Eikwel, Jul 03, 2007
I'm a big fan of the serie, which is in my opinion the best downtempo mixes EVER!
But Mushroom Jazz does not smell like the other MJ... In fact, I would give 3,5/5 stars for this mix. (5/5 for all the other MJ, except the first). I would give 4 stars for the tracklist. Farina still have very good tastes, and tracks like "Autumn Evening Breeze", "Hollywood", or "This Love Thing" are really sweet. Why not 5 stars? Because I think there are a few tracks whose atmosphere / ambiance don't fit with Mushroom Jazz. "Tribute" for example, or "Down" by Red Astaire, or "Chali2na Comin' Thru". These tracks fit better with old school / dirty / funky mixes. A bit too much of rap tracks as well in my opinion.
But the real problem comes from the mixing. Mark, where is your wizardry?! The mixing technique is just ok... Where are your sweet sound / voice collage through the mix? Inexisting. Overmore, the mix is not a story-telling anymore, the tracks don't flow together. It begins with a sweet & jazzy thing, just next the raw track of Colossus with it's heavy percussion, next again a sweet piano track, and a dirty ambiance next with DJ Numark... well we are far from the perfect structure of it's predecessor (MJ4)with only one rap track (superb track with talented rappers People Under The Stairs) in the beginning, and a female RnB voice in the middle (like in Mushroom Jazz 2), then only instrumentals. Too much rap or singing is killing the particular dreamy ambiance of Mushroom Jazz unfortunately...
I think it's the worst of the serie... It's not the classy/innocent/ urban sound anymore, but more like a common jazzy/funky mix with no particular ambiance.
I think that fans who don't have bought it yet will be disappointed. But for those who like quality HipHop sounds, it's a very good mix by the way...
4.3/5 (