On the other end of this, you’ve got places like the “hi-fi cafe” I visited yesterday which was anything but…
Very expensive looking but ultimately very bad speakers, a record wall lifted wholesale out of Urban Outfitters (the obligatory copy of Rumours, that Tyler the Creator LP), seven euro coffee and some stale matcha cookies or stodgy banana bread - all to be enjoyed on a tiny steel stool whilst the queue (!) that has formed outside stares at you through the window. In fairness the DJ they had in was playing some nice stuff although obviously you couldn’t really hear it because why would you want that?
Won’t be long surely until the TikTokification of jazz kissa/listening bar culture leads to the big brands getting involved - Starbucks Selectors / Costa Crate Diggers anyone?
It’s probably already happened. Never been to one but from what I have seen/read the Japanese jazz kissa is very different to these places popping up in the UK which are basically bars with an expensive sound system. Jazz kissa are labours of love, personally owned and sometimes even attached to someone’s house, usually really small places, with quite unique audio gear. That isn’t ever going to be deliverable in our country where business rates, rents, staffing costs force you to be commercial to pay the bills. Which is fair enough.
there’s often a fine line between pretentious and informative musical seminars. eg I attended a talk here about the current state of flamenco the other week which was interesting in so far as it reflected the raging debate between trad purists and experimentalists. But then in the second part some musicians played something completely unlistenable and you were torn between respecting the ambition but disliking the finished product. I guess it depends on how ‘worthy’ it all is. I’ve been to enough listening sessions to feel a bit put off by the self-importance and I think it’s a shame that people over-intellectualise about these things
I hear you. Im sure everyone has good intentions, but it gives off a depressing commodified look.
needs more squatjuice for sure.
as an aside, the guy that runs the label touch, Jon Wozencroft was (is?) a tutor at the RCA and used to do these really amazing sound lectures where he’d string together lots of different tracks and ideas over a few hours. I went to one years ago and it was really really special. so I’m not knocking the format, when done well.
There are some of these opening up. There’s two in Portland, ME that seat 50 at a push between them and are owned by two best friends who also own a restaurant together, so I am not sure why they didn’t just open the one bar. Anyway, both have very limited drinks menus, great sound systems, both play generally only what the owner or the barman likes and won’t be breaking out into parties any time soon. They both don’t have TVs, and don’t serve food. It’s just drinks and music. Pretty much perfect really.
We have one in Seattle - I think I posted about it somewhere else. Tried it once, it was fine, but a bit too precious and reverential. No drinks or shoes (!) allowed in the listening room.
Charlie Dark’s was fun because he’s a good Radio DJ and has stories to tell about himself and knows how to tell them, not sure that enthusing about music to a quiet audience makes sense when forums like this are full of expertise and its a conversation, not a monologue. Also, get your thumb off the vinyl!
i like it, and if i lived anywhere near ballard, i’d probably go a lot more frequently.
the listening room is nice, i don’t mind the “no shoes” rule (as long as others practice basic hygiene) and i really like the art. the furniture is pretty nice, and it’s comfortable to sit on the floor (or lay about, as i’ve seen some people do). i thought they did a great job on the build-out of that place. old me was a little annoyed that i couldn’t bring my drink into the listening room, but now me doesn’t care.
honestly, i thought the stereo was good but not great - but as mentioned multiple times - i’m no audiophile, i just ask that the music doesn’t sound like shit. i can rarely tell the difference between good and great. i’d like to spend some time with it on records i know inside and out. the listening room needs to reserve a night a week for “watch cameron dicker about and play oddballs from his own collection”.
Also not an audiophile, and agreed on the build-out. The record for the evening was a special pressing of Santana - Abraxas (I think it was this one) and it was really cool to hear it on the system, the clarity and nuance brought out were special. It inspired me to pick up a decent pressing.
I think a lot of this comes down to people judging the worst executions of an idea and then an element of writing the whole thing off.
For me, these spaces aren’t a gimmick or a trend - although I can name a few that imho are. I’ve been working towards opening one for the best part of 8 years. Only a divorce, following house sale, (well over) mid-life crisis and the acquisition of a Danley sound system steered me in this direction - which led me to finally get off my ever increasing in size, arse.
Trying to do this properly isn’t easy (or cheap) - nobody of sound mind puts themselves through this shit lightly. Trust.
I’m also very aware that my clubbing days - and probably a lot of other people’s - are in the rear-view mirror and this feels like a natural way forward. Not a replacement for clubs, not nostalgia, just a different way of engaging with music as you get older. I also need a day/night job.
I for one ain’t trying to recreate a Japanese jazz kissa, but trying to do it justice as best I can. That culture exists in a very specific context that doesn’t translate directly to the UK. What we’re doing is an interpretation - taking the values and applying them in a way that works here. Where even the nob-heads can possibly get into it.
I get that not everyone will see the difference between a genuinely listening-led space and a bar with records on the wall. That’s fine. The people it’s for will recognise it straight away and those are the people I’m doing it for.
