Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Dr. Octagon (1996)

James Gaunt
Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now
8 min readAug 19, 2020

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Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…

Dr. Octagon’s Ecologyst (1996) Source: Discogs

Dr. Octagon is a Hip Hop album about a time-travelling surgeon/gynaecologist, featuring Kool Keith, Dan The Automator, and DJ Q-Bert. So where did this come from?

The Dr. Octagon character is just one of many from the varied career of Keith Thornton, aka Kool Keith. Keith was a member of the Hip Hop group Ultramagnetic MCs, who released their first single in 1986, and later dissolved following their third album’s release in 1993. Keith next embarked on a solo career, recording demos with different producers such as Kut Master Kurt and Dan The Automator.

During session with producer Kut Master Kurt, aka Kurt Matlin, Kool Keith began developing the character of Dr. Octagon, and the pair recorded the songs Dr. Octagon and Technical Difficulties. These were then sent out to radio stations and DJs, and Kurt also sent one to his friend Dan The Automator.

Dan The Automator, aka Daniel Nakamura, had released his debut 12" Music to be Murdered By in 1989, and helped DJ Shadow record his debut album Endtroducing which would be released in 1996. Automator was friends with Kool Keith, and when he heard the Dr. Octagon demos he wanted to work on the project. He later explained to Bomb how his involvement came about:

I’ve known Keith since the late ‘80’s, probably ’89 and I’ve know Q-Bert since he was a freshman at high school. I was helping Keith do his demo for another record deal he had and it was just a real case where the A&R sucked and everything was terrible. I ended up wanting to do another record with him because it was no fun and I was like let’s just do something that’s a little more fun. We did Octagon and it was natural for me to grab Q-Bert because he’s the best DJ there is and it just makes sense!

The sessions with Dan The Automator started in mid-1995, and Dr. Octagon released their debut single that year on Bulk Recordings, a record label owned by Automator. The Dr. Octagon‎ 12" single was produced entirely by Automator, and was followed by the Dr. Octagon album in 1996 which featured production by Automator except for the songs Dr. Octagon and Technical Difficulties which were produced by Kut Master Kurt, and a remix of Waiting List by Automator and DJ Shadow.

Dr. Octagon was released on Bulk Recordings is the USA, and it was reviewed in the UK magazine Muzik who gave it 5/5 and called it “beyond brilliant, and way, way out there into a whole new galaxy.

In Muzik’s May 1996 issue (published in April) it was announced that Mo’ Wax had licensed the album for a UK release, and Dr. Octagon quickly arrived in May. The album almost entered the UK Albums Chart, reaching #110, just outside the Top 100, while singles Blue Flowers, and 3000 faired better, reaching #66 and #89 respectively, though they each only spent one week in the charts before dropping back out.

The album was retitled as Ecologyst for its Mo’ Wax CD release, but the vinyl and cassette editions both retained their original title of Dr. Octagon. In 1997 the album was re-released in the USA by Dreamworks as Dr. Octagonecologyst with five extra tracks added. The Dreamworks version also featured enhanced content on the CD which included Vertabreak software, allowing the user to mix Dr. Octagon beats on their computer. The software was developed by Turntable who also created a video for Dr. Octagon’s Blue Flowers which would receive heavy airplay on MTV and also appeared at film festivals.

James Lavelle considered the Dr. Octagon album one of Mo’ Wax’s best, explaining, “I grew up on hip-hop as a kid and Ultramagnetic MC’s are one of my favourite bands of all time. I think this is one of the most interesting hip-hop records of the 90s, both lyrically and sonically.

Following the release of the Dr. Octagon album both Kool Keith and Dan The Automator saw their careers take off, and they moved in different directions. There were also disagreements between Automator and Keith which resulted in Dreamworks telling Vibe in 1997 that it was unlikely a follow up album would ever appear.

Eventually Kool Keith became tired of the Octagon persona, and in 1999 he released a new album under the name Dr. Dooom which opens with the death of Dr. Octagon. Keith would later discuss his frustration with Dr. Octagon’s legacy:

I think people got stuck on something, but I have a total dimensional lifestyle besides Doc Oc. I just made a record. I was an artist on a project, and I think people misconcepted that I was an artist on a project. Octagon wasn’t my life. I’ve done tons of projects. I had groups. I worked with different groups and myself...I’ve done a lot of things that were totally around different things other than Octagon. Are some people just afraid to venture off into my life and see that I do other things which are great? I think people stuck me with something.

Then in 2002 Keith teased an album titled The Resurrection of Dr. Octagon, telling Rolling Stone “It’s all being worked on right now as we speak.”

As fans waited for more news, 2004 saw the release of Dr. Octagon Part II, a bootleg with nothing to do with Dr. Octagon outside of the title, featuring abandoned or stolen tracks from Kool Keith. Keith reportedly tried to have the album stopped but some were sold in stores before anyone realised, and led to reviews such as the following:

Even though this was reportedly culled from three or four different sources, including unfinished freestyles and tracks left off other projects, in the end you can’t really tell the difference between this and a real Kool Keith album. The upside of that is that Kool Keith fans will in fact be satisfied if they do choose to cop this album, because they’re used to him churning out lackluster albums between the true gems like “Lost in Space” and “Diesel Truckers.” The downside of that is that if there’s no difference quality-wise between a bootleg of your shit and the real thing, you need to step your game up.

Then in 2006 Dr. Octagon reappeared with the release of The Return of Dr. Octagon, another album heaped in controversy as Keith tried to distance himself from it upon its release.

While back in 2002 Keith had announced a new Dr. Octagon album would be released in February 2003, the album was beset by delays. Keith had decided to work with none of the original albums collaborators, and instead the new album was to feature production duties by Fanatik J, aka Jeffrey Johnson. But when issues developed over contracts, Fanatik J’s contributions were removed and the record label brought in new producers to finish the album.

When The Return of Dr. Octagon was released apparently no one told Kool Keith, as while he admitted he had work on several of the albums tracks, he hadn’t heard about it in years so the release had been a surprise for him. Fanatik J’s Dr. Octagon demos were later leaked online, and The Return of Dr. Octagon’s reputation suffered due to the drama surrounding it.

Following The Return of Dr. Octagon, Keith brought back his Dr. Dooom character for 2008's Dr. Dooom 2, a new album produced by Kut Master Kurt. Kurt explained that the new Dooom album was created in response to 2006's Dr. Octagon album, with the sequel featuring references to Octagon’s death much like the original had as Dr. Dooom intended to finsh Dr. Octagon off once and for all.

Following his demise Dr. Octagon went quiet again until 2013 when Kool Keith appeared on Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Mosquito album as Dr. Octagon.

Then in 2014 an unreleased Dr. Octagon track from 1994 featuring production from Kut Master Kurt titled Droppin’ Bagels was released, and in 2017 Dr. Octagon’s Dr. Octagonecologyst album was re-released with three previously unreleased tracks produced by Dan The Automator.

This seemed to be the end of Dr. Octagon, as there was no indication a new album would ever appear. But then in 2018 it was announced that the original collaborators of Kool Keith, Dan The Automator, and DJ Q-Bert had already teamed back up for a new Dr. Octagon album. The album had actually been recorded several years prior but its release was held up while they figured out distribution, and Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation finally saw release on April 6 2018 via Bulk Recordings.

Upon release Moosebumps entered the US Billboard Independent Album Chart reaching #8 and took the #1 position in the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. Following its release Keith, Automator, and Q-Bert toured the album before moving back to other projects.

Between Dr. Octagon albums, Kool Keith has maintained a steady release of solo albums and collaborations, working with the likes of The Prodigy, Prince Paul, MF DOOM, and Sean Lennon. Under various aliases Keith has released albums of varying quality across his career, with Fact describing the early 2000’s as a “wasteland for Keith…fraught by vapid misfires”. In 2007 his group Ultramagnetic MC’s reformed for one more album which All Music called “underwhelming”. Meanwhile Keith’s solo career kept going, with his late-2010 releases considered a return to form. Most recently in 2020 Kool Keith released the albums Saks 5th Ave, and the collaboration with Thetan Space Goretex.

Dan The Automator saw his career explode following the first Dr. Octagon album, and he continued to work on collaborative projects such as Deltron 3030, Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modelling School, and Lovage. Automator’s last solo album was 2000’s A Much Better Tomorrow, a follow up to his 1996 EP A Better Tomorrow which was recorded at the same time as Dr. Octagon and featured Kool Keith. In 2006 Automator produced the soundtrack for the NBA 2K7 video game, and most recently in 2019 created the score for the film Booksmart.

DJ Q-Bert is one of the most respected scratch turntablists in the world, and it was reported that his dominance at the DMC World Championships led to him being asked to stop competing, though this has been refuted. Following his work with Dr. Octagon, Q-Bert released Wave Twisters in 1998, his first solo album which was later adapted into a feature-length animated film. In 2014 Q-Bert released the albums GalaXXXian, and Extraterrestria, with the former featuring an appearance from Kool Keith. Since the return of Dr. Octagon in 2018 Q-Bert has worked with Egyptian Lover, and is preparing for his next album, “ORIGINS” Wave Twisters Zero, due in Fall 2020.

Following his work on the first Dr Octagon album, Kut Master Kurt (sometimes stylised KutMaster Kurt) continued to work with Kool Keith on albums such as Dr. Dooom, Sex Style, and Diesel Truckers. He also founded Threshold Recordings which has released several Kut Master Kurt and Kool Keith albums, including Kurt’s Dr Octotron mashup project which combined Del the Funky Homosapien and Kool Keith on one record. Outside of his production work, Kurt has also remixed Beastie Boys, Money Mark, and Blackalicious, among others. In 2020 he produced, arranged, mixed, and released Stolen Land by OG Natal.

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James Gaunt
Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now

An Australian writer with a passion for research. James edits music fanzine The Shadow Knows and writes regularly about Mo’ Wax Records. www.jamesgaunt.com