४ जून, २०१९

"Listening bars — cafes with high-end audio equipment, where patrons listen to vinyl records, carefully selected by a bartender, from a record library behind the bar..."

"... have been an institution in Japan since the 1950s. They are a subset of the kissaten, the small and idiosyncratic coffeehouses dotting side-streets in Tokyo. Only recently have several emerged in New York City, Los Angeles and a few other places. Shakily, a culture and a lore are growing, of connoisseurship and grace and obsession. At this early stage, the American listening bar (sometimes called a hi-fi bar) remains a social experiment, because a bar is still generally understood as a place to talk, not listen.... At best, the listening bar raises good questions about whether there might be an unrealized public-listening or group-listening ideal in a ritual as familiar as going out for a drink.... 'Please keep your conversations below the music,' read a small folded card on each table. 'To hear more, say less.' The coffee was good, and the music was fully present but not exactly loud. The vibe felt like a lunar tidal pull in there.... I did not experience the usual American cafe-feeling of needing to be productive. In fact, I wondered whether this represented the best possible use for cafes: a total break in your waking hours. A cleaned window. An open window!"

Writes Ben Ratliff in the NYT.

४० टिप्पण्या:

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

The owner of one of the main places discussed in the article writes what is the most-liked comment (in the comments section over there): "I built In Sheep's Clothing as an option. Wether you prefer listening to music in your car, headphones, computer, cds laser disc etc.. There didn't seem to be enough spaces where I live that offer a sound system or a record collection that might turn on those that are learning to discover onto this kind of experience. It's impossible to nail the vibe in Western Culture, as the writer points out and as so many others have, you simply can't get everyone to try and keep their conversations below the sound of the music. That is the intention however and the folks who work as a part of In Sheep's Clothing respectfully try to communicate that. Listening does indeed mean a lot of things to different people. This place is an offering. It's a bit different from others who might have a hi fi system as a purely esthetic choice. We try anyway. Most people seem to enjoy the effort. I hope to distance this place from some sort of weird elitism having to do with sound. I enjoy how this space has made the hifi experience a bit more accessible. Listening to vinyl records make me happy. I'm thankful for all of those who find enjoyment from the space we created. We tend to it like a garden everyday and aim to make the experience positive. Sometimes the vibe gets infiltrated... thats life I guess. Thank you Ben Ratliff for the time and thoughtfulness you put into this article. I appreciate all the words." — Bryan Ling

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

I hope to remember that phrase and use it in normal life: "I appreciate all the words."

Quayle म्हणाले...

I used to frequent “tabangs” in Seoul when I lived there. Tabangs are the Korean equivalent. Also in Seoul we used to go to listening rooms, which were small theater like venues, holding perhaps 30 - 40 people, but with a very high end stereo systems and high end speakers with a DJ that was playing some particular genre of music.

अनामित म्हणाले...

I went through college with access to a great collection of vinyl records and excellent stereo equipment. Sometimes we just listened, sometimes we talked, usually while doing other things. BYOB though.

Nonapod म्हणाले...

I have a friend that's a bit of an audiophile who used to sell and install low to mid range audio systems. He has all sorts of opinions about high end audiophile culture, but the most prominant one is that they're mostly insane. We're talking about people who will literally spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a set of speakers or hundreds of dollars per foot of a particular type of cabling that's supposedly reduces noise.

He also talks about getting in arguments with vinyl lovers, how he couldn't convince them that the objectively greater frequency range of CDs made them superior to vinyl in every meaningful was from an aural perspective. They just refused to concede.

Leora म्हणाले...

I'm old enough to remember going to bars to listen to jazz and folk performers. The places played records on nights they did not have live music - ostly 78s of hard to find recordings. I would love to duplicate that experience of low key group listening. I love my headphones, but they are isolating.

Leora म्हणाले...

mostly not ostly

Infinite Monkeys म्हणाले...

It's nice if you and the DJ share the same taste in music, but I remember the '70s and people who want to play a record that "you just have to hear!". Sometimes it was good, but when it wasn't, it was awful.

Chris म्हणाले...

Public House - Ferndale Mi, has exactly this set up, and they play great music.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

High-end audio equipment...cancelled out by....medium-fidelity vinyl records.

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

Williamson Magnetic Recording in Madison is an all analog recording studio.

Caligula म्हणाले...

Playing a phonograph record consists of dragging a stylus across a piece of plastic. What's surprising is that after a century or so of development and improvement it became possible to get reasonably good sound out of such a crude device.

Even if one stipulates that there must be at least a few true goldenears somewhere, most "audiophiles" seem as sheep willing to be sheared by even the most transparent nonsense (e.g., the wood enclosure of that high-end amplifier makes its sound "warmer").

As for these "Listening Bars," if they're not for customer interaction then perhaps they'd be better described as "passivity bars." Although I suppose it would be awkward to sit in silence if the phonograph stopped working. Unless they turned the lights off, or provided some other sensory stimulation such as a light show.

Anon म्हणाले...

Blues Alley in DC (a venerated blues and jazz venue) has long been a "listening club". You are expected to keep it down so everyone can enjoy the live music. The only differences here are 1) these are records, and 2)these are being pushed by hipsters.

Dave D म्हणाले...

The availability and portability of modern music has made listening a very personal thing for me. I would not like to sit and listen to what someone else is playing. I even prefer my digital collection over live concerts. I wonder how common that is?

I would never enjoy sitting in a bar listening to others play their music. Weird?

I am also obsessive about having actual COPIES of the music and movies I like, not relying exclusively on streaming or similar to fill my desire. My kids (30, 27, 24) have mainly given up on keeping digital copies of music and rely almost exclusively on Spotify, etc.

FullMoon म्हणाले...

You are expected to keep it down so everyone can enjoy the live music. The only differences here are 1) these are records, ..

Kinda like the difference between the fire and the firefly....

अनामित म्हणाले...

"...you simply can't get everyone to try and keep their conversations below the sound of the music..."

And if only we could get what are supposed to be non-music-listening establishments to keep their music below the decibel level of pleasant conversation.

The perverseness of modern life. Talkers won't shut up in music-listening rooms, and places traditionally used for talk (conversation or commercial communication) are bedeviled with too-loud music.

Bilwick म्हणाले...

I'd like a listening-room library, where nature-sounds audios (loud waterfalls, etc.) could drown out the hyperactive, under-disciplined Yuppie kids and ghetto "youths", as well as the batshit crazies.

Darrell म्हणाले...

Thanks Althouse for all the words over all the years.

Nichevo म्हणाले...

How is this different from what the Record Girl was doing in Tokyo Station in 1941? For that matter how different is it from a jukebox?

Assistant Village Idiot म्हणाले...

"... the listening bar raises good questions..." I am completely out on anything that claims to raise good questions. It is code for "I think this is a good idea but can't think of a logical argument."

Vinyl is for nostalgia (or worse, posing), not quality.

Assistant Village Idiot म्हणाले...

Additionally, people obsessed with high-end audio listening remind me of those "What sort of man reads Playboy? ads in the early 60s. Those guys were always into hi-fi.

grimson म्हणाले...

Vinyl? Please. Reel-to-reel tapes are the only way to get that true sonic buzz.

Churchy LaFemme: म्हणाले...

Remember those old commercials where in some upscale setting they would replace brewed coffee with Folgers Crystals?

I'd like to see how long it would take the patrons at one of these bars to figure out they were listening to a CD rather than vinyl..

Beasts of England म्हणाले...

I still have the stereo I bought soon after college. Nice stuff, but not esoteric: Rega, NAD, Theil, Stax. I rarely use the turntable - it's in a closet - but own some high-end vinyl, and it's very warm and musical.

roesch/voltaire म्हणाले...

Yes one of your favorite authors, Haruki Murakami owned such a bar. For those who want more information to where the bars are and what they look like here is a link
:https://thevinylfactory.com/features/tokyo-jazz-joints-visual-chronicle



D 2 म्हणाले...

In these days of climate crisis, I worry about my possible moral bewilderment in needing to leave the house and travel off someplace who knows where to listen to Van Morrison in yet another building with heat and lights, when I can sit here in the dark and remember when all I had and all I needed was a radio, a bachelor pad near the stadium, and a brown eyed girl who could sing.

But yes, I can approve the idea of places of sitting and listening, and places of dancing, and places of talking, and places where you come together with strangers for no climate-related reason. To each their own.

There's a place here for all of us. Don't listen to the haters. All (expected) 10 billion of us, circa 2050, we need a space for ourselves, and a space to be together, to make it more bearable.
You never walk alone

Narr म्हणाले...

For about five years here in the 70's-80's there was a classical only bar--vinyl, I suppose eventually tape. You had to be fairly quiet, or why would you be there in the first place? The owner knew the music and the crowds pretty well, and didn't play boomblasty orchestral music with a wide dynamic range. It's almost like people long ago liked a little bar or table music too, and composed to suit. (It astonishes me that right now a person has access to more music than a professional musician and composer could hear, or hear about, in his or her lifetime just a hundred years ago.)

At ESU in the early 70's there were two listening rooms in a top corner of the UC. You left your i.d. with the nice lady downstairs and told her what album you wanted to hear and they piped it in for you on a fairly good system. One hour limit. Smoking was allowed, and boy did we smoke, IYKWIM. But we also smoked in AFROTC (1 year mandatory) watching DoD propaganda in the old auditorium, and they barely cared by that point.

I can't detect any difference usually, when some audiophile assures me that because of the technology I will hear things I would never hear before. Such people strike me as interested in sound, rather than music.

Narr
But live is best, no question

Paddy O म्हणाले...

A Diogenes Club with music playing.

FullMoon म्हणाले...

roesch/voltaire said...

Yes one of your favorite authors, Haruki Murakami owned such a bar. For those who want more information to where the bars are and what they look like here is a link
:https://thevinylfactory.com/features/tokyo-jazz-joints-visual-chronicle


Stop acting normal, you are not fooling anybody !

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"Yes one of your favorite authors, Haruki Murakami owned such a bar."

He talks about it in "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," but there's a lot about it being a live music bar, so it seems a little different.

stevew म्हणाले...

Sounds like the sort of place I'd enjoy and would like to travel to...

Hahahaha, just kidding. Japan is literally halfway around the world, unless my life partner makes me, I'll never see that place in person. FYI: she's already been, to Japan that is.

Clyde म्हणाले...

I agree with Dave D @ 2:17 PM about preferring music that appeals to me rather than what appeals to a DJ. However, I like the streaming music, and Amazon Unlimited's My Soundtrack station is becoming my go-to at work, since they know what I have listened to and throw new and interesting stuff my way (I also look at their album recommendations and try them sometimes as well). They get me in ways that a stranger who doesn't know my musical taste would not.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

As I recall the Stereos in the mid 1960s were good. Speakers improved some later. But we could play Dylan's first two albums and Joan Baez. She had a great voice, as did Barbara Striesand.

Danno म्हणाले...

DaveD said..."I am also obsessive about having actual COPIES of the music and movies I like, not relying exclusively on streaming or similar to fill my desire."

Same here, otherwise you own nothing and are SOL if the streaming source goes away.

Sam L. म्हणाले...

Does nothing for me. I don't drink beer, wine, hard liquor, or coffee, so why should I go out to listen to records? I'm just not in that demographic.

roesch/voltaire म्हणाले...

No he played his records and very loud.
Peter Cat Ⅰ
ODAKANE Fuji
Haruki, Yōko and a successor of Peter were living on an unusual triangular plot of land in Tokyo.
It was a windowless underground place. During the day it was a coffee bar, and at night alcohol was served. There, in the dim light, Murakami played jazz records, prepared drinks, washed dishes, and read.”

bbear म्हणाले...

An audio chain is only as good as its weakest link. For vinyl that may include not only the pressing, but the cartridge, tone arm, turntable and its isolation; for all media it includes the amplifier and speakers too.

People often prefer the sound of tube-type amplifiers, though objectively their distortion figures are far inferior to solid-state. Psychoacoustically, even-order harmonics have been suggested as a reason. And in the same vein, people often like a little noise with their music. Some radio stations even place a device in their audio chain to generate it. Psychoacoustics again.

Anthony म्हणाले...

He also talks about getting in arguments with vinyl lovers, how he couldn't convince them that the objectively greater frequency range of CDs made them superior to vinyl in every meaningful was from an aural perspective. They just refused to concede.

Recording engineers know what they're talking about.

I have a bunch of records, most I bought new way back in the 1970s (few in the 1980s), that I listen to for the nostalgia. If I really want to get a good recording of an old album to listen to, I'll get the remastered CD. Sounds profoundly better than the original LP. But the soft, muffled sound of original LPS brings back the memories.

Just DO NOT buy a non-remastered CD. They do truly sound awful.

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maddy27 म्हणाले...

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