Customer Reviews

Mushroom Jazz 4

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Om is a label that lately can do no wrong. I've been listening to this and Kaskade every morning since I've gotten them, vibing off their low key but inspiring energy. Om's Winter Music party in Miami was packed wall to wall with the best vibe of the conference, a feeling that seems to flows right into their music. Mushroom Jazz actually started as a weekly club night in Chicago - perhaps getting a nod with "Chicago Babe" - then a mixtape series, finally finding a home at Om. This fourth installment with Mark Farina (he's done one, two and three too) is a smooth compilation of sweet earthy, jazzy mid to downtempo grooves. There's a sexy hip hop thing going on at the same time... you know what this music would be good for, right?? Opening up with Pete Rock "A Little Soul" a minimalist beat and high hat are punctuated with old instructional record samples, horns and claps. Standouts include DJ Spinna's remix of Tek 8 "Seven Days" and the soulful vocals on Laurnea "Keep Your Head Up." Waking up or winding down was never so sweet.

Just like the intro says "make sure you have your own personal copy to play again and again when you feel yourself getting off the track." Never before have I heard an album that can guide you through such a relaxing experience. No matter how horrible your day may have been or how bad you may be feeling, one spin of this cd and you will forget about all your troubles. With the smooth jazzy beats that seamlessly transition from tract to tract, Farina has produced another classic in the Mushroom Jazz series. If you are a fan or if you are just begining to discover the Mushroom Jazz series, this is must have in any collection.

I was turned off by MJ3's lack of heavy beats and the general un-funkiness about it. Sure it was head nodding but it just seemed wrong...
MJ4 completely redeemed the series in my eyes. All these tracks bump. It starts out kinda jazzy, tracks 1-2, the third track is a fantastic laidback hiphop instrumental and then he lays down the vocal, a good PUTS track about (suprise!) partying. After that he keeps it funky til track 8, which is currently my favourite, a soulful layered vocal thing produced by Ali Shaheed (muhammad!?). Tracks 9-12 really just sort of pass me by, sort of generic "mushroom jazz" tracks. They're good, but not ear catching. Track 13 is one of Mark's own productions, and it is TIGHT! wit a lot of vocal samples and a very interesting 'snare'... the rest of the album (save track 14), in my opinion, is somewhat generic, nothing really caught my ear, not even the dj Spinna remix... Yet nothing made me curl my lip, as was the case with Mushroom Jazz 3.
My only grievance is his sampling - Farina has a couple of like kitsch records he picked up with a bunch of 'obscure' vocal samples... and he uses phrases from these to keep the tracks varied and moving. I love 'minimalism', as minimal as these tracks are, and I think that all the vocal samples he uses really clutter up the record. He really beats you over the head with them in the first couple tracks... after that he lays off... but I wish he didn't use them so much.
Anyway, its completely tight, and I just hope that he puts the same care in track selection into MJ5. :>

I actually got int Mark Farina's series with volume 4 and volume 3 at the same time. What's fascinating about the series to me is that from volumes 2 on to volume 4, you actually see an already terrific DJ get that much better in selection and pitch control. Amazing stuff really, and the tracks? Class. This is off of the Om Label, a label that provided the liks of the Om Lounge series and has released countless other deep house tracks in addition to some R&B releases. And of course, the Mushroom Jazz series has plenty of good instrumentals.

Pete Rock's "A Little Soul" gets this one started and you've immediately got a head boppin' vibe to it. Scienz of Life's "Hot Banana's" has an old school sample through-out. People Under the Stairs (PUTS) "Suite for Beaver Pt. 1" is such a tight track that you can't help but to be taken to the bliss of the song. Whenever I spin it off their terrific "O.S.T." album people always asks who it is. Maspyke's "Truth In Position" is vintage Mush Jazz - deep beat, bass, and that hint of off-key. Sweet. STill trying to remember the samples used in "Listen"... like the beats and effects in it but want to check the originals now. Other songs on this that stood out were "Chicago babe", DJ Slave's "Original Beats", Dubble-D's "Big Fish", Tek-9 (think 4-Hero) with "7 Dayz" and I dug the way "Shoplif" was mixed into "Wiggle and Giggle" and "Keep Your Head Up", all the while giving some quick flashbacks of Mush Jazz volume 3. Heck... half the fun of this album was sitting around with friends trying to remember where the originals came from.

I loved this volume. I think for anyone that's a fan of acid jazz, deep house and some beautiful aspects of hip-hop and underground beats, this is for you. And for anyone that's into spinning tunes and knows the pain of going to a hack club with terrible DJ's that could care less about the flow of the music they're spinning, timing & cross-fading or the music itself, volume 4 of Mushroom Jazz is like silk for your ears. If you like this, you may also like the DJ Kicks series - check out Thievery Corporation's and DJ Cam's. Or you might like the Trust The DJ series - Gilles Peterson, Dr. Bob Jones and a slew of others have great releases there. Especially Phil Asher's... DEFINITLY Phil Asher, aka "Restless Soul". If you like Mark Farina, you'll probably like Phil Asher and his "In the House" series - I think there's about 14 of them now. Also don't miss some of the Defected "In the House" series and finally, check out "Air Farina" or Miguel Mig's works... other Om sounds or Naked Music releases. Oh yeah, volume 5 was released in 2005 and pretty much all of these are available on vinyl too.

First of all, let me tell you that Om Records is the label which made me discover and LOVE house, deep house, breaks, and instrumental hip-hop (with Ninja Tune, even if the sound of om is different...). In the market, there's a lot of compilations of acid jazz/instrumental hip-hop stuff. Some are really good, but sometimes, a bit boring, because there is no atmosphere created around these CDs...and for me, the atmosphere, is the most important thing. Om records proposes a lot of different sounds, a sound always "deep"...and Mushroom jazz serie is, in my opinion, one of the best compilation, perhaps the best, of Om. Mark Farina, the messiah of house/deep house is a guy who knows true hip-hop too and hemakes us discover some masterpieces of underground urban mellow beats.
Let's talk about Mushroom jazz Vol 4. I think ALL the mushroom jazz are splendid, and mushroom jazz 4 is a real pleasure...like the others. So, what sort of music is inside this disc? 19 tracks of instrumental hip-hop, acid jazz, future jazz, downtempo, and even deep house tunes. It's an underground thing. People under the stairs, Maspyke, Greyboy, Joshua...some great producers.So, to make a mushroom jazz compilation, take some good beats, sometimes catchy, often smooth, and add a marvellous atmosphere...Take your audiophones, imagine, and dream...
The smart atmosphere of Mushroom jazz 4 is unique. The sound is a real pleasure for your ears. Mushroom jazz is for everybody, but for people who like thinking while they are listenin' to music. Mushroom jazz is a deep travel into an underground colorful world, made of smart hip-hop and relaxing music.
There's another positive point in this mushroom jazz CD, it's the fact that this is Underground, but in the same time, the music has no target. A 18 years old teenage like me can listenin' to it during skateboardin', during a night walk, or before sleepin', like a man of 50 years old who like jazz can listen to it at home.
So, if you're fed up with MTV stuff and pseudo-artists, listen to Mushroom jazz, you won't be disappointed..and you will become a reall addict of this music ;-)

My personal rating:

1- Pete Rock - A Little Soul (4.5/5) Good long introduction which plunge you dlicately into the smooth atmosphere...good instrumental hip-jazz beat.

2- Scienz Of Life - Hot Banana's (3.5/5) Simple but mellow beat of one of the best hip-jazz ever created.

3- People Under The Stairs - Suite For Beaver part 1. (5/5)Jazzy hip-hop track by the best underground hip-hop band in my opinion. The beat is simply perfect, the flow (yes, this is one of the only non-instrumental hip-hop track of the CD) are catchy. True hip-hop fans will love it.

4- Maspyke - Truth In Position - (4/5)Instrumental beat from Maspyke, an underground MC/producer.Friendly!

5- Trankilou - Chicago Babe (5/5) Good work from the French duo. Deep house ambiance on a hip-hop beat. So smoooothhh...it's bewitchin'.

6- Joshua - Wiggle And Giggle (3.5/5)A sort of long interlude with deep house piano under a simple hip-hop beat. Friendly..

7- Ripshop - Shoplif (4.5/5)Yeah! Smart urban thing. When you hear it, you wanna move your head. There isn't the Mr Lif voice on the track, but the beat is so catchy..The pretty (but minimale) deep house touch is still present.

8- Laurnea - Keep Your Head Up (3/5). I think it's the only track which is weaker than the others. R'n'B touch here, with a mellow voice, but a bit boring, I think.

9- DJ Slave - Original Beats (5/5). The Best track in my opinion. This tracks extract us delicately from the deep and smooth atmosphere, to send us into another land. Still deep, but a little more dark...UNderground beat at his best

10- Fat Jon - No (5/5). Another essential title of the CD (too short unfortunately). Here, place to a melancholy beat, an old trompet under an hip-hop beat, with a strange melancholy guitar...Darker than the rest of the album.

11- Wich Wack - Mellow Soul Fruit (4/5).This track re-plunge us into the smooth atmosphere (as if we were fallen into a strange coma with the 2 precedent tracks...). Simple, but efficient.

12- Benny Blanko - Listen (5/5) What a strange track, I thought the first time I listened to it :-). I had never heard a track like this before. Strange smart ambiance.Happy track, it makes me smile.

13- Bernal Boogie - Phone Tap (3/5) Instrumental track from Mark Farina (bernal boogie is Mr Farina). Unfortunately, it's good, but not really catchy...

14- Sub-conscious - Irreconcilable (5/5) One of the best track of the album. What an amazing beat...catchy and mellow in the same time, with few voices of french women who talk about "love" I think, about people who don't understand each other any more, about ambiguous love stories..
A Masterpiece for the downtempo scene.

15- Julius Papp & Dave Warrin - Seem To Know (4/5) Deep house track. Efficient.

16- Space Hopper - Find Yourself (5/5) Underground beat. Really good atmosphere. It makes me think about the city at night...really beautifukl track, but, too short.

17- Tek-9(DJ Spinna remix) - 7 Dayz (4.5) Yeah! good work from mister Spinna. Jazzy piano, catchy instrumental, what more can I say..??

18- Dubble-D - Big Fish (5/5) Hum! Strange track! :-)Bizar atmosphere...perhaps there's a link between this track and the "Big Fish" film by Tim Burton? I don't know, but this is a very good original track, with a strange ambiance.

19- Greyboy - Bath Music (5/5) I knew this track before buyin' this compilation...So many memories with Bath Music...ALl I can say is that if you have a girlfriend, listen to this downtempo masterpiece with her..it's aphrodisiac ;-)


So, Mushroom jazz 4 is ESSENTIAL for true fans of electronic music with a big touch of jazzy/hip-hop.

Buy it...(Moreover, the design of the jacket is hardback and really friendly, like most of the other Om records CDs..;-)

(and sorry for my bad english...)

I loved Mark Farina's 'live in tokyo' and 'mixer' but this mix doesnt get on that level.

The beats are nice and mellow but gets repititive and boring at times

This CD is the #$%*! Mark Farina's best CD by far and the best CD in the Mushroom Jazz series. Also, this CD helped me discover Greyboy who is also the #$%*!!

If your a fan of underground hip hop instrumental without all that bling bling hype, then you need to pick up this album.

Fusing hip hop beats with suave jazz is nothing new, as it has already been done before. But DJ Mark Farina helps breathe new life into the genre on this compilation of slammin' grooves that are just perfect for that gotta-stay-in afternoon. On this 70 minute set, we get mostly instrumentals with some vocals tossed into the mix. The beats pulsate on cool tracks like "Suite for Beaver" by Puts, "Wick Wack" by Mellow Soul Fruit, and Masphe's "Truth in Position" with its rubbery bass and nifty piano. The vocal tracks stand out just as well including the alluring "Keep Your Head Up" by Laurena. The mix could use a bit more variety and dimension, but Farina overall keeps the party consistently hooked. I completely bought this one on a whim after hearing a few samples, and now I can't wait to explore the rest of the Mushroom Jazz series. Definitely recommended for those who like hip hop with a classy touch of jazz.

If you've gotten this far we'll assume you know how integral Om Records and Mark Farina are to each other's success. They both hitched to each other's rising star at that most appropriate moment - the perfect one. Each segment of the legendary hip-house, break-chill Mushroom Jazz series a great, better, best story. So that brings us to, how far can they run with this thing before it plays out, how many times can they strike while the fire is still hot? Not many. Mushroom Jazz 4 is not the high mark in this ascending series; rather it's the ceiling and/or wall. Best and better have already happened, depending on what order you put them in. I'll give Mark credit for his talent pool collection, the most odd and original sample dropped at the right time, and mixing skills, but nothing more. This plays flat on repeatedly listening. He's already got his superior latin-influenced Connect out earlier this year- a much better and righteous pick. Best to go fill in the gaps, leave this one be; send a signal back to OM Records that it's over and the future of the United Nations of Future Music is in question. The whisper stream is quite; the death knoll has been struck.