Music 2 Live 4
January 13, 2025
Liz Pelly’s new book on the power of Spotify’s algorithms to channel our listening, “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist”, has us thinking about “old school” ways of discovering new music. Radio? Record/CD store browsing? Mix Tapes from friends? Sadly ancient history for most of us. But there are still music writers out there recommending great new (and old) recordings based on the merits of artistic and production criteria, and some of these recommendations are of timeless classics. Stereophile Magazine is one such publication, and each January/February its writers share a lengthy compendium of “Records 2 Live 4”. Broaden your musical knowledge and palate – or congratulate yourself for how many of these recommendations are already on your list or in your library – by exploring this Stereophile feature online: https://www.stereophile.com/category/records-die
Even if you don’t have time to search out and listen to all these recommendations, these articles provide new ideas about “how” to listen as you dig deeper into the world of music at your fingertips (and of course, on our turntables each evening at the SoundBar).
The Music is Too Loud.
That's the Point.
January 01, 2025
The NYTimes offers a great piece by Brian Josephs on the growing vinyl bar scene in NYC entitled “The Music is Too Loud. That’s the Point” (December 30, 2024).
In addition to describing the genesis of this concept in Japan (inspiration we share), it introduces a few spots we’ve visited in the past and others now on our list for future visits (we love to track down vinyl bars wherever we wander in the world). We know the SoundBar is unique in offering this experience in OKC, but also believe we’d rank near the top of this list if we were to open a branch in Manhattan or Brooklyn (assuming anyone could afford to host a 4,000 sqft foot bar like ours in NYC). Enjoy!