Mark Farina

Mark Farina, a Chicago-born DJ and producer, earned recognition chiefly through his slowed-down fusion of jazz, house, and hip-hop that he named "mushrooom jazz." His efforts proved instrumental in shaping San Francisco's house music community. He began spinning records at fifteen, drawing strong motivation from his hometown's foundational impact on underground dance music. While attending Northwestern University he formed Symbols & Instruments with WNUR radio colleague Derrick Carter and Chris Nazuka, issuing the trio's first production, "Mood," on KMS in 1989. After settling in San Francisco, Farina refined the "mushroom jazz" aesthetic, which evolved from a local club residency into international bookings and spawned a lengthy run of identically titled mix albums that started in 1996 and stretched into the second half of the 2010s. Even apart from the Mushroom Jazz series, his roster of commercially issued DJ sets is considerable, featuring Seasons One on Domestic in 1996, United DJs of America released by DMC in 1998, the joint Live at OM with Carter on OM in 2004, and Fabric 40 from Fabric in 2008. His work behind the boards is far briefer, highlighted by "Dream Machine," a collaboration with Sean Hayes that was picked as the opening cut for Stéphane Pompougnac's Hôtel Costes 8.