I grew up in Chicago, the birthplace of house music, and really the re-birth of the jazzy, soulful house that would eventually fall in love with and enter into the world of electronic music. Mark Farina was a resident in Chicago when I grew up, and his style is marked with jazzy, junky, downtempo, melodic house music that stresses smooth mixes and genre-crossing tunes.
Sometimes electronic music gets put wayside because of its vast, intimidating genres, and range that seems to become incomprehensible. The genres aren't always similar beyond their base, or a few small feelings. House generally has a 4 to the floor base, whereas something like dubstep has a higher bpm but is half time, so sounds much slower... and something mellow and chill can be in the same genre and something nasty and hard hitting.
Don't let this intimidate you, there is electronic music for everyone. One place to start is with the sounds of downtempo house. Influences of jazz, funky and soul blend traditional instruments with samples and synths. Pleasing to the club goer, but melodic enough to eat to, smooth enough to make love to, and with enough rhythm to drive to.
Mark Farina's latest Mushroom Jazz Vol. 6 is certainly a great album. With still a focus on acid jazz, it crosses wider throughout genres, especially into trip-hop and dub music (a genre I mix often). Like his earlier volumes, this mix will take you on a journey of synths and soundscapes, occasional vocals that blend into horns and strings. Perhaps its wide scope has created mixes that aren't as fluid (but still are extremely) as the journeys that fit more within the acid jazz origins, such as volumes 2 and 4. His step outside of the typical is welcome, and works well, however.
Sound quality is moderate. It sounds more like a clubmix than a studio mix though, which has its own charm. The occasional vinyl crackle can still be heard (which I'm comfortable with), but the compression is bad at times, as though he had the levels pressed too high on the mixer. Perhaps this is intentional, as his sound has often been slightly bright, perhaps from one too many monitors being set too high in the booth and not enough earplugs.
This is available as a CD ($15 at Amazon), but I'd recommend you buy the full-length mix digitally through Beatport (beatport.com, for $11). Electronic music is made to be listened to as a mix, not out of order, so there is no reason to have tracks split. It's available digitally through Amazon at 256, for 10 bucks, but, I think you'd be better off buying through the Beatport interface as more goes to the artist.
As a final note, if you enjoy the Mushroom Jazz series, please grab volumes 2 and 4. They are my favorites, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them too. Sound quality on these earlier mixes are higher, more like a 4/5 than this that I would rate a 3/5.
Music: 4.5
Sound: 3
Overall Rating (out of 5): 4
Lowdown: For surfing the web, wowing your lover, laying on the beach, few things beat the soulful sounds of Farina's Mushroom Jazz series. Sound quality could be better.
