Dan The Automator - Bear Witness III (Once Again)

Where for art thou Automator? Well, that's actually a lot easier to answer than I thought as he produced last year's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum for Kasabian and formed Men Without Pants with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's drummer, Russell Simins. That said, where is the long awaited solo album, Omakase, that Dan promised several years ago? It was supposed to see release in 2003 or 2004 but due to issues with his then label, MCA, merging with Geffen, the album has been shelved and looks like it may never see release. Sure, he's said that it may be released eventually, but it will probably be significantly altered if it finally sees the light of day.

If this is all news to you, Omakase, which is Japanese for "chef's choice", was to be the Automator's major label debut after producing albums for the likes of Gorillaz, Ben Lee, Head Automatica and Cornershop among others. It was going to be a guest-heavy affair with appearances from Beck, Beenie Man, The Neptunes (probably just Pharrell), Maceo from De La Soul, Damon Albern, Mike Patton (who is also in a group with the Automator named Crudo), Black Rob, a duet between Busta Rhymes and Leann Rimes (seriously) and an appearance from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Sounds pretty awesome, eh? A lot about the album can be read here, here and here, but the album still has not seen release and I don't think I'm wrong to assume it's dead in the water.

There have been no leaks from the Omakase sessions, at least not that anyone is publicly aware of as far as I know, but one track intended for the album was given some push from MCA and ended up on some compilations and even had a promotional release on vinyl. That track would be Bear Witness III (Once Again), the sequel to the original Bear Witness from Dr. Octagon's Dr. Octagonecologyst and Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) from Handsome Boy Modeling School's So... How's Your Girl? with Prince Paul and DJ Shadow.

More in line with the Octagon track, Bear Witness III is a funky instrumental that sounds like it would end up great in some DJ's mix. It also featured DJ Q-Bert who has also collaborated with the Automator in Deltron 3030 and Handsome Boy Modeling School on turntables. It definitely isn't first single material, but it's catchy as hell and plenty of fun to jam to.

So, why the hell would a major label sign an artist, get everything contractually ready, and when they turned their album in not release it? Sadly, I've asked that question more than enough times and I'm sure if you're reading this you have too. That said, if the Automator knows the fans want to hear it, maybe he'll get it released. In the Billboard story I linked earlier (and which I'll link again here) Dan noted that it's hard to independently release an album with tons of guests on it and have it a success, but what good is that album if it's never released at all? He also mentions updating it as he feels the material has grown stale, but if the album was good enough for release in 2004 why not release it as is now? Wanna add remixes or bonus tracks? Go ahead! But please leave the core presentation intact for those who really wanna hear it!

I wouldn't imagine Dan might read this post, but in case he did, I want to make it clear I'm not trying to tell him what to do professionally, I'm simply a fan of his releases and would love to hear the album that he finished. Until then though, in case you're interested, below you'll find a link for the vinyl promo release of Bear Witness III (Once Again) for your listening pleasure. If we can't have the full meal, at least we can have an appetizer!


Dan The Automator - Bear Witness III (Once Again)

01 Bear Witness III (Once Again) (feat. Q-Bert)
02 Bear Witness III (Once Again) (MVO Re-Edit By Starchild Excalibur)