Instrumentalyst (Octagon Beats)

Following the release of his group's third album The Four Horsemen (1993), Ultramagnetic MCs member Keith Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, produced two songs under the alias Dr. Octagon, "Dr. Octagon" and "Technical Difficulties."{{cite news |url=https://www.avclub.com/kool-keith-and-kutmasta-kurt-1798215240 |title=Kool Keith and KutMasta Kurt |access-date=2009-01-27 |last=Downs |first=David |date=November 21, 2008 |newspaper=The A.V. Club}} Thornton mailed the songs to radio stations as well as giving copies to several DJs and record producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. This led to Dan the Automator's role in producing the album.

File:Qbertconcert.jpg

Dr. Octagonecologyst has been praised for its original sound, which has often been attributed to Nakamura,{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r261341/review|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of The Instrumentalyst (Octagon Beats) |accessdate=2009-01-27 |last=McLeod |first=Kembrew |website=Allmusic}} although Thornton states that he was largely involved with the production of the album.{{cite news |first=Abbey |last=Goodman |title=All The Voices In Kool Keith's Head Working On New Albums |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453279/20020405/kool_keith.jhtml?headlines=true |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020814173539/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453279/20020405/kool_keith.jhtml?headlines=true |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 14, 2002 |publisher=MTV News |date=April 5, 2002 |accessdate=13 December 2008 }} Thornton is quoted as saying "Automator and Kurt are probably receiving more credit than I did, but I was a big musical person behind Octagon." Nakamura has said he wanted Dr. Octagonecologyst to stand out from other hip hop albums, citing the music of Eric B. & Rakim, Mantronix, and Run-D.M.C. as influences.{{cite news|title=Kool Keith gets freaky as Dr. Octagon |url=http://www.synthesis.net/music/interview/item-340/1997-05-30-kool_keith_gets_freaky_as_dr_octagon |publisher=Synthesis |date=May 30, 1997 |accessdate=27 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011202047/http://www.synthesis.net/music/interview/item-340/1997-05-30-kool_keith_gets_freaky_as_dr_octagon |archive-date=October 11, 2008 }} "Hip-hop was always inventive. Then the '90s hit and everyone wants to be Dr. Dre; no one wants to be their own thing anymore. Everyone now wants to have the Lexus and deal pounds of drugs. We don't do that. That's not our lifestyle. You don't see us coming out with the fur coat. There's more to music than that," Nakamura said. The album incorporates use of organic instrumentation and features Moog synthesizer, flute, and string instruments.

Lily Moayeri of Rolling Stone called the album a "psychedelic hip-hop concept album."{{cite magazine |first=Lily |last=Moayeri |title=Kool Keith Revives Dr. Octagon |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/koolkeith/articles/story/5934820/kool_keith_revives_dr_octagon |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=July 23, 2002 |accessdate=25 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222143655/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/koolkeith/articles/story/5934820/kool_keith_revives_dr_octagon |archive-date=22 February 2008 |url-status=dead }} Allmusic reviewer Steve Huey wrote that the album "shed some light on the burgeoning turntablist revival via the scratching fireworks of DJ Q-Bert" and its "futuristic, horror-soundtrack production seemed to bridge the gap between hip-hop and the more electronic-oriented trip-hop".{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r235693/review|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of Dr. Octagonecologyst |accessdate=2009-01-27 |last=Huey |first=Steve |website=Allmusic}} Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews also praised its sound, writing that "Cuts are provided with infinite skill and precision by DJ Q-Bert" and that Nakamura's remix of "Waiting List" is "so good that you could hardly miss the original, if indeed there was one."{{cite web |url=http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/1996_09_octagon.html |title=Review of Dr. Octagonecologyst |accessdate=2009-01-27 |last=Juon |first=Steve |date=September 1996 |publisher=RapReviews}}

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r261341/review|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]

|rev2 = Muzik

|rev2Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Ashon |first=Will |author-link=Will Ashon |date=January 1997 |title=Dr Octagon: Instrumentalyst |url=http://www.muzikmagazine.co.uk/issues/muzik020_january_1997.pdf |magazine=Muzik |issue=20 |page=118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402181253/http://www.muzikmagazine.co.uk/issues/muzik020_january_1997.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2022 |access-date=16 July 2022}}

}}

Allmusic reviewer Kembrew McLeod wrote that "If any other artist released an album such as this, it would be considered throwaway trash—something for the hardcore fans. But Dan the Automator's backing tracks are so fresh and original, it's actually nice to just hear the beats minus the rhymes."

According to Zac Crain of the Miami New Times, Instrumentalyst proved that Dan "the Automator" Nakamura "had as much, if not more, to do with the success of Dr. Octagon as anyone else."{{cite news |first=Zac |last=Crain |title=Handsome Dan, Automator Man |url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1999-11-25/music/handsome-dan-automator-man/ |newspaper=Miami New Times|date=November 25, 1999 |accessdate=27 January 2009 }}

{{track listing

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| total_length = 72:00

| title1 = 3000

| writer1 = Nakamura

| extra1 = Dan the Automator

| length1 = 3:31

| title2 = Moosebumps

| writer2 = Nakamura

| extra2 = Dan the Automator

| length2 = 1:47

| title3 = Earth People

| writer3 = Nakamura

| extra3 = Dan the Automator

| length3 = 4:49

| title4 = Real Raw*

| writer4 = Nakamura

| extra4 = Dan the Automator

| length4 = 5:34

| title5 = No Awareness

| writer5 = Nakamura

| extra5 = Dan the Automator

| length5 = 4:45

| title6 = Blue Flowers

| writer6 = Nakamura

| extra6 = Dan the Automator

| length6 = 3:16

| title7 = Technical Difficulties (remix, original version featured on the UK/EU release)

| writer7 = Matlin

| extra7 = KutMasta Kurt

| length7 = 2:57

| title8 = A Visit to the Gynecologyst (listed as "Catapillar" on the UK/EU release)

| writer8 = Nakamura

| extra8 = Dan the Automator

| length8 = 3:37

| title9 = Bear Witness (Extended Version)*

| writer9 = Nakamura

| extra9 = Dan the Automator

| length9 = 6:45

| title10 = Dr. Octagon

| writer10 = Matlin

| extra10 = KutMasta Kurt

| length10 = 4:35

| title11 = Girl Let Me Touch You

| writer11 = Nakamura

| extra11 = Dan the Automator

| length11 = 4:21

| title12 = I'm Destructive

| writer12 = Nakamura

| extra12 = Dan the Automator

| length12 = 3:17

| title13 = Tricknology 101

| writer13 = Nakamura

| extra13 = Dan the Automator

| length13 = 4:58

| title14 = Wild and Crazy

| writer14 = Nakamura

| extra14 = Dan the Automator

| length14 = 4:31

| title15 = Blue Flowers Revisited*

| writer15 = Nakamura

| extra15 = Dan the Automator

| length15 = 4:38

| title16 = Waiting List

| writer16 = Nakamura

| extra16 = Dan the Automator

| length16 = 5:31

| title17 = On Production

| writer17 = Nakamura

| extra17 = Dan the Automator

| length17 = 3:01

}}

• = not featured on UK/EU release

UK/EU tracklist: 6, 11, 1, 2, 13, 12, 5, 16, 17, 7, 8, 14, 3, 10

Information taken from Allmusic.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r235693/credits|pure_url=yes}}|title=Credits for Dr. Octagonecologyst|accessdate=2009-02-09|website=Allmusic}}

• Andy Boy — guitar
• Phil Bright — bass, guitar
• C-Note — vox organ
• DJ Q-Bert — scratching, DJ
• Whoolio E. Glacias — vox organ
• Sweet-P — vox organ

• Dan the Automator — producer, mixing, mastering
• Gordon Chumway — second engineer
• Pushead — illustrations
• Mark Senasac — mastering

{{Reflist}}

{{Kool Keith}}

Category:Kool Keith albums

Category:Instrumental hip-hop albums

Category:1996 remix albums

Category:DreamWorks Records remix albums

Category:Trip hop remix albums