Toshimaru Nakamura

Big tip! A pioneering figure in Japanese improvisational music, Toshimaru Nakamura has collaborated and performed with artists including Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, Keith Rowe, David Sylvian, and Christian Fennesz. Personally curated by Nakamura himself, this Early Best Album traces the formative years of his singular musical journey. Through the groundbreaking technique he developed known as the No-Input Mixing Board, Toshimaru Nakamura has established a truly unique musical language. For nearl…

*2026 stock* This is the first recording by the unique trio of Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar), Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board), and Masataka Fujikake (drums). This is a full album of six songs recorded at the now-defunct Asagaya Yellow Vision and is an isolated work in which the inner universe of the three members is clearly imprinted on the disc.

*300 copies limited edition* The incomparable voice performer Tenko has been performing energetically inside and outside Japan since the 1980s. Satoko Fujii has been engaged in successful activities as a jazz pianist, composer and big band leader since the 1990s. Toshimaru Nakamura, who was a central figure of the so-called Onkyo movement on the cutting edge of the improvised music scene from the end of the 1990s to the early 2000s, is the pioneer of mixer feedback noise performance. Ten-Toh-Mar…

*200 copies limited edition* Gintė Preisaitė is an up-and-coming pianist from Lithuania. Currently based in Copenhagen, she is active on the improvised/experimental music scene, using electronics and vocals in her performances in addition to piano. During a visit to Japan in September 2024, she performed at Ftarri, Tokyo, on the 23rd in a duo with no-input mixing board player Toshimaru Nakamura. An internationally active musician known for improvised performances using mixer feedback, Nakamura h…

*250 copies lmited edition* Bryan Eubanks (born in 1977) is a Berlin-based American musician who performs using soprano saxophone, electronics and computers. Gert-Jan Prins (born in 1961) is an Amsterdam-based musician whose performances make use of electronic noise and percussion. Both are well known on the international improvised music scene and carry out wide-ranging musical activities, including composition and sound installations in addition to improvisation. No-input mixing board player T…

*2024 stock* In the summer of 2007, Jones visited Foster in South Korea and did a series of shows there and in Japan, both as their duo English and in other combinations. In Tokyo, they made time in their schedule to spend a day recording with Nakamura, and “One Day” documents the results, as captured by recording engineer Taku Unami at Kid Ailack Hall. Three lengthy improvisations showcase a unique collective aesthetic, dense and organic, pointillistic but rough, focused but not overly polished…

Tip! Surface World is pleased to share David Lee Myers (aka Arcane Device) and Toshimaru Nakamura’s Elements, a remote collection written and assembled in tandem at the suggestion of the label. Sharing an idiosyncratic approach to feedback-based sound generation and a commitment to their signature instruments (respectively, the Feedback Machine and the No-Input Mixing Board), the pairing lands during an especially fruitful period in their individual discographies. Harmonically dense, energetic a…

Three musicians of different generations came together to form this unusual free jazz trio. Comprised of veteran musician Akira Sakata (alto sax, clarinet, narration), noted young drummer Raiga Hayashi, and Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board)—who has been active on the improvised music scene inside and outside Japan since the 1990s—this much-talked-about band performs mainly at live music venues in the Tokyo area. Naturally, their performances contain the furiousness and wildness characte…

Tip! First ever vinyl issue of the minimal, masterful debut from Toshimaru Nakamura. Nine tracks of abstraction originally released on CD in 2000.

Tip! Introducing the 11th volume in the No-Input Mixing Board' series from Toshimaru Nakamura. Utilising a unique instrument and free improvisation approach, Toshimaru masterly controls waves of feedback to create structured layers of crackling pulses, drones and bass patterns. Featuring four live sets recorded in 2021 and 2022, and demonstrating a harsher side to more recent output, he continues to successfully explore and discover new avenues from his equipment. 'As most of you will know, it w…

Tokyo's experimental musicians Toshimaru Nakamura and Suzueri collaborated on a CD released in April 2023 on the Italian experimental label Superpang. Includes two improvisational songs using piano, mixer, and self-made instruments.

*Edition of 200. Mirror cover, transparent vynil* "Beautiful release on Yan Jun’s Sub Jam label. Toshimaru Nakamura was the first one that I ever saw using a no-input mixer, already in the 1990s. What exactly Yan Jun’s open-input feedback means, I am not sure, but I love the noise coming from both! Some sounds are as if they come from distorted guitar, I hear earth hums and glitches, there are a lot of different dynamics and small events in the pieces, but all in all it’s enervating music that a…

*In process of stocking* A brilliant contemporary improvised music work. subtle and flickered. Toshimaru Nakamura is one of the main figures of Japan new impro music. a master of no-input mix border. a philosopher and technician. Nicholas Bussmann is Berlin based musician and improviser. he sets MAX/msp on a high value of random to let computer impro itself.

Toshimaru Nakamura’s No Input Mixing Board instrument is without question one of the most personal and experimental explorations of its kind. Over 10 volumes, Nakamura has stretched the capacities of the mixing console in ways that both shock and delight. He maintains a tireless sense of curiosity, seeking to constantly expand the range of the instrument and subvert its pre- conceived role.  On Culvert NIMB#10, Nakamura’s work takes on an incredibly dynamic and at times volcanic quality. Each pi…

Foreign Policy is a 2019 release for Malaysian experimental label LaoBan Records featuring legendary Tokyo saxophonist Hirose Junji, no-input mixing board pioneer Toshimaru Nakamura and Australian master percussionist Darren Moore. The album was recorded live at Ftarri which is the undisputed centre for improvised music in Tokyo. Recorded over two live performances in 2017, the playing represents the trio's disdain for conforming; gliding seamlessly from minimalist Onkyo to maximalist free jazz …

** 300 copies** With his innovative performances, Berlin-based trumpeter Axel Dörner has been a leading figure on the improvised music scene since the 1990s. Internationally popular no-input mixing board player/improviser Toshimaru Nakamura structures sound by controlling mixer feedback. These two musicians released the CD "Vorhernach" on the Ftarri label in 2007, and In "Cotton and Wool" is their second duo album. The four tracks on this album (each between 7 and 12 minutes) were recorded in a …

Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is the latest edition from Tokyo-based artist Toshimaru Nakamura. The "No-Input Mixing Board" is a unique instrument pioneered by Nakamura. As its name suggests, it is a mixing console within which external no input exists. The instrument is fueled only by its own feedback. Initially used by Nakamura as a more tonal instrument, creating incredibly high frequency outputs, over time the mixing board has become decidedly more rhythmic and harmonic. It is this son…

Noisy duo improvisation by Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) and Jun Numata (guitar, oscilator, radio, etc.). This CD shows a difference posture to a sound (noise) frankly between Nakamura and Numata. So it is very interesting duo improvisation ! You can continue to listen 30 minutes without getting tired of it. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura. Recorded on 10 March, 2017 at Shichoshitsu Jinbo-cho, Tokyo. ""An improvisation for about 30 minutes" performed by Jun Numata…

This is a duo album by Toshimaru Nakamura, a mixer player based in Tokyo, and Martin Taxt, a tuba player living in Oslo. Instead of a conventional tuba, Taxt plays a custom-made “microtonal tuba” capable of producing microtones. In this album, Nakamura incorporates Taxt’s tuba sounds in his mixer through a microphone instead of playing his usual instrument, the no-input mixing board, which does not take in external sounds. The project started with the concept of Nakamura processing the tub…

Toshimaru Nakamura is a pioneer on his instrument no-input mixing board. Releasing nearly hundred albums since the mid 90's, including 9 solo albums. However, in this project with Martin Taxt he appears with a new approach to his instrument. Taxt has connected his microtonal tuba to Nakamura's mixer through a microphone, and thus interrupts his analog signal. This creates a raw, brutal and surprising character to the music.

Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar) and Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) of Japan and Switzerland-based American drummer Jason Kahn are all leading musicians on the contemporary improvised music scene who perform internationally and have many album releases. The 4 pieces on this CD were performed live by Akiyama, Nakamura and Kahn at Ftarri in Suidobashi, Tokyo, during Kahn's stay in Japan in May 2014. Akiyama's softly resonating guitar makes subtle inroads into the pulsating electronic sounds cre…

A couple of Autumns ago, on the back of a series of concerts and hosting a workshop togheter in Oporto, the duo of Toshimaru Nakamura and Manuel Mota recorded an informal session. From that natural affinity resulted Foz. It may be considered an historic document under the premise that it's Nakamura's first fully improvised, recording solely on electric, guitar in a decade. Throughout two long pieces the duo on call carves a well balanced harmony between more reflexive and purely physical moment…

Baskaru is proud to present this gorgeous collaboration among three masters of sound experimentation, all three great artists whose soundworlds turn out to be incredibly complementary. Tomoyoshi Date's toy piano and field recordings bring a lightness that has very seldom been witnessed in the projects of Toshimaru Nakamura, whose specialty is the no-input mixing board. As for Ken Ikeda, he uses antiquated equipment (like the DX7 synthesizer) to create unheard-of sonics that bridge the gap betwee…

Toshimaru Nakamura returns with another outstanding full-length of no-input mixer improvisations. Hello, Dear…ah, anyone who takes this up in front of your eyes and ears. Here’s my new (in 2013) solo album. I hope you find it worthy enough to take your time and have a listen. It was recorded in one day. Compared to my previous releases, “Maruto” on Erstwhile Records (2 years to produce), “Egrets” on Samadhisound (5 years), it came to life quite quickly. Almost like it popped out. But it took thr…

Released October 2012. Chip Shop Music (Erik Carlsson, percussion, Martin Küchen, baritone & alto saxophones, radio, David Lacey, percussion, electronics, Paul Vogel: computer, clarinet) + Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board). Live 2009 in Ireland.

Butcher and Nakamura first played together in 2002 at 'Super Deluxe' in Tokyo at the invitation of promoter Hisashi Teruchi. The concert was released as half of 'Cavern with Nightlife' prompting Jason Bivins (Dusted Magazine) to write : 'Not only is Nakamura one of the worlds great improvisers working today, I am hugely impressed with Butchers ability to work in concert with him. Whisper soft soprano squeaks and gently coaxed feedback saxophone meld fluidly, seamlessly with the stripped-metal to…

Using his no-input mixing board Toshimaru Nakamura, perhaps the ultimate Onkyo artist, spent two years creating this work, which is also the second release in the Erstsolo series. Nakamura constructs this 46 minute piece from recordings of his mixer, which generates a combination of hum, glitch, buzz and subliminally disruptive sound. He develops the results into gentle and non-violent textural and impressionistic music that unfolds in a meditative and absorbing manner. That Nakamura c…

Norwegian guitarist Håvard Volden (12-string guitar, objects) and Japanese master Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) recorded these two pieces in Norway in 2008, creating what one Norwegian reviewer calls "a timbre based album with some auditory surprises." The music is "slow and quiet, with contrasting elements. A cutting tone, a crackling flicker, or a deep bass tone gives the progress colour. It is exciting to listen to an expression that moves with this much unpredictability." Norman…

Keith Rowe's concluding set, with longtime partner Toshimaru Nakamura, at the AMPLIFY 2008: Light festival, recorded on September 21, 2008 by Taku Unami. AMPLIFY 2008: Light was an intense and deeply immersive experience for all who were lucky enough to be present, and quite a bit of that was attributable to Rowe's four sets, which are now available for all to hear.

Kato Hideki (electric bass with prime number tuning, bass synthesizer). Tetuzi Akiyama (prepared electric guitar, electronics). Toshimaru Nakamura (mixer, headphones, electric guitar). Recorded live by Kato Hideki at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo on November 25, 2008. Concert organized by Noda Shigenori Callithump). Live sound engineering by Noribumi Uchida (SuperDeluxe). Mixed and mastered by Kato Hideki at Shadow World Studio in Brooklyn, NY in 2009. 'Time is an essential subject in music. Conventional…

Free improvisation has rarely seen significant new movements as influential as the small group of Tokyo musicians once labeled as "onkyo", who have now been a primary driving force in contemporary improvisation for a full decade. Over that decade, these musicians have been responsible for some of the strongest and most radical work on Erstwhile, and Soba To Bara sits firmly in that lineage.Ami Yoshida strives to create a pure sound, abstracting her voice until it becomes almost completely unreco…

1998. First collaboration of this duo with sachiko M on sine waves and Toshimaru nakamura on no-input mixing board.

Don’t be fooled by the casual title of this release; you will hear a veritable Ghost in the Machine cloaked in pure electronic sounds. Japanese composer Toshimaru Nakamura goes beyond the furthest reaches of sound in his mission to cross the border to the other side. This time it falls to dancing poltergeists and hellish, rattling machines to scourge Nakamura’s soundscapes. Toshimaru Nakamura is known worldwide as the master of the no-input mixing board. From out of nowhere he manages to conjure…

2003 release ** Featuring: Thomas Lehn, Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, Günter Müller, Christof Kurzmann, Taku Sugimoto, Keith Rowe, Marcus Schmickler, Otomo Yoshihide, Burkhard Stangl, Sachiko M, Cosmos. "A document of the 2002 Amplify festival in Tokyo curated by Erstwhile's Jon Abbey. Disc 1 and 7 are smaller club shows that took place outside the Festival proper, disc 2 is a studio session that took place around the time of the festival and discs 3-6 feature eight of the twelve sets that…

A groundbreaking release from two youngish Japanese improvisers. Sachiko M plays sample-less sampler, and Nakamura uses the no-input mixing board--both instruments which conceptually produce no sound, yet these two conjure it out, somehow."Do" was recorded live in Europe and Tokyo last summer, and features three improvisations varying in length from just over two minutes to slightly under 40. While the shorter tracks are worthwhile and hold moments of greatness, it is the first, very long track …

Toshimaru Nakamura's main instrument of late has been what he calls the 'no-input mixing board.' Rather than input external sound sources into the mixer, he treats it as a self-contained instrument by controlling its internal feedback -- the result being a truly original performance style. Over the past four years, Nakamura has released the solo NIMB CDs No-Input Mixing Board (on the Zero Gravity label), No-Input Mixing Board 2 (a bruit secret), Vehicle (cubic music), and No-Input Mixing Board […

Recorded by Laurent Perrier Sonorisation at the former state prison of Sion, May 4, 2003.

Well, 'Holy Good Night!' seems an appropriate reaction when faced with a substantial double-disc offering from the 'holy triumvirate' of Japanese reduced improvisation and minimal electronics, ie Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko Matsubara and Toshimaru Nakamura. In August 2003, they quietly entered a studio in Tokyo and laid down the basis for this music in only two days. The following month saw a final mixdown issue from their hands. Amazingly, the roof did not fall in on the musical world as a result.…

Vienna artist Klaus Filip plays music using nothing but sine waves produced with 'lloopp,' an improvisation software program he invented and continues to refine. Toshimaru Nakamura makes music simply by controlling a mixing board's internal feedback, inputting no external sounds. Two artists with highly individual playing methods, they came together to create this album of improvisational works. Two of the three tracks were recorded in a Tokyo studio in May of 2005, when Filip came to Japan alon…