Dan the Automator’s influence on Gorillaz’ S/T

In over his 29 years of activity in music production, Dan “the Automator” Nakamura has worked alongside several noteworthy artists. Dan was heavily involved with the production of Gorillaz’ self titled album released in 2001. Dan’s dense catalogue of hip hop production as well as Damon Albarn’s rock influence lead to the unique, genre defying sounds on Gorillaz’ S/T. This album perfectly framed the essence of Gorillaz through its synthesis of several influences. In this editorial I will expand on a couple of my favorite tracks from self titled, and explain the possible influence Dan the Automator may have had on their sound.

Clint Eastwood

The single that put the Gorillaz on the map. This single effortlessly fused reggae, hip hop, and trip hop. One of Dan the Automator’s personal friends, hip hop artist Del the Funky Homosapien, is featured on this track. Within the Gorillaz canon Del plays the character “Del Tha Ghost Rapper”, who was a friend of Russell Hobbs that was killed in a drive by shooting. Del’s attention demanding rap performance perfectly ties together the dreary feel of this track. The main rhythm of the song was created using a preset on a Suzuki Omnichord instrument. This simplistic yet powerful rhythm is accompanied by several other melodies that fill out the instrumental of the track. Dan the Automator is no stranger to incorporating unorthodox sounds within traditional hip hop production. Within this track a melodica is used to imitate the score of “A Fist Full of Dollars”, tying the track to its title, the films star.

Many tracks on self titled were recorded in Jamaica where Dan and Albarn were exposed to a variety of reggae and dancehall. Clint Eastwood is likely the product of Albarn and Automator’s fascination with this island sound, and its fusion with hip hop. Dan specializes in fusing other music genres with hip hop, this is most prominent in his work with Prince Paul in Handsome Boy Modeling School. In their second album, Lord Finesse is featured on the same track as the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park fame.

Dan’s ability to effortlessly fuse genres through his production lead to the development of tracks like Clint Eastwood, which sound innately Gorillaz-esque, but can’t be defined by one particular music genre.

Rock The House

Another track from self titled that features Del. In contrast to Clint Eastwood, this track is much more upbeat in both instrumentation and in lyrics, demonstrating the massive range of Gorillaz music. Rock the House and more contemporary Gorillaz tracks such as Strobelite represent the groups ability to produce danceable music. Placed after the trip-hop inspired Double Bass on the album, Rock the House provides a unique, heavily sample inspired experience. In many Gorillaz works samples are used to build a sound, and in Rock the House, the primary melody is a sample from a British Jazz musician, John Dankworth. The horn section from the track “Modesty Blaise” is used to build an upbeat powerful sound. Del’s vocals are much more loose and wild on this track compared to Clint Eastwood, perfectly complementing the instrumentation. In his many works Dan frequently samples jazz, rock, and classical music to build hip hop sounds. Although this is a common feat of many hip hop producers, Dan elegantly incorporates samples into his production to build a strong complete sound, which is built upon through vocals, and further instrumentation.

Rock the House is one of few tracks on self titled that does not feature vocals from Damon Albarn in any capacity. The choice to have the track feature only rap vocals from Del gives the song a much more hip hop feel than the other tracks on the album. Rock the House’s primary melody, and its counter melody of a flute create an iconic sound unlike anything else the Gorillaz have explored. Dan’s unique techniques and production strategy perfectly aligns with the essence of Gorillaz. Dan’s legacy with the Gorillaz is the establishment of the ability to fuse genres and to use sampling to create unique and powerful tracks.