MGF Reviews Mark Farina – Live from Tokyo

Reviews


Mark Farina – Live in Tokyo
Om Records (10/23/07)
Dance / Electronic / House (DJ set)

Having already earned his laurels from the highly acclaimed Mushroom Jazz series (which successfully melded hip-hop, jazz, dub and downtempo electronic), Mark Farina continues to soldier on within the genre which got him into music in the first place, adding another house mix to his repertoire. Much like the Mushroom Jazz mixes (which were a subsequence of Farina’s “mad-blunted-jazz” night in the early ’90s at San Francisco club Jazid Up), his house mixes are known for their blending techniques, typified by an overall dry reverb and other effects such as filtering (the high-pass filter being his favorite). Much like fellow “mad-blunted” alumnus DJ Cam, Farina has managed to successfully work with several different genres, and while we haven’t seen a new installment of Mushroom Jazz for almost three years, this set doesn’t disappoint. It’s 72 minutes of great, funky deep house from Om Records’ resident big gun.

As the title denotes, this set was recorded LIVE AND DIE-RECT from Japan, at the Om:Tokyo showcase, this past July. After a short intro from a Japanese (or Japanese-speaking) host, we get a slow buildup into the funk-laden “NY Minute” by Troydon and Decosta—some wonderful filtered house that would make Thomas Bangalter proud. A remix of “Sticky Sheeit!”, by Chicago house legend (and close Farina confidante) DJ Sneak, makes an appearance, as does choice cut “Red Umbrella”, by Myungho Choi—another funky track that gets mashed-up with an a cappella version of E Da Boss’ “Banana Split”, featuring Biccaso. That track ends up coming out as a form of hip-house, as does the remix of “With the Hat” by Bear Who?, before it moves into the decidedly French house feel of “Trapped Groove”.

J West’s “Where You Belong” and Jake Childs’ “King of the Ghetto” mark the middle of the mix, and are arguably the best, most infectious tracks in the set, while Daniel Cumming marks the end of the mix with an incredibly jazzy, hip and smooth groove, before it gets a bit harder but no less danceable. If you liked Ben Watt’s Lazy Dog series, cop this mix right now. If you didn’t like Ben Watt’s Lazy Dog series, then you are a filthy swine who wouldn’t know good music if it came up to you and smacked you in your big dumb face. If you’ve never heard of Ben Watt’s Lazy Dog series, go buy those albums when you go and buy this one, and remember to thank me later. This stuff should be what gets played in all of the clubs, not Soulja Boy and 50 Cent. I don’t care if it’s an apples-and-oranges situation; in this case the oranges are very obviously superior to the apples. Unless you crammed a toothpick up your nose when you were a child and it’s still lodged in your frontal lobe (no doubt causing significant impairments in your thinking and overall judgment), you’ll agree that this music is fantastic.

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