In 1997, Toshimaru Nakamura, then a rock guitarist in Tokyo, found a new way to stop performing. He remembers that he “had a problem with the idea that I have to be the one who starts the music.” So Nakamura found a new way, with a new instrument – the no input mixing board. Readers might be familiar with this: the interaction between a mixing board and amplifier generates an endless feedback loop, which can then be harnessed, manipulated, and explored by a performer. This infinite, inborn sound appealed to the frustrated guitarist – unlike the constant action of his old instruments, the NIMB allowed Nakamura to let the music lead him, or at least level the playing field between the artist (who does) and the art (that is done). Nakamura has been honing in on this non-approach to performance ever since the first NIMB release in 2000, often times to astonishingly beautiful and haunting results. He operates mainly within the realm of the Onkyo (literally “reverberation of sound”) movement in Tokyo, a scene that also makes space for his sometimes collaborators Sachiko M and Yoshihide Otomo. Below, check out a hypnotizing excerpt from his newest installment, no input mixing board #8; pick it up digitally here.