Being inquisitive is, according to house-music legend Mark Farina, the key to being a successful DJ.

As a pioneer of Chicago house, the performer began his career in the late 1980s and quickly secured a residency at one of the city’s premier dance clubs. But while other DJs chose to play Chicago’s burgeoning genre almost exclusively, Farina was constantly experimenting. Demoted from the venue’s main room to its B-space for spinning Martin Luther King Jr. speeches over electronic music, the young performer was not discouraged. Using his relegation as a chance to explore new musical avenues, Farina developed a unique style of music. He called it Mushroom Jazz.

Within months, the genre had created a buzz across the States. Taking old-school hip-hop and blending it with English and French variants of acid jazz, the DJ’s first 1992 Mushroom Jazz mix tape rapidly sold out, inspiring Farina to grow the concept from a cassette to a club night. The DJ spent the next 25 years transporting his Mushroom Jazz sets around the globe, promoting the music by playing hundreds of shows in a year. Now dropping the eighth compilation in the mix-tape series, the performer is surprised at his sound’s longevity.

“When I started the latest mix and realized that it was the quarter-century anniversary of Mushroom Jazz, I had to catch myself,” Farina tells the Straight on the line from his home in Austin, Texas. “I was thinking, ‘Whoa. It’s been that long?’ When I first started mixing this kind of music, I never imagined that people would still be interested in it in 2016. Honestly, it’s making me feel a little bit old—but in a good way. I think of Mushroom Jazz like a good whisky or brandy. Something that’s aged a bit, and has gotten better over time.”

With six years passing between Mushroom Jazz 7 and the series’ eighth installment, Farina has taken his time to curate a list of bold and unusual tracks. Famous for unifying his mixes through related vocal samples, the DJ has adopted a new approach on the eighth compilation that aims to offer the listener more independence.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of connecting records in a mix through spoken word,” Farina says. “Adding one of those tracks to a mix is just like adding spices to your food. It lets you sprinkle in a little flavour, and it can bring out a totally different feel. It allows you to direct the vibe and give the music a different spin, even if you’ve just sampled a couple of words. That’s a technique I’ve really liked in the past, but I wanted to do something else for the new mix.

“Mushroom Jazz 8 is deliberately much more instrumental,” he continues. “Previously, there have been various songs on the volumes that could be considered to be standout hits, where I’ve picked a hip-hop track or vocal loop that is really prominent. 8 takes the listener on a more sound-based journey. I’ve recently been thinking more about silence and gaps in music, especially now that producers can keep adding new channels endlessly when recording. This mix is about sparesness. I wanted to leave room for people to have their own thoughts, instead of having a strong vocal message in each song that tries to articulate a theme. Because of that, I think it’s a very rewarding compilation.”

Mark Farina plays the Imperial on Friday (October 14).

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