Recording >
Kool Keith: Nogatco Rd.Kool Keith: Nogatco Rd. | |
| Desc: | CD Review: artist: Mr. Nogatco aka Kool Keith |
| Label: | Insomniac |
| Format: | Album |
| Media: | CD |
| Genre: | Recording |
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 “weird” 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.