Dan Nakamura (not related to Toshimaru Nakamura), who graduated from San Francisco State University, became a San Francisco-based disc-jockey and virtuoso of the mixing board. After the EPs Music to Be Murdered By (1989) and King of the Beats (1990), he made his name with the mostly instrumental hip-hop of the six-song EP A Better Tomorrow (Ubiquity, 1996), credited to the Automator and featuring rapper Kool Keith disguised as "Sinister 6000". A Better Tomorrow (Part 2) is a mix of instrumental hip-hop (fractured and ebullient beats filled with dadaistic sounds) and bombastic rapping over a repetitive symphonic sample. His art of sampling peaks perhaps in The Truth (All Those Lies), a somnolent jam propelled by a scratching-deformed jazzy industrial beat and disrupted by ghostly vocal samples. The hypnotic and quasi-psychedelic component of his music is best experienced in Sleep. The seven-minute A Better Tomorrow blends slow, circus-like banging and subhuman rapping by Kool Keith.

Dr Octagonecologyst (Bulk, 1996), credited to Dr Octagon, and later reissued as Dr Octagonecologyst (Dreamworks, 1997), glorified Nakamura's acrobatic art of hip-hop beats, electronic detours, downtempo and trip-hop atmospherics, and prog-rock accents. A collaboration with Kool Keith and Qbert of the Invisibl Skratch Picklz, it balances a minimalist funky score with the rapper's mix of trashy "sleazecore" and absurdist sci-fi horrorcore. The concept album tells the story of a sex-crazed alien being from planet Jupiter living on Earth in the year 3000 disguised as a gynaecologist. The lyrics are often more tedious than entertaining, but the soundscape offers thrilling moments: the coda of free-form turntablism in 3000, the suspense-filled theme of Waiting List, the elegant electronic soundtrack of Dr Octagon, the agonizing jazzy beat of Girl Let Me Touch You, the murky undercurrent of On Production, the bizarre straightforward rapping in Wild And Crazy, the demented rigmarole of Halfsharkalligatorhalfman, etc. Nakamura concocts the monster organ riff of Earth People and choreographs its intricate vocal parts. He turns the trip-hop scaffolding of Blue Flowers into an expressionist collage. The hyper-funky Bear Witness is not only a spotlight for DJ Qbert's turntablism but also a revolution of hip-hop roles since scratching becames the main voice of the song. The propulsive and abrasive I'm Destructive boasts gallopping rhythm, rock guitar and martial turntablism. Nakamura and Qbert complement each other to shape the menacing and theatrical arrangement of Real Raw, with a thumping beat that absorbs dub influences and another swaggering turntable solo. DJ Qbert’s scratching plays the role of a lead guitar. The one-minute interludes (including Pachelbel's canon in I Got To Tell You) add a comic element to the post-modernist experiment. The album rises above the average in the second half. Instrumentalyst is an instrumental version of it.

Nakamura and Prince Paul formed Handsome Boy Modeling School and recorded the sample-heavy So How's Your Girl (Tommy Boy, 1999) and White People (Elektra, 2004) with a star-studded cast of rappers and djs.

Nakamura's first solo album A Much Better Tomorrow (75 Ark, 2000) was an expansion of his 1996 EP A Better Tomorrow.

The 21-song science-fiction concept album Deltron 3030 (75 Ark, 2000) was a collaboration with rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien and turntablist Kid Koala (Eric San). The brief interludes/skits interspersed between songs are a distraction, but in the real songs Nakamura sculpts an Orwellian cinematic atmosphere and Del tha Funkee Homosapien functions well as the time-traveling bard. The seven-minute symphonic cyberpunk monument 3030 samples William Sheller's Introit (from his Lux Aeterna album of 1972), a paradisiac chant from Christine Perfect's And That's Saying a Lot and a drumbeat off Cerrone's Rocket in the Pocket, and adds distorted singing by Damon Albarn of Blur, as well as Hawaiian and liturgical shreds. If not for the syncopated beats, this would be a prog-rock epic. Nakamura injects the disorienting stoned style of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis into Battlesong and peppers it with funky scratching and electronic noise. Madness contrasts the rapper's cocky rigmarole with a melancholic pop tune (Poppy Family's Of Cities and Escapes) against a background of neurotic jazz and orchstra. Upgrade is a fuzzy psychedelic industrial vignette. Nakamura reworks No Silver Bird's psychedelic elegy The Hooterville Trolley to create the anthemic organ riff, the alien synth bubbles and the martial pace of Positive Contact. Things You Can Do is slowly taken over by a demonic childish nursery rhyme and a county-fair organ. Time Keeps On Slipping is hijacked by Damon Albarn's goofy falsetto singing. Nakamura constructs a stately and almost military setting for Memory Loss out of the most obscure samples. The hymn-like feeling is pervasive through out the album. Nakamura turns the most harmless bits of vintage records into propulsive emotional music. Mastermind is the peak of pathos, thanks to a quasi-classical harpsichord theme (stolen from Johnny Olivo's Alguien) and the sense that it could be an infernal trance/dance.

That collaboration originated Albarn's new project Gorillaz.

Dispensing with the raps, The Instrumentals (75 Ark, 2001) highlighted Nakamura's art of electronic soundsculpting.

Nathaniel Merriweather is Nakamura's easy-listening project. He delves into melody, camp arrangements and languid beats on Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By (2001) with help from distinguished vocalists such as Mike Patton of Faith No More and Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields.

Clint Eastwood (2001) was Nakamura's most successful single.

Weather Sky (Erstwhile, 2002) is a collaboration with avantgarde tabletop guitarist Keith Rowe.

Wanna Buy a Monkey? is a terrible mix album.

The second Deltron 3030 album Event 2 (2013) featured interludes performed by actors.

Nakamura and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead formed the duo Got a Girl, which debuted with I Love You but I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now (2014).

Kool Keith resurrected the project Dr Octagon with Dan The Automator and DJ Qbert Moosebumps - An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation (Bulk, 2018).