Listening Clubs Tantalize Audiophiles in London

Leo

Well-known member
there's something to be said for listening in a room as opposed to on headphones. i remember smoking pot as a teen and listening to one of the early black sabbath albums on a friend's high-end audio system. it was amazing, unlike any listening experience i've ever had.

it was good pot, though.
 
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UFO over easy

online mahjong
I have a standard rant about analogue bores of which the crux is that if your music needs expensive analogue equipment - either on the production side or the listening side - to avoid sounding flat and lifeless then you probably need to start looking for some better music.

the two poles are the guy insisting that modern music is all mastered for laptop speakers these days anyway - anything else is just ridiculous opulence and if you need good kit to appreciate music you don't really like music - and these dudes with their private electricity supplies: http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-gift-...ave-it-all-a-personal-utility-pole-1471189463

obviously both positions are silly
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
It's interesting, this idea that you need to be dancing to make communal listening worthwhile. I'm not suggesting you ARE saying that, Tea, but I think it's something I instinctively feel, too. Or at least, you need something to watch. For example, a classical concert, no dancing involved, but you're watching the performers. It's harder to imagine an auditorium of people listening to a big speaker playing a Beethoven symphony.

There IS something thrilling about, say, watching a movie in a cinema as opposed to alone, even though you're not talking or interacting with other people much at all for the duration of it.

I suppose more than ever before music appreciation tends to be a solitary experience. I think Reynolds talks about this in 'Retromania'.
 

luka

Well-known member
I suppose I'm coming to it from a recent incredible magical experience of listening to Bernard Parmegiani: De Natura Sonorum (1975): and Roland Young - Crystal Motions: in my flat with my mate and both 'in the experience ' completely immersed in listening and although the audio gear is low end in the extreme our ears were improved with special mystical substances. Music is made primarily to listen to and sharing the experience makes it more magical
 

luka

Well-known member
There's something about the act of listening that gets you closer to the ground of being, strips away a lot of ordinary grossness. It needn't be dionysian
 

luka

Well-known member

imagine listening to this on billion pound audio equipment in a room with perfect acoustics. youd transcend this universe forever.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
As a sidebar, in visual terms, everything is increasingly geared towards high definition. Film has its own debate going on between digital filming and traditional filming. e.g. Nolan and PT Anderson insisting on shooting stuff on 70mm.
 

firefinga

Well-known member
As a sidebar, in visual terms, everything is increasingly geared towards high definition. Film has its own debate going on between digital filming and traditional filming. e.g. Nolan and PT Anderson insisting on shooting stuff on 70mm.

Not everything, but certain sectors of the industry no doubt. Especially manufacturers of TVs wanna shove high def. down your throat, now even 4K. But at the same time, Amazon or Netflix (Apple included) push streaming, and don't give much a fuck about picture quality. Blu Ray is practically a zombie medium, never reached the popularity of the DVD and younger viewers start out with payperview/streaming. At the same time stuff is being filmed in HighDef, but watched on rather smallish (und therefore useless) screens of smartphones/tablets.

Just showing the shizophrenia of the entertainment industry.

As a movie buff, I am all but happy about the dominance of tech-gimmickery over the last decade or so (High Def/Blu Ray/3-D/4K) - bc at least IMO the number of movies I find interesting has considerably dropped.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
As a sidebar, in visual terms, everything is increasingly geared towards high definition. Film has its own debate going on between digital filming and traditional filming. e.g. Nolan and PT Anderson insisting on shooting stuff on 70mm.

They're also fucking rich, or at least have the money expected to put their foot down on that.

Tell anyone who hasn't gotten a sterling reputation of classics to insist on 70mm and watch their careers struggle.

We can only place the terms of engagement for experience in mediums like audio or digital based on who's willing to support the artist as an audience and as a backer. It becomes a lot of hypotheticals as to who wants what, who values what, etc. etc.
 

luka

Well-known member
having been brilliant corners a couple of times now have to agree with idle rich the sound doesnt sound like anything special and i was certainly in a state to be able to appreciate it if it was. just any bar really. girls in their saturday night dresses and boys with bottles of lager. shame really. i'll wait for woebots one.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
oh ffs, i've been to lucky cloud mancuso love ins, people dance there, and it is not a patch on aba shanti I, which was old when dissensus was still young
was it any good? i think they still do the loft just down the road from me, hard to get an invite obviously but there's probably a way
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
went to in sheeps clothing today, which is a bar with a klipshorn setup. on monday afternoons they do a few hours where you're supposed to be there to listen, and they play a particular selection that they tell you in advance. it was aphex twin the other week. today was miles davies. have no idea about brilliant corners but the systems like this i've heard recently are almost like a seperate activity to listening on my 400 quid hifi at home, it's almost not the same category of thing. in the more chaotic parts of on the corner and bitches brew in particular it was. i don't know. a 3D experience or something. being able to pick out each instrument individually and follow it. it's vaguely boring of course coz you're just sat in a room listening for two hours or whatever. but still nice to do. surprising that there are 50 people who want to do that at 2pm on a monday but the place was full.

there was a mad looking geezer in a rainbow jumper and beanie there who i thought i recognised, he looked like gazza, but obviously i knew it wasn't gazza. it was the bassist from the red hot chili peppers who i recognised coz i saw him on Ave A a year ago with people gawping. he literally did not shut up the whole time he just kept chatting nonstop to the people sat next to him and the barman. the only person interacting with anyone else in that place.
 

version

Well-known member
I suppose I'm coming to it from a recent incredible magical experience of listening to Bernard Parmegiani: De Natura Sonorum (1975):

That record made me feel like I'd been gifted a new set of ears. I was hearing colours and frequencies I didn't know existed. Completely sober too.
 

qwerty south

no use for a witticism
Was thinking about accessing a cheap ticket for a Tim Burgess listening party / interview for an OMD album after a conference recently . Wouldn't travel just to go one of these things (nor pay £20+ for the privilege). Would rather go to a gig.
 
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