Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz

For anyone who knows Mark Farina, despite sharing or not his passion for mainstream house, we must admit his commitment to one of the longest downtempo compilations until date. I'm talking about his Mushroom Jazz series for Om Records. As a matter of fact, Farina reached wider audiences as a DJ below 100 bpm before his name got global recognition as a house selector. From his very first Mushroom Jazz volume, way back in 1996, until his recent volume 6 (the mix cd appeared on october 2008 but the LP version has just been released internationally) he has proved being someone with a quick ear for all sorts of sources who sail smoothly inside the delicate waters of downtempo, a style or genre that very easily gets labeled as cheese crackers. And we don't need to remember now  the undeniable list of compilations who literally exhausted the, otherwise, honest option of pre-party, early morning or just chillin sessions. 

I'm not a downtempo man, since downtempo can mean a lot of crossover things when no one is looking: anything from Bach, Morricone, Glen Gould, Mark Isham, Scarlatti, Paolo Conte or Joni Mitchell can (for the artists) offensively fall into my own downtempo. But I admire the persistence of Farina building up a small library of moods and artists who, if you dare, one can enjoy now as a a six cds plus specials package. An interesting memoir of artists and combos for contemplation and seduction. 

Listen and comment if you will (sorry for the JUNO promo again but I love their flash player):

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