Photo: Library of ESP HiFi in Denver | By Conor Knighton, CBS News | Seattle’s Shibuya HiFi is a listening bar. While guests can chat and sip cocktails in the lounge, they leave behind their drinks, and their shoes, as they settle into the back room to enjoy full-length albums in a communal setting. An evening might feature anything from Bjork to David Bowie.
One fan, who showed us her Bowie tattoo, said, “I had to be here! It’s the closest thing I could get to a David Bowie concert.”
These curated sessions (Shibuya hosts around 80 a month) regularly sell out. People are buying $20 tickets to listen to albums they could hear at home for free.
“That seems to me to be something that people are really rediscovering: that pleasure and the beauty of focus and intentional listening,” said Quentin Ertel, the co-owner of Shibuya HiFi, which takes its name from a neighborhood in Tokyo. In Japan, listening bars (often called jazz kissas) started gaining popularity back in the 1930s.
But similar venues have exploded in the U.S. in recent years, popping up everywhere from Minnesota (like noma hifi in Edina), to Missouri (XO HiFi in Kansas City), to Colorado (ESP HiFi in Denver).
“That seems to me to be something that people are really rediscovering: that pleasure and the beauty of focus and intentional listening,” said Quentin Ertel, the co-owner of Shibuya HiFi, which takes its name from a neighborhood in Tokyo. In Japan, listening bars (often called jazz kissas) started gaining popularity back in the 1930s.
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Read more here and watch the videos:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reclaiming-the-lost-art-of-listening-to-music/
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ESP HiFi – 1029 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204 | 720-751-8163
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) hints to the feeling for us when all senses, sight, smell, touch, taste and sound are in harmony. You can’t put your finger on it, but everything just feels… right.
esp is a space that continues to evolve. At the core we a records only listening bar, one that does its best to hold to the principle of ‘less is more’. This shows up everywhere from the untouched patina walls to the low-wattage class A tube amps to the minimal intervention wine on our walls. Less is more when the less is highly considered. In essence, esp is an invitation to slow down for a listen and a drink amongst friends.
[A couple of years ago COMBO held a listening party at Odde’s in Westminster. Barb brought her “Houses of the Holy” album by Led Zepplin! Turned out to be a lot of fun!]
Photo: ESP HiFi library | https://esphifi.co/gallery/
