Gothic Theatre
Money Mark
Just about anyone and their mother could earn props from being associated with the Beastie Boys. But in the case of Money Mark, such accolades are most deserved. Often known as “the fourth Beastie,” the keyboardist helped push the sound of the bratty rap trio toward its more funky jazz ways in the early ’90s. Since then, Mark has parlayed the notoriety into a budding solo career that suggests he is a visionary in his own right as much as he is a way-cool sideman.
Born Mark Ramos-Nishita to a Japanese-Hawaiian father and a Chicano mother in Detroit, Mark was raised in Los Angeles, and it was there that he hooked up with a pre-household-name Dust Brothers to play the keys on several of their Delicious Vinyl projects. But it took his handyman skills and a fair bit of kismet to actually elevate Mark’s career to the next level—he was hired to repair a gate at the Beasties’ Silver Lake, Calif. enclave. Soon, Mark was a member of the so-called Grand Royal Posse and adding his organ swirl ‘n’ grooves to much of the Beasties’ Check Your Head. He has been on every ensuing release by that band, and is often an integral part of the live show. He also extended his gun-for-hire status by working on efforts by the Wallflowers, Ben Lee, and Mary Lou Lord, among others.
Mark stepped out into the realm of solo artist with Mark’s Keyboard Repair, a loopy, retro-ish beatscape that was essentially a repackaging of his previous home-studio noodlings. Originally issued in 1995 as a set of three 10-inch slabs on the very-indie Love Kit label, Repair was reissued later that year on the British trip-jazz imprint Mo’ Wax. But it wasn’t until 1998’s Push The Button that the range of Mark’s vision was more fully demonstrated. Here was an album nearly as expansive as the Beasties’ own kitchen sink-styled work—a sprawling, playful collection of trip-hop, electronica, tabla grooves, lo-fi soul, cheesemoid lounge jazz, and, maybe most surprisingly, indie-pop. Suddenly, the fourth Beastie got to call as his own an eensy bit of the postmodern pop turf.
This Biography was written by Neal Weiss
