The rise of bars where no one wants you to talk

In Japan they’re called jazz kissa – bars and cafes fitted out with high-quality sound systems and libraries of hundreds of vinyl records. They became popular after World War II when many couldn’t afford luxury items, such as imported jazz albums or record players. Here, you could drink tea and coffee during the day – and sake, whisky and beer at night – while quietly listening to music selected by the owner.

When the phenomenon peaked in the ’70s, there were more than 250 of these places in Tokyo alone but, with an ageing population and gentrification, fewer than a hundred remain in the city today. You can still find them, from Meikyoku Kissa Lion in Shibuya, which plays classical music and is the city’s oldest listening cafe, to Dug, a basement jazz joint in Shinjuku that featured in Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel Norwegian Wood.

While these old-world establishments are in decline in Japan, overseas visitors who’ve stumbled across the remaining jazz kissa are embracing the concept and opening listening bars when they return home, including here in Australia. One of those people is Sean O’Neill, a music teacher who, in 2022, opened the 75-seat Astral Weeks inside a former herbalist’s shop in Perth’s Chinatown district in inner-city Northbridge.

“It’s borderline impossible to do exactly what they do in many places in Japan, with six seats in a tiny bar, and no one talking,” he says, taking a break from spinning reggae on a Friday evening. “It’s a slightly different experience here. While I don’t expect people to be completely quiet, the point of the bar is to listen to good music on a great system and still be able to have a conversation you can hear.”

That ambience is due to a high-end Line Magnetic sound system, with huge speakers behind the bar, topped with horns that spread the sound evenly throughout the room, even at low volume. The fit-out includes Acoufelt carpet and acoustic panels on the walls.

Marek Polgar, Dave Byrne and DJ Jimmy Pham pioneered the listening bar in Australia when they opened Waxflower in Melbourne’s Brunswick in 2000, inspired by their experiences in Tokyo, Berlin, LA and London. About 3500 records from Pham’s vast collection provide the basis for the music – which leans towards disco, soul and funk – but guest DJs and record collectors also regularly bring vinyl to spin. They’re played on two Technics turntables through speakers custom-designed by Tasmanian outfit Pitt and Giblin.

“For me, listening bars create a special space where someone is carefully selecting the music because they love it,” Byrne says. “You can have these very intimate conversations with people about music and it just feels as if we’re all part of something.”

More recent listening-bar openings include Ante in Sydney, Ruby, My Dear in Brisbane and Wax in Adelaide, while the newest kid on the block is Selecta, which opened in an alleyway in Melbourne’s Hawthorn in July.

“Setting up a bar in Australia isn’t cheap,” O’Neill says. “Adding a top-of-the-line sound system makes it even more expensive, but we’ve found that people have really adapted. They appreciate the concept of being able to enjoy music while still being able to hear the person sitting next to them.”

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