San Francisco Sessions

by Jason BirchmeierOn top of his game when this mix dropped in 1999, Mark Farina had risen to the rank of superstar DJ -- at least within the States, and particularly on the West Coast and in Chicago -- and represents his newfound status on San Francisco Sessions. The Om-released mix features 14 house tracks, many of them quite funky and some of them a bit jazzy. Overall, San Francisco Sessions accurately represents the Bay Area house sound -- warm, sunny, breezy, open, happy, and carefree. In other words, the tracks feature lots of organic instrumentation rather than programmed sounds, and the tempo never slows to a crawl or heats to a boil. Furthermore, Farina mixes a no doubt impressive set without relying on big records, instead going with relatively obscure tracks in general.