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Buyer Beware: this is just pretentious neo-elevator music. Sure. Then, it sounded cool.
I can't believe all the deceptive reviews here. As if this high-pitched, boring, repetitious "music" is going to send me into another dimension. It's like everyone is trying to prove their street-cred by praising this boring stuff, which is like laxative for the brain: "Clear yourself of all mental efforts, relax, let go," states the first track.
I heard Farina's stuff while driving through a hot, dusty Southwestern city. There's even French foofoo hip-hop on track four. I don't think so.
Must need blasting heat, honking traffic, exhaust, and dirt to sound good. The only cool thing about this CD is the title, so beware all of Farina's self conscious, vacuous, whitebread Starbucks fake jazz narrative; like hey man, I'm headed to yoga class.
It's raw jazz, it's not "filtered" and "minimalist" like the other jazzy tracks used in Mushroom Jazz (just remember Pepe Bradock - Un Pepe Dans La Dentelle, in Mushroom Jazz 2, or Fat Jon - No, in Mushroom Jazz 4)The flow of the album is not perfect but it goes in a right and coherent direction (again, not like MJ 5.really disappointed with this one).And of course, the excellent voice collage through the mix makes it marvellous and unique.Favourite tracks : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12 (but difficult to tell you really because the mixing is so good that this mix is like one big track of 72 minutes)Buy it people, you won't be disappointed. Excellent track selection as always, but there's a track which does not flow with others in my opinion : Herb Alpert - Flirtation. Mushroom Jazz 3 is a perfect interlude between the two masterpieces MJ2 and MJ4. Yeah. Mushroom Jazz 3 is very good, but not as good as MJ2 and 4 which are real masterpieces.In contrary to volume 5, the soul of Mushroom Jazz is there, with this particular "classy urban ambiance".
I have to recommend this. The Mushroom Jazz series now spans 5 volumes, with each volume having it's own unique identity.I honestly love the tunes on this - what a sensational selection. which is honestly FAR better than the vocal. Mark Farina is a DJ/Producer on the label that I also got into late.
Starting out with King Kooba's "California Sweet", and diving straight into the classy "De La Bass" instrumental by Raw Instinct, you know you're on a journey. But it's hardly enough to deter anyone from this - check it out and the rest of the series. If you dig this, you'll probably also like DJ Cam's "Mad Blunted Jazz" & hi DJ Kicks, Dr. Bob Jones "Trust the DJ" & maybe Mr. I may have been a bit late when I fell for Om Records artists and releases. I started out listening to some of their Om Lounge cd's in 2000 and instantly fell for the style and sound. Great guitar and flow. and morever I like The Unspoken Heard's "Trackrunners" and definitely enjoyed the instrumental vibe on Que D's "Rock Box".
I dig that track. It's a mixed cd and is loaded with soul, urban essences and broken beats. Scruff's "Solid Steel". It wasn't totally flawless, however - on occasion, I think that Jaffa's track was slid in way too much with the other tracks and when other cuts are sampled too much, to me sometimes it takes away from the music. After the vocal to Raw Instinct's second edit, you're guided into an instrumental and beats bliss with DJ Presto and Mateo & Matos. To be honest, I prefer the vinyl set just because the tracks aren't mixed but you do miss a few songs with the vinyl package.
After hearing vol 3 of that series I instantly wanted to check out some of their other artists and was pulled into the realm of King Kooba and several others, noticing remixes and just some fresh and unique takes and sounds. ALl of this intertwined to the Billie Holiday inspired Jaffa vocal edit of "Sneakin'". When you get up to Gripper's "Jazz Cop", the beat kicks and drops, and you're pulled into People Under the Stair's "Schooled in the Trade". It's got an urban feel through and through with loads of beauty in the songs. This is just the beginning.
The rest are superb. One of my absolute favourites right now.Stay away from the first in this series of four.
Stick in the player and chill, man. This one says it best - a triptifying blend of jazz, soul, and R&B elements. I am amazed this is being mixed - it sounds studio-edited - but it really doesn't matter either way.
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