Artist Mark Farina

Old-school DJ Mark Farina began his career in the late-’80s in Chicago with a crate of house records and a partnership with the like-minded Derrick Carter. But in the past two-plus decades, Farina’s become much more synonymous with the San Francisco music scene and his downtempo “mushroom jazz” sets deftly mixing acid-jazz and house. His albums—including 2010’s That’s How remix disc—and his Mushroom Jazz compilations (the seventh of which was released in 2011) have continued to push the boundaries of house music, while also making the technology and creative process more accessible to the average lover of dance music.

Updated 12/14/2011