Chicago born DJ’s DJ, Mark Farina is in charge of today’s ‘Sessions’ – 40 or so tracks that follow fairly tidily (if predictably) in the wake of sessions by Josh Wink and Steve Angello. A disk jockey and musician, known for his chicago house, acid jazz and downtempo works, Mark first cut his teeth in the now legendary Chicago/Detroit scene in the late eighties working with black roots DJs such as Derrick Carter, Kevin Saunderson and Chris Nazuka. In in ’89 Mark utilized his tight connections and signed to KMS Records under the Symbols & Instruments moniker and produced a landmark track called ‘Mood’ – alleged to be the first ambient house track ever made.
From there he went on to pioneer the ‘Mushroom Jazz’ genre in San Francisco, championing a more mellow style of jazzy house and early hip-hop that saw him open the ‘Jazid Up’ club and release a series of mixtape’s that were an instant hit, quickly becoming the official sound of the after-parties at the time. Mark has now sold well over 100,000 albums worldwide, with the bulk in America.
All of which brings of neatly round to ‘Sessions’ – a steady (and fairly pedestrian) collection of deep, mechanical bass grooves with varying degrees of Latin and Jazz about them and all coming loosely under the banner of ‘classic’ house. Add to the brew some respectable electro touches from the likes of The Juan McLean and you have an album with few but notable highlights and lots of cautious fill. Layo & Bushwacka, DJ Sneak, Bryan Jones, Jamata Crew, Lil’ Mark, Chuck Love, Josss Moog and Jabwai all feature.