Orchestra Baobab — Specialist in All Styles (2002)
A graceful return from Dakar’s most elegant orchestra — Afro-Cuban guitars, warm horns and patient rhythms drifting through the night air.
AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE
Finding a Place to Listen
Cities, venues, and places to stay shaped by sound.
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A note from Rafi Mercer
A guide to cities, venues, experiences, and places to stay chosen for how they sound. “I started Tracks & Tales to answer a simple question: Where does music actually sound right? Not where it’s loudest. Not where it’s trendiest. But where sound is treated with care — rooms designed to listen, systems tuned with intention, and music given the time it deserves. Think of it as the Michelin Guide to Listening — if such a thing existed. I travel, listen, return, and write. The rest is the map you can now explore.” — Rafi Mercer, Founder of Tracks & Tales
The Latest Listening Bars & Venues Not To Be Missed
More Reads From Tracks & Tales-
Bar Lis — Hollywood — Riviera Rooftop Rhythms
Rafi MercerBar Lis is a Hollywood rooftop venue where DJ-led programming and Riviera-inspired design create an energetic listening environment above Los Angeles. While more social than traditional listening bars, its curated...
Bar Lis — Hollywood — Riviera Rooftop Rhythms
Rafi MercerBar Lis is a Hollywood rooftop venue where DJ-led programming and Riviera-inspired design create an energetic listening environment above Los Angeles. While more social than traditional listening bars, its curated...
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Monarch — San Francisco, Dual-Floor Sound Culture
Rafi MercerMonarch is a two-level nightclub in San Francisco’s SoMa district known for curated electronic music programming and carefully tuned sound systems. The venue combines an upstairs lounge for early-evening DJ...
Monarch — San Francisco, Dual-Floor Sound Culture
Rafi MercerMonarch is a two-level nightclub in San Francisco’s SoMa district known for curated electronic music programming and carefully tuned sound systems. The venue combines an upstairs lounge for early-evening DJ...
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Madrone Art Bar — San Francisco, Soul on Vinyl
Rafi MercerMadrone Art Bar is a long-running music venue in San Francisco known for vinyl DJ nights spanning soul, funk, hip-hop, and disco. Located on Divisadero Street, the venue blends art-gallery...
Madrone Art Bar — San Francisco, Soul on Vinyl
Rafi MercerMadrone Art Bar is a long-running music venue in San Francisco known for vinyl DJ nights spanning soul, funk, hip-hop, and disco. Located on Divisadero Street, the venue blends art-gallery...
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The Listening Albums
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Cheikh Lô — Ne La Thiass (1996)
A spiritual groove where Senegal meets reggae, soul and the night air By Rafi Mercer Some records feel like a crossroads. Different roads arrive from different directions — rhythms, histories, instruments, languages — and somehow they me...
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Baaba Maal — Djam Leelii (1989)
A luminous acoustic masterpiece where Baaba Maal’s voice and gentle guitar rhythms capture the quiet landscapes of northern Senegal.
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Youssou N’Dour — Immigrés (1984)
A landmark mbalax album where sabar drums and soaring vocals transform Dakar’s traditional rhythms into modern West African pop.
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Orchestra Baobab — Pirate’s Choice (1982)
A hypnotic Afro-Cuban groove from Dakar’s most elegant orchestra — slow, spacious rhythms that feel like midnight drifting across the Atlantic.
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Brian Jackson — EP Two (2026)
Discover Brian Jackson’s EP Two — a soulful bridge between spiritual jazz and deep house, where Rhodes keys, Masters At Work grooves and late-night listening culture meet.
Listening Cities & Essays
Neighbourhood Guides
From The Tracks & Tales Shop
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Where Listening Begins
Listening as a Gift — The Quiet Luxury We Can Still Offer Each Other
By Rafi Mercer
Listening is a quiet luxury. A reflection on why sharing music without expectation has become one of the most generous acts we can offer each other—and why attention now matters more than ever.
The March 100 — albums people stayed with
By Rafi Mercer
Not the loudest records, nor the fastest risers, but the albums readers returned to with intent this March — a chart shaped by curiosity, slow listening, and the quiet pull of lasting sound.
Timeless
In 1987, CHANEL created its first watch for women: the PREMIÈRE, inspired by the codes of the House. Its octagonal case evokes the stopper of the N°5 perfume bottle. The original bracelet, interlaced with leather—like the chain of the iconic quilted bag—has been reinterpreted in chain, ceramic or velvet-finish ribbon versions. A timeless, feminine timepiece to slip on your wrist day and night.
The Daily Journal
More Reads From Tracks & Tales-
Where the Needle First Dropped — Soho’s Record ...
Discover the record shops that defined Soho’s vinyl culture in the 1990s — a Rafi Mercer guide to the London stores where house, soul and jazz travelled hand to hand.
Where the Needle First Dropped — Soho’s Record ...
Discover the record shops that defined Soho’s vinyl culture in the 1990s — a Rafi Mercer guide to the London stores where house, soul and jazz travelled hand to hand.
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When the Room Begins to Fill
Discover the quiet moment when a cultural idea begins to gather momentum. Rafi Mercer reflects on the early growth of the Listening Club and why slow listening culture grows one...
When the Room Begins to Fill
Discover the quiet moment when a cultural idea begins to gather momentum. Rafi Mercer reflects on the early growth of the Listening Club and why slow listening culture grows one...
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The Signal in the Air — When Your Work Travels ...
Discover the moment Tracks & Tales drifted onto Monocle Radio’s The Stack — a quiet signal that the global movement around listening culture is beginning to travel beyond its origin.
The Signal in the Air — When Your Work Travels ...
Discover the moment Tracks & Tales drifted onto Monocle Radio’s The Stack — a quiet signal that the global movement around listening culture is beginning to travel beyond its origin.
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The First Tale — Opening the The Listening Ledger
Listening has never belonged to one person.Every record carries thousands of invisible stories — the rooms, the cities, the moments when the music found us. Today, Tracks & Tales opens...
The First Tale — Opening the The Listening Ledger
Listening has never belonged to one person.Every record carries thousands of invisible stories — the rooms, the cities, the moments when the music found us. Today, Tracks & Tales opens...
What is a Tracks & Tales Star?
Rafi Mercer explains the thinking behind the Tracks & Tales Star — how we listen, choose, and award.