Derrick Carter / Mark Farina / Sleepy & Boo

Who they are

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  Derrick Carter

  Chicago · 16 bookings since Sep 2023

  “One of the pinnacles of Chicago house music's '90s wave, Derrick Carter began DJ’ing at the age of nine, spinning disco records at family reunions.”

  their own biography

  the whole biography

  One of the pinnacles of Chicago house music's '90s wave, Derrick Carter began DJ’ing at the age of nine, spinning disco records at family reunions. Born and raised in the western suburbs, Carter was into music from a young age, but during his teens Chicago's house scene sucked him in for good. Before long Carter became a strong presence in the city's underground dance scene. "When I got my driver's license at 16 my sneak ability was validated," he laughs. "I was a fierce bedroom jock for a long time. After you mix for the love of it for six or seven years, you get it pretty tight and you can take it on the road." He got by working at dance-music specialty stores like Gramaphone and gigging at parties. Later he landed regular DJ stints at Shelter, Foxy's, and Smart Bar. Though he doesn't spin much locally anymore, when he does he attracts large crowds. Most of the time he works in Europe, where he's become a minor celebrity among dance-music aficionados : “Its hard not to laugh on the occaisions when you’ll make 20 times what you make in Chicago on a Saturday night, but back home there are also times when you just do it for fun… So many people come up to me and say ‘Man, I had the worst day, My girlfriend left me, I locked my keys in my car, but you turned it around for two hours, and that made me able to get up in the morning’ That’s the best thing going.” Derrick’s sets are rooted in house, but he freely travels outside club tastes, seamlessly incorporating old-school disco, soul, jazz and whatever catches his fancy. His debut single "Love Me Right" appeared in 1987, just after he graduated from college. Another single ("Symbols and Instruments" as Mood) appeared in 1989, but the Chicago house scene faded soon after, leaving Carter and other artists with few to play for except themselves. Thanks in part to Cajmere's and Felix Da Housecat's respective labels (Relief, Radikal Fear), Chicago house made a comeback during the mid-'90s and began to offer impressive newcomers in addition to the old guard. Carter, recording for the Organico label, returned with several singles, and an album as Sound Patrol. In 1995, he began working with a live band as the Sound Patrol Orchestra. Several mix albums have appeared, including Cosmic Disco on MixMag and Pagan Offering on Pagan. Carter has also founded two labels (Blue Cucaracha and Classic) and remixed tracks from Chicago's own post-rock heroes Tortoise. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide Since then pioneering, innovative tracks and consequent critical acclaim have repeatedly marked Derrick out as once of the most important players in Dance music. Carter says that due to his growing notoriety his production talents have been requested by pop-oriented acts. But he prefers to remain underground. Although enthused about his own Blue Cucaracha label and a new UK-based imprint he runs called Classic, he's reluctant to offer much explanation of either label's MO-other than each releases records when the mood strikes him: "I like to keep myself pretty invisible. You may think I'm somewhere, but I've already left."
  SoundCloud ↗Discography ↗
  Their RA profile lists Classic, Cajual Records, Slip n Slide, EMI Records and 6 more.

  Recently at Kings Hall - Avant Gardner, House of Yes, Superior Ingredients · often with Justin Cudmore, Luke Solomon, night, none of them here that night

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  Mark Farina

  Los Angeles · 8 bookings since Nov 2023

  “"I look at my job as a modern day traveling minstrel, to bring new music to as many places as I can, and expose obscure records that, otherwise, might go hidden."”

  their own biography

  the whole biography

  "I look at my job as a modern day traveling minstrel, to bring new music to as many places as I can, and expose obscure records that, otherwise, might go hidden." While Mark Farina may be able to sum up his job description in a sentence, there is much more to be written. Mark developed his musical tastes in Chicago - listening to house music on the radio, living in one of the country's most primordial breeding grounds for house. Around '88, while record shopping at Imports, Etc., he met Derrick Carter and a friendship began. "I just ended up there between classes, I ended up buying his picks. He steered me toward the cutting edge House producers of the time." "I started playing when I lived with my parents and didn't have any bills to pay so I could just buy records. My intentions were never to just make money, it's nice, but it's kind of turned into a job by accident - it was a hobby that turned into a job." Living together and working on tracks together along with Chris Nazuka, they utilized the tight connections between the Detroit and Chicago scenes. Fondly, Mark remembers hanging out listening to Detroit Techno classics - Model 500, Derrick May - eating bologne sandwiches on white bread and drinking Kool-Aid out of a paper cup, prepared by none other than Chef Saunderson himself. In '89, they signed on Kevin Saunderson's KMS Records under the Symbols in Instruments moniker and produced a landmark track called "Mood". "Mood" sold 35,000+ copies in the US and the UK. This record was the first ambient house track ever made and, accordingly, it has taken its position as a classic. The same year, The Face magazine published their year end Top 50 with "Mood" ranking above pop anthems by Dee-Lite and The Pet Shop Boys. "I used to do mixes with Derrick on the radio at Northwestern, we'd make it at the house and listen to it on the lake where they filmed 'Risky Business'. We would drive around and listen 89.3 WNUR; they had a policy, guest DJs didn't have to be students." Eventually, the University changed their policy and only students were allowed to DJ. When Farina first started wandering from his passion for the purist forms of House into what grew into one of his trademark styles, Mushroom Jazz, he was playing the main room in a club in Chicago and got demoted to the B-room after playing too many Martin Luther King Jr. samples. Mark experimented with a deeper style, dropping De La Soul, disco classics and other stuff that wasn't being played in the main room. However, in 1992, Mark found a welcome place for his collection of downtempo tunes accompanied by a small run of mix tapes entitled "Mushroom Jazz". Originally launched as a cassette series, the Mushroom Jazz tapes grew from the first Chicago run of 50 copies each…on to the next stage, where 500 copies of several volumes were easily distributed and sought after. As the Acid Jazz boom began, he perfected his sound and fused the newest tracks from the West Coast's jazzy, organic producers with the more urban sounds he had championed in Chicago. While the predominant musical force in SF was still dark, dubby House and Wicked-style Breaks, the city embraced the downtempo movement with a healthy bunch of live bands and DJs generating the tunes. Mark Farina, along with partner, and manager, Patty Ryan-Smith, created the now legendary weekly club in San Francisco, Mushroom Jazz, in 1992. Every Monday night the crowd slowly germinated - from 100 for the first few months to 600-700 two years later. As time passed, Farina and Patty put their energies into another project, the first Mushroom Jazz interactive CD-ROM for Om Records. After a three year run, where the club had established a fanatical, cult-like following for Farina and the Mushroom Jazz sound, the club closed its doors and transformed into a CD series and accompanying tours. Since 1989, Mark Farina has been traveling the globe performing at literally hundreds of shows a year, sometimes DJing both of his preferred styles in two different rooms at the same party. At other events, he's been known to play extended sets that lasted over eight hours. In his House sets, Mark is known for his uniquely effortless journeys on the jazzy side of Chicago House, mixed up San Fran style. This wandering record minstrel has played to incredible crowds all over the globe. Consistently drawing new fans to his style of chunky-funky rhythms and deep underground house, Mark plays upwards of 200 shows to over one million (1,000,000) club goers per year. Voted in the top 20 DJ's in the world by MUZIK and BPM Magazine, his taste making skills continue to turn the heads of seasoned veterans as well as youngsters just getting into the music. On CD, Mark has recorded both of his dominant musical personalities. His first mix, 'Mushroom Jazz' on Om Records, is defined by a hip-hop sub-groove with jazzy, dubby elements in the downtempo range. It was followed by 'Seasons', a critically acclaimed House mix. An Imperial Dub mixed CD, a guest slot in the pedigreed 'United DJs of America' series, 'Mushroom Jazz 2' (Om Records) and 'San Francisco Sessions, Vol. I' (Om Records) and Mushroom Jazz 3 (Om Records) to round out the Farina catalog. His past release "Connect" walks the line of San Francisco deeper and the bumpin' funky house sound of Chicago. Now, in November of 2002, Mark Farina releases his much beloved fourth volume of Mushroom Jazz.
  Discography ↗
  Their RA profile lists Om Records, Music For Freaks, Robsoul Recordings, Full Flavor Music and 3 more.

  Recently at H0L0, House of Yes · often with Toribio, ZAINAB, Tinzo, none of them here that night

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  Sleepy & Boo

  New York City · 147 bookings since Aug 2023

  “From their home base in the heart of the Big Apple’s dynamic dance music scene, the duo have left their mark on countless dancefloors around the world, playing and producing a hypnotic mix of immersive grooves from across the electronic music spectrum.”

  their own biography

  the whole biography

  From their home base in the heart of the Big Apple’s dynamic dance music scene, the duo have left their mark on countless dancefloors around the world, playing and producing a hypnotic mix of immersive grooves from across the electronic music spectrum. 2022 has been a banner year for Sleepy & Boo, both on the road and in the studio. This summer, they made their return to Europe with a multi-city tour that brought the duo to Berlin (including the infamous Sisyphos), Amsterdam, Barcelona, Prague, Hamburg, and Porto. Miami, Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Savannah, Denver, Detroit and San Diego have all been DJ destinations for Sleepy & Boo this year, in addition to their regular headlining and support sets throughout some of New York’s finest venues. On the production front, Sleepy & Boo have kept up a prolific output in the studio. They have focused heavily on their techno expressions recently, building a strong discography of hard-hitting, dub-inspired tracks that have won support from international labels and DJs. New York icon Boris has featured their sounds on his Transmit Recordings label with numerous releases, along with releases on Mavic Music, San Diego’s up-and-coming Techniche label, David Hohme’s Where the Heart Is imprint, the UK’s Colour and Pitch, Australia’s Translucent, Japan’s Hypnotic Room, Aruba’s Arawak, Spain’s KRSL, Italy’s Syncopate, and the UK’s Miles from Mars and Observatory Music impints. Support for their releases have come from artists including Maya Jane Coles, Hernan Cattaneo, Oscar G, Roger Sanchez, Pablo Ceballos, Karotte, Drunken Kong and many more. Sleepy & Boo have funneled the expertise as DJs into their own productions. Their sound is about building a vibe and energy, a sophisticated fusion of relentless percussion, mesmerizing chord stabs, and haunting melodies and arpeggios that fluctuate throughout their tracks. Their productions perfectly capture the tension and anticipation that are the hallmarks of a great night on the dancefloor, honed from Sleepy & Boo’s comprehensive knowledge of the dynamics of building a set. In New York, Sleepy & Boo are fixtures on the nightlife circuit, with regular appearances at Brooklyn’s celebrated Williamsburg Hotel, the Sultan Room, Times Square’s infamous Paradise Club, the Hard Rock Hotel’s RT-60, Daphne, Ciao Ciao and many more destinations. In addition to their headlining sets, the duo have played support sets for iconic DJs including Claude Vonstroke, Jody Wisternoff, Claptone, Guy J, Jeremy Olander, Hernan Cattaneo and Nick Warren, Oscar G, ARTBAT, Cassian, the Crystal Method and more.
  SoundCloud ↗Discography ↗
  Progressive House on 10, Tech House on 11, Deep House on 9 and Techno on 7. styles on their catalogued releases

  Released on Aletheia Recordings (4) and San Bolsa Music (1); their RA profile also lists Yoshitoshi, Nite Grooves, Lapsus Music, Nervous Records and 6 more. labels on their catalogued releases and on their RA profile

  Recently at Two Doors Down, Arlo Williamsburg, Paradise Club · often with @bedford, TimahTempo, Kimonos, none of them here that night