Money" Mark Ramos Nishita is an archive of outdated sounds: He could fill an ocean with stoopidfresh noises from Moog synthesizers, melodicas, old beatboxes and crappy guitar tones. But Nishita, the keyboardist for the Beastie Boys, isn't just a detritus man; he knows a pop song, and the breadth of his enthusiasm makes him one of the more valuable basement auteurs out there. Push the Button,...

When the Beastie Boys retreated from form and then came back throwing jagged punches with the dazzling and groundbreaking Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the secret weapon in their new arsenal was the Los Angeles carpenter and keyboard player Mark Ramos-Nishita, a k a Money Mark. A devotee of the low-tech sound and approach, Money Mark's disdain of all things digital lent the Beasties a...