Dan The Automator

Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Picture by Peter Ellenby - © 2006

As an avid Jazz listener who sucks everything from Coltrane to Rollins, from Monk to Miles, I love, apart from maybe Pop and most def Techno, many genres of music, which surely includes trip hop, electronica, turntablism, and hip hop to some extend.

Interestingly enough, there has been a great deal of outstanding hip hop DJ's in the last few years who took this hip jazz extract to a whole new level: DJ Shadow, Zion I, RJD2, Cut Chemist, Dr Octagon to mention some of my personal favorites. 

But lately I am getting increasingly into the hip tunes of this guy, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, a Japanese American from San Francisco, especially after I heard the NBA 2K7 video game soundtrack. The energy is amazing, so are the beats, and most surprisingly, the clear, crisp sound. Here is what dvoodoo [last.fm] says about him:

[...]

From San Francisco, his early 1990’s debut 12” “Music To Be Murdered By” that sampled Hitchcock and was released as “The Automator” earned him radio play and a serious street rep. Nakamura became a major figure in the somewhat higher-brow rap underground that developed while mainstream hip-hop integrated its successful gangsta image with the also-popular Miami Bass party-jam style, with heavy borrowing from its ignored soul music roots. Avenues of rap which pursued more introspective, creative, and esoteric angles became brushed aside, admired by fans with more eclectic musical tastes and appreciation for dense lyrical constructions and obscure or off-beat musical inspirations.

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Trained in classical violin as a child, Nakamura was more attracted to early electronica and hip-hop. After dabbling as a DJ, he gave up on the violin and instead worked on musical production, taking on small gigs until getting his major break working with Kool Keith. Dan has recently created tracks for an Adidas advertisement campaign and started yet another band with Mike Patton called Crudo.

As Mos Def & Anwar Superstar put it: Dan The Automator, the creator with flavor! - Most def!