Dan The Automator - Booksmart (Original Motion Picture Score) '2019

Tracks list

About Dan the Automator
Dan The Automator Nakamura is a San Francisco-based hip-hop producer whose work
with Kool Keith Thornton on the latters Dr. Octagon project shot him to unlikely
acclaim in 1996. With a series of ever more elaborate conceptual projects since
then, Nakamuras wildly imaginative productions and offbeat sense of humor made
him one of the leading figures in the underground renaissance of alternative rap
in the late 90s.

A classically trained violinist in his younger days, Nakamura instead fell in
love with Kraftwerk and old-school hip-hop, as well as R&B and rock & roll. He
began DJing as a teenager but was discouraged by the advanced skills of some
younger Bay Area DJs (i.e., the ones who would go on to form the legendary
Invisibl Skratch Piklz collective). Nakamura instead turned his attention to
crafting his own productions, accepting gigs around the Bay Area through the
early 90s, which eventually culminated in the Dr. Octagon project in 1995. A
lo-fi fusion of hip-hop beats and bizarre atmospherics on par with some of the
weirder exports from the U.K. trip-hop scene, Dr. Octagon was released by the
tiny Bulk Recordings label in 1995 and achieved a level of overground success
increasingly rare in hip-hops pop-monopolized marketplace when it was reissued
by DreamWorks a year later. Propelled by Thorntons pornographic rhymes and
mind-bending meter, the record owed its success in equal measure to Nakamuras
inventive production, which wed loping, downtempo rhythms with, by turns,
weeping violins, space-born bleeps and wiggles, and heavy metal guitar riffs.
Not Nakamuras freshman effort by a long shot, the two had actually worked
together (with Thornton appearing as Sinister 6000) on Nakamuras debut Automator
release, the Better Tomorrow EP, appearing on SFs Ubiquity label in early 1996.
Nakamuras studio, The Glue Factory, also served as the workshop for recordings
by Mo Waxs DJ Shadow and for various artists on the latters Solesides label
(most notably on Latyrxs The Album).

When Thornton decided not to tour behind his Dr. Octagon alias, Nakamura racked
up a host of other mix and production credits, including Primal Scream, the
Eels, DJ Krush, a collaboration with Dust Brother Mike Simpson for Cornershop
(several tracks on 1997s acclaimed When I Was Born for the 7th Time), and the
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (1998s Acme). Nakamura then teamed up with former De
La Soul producer Prince Paul as Handsome Boy Modeling School, a reference to an
episode of the Chris Elliott sitcom Get a Life. In 1999, the duo released an
album titled So...Hows Your Girl?, a freewheeling hodgepodge of old-school
hip-hop, new-school trip-hop, crazed sampling (including plenty of Elliott
dialogue), and all-star cameos. The record marked Nakamura as a figure to watch,
and that reputation was confirmed with 2000s Deltron 3030 project, a
collaboration with rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala. The trios
self-titled debut was an elaborate science-fiction concept album set in a bleak
and distant future, and Nakamuras detailed, cinematic production offered a rich
and believable soundtrack. That same year, Nakamura issued a retooled version of
his debut EP (with several extra tracks) under the title A Much Better Tomorrow
on the hip-hop-oriented label 75 Ark.

In 2001, Nakamura snared his widest audience yet with the cartoon band Gorillaz,
an eclectic collaboration with Blurs Damon Albarn, artist Jamie Hewlett, Cibo
Mattos Miho Hatori, and former Talking Heads Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth.
Their barely classifiable self-titled debut was a hit on both sides of the
Atlantic, going platinum in the U.S. and spawning Nakamuras first major hit
single, Clint Eastwood. Next, Nakamura returned to his Nathaniel Merriweather
alias (from the Handsome Boy Modeling School album) for Lovage, a
lounge-flavored, Serge Gainsbourg-influenced project that featured vocalists
Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields) and Mike Patton (Faith No More). The Lovage
album Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By was released before the end of
2001. Nakamura kicked off 2002 by releasing his first-ever mix album, the
well-received Wanna Buy a Monkey?: A Mixtape Session.

Despite the fact there were many promises for a solo album, titled Omakase,
label issues caused it to be shelved, but in 2004, the Automator teamed up with
Daryl Palumba to form Head Automatica (at least in its initial conception) and
release Decadence. In 2006, he produced the tracks for 2K7, the soundtrack to
the video game of the same name, which featured performances from E-40,
Ghostface Killah, and Slim Thug (though of course an instrumental version was
also offered). ~ Sean Cooper & Steve Huey

Tracklist:
01. Dan The Automator - Full Star (4:51)
02. Dan The Automator - Amy Devastated (6:01)
03. Dan The Automator - Broke a Couple of Rules (3:21)
04. Dan The Automator - Molly and Nick Dance (3:17)
05. Dan The Automator - Handjobs / Graduation (4:33)
06. Dan The Automator - Amy Molly Fight (3:41)
07. Dan The Automator - One Night Left (3:05)
08. Dan The Automator - Ryan (1:08)

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