Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Money Mark (1995)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
Mark Ramos Nishita, better known as Money Mark, is widely known for his association with Beastie Boys and his addition as keyboardist to their albums and live shows.
Mark had been high-school friends with Beastie Boys producer Mario C who introduced Mark to the Beastie Boys when they needed a carpenter while recording Paul’s Boutique in 1988/89. Mark returned again as a carpenter during the recording of 1992’s Check Your Head, initially to help build a studio, but he soon began contributing keyboards to several tracks, and he became a permanent member of the extended Beastie Boys family, earning himself the nickname of the “fourth Beastie Boy.”
But outside of his work with the Beastie Boys, Mark had been making his own music too, and in 1994 he released the first of these recordings. Performing Chicken was a mini-LP released on 10" vinyl by Love Kit Records which caught the ear of James Lavelle, who is said to have flown to LA to meet Mark soon after hearing it.
Performing Chicken was reviewed in the June 1995 of Muzik where they announced James Lavelle had licensed it for Mo’ Wax. Derrick Carter provided guest reviews for Muzik that month and described Performing Chicken as:
Very classy. So is the packaging. It has a Sixties feel, reminding me of smoke-filled basements with red lights and beat poetry. It’s avante-garde but sort of, er, blue and purple at the same time!
After meeting James Lavelle, Money Mark agreed to let Mo’ Wax release his debut album, Mark’s Keyboard Repair, which featured songs from Performing Chicken with others Mark had sent to Lavelle, and it wasn’t long before he began entering the charts. The lead singles Insects Are All Around Us and Cry both entered the UK Singles Charts, at #99 and #80 respectively, and then Mark’s Keyboard Repair was released and entered the UK Album Charts at #35, spending two weeks in the Top 100 during September 1995.
When the news broke that Mark’s Keyboard Repair had entered the UK charts, Mark was in the studio recording songs with James Lavelle, Tim Goldsworthy, Kudo, and Mario C for what would become an abandoned UNKLE album. Some songs from the sessions featuring Mark would eventually be released, with Berry Meditation and Garage Piano both appearing in 1996, while Soup Or Salad and Abstract Soul appeared on the 1999 Major Force West compilation 93–97.
Mark meanwhile continued to work with the Beastie Boys, as well as on his solo music, and Mark’s Keyboard Repair was soon followed by his next album Push The Button. Push The Button was released by Mo’ Wax in May 1998 and was originally titled Harmonics of Life, but reportedly James Lavelle didn’t like the title. The album spent five weeks in the UK Album Charts, peaking at #17, and reached #1 in the UK Independent Albums Chart. Two singles were released, and Hand In Your Head and Maybe I’m Dead spent two weeks each within the UK Singles Charts. These became Money Mark’s final releases for Mo’ Wax, as well as his final solo appearances in the UK Charts.
Money Mark’s next release, Change Is Coming, arrived in 2001 on Emperor Norton, and Mark spoke to Billboard at the time about the label change:
My last record, Push the Button was a corporate record…Just to have a conversation with someone, I had to go through lots of people. I waned to do something simpler. I think the songs warranted it, too. I think of my songs as my children, so I wanted to deal with people who were going to help the music.
The new album was entirely instrumental and Billboard described it as as “an aquired taste…[that] will surely please those looking for something beyond the ordinary”. The Japan Times called it “Money Mark’s most solid work to date”, while Pitchfork felt it didn’t compare well to Mark’s debut, and Muzik described it as “a demented lo-fi part in a box”, awarding the album 4/5.
Following a series of Japan only releases, Mark’s next album was the 2007's Brand New By Tomorrow which was mixed by Mario C. The album was praised by All Music, and Pitchfork called it “probably Money Mark’s best record”, but Billboard’s review was mixed as they found the album unadventurous.
Since then, Mark has released some more Japan only releases, and a single in 2014 which featured a CD which could be played on a turntable. While this may have been his most recent solo release, Mark has kept busy with other projects, contributing to work by The John Butler Trio, Danger Mouse, Tommy Guerrero, Seu Jorge, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and De La Soul, among others.
Outside of his musical work with Mo’ Wax, Mark also featured in several promotional items from the label, including two Money Mark toy figures, a Vinyl Killer bus, and t-shirts. The Money Mark figures were limited to 1000 editions each, and Mark discussed them with XOX Magazine in 2001:
It was an idea that Mo’Wax dreamed up. I’m not sure who dreamed it up but it was really only supposed to be a promotional item …. I really think that this person was desperate to make money and decided to manufacture more of them and sell them without my consent…my action figure looks nothing like me. It’s really pudgy and overweight.
An interesting aspect of Money Mark’s work is that he owns all of his music, as he explained to LA Taco, all of his music was licensed to labels allowing Mark to retain his copyrights, and stay in control of his songs. Perhaps thanks to this, 2019 saw the re-release of Change Is Coming on vinyl, while Mark’s Keyboard Repair was also re-released by Mark as a free download to celebrate its 20th Anniversary.
In 2020 Mark has been releasing a series of Isolation Jams on social media, and has appeared on Tunde Adebimpe’s A Warm Weather Ghost, Mia Doi Todd’s Take What You Can Carry (Scientist Dub One), and Mike Shinoda’s Dropped Frames Volume 2.
Looking to the future, Mark will appear in an upcoming documentary about Casio Keyboards called The Sound of Toys, has plans for a novel and new solo album, and has promised more Isolation Jams are coming. But Mark has always taken a relaxed approach to his career, as he once said in an interview, “I didn’t ask to be in the music business. I was just fixing a gate for the Beastie Boys.”
