DR OCTAGON 2

In 1996, an extraterrestrial surgeon from Jupiter named Dr Octagon seemingly dropped down from outer space, put out a bizarrely fun record, and disappeared. A few years later he was murdered by his contemporary, Dr Dooom. But not to worry because both Octogon and Dooom were just different personas created by Keith Matthew Thornton (better known as Kool Keith).

The earliest instance of the Dr. Octagon character appeared on the unreleased Ultramagnetic MC's demo "Smoking Dust" (which was recorded in 1993). In 1994, Kool Keith teamed up with KutMasta Kurt and recorded a few songs including "Dr. Octagon" and "Technical Difficulties" under the alias Dr. Octagon. They sent out a few copies and one made it's way to Dan The Automator who wanted to produce more music with Kool Keith. In 1995 the two of them, along with DJ Qbert and some guest vocals by Sir Menelik, got together in Automator's parents basement and created the album Dr. Octagon.

It was released in 1996 by Mo' Wax in the UK and Bulk Recordings in the US (bizarrely it was rereleased by Dreamworks in 1997 with a slightly different tracklisting and was renamed Dr. Octagonecologyst).

And then.... there was nothing. Live shows at Lolapalooza were abandoned, there were rumblings from various members of the Octagon crew in the press, and along came Dr Dooom who killed Dr Octagon on the very first song on his album.

Years passed by and suddenly, in 2006, there was this weird record called The Return Of Dr Octagon which had a couple of great songs on it but most of it seemed like other people making music and adding Kool Keith snippets. No Automator, no Qbert or no Menelik. The songs seemed more like remixes or something. And afterwards more rumblings in the press about scam contracts. Kool Keith immediately disowned the album. And of course, a second Dr Dooom album where Dr Octagon is killed off again (in many different elaborate ways this time). There is a pretty great article about Third Watt Sun and the big scam they pulled on Kool Keith in regards to The Return Of Dr Octagon here.

Anyway, 12 years after the unofficial release came an actual official release! It took 22 years but here it was! The follow up to Dr Octagon! It had Kool Keith, Dan The Automator and DJ Q-Bert. It was called Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation and it was, in my humble opinion, pretty... ok. Yeah, afterall those years it was just, kind of... meh. So much of the scrappiness, the spark and, crucially, the innovation that saturated the original release was... missing. Kool Keiths rhymes seemed, at times, bored. The beats and sounds were all kind of the same. No Sir Menelik and his insanity. Minimal scratching. Yeah, just kind of boring. Then came another version of the album! The SP-1200 Remixes. It, too, was also just ok. It made a few of the songs better. A few of the songs worse. And then an instrumental version of the album. And then a single from the album. And that was that.

So I took it upon myself to make Dr Octagon 2. I used the three versions of the new album that were released in 2018: Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation along with Moosebumps: The SP 1200 Remixes and an instrumental from Moosebumpectomy: An Excision Of Modern Day Instrumentalization. I also added a b-side that was exclusive to the single for "Area 54" from the new album. From there I added three previoulsy unreleased songs from the 2017 deluxe version of Dr Octagon. In 2014 KutMasta Kurt released a "lost track" he and Kool Keith did from the original Dr Octagon days (recorded in 1994). Such a GEM! I used two songs and a skit from 2006's The Return Of Dr Octagon. To round it all out I used a piece of a skit from 1999's First Come First Served album by Dr Dooom; Dan The Automator's "Bear Witness III (Once Again)" single; a Dan the Automator remix of "So Intelligent" by Sir Menelik; and I ended the album with the first ever appearance by Dr Octagon via Kool Keith and his Ultramagnetic MC's.

Tracklisting:
Octagon Octagon [SP-1200 Remix]
Black Hole Sun [SP-1200 Remix]
Droppin' Bagels
Perfect World
Operation Zero
Polka Dots [MF Edit]
Astro Embalming Fluid
Space Ranger
Bear Witness III (Once Again)
3030 Meets The Doctor
Karma Sutra
Area 54
Flying Waterbed
Miss Pop Music
I'll Be There For You
Aliens
So Intelligent [Auotomator Remix]
Redeye
Bear Witness IV
Hollywood Tailswinging
Power Of The World (S Curl) [SP-1200 Remix]
Smokin' Dust

Truckstop - not a myth - remember that light?
The orange beam - not a myth - remember that light?
Observation - not a myth - remember that light?
You've been abducted by... YES!