Nogatco Rd.

Nogatco Rd.
Label: Insomniac
Length: LP
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Nogatco Rd.
In 1996, Kool Keith pioneered an underground hip-hop movement with Dr. Octagonecologyst, a strange concept album by his alter ego (Dr. Octagon) that satisfied many listeners’ then-unmet needs for nonsensical, free-associative lyrics, sampled dialogue from old sci-fi films and bleeping laser noises.  A decade and several projects later, Keith’s back with that groundbreaking album’s putative follow-up (read the title backward), weaker production throughout, and even less coherence to his rhymes than before.  Offbeat ramblings regarding extraterrestrial autopsies and UFO conspiracies awkwardly stumble over generically ‘weirdâ?� beats lacking any sense of human touch. Whereas his earlier work was a refreshingly odd alternative to the status quo, Keith’s output here is reminiscent of a long-winded geezer who’s run out of interesting things to say. Critiquing a Kool Keith record for being bizarre or off-kilter is like complaining that rain is wet, but when alien surgery becomes dull, we have a problem.

This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2006.