior sophomore effort. For now, Guido's “improvisation” should raise at least a smirk, but you've probably stopped listening to the album by now anyway.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Has the album held up? I know that no matter how much I tell myself it has, it isn't really as brilliant as I once thought. Most of the artists that appear here have done better things on their own, but despite some dodgy moments (which will always turn up on collaboration albums) the album as a whole hangs together pretty well; you can tell these people were enjoying themselves while making it. Also, the list of artists on here and the variety of songs means that this should be a good introduction to hip hop for those that have no frame of reference.

BUY OR BURN? You should definitely buy this. Then, you should recommend to a friend who is skeptical and/or ignorant of hip hop that he/she borrow it and listen to it. Who knows, maybe they'll buy it and do the same. And so on. Then, through your action, you will be spreading hip hop throughout the world. Which sort of makes you a prophet.

BEST TRACKS: “Rock And Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)”, “Look At This Face (Oh My God They're Gorgeous)”, “Once Again (Here To Kick One For You)”, “The Truth”, “Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)”, “The Projects (P Jays)”, “Modeling Sucks”

-CJD

(Be sure to leave your comments below. Here's a link to my original post, if you're so inclined.)

Handsome Boy Modeling School - So...How's Your Girl? (October 19, 1999)

As a full-blown fan of both Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Paul "Prince Paul" Huston, you would have thought that I already reviewed their ridiculously-themed high-concept duo Handsome Boy Modeling School several years ago, but the truth is that I chose to focus on other shit. Not because this duo loses their appeal when they work together: far from it. I'm just lazy. But I'm trying to fix that now, so I'm interrupting this current string of Reader Reviews to bring you an article about the duo's first album, So...How's Your Girl?

Handsome Boy Modeling School was an experimental project originally funded by Tommy Boy Records, one which explored hip hop through a skewed, materialistic eye, with an emphasis on vanity, self-absorption, and consumerism. At least, that's what the Automator and Prince Paul wanted critics (and listeners) to believe. In reality, these two production geniuses (lauded for their work with Kool Keith and De La Soul, respectively, although they have branched out significantly) used the facade of a Handsome Boy Modeling School curriculum (as noted by the album cover) and the new personas of Nathaniel Merriweather (Dan) and Chest Rockwell (Paul) to present sixteen tracks of noteworthy collaborations with rappers (both better-known underground stalwarts and complete unknowns) and vocalists ranging from Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori to Sean Lennon. Okay, that range isn't really that much of a stretch, but you get the idea: this project was deliberately aiming for a cult audience, especially when you note that one of the guests isn't even a real person, but a recurring character from Saturday Night Live.

Dan and Paul were inspired by an episode of comedian Chris Elliott's Get A Life (a sitcom that lasted on Fox for approximately three minutes), specifically the one in which Elliott's character enrolled in the Handsome Boy Modeling School. (Convenient, huh?) This wasn't the first time Dan Nakamura turned to Chris for inspiration: the Bulk Recordings version of Dr. Octagonecologyst (his collaborative work with Kool Keith and DJ Q-Bert, and the one which led to his rise to prominence) features a scene lifted from the film Cabin Boy before the hidden track "halfsharkalligatorhalfman" begins. I had expected Dan to sample Elliott's cameraman in Groundhog Day for a future project, but I'm still waiting. As such, So...How's Your Girl? comes off as more of an Automator project with assists from Paul, who still manages to leave his trademark humor intact.

I used to work in the back office of a retail store, and since it was typically boring as shit back there, I frequently supplied my own soundtrack. Lord knows how many goofy looks I received when anybody flipped through my CD book (yes, kids, we used CDs back then) and found one labeled 'Handsome Boy Modeling School'. You would have thought that those people would have dismissed it as a goofy name for some alternative-emo-rock quartet or something, but instead, I just received questionable shakes of the head. (And yet, today people buy albums from groups called Death Cab For Cutie, Panic At The Disco, and SouljaBoyTellEm without batting an eye.) My future wife, however, actually took the time to listen to the fucking album (which is probably one of the reasons why I married her), and soon realized that not only was it hip hop, it was creative hip hop. Well, most of it is, anyway: there really isn't such a thing as a perfect album anymore.

Here's hoping that Tommy Boy Records (or whomever handles their distribution now) sees fit to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of So...How's Your Girl? with a remastered product. And yes, I said ten fucking years: did you read the date in the post's title? Yes, I feel fucking old. I'm going to go off and have a good cry.

1. ROCK 'N ROLL (COULD NEVER HIP HOP LIKE THIS)
This is a pretty good way to introduce your project. I think the video is hilarious, with Paul and Dan standing in the street holding wine glasses of increasing sizes. I'm probably not remembering that correctly, though.

2. MAGNETIZING (FEAT DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN)
Del makes the first of two appearances on the album with a song that may just be a leftover from the Deltron 3030 studio sessions (it doesn't sound happy enough to be a Gorillaz leftover, you see). It's not anything you'll want to bump in your ride, and after one listen you may not want to hear it again anyway, but it's alright.

3. METAPHYSICAL (FEAT MIHO HATORI & MIKE D)
This song is just goofy, but it's still good. I remember reading a review back in the day that compared Miho Hatori and her spoken-word claptrap to something Kool Keith would use as a verse: that's a pretty fair statement. Mike Diamond's ramblings will make you wish that Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 wasn't just pushed back (best wishes to MCA for a speedy recovery), but the total package still delivers.

4. LOOK AT THIS FACE (OH MY GOD THEY'RE GORGEOUS)
The backing music is good, but Chris Elliott's dialogue gets old after a while.

5. WATERWORLD (FEAT ENCORE)
I seem to recall Encore parlaying this guest appearance into at least two solo albums, both of which may have been critically acclaimed: I never paid any attention to the guy after this album, mainly because The Automator had nothing to do with his discs. This song is alright: it has a unique sound, as if the song were actually produced in the same location as that shitty Kevin Costner film, but Encore's rhymes are the definition of backpacker-vague.

6. ONCE AGAIN (HERE TO KICK FOR YOU) (FEAT GRAND PUBA & SADAT X)
This is just an awesome song. Kudos to Paul and Dan for turning a vocal sample from a relatively upbeat Three Dog Night song (“Old Fashioned Love Song”) into something that sounds creepy as fuck. Sadat X outshines his Brand Nubian partner on here, but the shit still rocks.

7. THE TRUTH (FEAT J-LIVE & ROISIN MURPHY)
A great change of pace. Roisin Murphy slows shit down to a crawl, with a sound that can be described as jazz bar lite with an electronica twist, not unlike one of the two female vocalists in Ladytron, but with much better pipes. It makes sense that the non-rapped portions of this track were used in promos for Mad Men about a year ago. Speaking of rapping, J-Live also impresses. I really have to find his albums in my crates. And yes, I'm fully expecting some jackass to say “You don't have any fucking crates” in the comment section.

8. HOLY CALAMITY (BEAR WITNESS II) (FEAT DJ QUEST & DJ SHADOW)
A deejay cut that's actually a sequel to what DJ Q-Bert pulled off on the Dr. Octagonecologyst album. As deejay cuts go, this is a good one, but the original “Bear Witness” is the more enthralling listen.

9. CALLING THE BIZ (FEAT BIZ MARKIE)
Prince Paul tends to go out of his way to include Biz Markie on all of his projects. Here, the Biz makes a cameo on an interlude. Entirely skippable.

10. THE PROJECTS (P JAYS) (FEAT DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN & TRUGOY THE DOVE)
The first single I heard from this project (the first single anybody heard, actually), but it took a while for it to grow on me. (As an Automator and Prince Paul stan, I tend to buy their albums regardless of what the first singles sound like, because I will inevitably end up liking something.) Its appearance on the soundtrack for Ocean's Eleven (the remake, obviously) clenched it for me. Now it's one of my favorite tracks on here, as the interplay between Del and Trugoy is just a joy to listen to.

11. SUNSHINE (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI, JOSH HADEN, MONEY MARK, PAULA FRAZIER, & SEAN LENNON)
When I first bought So...How's Your Girl?, I gravitated toward “Once Again (Here To Kick For You)” and “Sunshine”, and I still love this song today. It's just fucking peaceful (even with the odd commentary from a recurring character from Saturday Night Live), and the vocals are a great match to the relaxing beat.

12. MODELING SUCKS
The thing is, I actually watched the episode of Get A Life where Chris Elliott's character enrolls in the Handsome Boy Modeling School. And it was boring. The Automator could have mixed together Yanni breakbeats underneath this dialogue, while Paul sampled fucking Zamfir playing the pan flute, and it still would improve upon the source material. (Not to say that Chris Elliott isn't a funny guy: I usually like his work, and his daughter, now on Saturday Night Live herself, is pretty cute, but that doesn't really have anything to do with Chris himself.)

13. TORCH SONG TRILOGY (FEAT SENSATIONAL)
I liked the beat, and the scratched-in vocal sample instructing me to “set this bitch on fire” was a nice touch, but I just simply did not care for Sensational's rhymes. He comes off as inexperienced, as if he were enticed off the street into the vocal booth with the promise of a bag lunch and a Capri-Sun. He also sounds as if he stood too close to the mic when he recorded his (overly long) verse.

14. THE RUNWAY SONG (FEAT KID KOALA)
Deejay Kid Koala's contribution to So...How's Your Girl? sounds like a bunch of nothing. This would have made more sense if it were the intro to this album, although it may have caused you two to turn this shit off and move on to another disc, so I suppose there's no winning here.

15. MEGATON B-BOY (FEAT ALEC EMPIRE & EL-P)
I always thought that this song wasn't a good fit, since it sounds nothing like anything else on here. The music is loud and obnoxious, the lyrics are barely coherent (thanks to the noise), and as an overall song, it doesn't fucking work. El-P (late of Company Flow and the genius producer of Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein) has done better work, as has Alec Empire (founding member of Atari Teenage Riot, a group name I hadn't heard for at several years before researching this album). As it's the last actual song on this album, it's very disappointing.

16. FATHER SPEAKS (FEAT FATHER GUIDO SARDUCCI)
This outro is just funny. Fans of Saturday Night Live will be more amused than the average hip hop head, though.

FINAL THOUGHTS: So...How's Your Girl? Has the usual misfires that a collaboration of this magnitude tend to suffer from, but The Automator and Prince Paul are fucking brilliant artists that are able to overcome almost any obstacle. The slower tracks definitely rate among its finest, and the deliberate focus on lesser-known rappers is a plus (although the inclusion of the El-P song derails this train towards the end). Overall, as a compilation, it works, although it occasionally comes off as intentionally quirky (see: the Get A Life-inspired interludes) and precious, somewhat like a Wes Anderson film. So if you're not really a fan of films like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, or The Darjeeling Limited, you'll probably not care for this one, either. But if you're especially adventurous, or if you're the type that drives hundreds of miles to another city to watch an independent film that has no shot of ever seeing a release in your backwards non-art-loving city, then So...How's Your Girl? could be seen as the sonic equivalent of that experience.

BUY OR BURN? I recommend a purchase. You shouldn't seem so shocked: this is Prince Paul and The Automator we're talking about, of course. There's enough greatness on here to completely overshadow the bad.

BEST TRACKS: “Sunshine”; “Once Again (Here To Kick For You)”; “The Projects (P Jays)”; “Metaphysical”; “The Truth”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
More Automator and Prince Paul material can be found by clicking on their respective names. Go ahead. You know you want to.

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (May 6, 1996)

I came aboard the Kool Keith bandwagon late. I'll admit, I had never heard any songs by any of the Ultramagnetic MC's until after 1997, which was when I bought Dr. Octagonecologyst, the joint effort by Kool Keith, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, and DJ Q-Bert. (Keith's frequent collaborator Kutmasta Kurt produces two tracks as well.) I first read about this project in the pages of The Source, where they had just given this album a three-and-a-half mic review, even though the only negative I remember reading about was the beat to "I'm Destructive".

As I'm sure most Source readers did at the time, I dismissed the review, since I had no clue who Keith Thornton was. Later, in 1997, my brother and I were watching Yo!! MTV Raps! late at night (this was around the time that MTV was trying to phase the show out, so it was played only late Friday nights at this point.) They played the video for "Blue Flowers", which I remember to be some truly trippy shit, and my brother and I were enthralled. No other hip hop had ever sounded like this. Sure, the lyrics were borderline ridiculous, a trait which would carry on over to every single Kool keith album ever made, but they were delivered with an unnerving cockiness that was amazing to hear. The beats, which I later found to be The Automator's handiwork, are still among the best hip hop instrumentals ever made by a man who doesn't really make hip hop tracks. (The beats are so good that I also picked up Instrumentalyst, the instrumental companion to Dr. Octagonecologyst; they make for good background music to write to.) Q-Bert's expert scratching throughout (especially on "Bear Witness") was the cherry atop an already-crowded sonic sundae. Which, I suppose, would make the other guests (Kutmasta Kurt, Sir Menelik a/k/a Cyclops 4000, and DJ Shadow) the plastic cup, the spoon, and the sanitary napkin, respectively.

Dr. Octagonecologyst is the product of Keith's defection from New York to the West Coast, thereby filling my quote of West Coast albums for the month. (Kidding!) It was first distributed by Bulk Recordings, an indie label, in 1996; after its semi-popularity on college radio, Dreamworks Records re-released an altered version, deleting some tracks and adding others. Yes, kids, that's right; Steven Spielberg had something to do with releasing Dr. Octagon to the masses. Cue triumphant string section here. The version I picked up in 1997 (on my birthday, no less) is the Dreamworks version, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, I found the deleted tracks, too.

Dr. Octagonecologyst frequently pops up these days on music magazine lists of "Best Albums Ever" and "Motherfucker, You Better Listen To This Shit Before I Kill You" (from Entertainment Weekly). I've read some articles about the underground conspiracy that works in favor of Dr. Octagon; if you like underground hip hop, you have to like Dr. Octagon, or else you don't truly like underground hip hop. I'm here to tell you that is some complete bullshit. You don't have to like a fucking thing if you don't want to. Some of my readers love Wu-Tang and will find this album to be pure crap. Others like the more mainstream reviews I provide (Jay-Z, Nas, etc.), but may actually like Dr. Octagonecologyst, too. Don't let any of the so-called backpackers try to force you into loving this album if you don't like it. That's called peer pressure, and I'm the only guy allowed to force you to like something.

However, don't be a douchebag and hate Dr. Octagon without having ever heard it. That would just make you an asshole.

1. INTRO

Fuck all of those other rap albums with those fake groupie sex skits; Dan Nakumura samples real porn! Does that fact alone make this the best rap album intro I've ever heard? No, but it's up there.

2. 3000

Dr. Octagonecologyst falls into the category of "acid rap", probably due simply to the album's fantastic cover art, provided by Pushead. Don't buy into that bullshit label; Dr. Octagon is simply your average hip hop album about a time-traveling alien gynecologist, whose hobbies include sex and mating between species. Just like that Bobby Digital album.

3. I GOT TO TELL YOU

Skit, over Pachabel's "Canon In D". I shit you not, my wife and I played this song during our wedding ceremony. The instrumental, of course, not this version; I wanted my wife to stick around.

4. EARTH PEOPLE

I wasn't joking about that 'alien' comment.

5. NO AWARENESS (FEAT SIR MENELIK)

I've always wondered what Sir Menelik/Cyclops 4000/Scaramanga Did to piss off Keith, since he was effectively replaced as sidekick/weed carrier by the arguably-better-rapper Motion Man.

6. REAL RAW

As I write this, Kanye West is performing with The Police for that Live Earth telecast thing. That contrived collabo sounds better than this song.

7. GENERAL HOSPITAL

Contains one of the best lines I've ever heard in a hip hop skit: "Oh shit, there's a horse in the hospital". I don't think I can come up with a funny comment that would be more amusing than reading that quote out loud.

8. BLUE FLOWERS

As I mentioned above, the very first Kool Keith song I had ever heard. I'd like to think that I got caught up relatively quickly. This beat still sounds amazing today.

9. TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

The first Kutmasta song, and it sounds great. The Spanish actually sounds trippy on here, which is a great feat, since Dr. Octagon is from Jupiter and all.

10. A VISIT TO THE GYNECOLOGIST

Great beat for an otherwise creepy-as-shit skit, probably also drawn from a porno. No horses in the hospital here, but your female nurse may be packing a bit more than her bra. Here's a hint: it's a dick. What do you mean, I gave it away?

11. BEAR WITNESS

The DJ mix track, not unlike "Holy Calamity" from The Automator's Handsome Boy Modeling School album So...How's Your Girl? Although I should add that the subtitle of "Holy Calamity" is "Bear Witness II", so of fucking course it would sound like "Bear Witness". Anyway, it's some good stuff.

12. DR. OCTAGON

I never cared much for this song, the other Kutmasta Kurt contribution. He would steer Keith toward greener pastures with their Dr. Dooom CD, though, so don't feel too bad for him.

13. GIRL LET ME TOUCH YOU

One of my favorite songs on this CD. Kool Keith at his most tender and sweet, offering to open his new female acquaintance's eyes to new, varied sexual positions, all on a smoothed-out R&B tip, by way of Bellvue.

14. I'M DESTRUCTIVE

The Source complained about this track, calling the beat "jungle music" (just because it was conceived in the back of a Chevrolet Jungle, I assume), and dismissing it completely. I disagree; this is one of my favorite beats on the album, and the vocal sample of an interview from I don't know where (but was also sampled in Richard Linklater's film Slacker) is creepy as shit. Side note; get Instrumentalyst and listen to this song; without Keith Thornton's lyrics to get in the way, Automator lays the entire interview over this beat, making for an even more nightmareish experience.)

15. WILD AND CRAZY

Possibly the most hip-hop track presented on the album. Still pretty good, though, and the breakbeat is appreciated.

16. ELECTIVE SURGERY

Dr. Octagon is a pretty shitty surgeon. That's the conclusion I draw from this skit.

17. HALFSHARKALLIGATORHALFMAN

Dr. Octagon soon became Keith's most popular alias, and, as most artists would do when presented with sudden success, he promptly killed him off on his Dr. Dooom side project. (For now, we'll pretend that The Return Of Dr. Octagon doesn't exist.) On this track, which is silly as hell but sounds very good, Keith introduces yet another moniker, Mr. Gerbik, who has my vote for "Alias Kool Keith Should Adopt Should Keith And The Automator Settle Their Differences And Work Together Again".

18. BLUE FLOWERS REVISTED

For anyone who was enough of a collector to pick up "Blue Flowers" on vinyl, there is a track called the "Stop Confusing Me" mix, also produced by The Automator, that is damn near exactly like this song, except the vocal sample repeating "Stop confusing me!" has been removed, as has a brief segment of the song itself. Otherwise, I love this song more than the original, which is a pretty damn good song in its own right.

19. WAITING LIST (DJ SHADOW/AUTOMATOR MIX)

As I had heard this track before I bought DJ Shadow's Endtroducing..., I was expecting more of the same. While his album sounds nothing like his production efforts on this song, don't let that deter you; this song knocks.

20. 1977

Compared with the sound of the rest of the album, very meh.

As I mentioned above, I picked up the Dreamworks reissue. The original, distributed by Bulk Recordings, included some different tracks after the "Elective Surgery" skit. (The listing below starts at number16, as "Elective Surgery" was track 15 on the original pressing; "Real Raw" was not included on the first pressing, nor was almost everything following "Elective Surgery".)

16. ON PRODUCTION (FEAT SIR MENELIK)

Actually very boring. It's probably a good thing that it got cut from the re-release. I don't even think Keith appears on this track.

17. BIOLOGY 101 (FEAT SIR MENELIK?)

I assume that the guest emcee is Sir Menelik; however, I don't know for sure. Writing credits online seem to confirm this fact, though. This is the type of rap song that makes your head hurt, not because of its blatant ignorance, but because the rappers are constantly trying to prove that they're smarter than you are. All I can say is, I'm a writer/filmmaker, not a biologist, and that was by choice.

18. EARTH PEOPLE (EARTH PLANET MIX)

Meh.

19. WAITING LIST (DJ SHADOW/AUTOMATOR MIX)

This is actually the same song that appears on my version, but there is a hidden track that appears after the song is over: there is a sample from the film Cabin Boy (showing that the Automator had a soft spot for Chris Elliot well before the Handsome Boy Modeling School project), leading into "halfsharkalligatorhalfman", which is included as a regular track on the reissue.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Dr. Octagonecologyst is one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time, spawning my obsession for all things Automator and Kool Keith, the Keith love being the one that has subsided with time. (Hey, most of Keith's output these days sucks balls, and Dan Nakamura doesn't release enough music these days for me to break a sweat pulling my wallet out.) It's an unsettling listen, though, and it's nowhere near as brilliant as Rolling Stone and Spin would have you believe. If you're looking for a solid, beat-driven album that's off the beaten path, Dr. Octagon is the extraterrestial gynecologist to hit up.

BUY OR BURN? This is a tough one. This is probably the most mainstream underground rap album of all time, and I realize that I just contradicted myself; please, I don't need that now. Curious listeners should give this a buy, though; there's a little something for everyone, even if you hate hip hop but love porn.

BEST TRACKS: "Blue Flowers Revisited"; "Girl Let Me Touch You"; "I'm Destructive"; "Waiting List"

(Disagree with the above review? Leave a comment below! Don't be shy!)

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

The Automator - A Better Tomorrow

Various Artists - Soundbombing

THE TEASER:

Automator - A Better Tomorrow (April 15, 1996)

Dan "The Automator" Nakamura is, without a doubt, one of my favorite producers ever, which is not bad, considering he started out as a club deejay. His songs have that cinematic feel that lets you see his music, which is useful if you're a creative type, love music, or just love to get stoned. He tends to use a lot of heavy drums, jazz breaks, sci-fi elements, and, oddly, Chris Elliott references, into his instrumental tracks, which he has provided for the likes of Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Mike Patton, Damon Albarn, and, most notably and infamously, Kool Keith (see their classic Dr. Octagon pairing, which I'll write up soon).

A Better Tomorrow was an EP release that was put out by the Ubiquity label, in an effort to capitalize on the underground success of the Dr. Octagon project. It mainly consists of instrumentals, save for a few tracks with the "spoken word" stylings of Sinister 6000, which is just another Kool Keith alias (he has quite a few). The instrumentals provide the listener with the ability to see what hip hop could be (or, in actuality, what it could have been, since this CD is eleven fucking years old).

1. A BETTER TOMORROW, PT. 2 (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
I'm usually wary of albums that feature a song's sequel before the original track. No need to worry about that here.

2. THE TRUTH (ALL THOSE LIES)
Oh, parenthetical song titles, how I've missed you!

3. 4:17
So he finished up the track with just enough time to light one up? That's one hell of a work ethic.

4. SLEEP
Actually sounds more like DJ Shadow than Automator's work, but no matter; this song is the shit.

5. A BETTER TOMORROW (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Basically a longer version of "Part 2", with some beat changes.

6. A BETTER TOMORROW (INSTRUMENTAL)
Come on, what else would this sound like?




On August 8, 2000, hot on the heels of the successful (for music critics) Handsome Boy Modeling School collaboration with Prince Paul (another of my favorite producers ever), 75 Ark rereleased this CD in an expanded edition titled A Much Better Tomorrow, including eleven full tracks (but missing the instrumental to "A Better Tomorrow" for some reason). The album even promoted the fact that the Kool Keith contributions were recorded during the Dr. Octagon studio sessions, a fact that was left out when nobody (read: white magazine critics) knew who either of these guys were. The Automator was set to blow...at least, as much as you would expect an underground hip hop producer who mainly produced for non-rappers could blow.

1. A BETTER TOMORROW (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Oddly, Parts 1 and 2 were the victims of a title switched-at-birth situation.

2. KING OF NY (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Kool Keith always sounded the most comfortable over an Automator beat.

3. I WANT DA MIC (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Well, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.

4. SLEEP
Love this song. Shorter than the original version.

5. WILING (FEAT NEPH THE MADMAN)
I'm reading the album title, and I've no clue how that spells out a word pronounced "wilding".

6. CARTOON CAPERS (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Exponentially more Keith on the reissue, in case you haven't noticed.

7. 4:17
See review above.

8. BUCK BUCK (FEAT POET)
Keith sounds great over an Automator track, but these two other rappers? Not so much.

9. THE TRUTH (ALL THOSE LIES)
See review above.

10. IT'S OVER NOW (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
Laid back Automator track with a calmer-than-usual Keith. Good shit.

11. A BETTER TOMORROW, PT. 2
Started life as the original "A Better Tomorrow", but you know how it goes.

FINAL THOUGHTS: A Better Tomorrow is a good sampler for those who aren't familiar with Dan Nakamura's work with the Gorillaz, Lovage, Deltron 3030, Handsome Boy Modeling School, that Depeche Mode remix he did, and My Little Pony (can't tell if I'm kidding anymore, can you?). For people who already know his work, though, A Much Better Tomorrow is the way to go, since you get the rare Kool Keith collaborations that, at that point, had never been released.

BUY OR BURN? You probably won't find A Better Tomorrow anywhere, as it is out of print. A Much Better Tomorrow, though, is worth your time and your money. Also, the CD is blue! Blue! How crazy is that, people?

BEST TRACKS: "Sleep"; "It's Over Now"; "A Better Tomorrow"


-Max