Listening Bar Albums

A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders (1993)

A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders (1993)

Rafi Mercer revisits Midnight Marauders, A Tribe Called Quest’s effortlessly cool 1993 masterpiece — a nighttime world of groove, clarity, and movement that remains as vital today as ever.

A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders (1993)

Rafi Mercer revisits Midnight Marauders, A Tribe Called Quest’s effortlessly cool 1993 masterpiece — a nighttime world of groove, clarity, and movement that remains as vital today as ever.

Dusty Springfield — You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (1966)

Dusty Springfield — You Don’t Have to Say You L...

A reflective album review of Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, exploring its emotional clarity and why it remains powerfully present when revisited today.

Dusty Springfield — You Don’t Have to Say You L...

A reflective album review of Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, exploring its emotional clarity and why it remains powerfully present when revisited today.

Pat Metheny Group — Offramp (1982)

Pat Metheny Group — Offramp (1982)

A reflective album essay on Pat Metheny Group’s Offramp — exploring the creative relationships, energy, and shared imagination that make music a capsule for bigger ideas.

Pat Metheny Group — Offramp (1982)

A reflective album essay on Pat Metheny Group’s Offramp — exploring the creative relationships, energy, and shared imagination that make music a capsule for bigger ideas.

Blue Break Beats — Various Artists (Blue Note, 1998)

Blue Break Beats — Various Artists (Blue Note, ...

A Rafi Mercer reflection on Blue Break Beats — 50 of the Best, the influential Blue Note compilation that shaped hip-hop sampling culture and taught a generation how to hear...

Blue Break Beats — Various Artists (Blue Note, ...

A Rafi Mercer reflection on Blue Break Beats — 50 of the Best, the influential Blue Note compilation that shaped hip-hop sampling culture and taught a generation how to hear...

Duke Pearson — How Insensitive (1969)

Duke Pearson — How Insensitive (1969)

A ten-track journey through Duke Pearson’s How Insensitive (1969): choir-washed standards, Brazilian grooves with Airto and Flora Purim, and quietly off-centre arrangements that turn easy listening into something deeper and...

Duke Pearson — How Insensitive (1969)

A ten-track journey through Duke Pearson’s How Insensitive (1969): choir-washed standards, Brazilian grooves with Airto and Flora Purim, and quietly off-centre arrangements that turn easy listening into something deeper and...

Uyama Hiroto — A Son of the Sun (2008)

Uyama Hiroto — A Son of the Sun (2008)

Uyama Hiroto’s A Son of the Sun — a warm, jazz-infused continuation of the sound-world shaped alongside Nujabes, explored through slow-listening depth.

Uyama Hiroto — A Son of the Sun (2008)

Uyama Hiroto’s A Son of the Sun — a warm, jazz-infused continuation of the sound-world shaped alongside Nujabes, explored through slow-listening depth.