Dan the Automator | |
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 Dan the Automator in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Daniel M. Nakamura |
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| Born | August 29, 1966 San Francisco, California, U.S. [2] |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
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| Website | dantheautomator |
Daniel M. Nakamura (born 1966), better known by his stage name Dan the Automator, is an American record producer. He is the founder of the publishing company Sharkman Music [5] and the record label 75 Ark. [6]
Daniel M. Nakamura [7] was born in San Francisco, California, in 1966. [2] His parents spent time in Japanese internment camps as children. [8] His father worked for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and his mother taught at City College of San Francisco. [2] As a child, he learned to play violin. [9] While in high school, he became immersed in hip hop culture. [2] He graduated from San Francisco State University. [10]
Nakamura started his career as a DJ when he was a teenager. [7] After seeing the younger DJs DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike performing live, he decided to focus on producing tracks. [2] He first gained attention for his work on Kool Keith's 1996 album Dr. Octagonecologyst . [11] His debut EP, Music to Be Murdered By, was released in 1989. [12] He released his debut album A Much Better Tomorrow in 2000, [7] an expansion of his 1996 EP A Better Tomorrow. Keith featured extensively across both versions.
He composed the score for the 2019 comedy film Booksmart , [13] with the soundtrack album released that same year. [14]
In 1999, Nakamura and Prince Paul formed the collaborative project Handsome Boy Modeling School, assuming the alter egos Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell, respectively. [15] Their debut album So... How's Your Girl? featured numerous guest musicians, including Róisín Murphy, DJ Shadow, and Del the Funky Homosapien. They released a second album, White People , in November 2004, with collaborators including RZA, Cat Power, and Mike Patton. [16] Nakamura used the Nathaniel Merriweather pseudonym for his Lovage project with Patton and Jennifer Charles. After Paul briefly left the duo over a business dispute, [17] Handsome Boy Modelling School have since played further shows and spoken of a forthcoming third album. [18]
In 2000, Nakamura joined Del the Funky Homosapien and Kid Koala to form Deltron 3030. [19] They released their eponymous debut album the same year, featuring guest appearances by Sean Lennon and Damon Albarn. In 2001 he produced the debut album of Albarn's "animated" band Gorillaz, [7] appearing as a member of the band, alongside Del the Funky Homosapien. Both later appeared on the second Deltron 3030 record, Event 2, released in September 2013. [20] The album also featured appearances by Jamie Cullum, Emily Wells and Zack De La Rocha, with interludes performed by actors David Cross, Amber Tamblyn and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Nakamura is one half of Got a Girl, along with actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead. [21] The duo's debut album, I Love You but I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now , was released in 2014. [22] In September 2015, they embarked on a four-city tour of Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles, where they played their entire album live, including a cover of Handsome Boy Modeling School's "I've Been Thinking". [23] [24]
In 2023, Handsome Boy Modeling School released a limited release LP of 7 new songs in collaboration with Fords Gin. [25]
lead single "Octagon Octagon" is an awesome dose of the same kind of surreal, psychedelic rap they were doing in the '90s
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