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August 22- August 29,2004 |
Guest Star
Mark Farina legendary rise
By Maic Oz
Originally Published: 2004-08-08
Mark Farina's legendary sets for Industry are still the greatest topic of discussion. His last appearance at Industry was four years ago at the closing of SLAM Saturdays at 901 King Street West. He is currently on tour promoting his upcoming mixed compilation
Like many other fellow musical legends Mark developed his musical tastes in Chicago by listening to house music on the radio and living in one of the country's most notorious breeding grounds for house music.
Mark remembers fondly hanging out, listening to Detroit Techno classics. In 1989, they signed on Kevin Saunderson's KMS Records under the Symbols in Instruments moniker and produced a landmark track called "Mood". 'Mood' sold 35,000+ copies in the U.S. and the UK. This record was the first ambient house track ever made and, accordingly, it has taken its position as a classic. The same year, The Face magazine published their year-end Top 50 with "Mood" ranking above pop anthems by Dee-Lite and The Pet Shop Boys.
Farina first started wandering from his passion for the purist forms of House into what grew to become one of his trademark styles, Mushroom Jazz.
Mark experimented with a deeper style, dropping De La Soul, disco classics and other stuff that wasn't being played and has now become sought after. However, in 1992, Mark found a welcome place for his collection of downtempo tunes accompanied by a small run of mix tapes entitled Mushroom Jazz which were enjoyed Sunday August 1 at the DOCS.
As the Acid Jazz boom began, he perfected his sound and fused the latest tracks from the West Coast's jazzy, organic producers with the more urban sounds he had championed and grew up with in Chicago. While the predominant musical force in San Francisco was still dark, dubby House and Wicked-style Breaks, the city embraced the downtempo movement with a healthy bunch of live bands and DJs generating the tunes. Newer DJs Benny Benasi have taken that and made it there own dark spinning beats.
Since 1989, Mark Farina has been traveling the globe performing at literally hundreds of shows a year, sometimes DJing both of his preferred styles in two different rooms at the same party. In his House sets, Mark is known for his uniquely effortless journeys on the jazzy side of Chicago House, mixed up San Fran style, and flawless as always. On CD, Mark has recorded both of his dominant musical personalities. His first mix, Mushroom Jazz on Om Records, is defined by a hip-hop sub-groove with jazzy, dubby elements in the down-tempo range.
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