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- Summary: Producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, a founder and member of acts such as the Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Deltron 3030 and Lovage, here offers his first mix album. Many of the cuts are from his own remixes or productions, and come from bands ranging from Tortoise to the X-ecutioners.
- Record Label: Ultra
- Genre(s): Indie, Electronic, DJ Mix
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 10
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Mixed: 4 out of 10
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Negative: 0 out of 10
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Wanna Buy a Monkey? shows off Nakamura's ear for a great track as well as his deft turntablist skills.
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If the DJ's art is to unite unlikely musical party guests, The Automator is a fine and generous host.
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What this strange cast of characters eventually creates is a groovy mish-mash of up/down tempo breaks, hip-pop sound collages and the odd bout of guitar-driven frenzy that, while nearly impossibly to dance to, manages to expose most other DJs as the talentless, not to mention painfully derivative crate-raiders they truly are.
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UrbPut [Monkey] on in the background and it'll sound good, but you won't necessarily notice it. [Apr 2002, p.126]
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Automator has described Monkey as an opportunity for listeners to journey inside his mind, but given his past discography, that trip should be a lot wilder and weirder than this relatively straightforward record.
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While most of the mixing is clean and effortless, it is also often unspectacular. Furthermore, the decided lack of turntable wizardry certainly won't earn him a "DJ Dan" moniker among vinyl mavens. But in terms of selection and overall execution, Monkey is a very nice listen.
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Monkey comes off resembling either a padded greatest-hits comp or an "inspired by" soundtrack for a non-existent movie. What it certainly isn't is a DJ mix where previously hidden links between seemingly unrelated songs are unearthed through the ancient art of juxtaposition.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 1
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Mixed: 0 out of 1
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Negative: 0 out of 1
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TurkRocksNov 15, 2006
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