"Dude, I am so old! I mean, seriously, who plays The Flaming Lips And Stardeath And White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins And Peaches doing Dark Side Of The Moon as a demo at an audio show? Well, guess what - Zu Audio does. Suck it, Nils Lofgren!" That’s Part-Time Audiophile Scot Hull commenting on the Zu Audio room at T.H.E. Newport Beach in 2012. "I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Zu Audio showroom where I’ve recognized even a single LP being played. Not once. Not a single fucking time. Ever," says Hull. Hull masks his sense of aural alienation with humorous language but visitors not charged with formal show reporting are often more direct in their assessment of Sean Casey and Co.’s mostly vinyl selections. Whilst exhibiting at the AXPONA show in Chicago this year, Zu Audio quoted (via Instagram) two comments heard in their demo room. "Do you guys ever play anything from THIS planet?" and then "You oughta hear what they're playing in the Zu Audio room. Makes John Cale sound like elevator music"; both of which would be hilarious if they weren’t ever so slightly depressing.

A point of order here: am I the only one who finds John Cale’s version of "Hallelujah" to best both Leonard Cohen’s original and Jeff Buckley’s histrionic cover? I reckon your average audio show attendee would seriously dig Cale’s piano driven take. It’s far from unpleasant. Some apparently don’t deal with difference of opinion or alternative music choices as well as others. One Zu guest, hitherto unfamiliar with the world of hifi shows, summarized her time in Zu’s AXPONA 2015 room as a place where she "heard a lot of good music and met some really snobby smart people." If they’ve made the drive from Utah, the Zu Audio room is the one place where music choice difference is real and ongoing. Be careful. This isn’t so much praise for music that aligns with my own taste as it’s a round of applause for not being the same as everyone else. Hip-hop, Motown or Metallica aren’t really my bag but I’d happily champion a room that ups their respective antes. Sean Casey’s love for psychedelic rock and Gerrit Koer’s inclination towards bass-heavy dubstep are no put-on. These guys spin what they love, an approach that leads them to stand out time and again. And if this all sound too cozy, know that Koer openly trashed my choice of demo music (Peter Gabriel Plays Live) that I dropped onto his turntable at last year’s T.H.E Show Newport.

In a sea of white man's Blues, Krall/Barber/Jones, Pink Floyd, Jazz ensembles and what I can only describe as music for the soundtrack of the 3pm meds round at a retirement home, difference matters more than most would care/dare to admit. Other breaks from the norm for this show-floor walker have included—but are not limited to—Fields Of The Nephilim in the Chord Electronics Room at CES 2015; DeVore Fidelity allowing a whole side of Brian Eno’s more abstract work to run its course at RMAF 15; and Johan Coorg of KEF’s evangelist preacher routine that consistently underpins his own alternative music policy: he spins more soul, funk and dance music than any other room host.

Still of concern to me at least is that these points of departure are little more than aberrations. They come, they go and the show’s broader musical aesthetic continues as per usual. Maintaining the status quo ensures no nasty surprises and a better reference for moving from room to room but it also ensures there’s very little on offer for those who find a show’s live music programming equally stultifying. What's the future for audio shows that continue to pander mostly to white middle-class men who’ve already tipped 40? Actually, it’s not an issue of age or class. It’s myopia. Playing it safe has funneled the collective musical diet into an increasingly narrow niche that doubles as a straight jacket. I touched on this in 6moonbeams #1.  Instead let’s ask: what fundamental shifts are required for an audio show to properly appeal to folk who breathe air beneath the middle-age marker or, more tellingly, for those for whom the homogeneity of music that currently dominates has zero appeal?


Headfi’s Jude Mansilla and his community of younger disciples aren’t necessarily a safe bet for day saving. With the recent success of the CanJam SoCal headphone show under his belt, Mansilla has slated a similar event for London later this year. At the very least, it’s proof positive that there exists sufficient momentum for personal audio shows to stand alone without the need to hitch a ride on the coattails of their two-channel brethren (as per Marjorie Baumert’s RMAF). It’s the traditional two-channel events that run the greater risk of casting themselves adrift. Audio gear is but one route to sensory pleasure. It can be so much more than making Alison Krauss sound congenial. Music can and should be unpleasant. Not everyone slid into an elastic-panted middle age where Peter Gabriel’s first four albums sound a bit too arty for their own good. For listeners like me and hopefully you, hifi is still about better mainlining the gob-spit of Johnny Rotten or the atonal angularity of Autechre’s Gantz Graf. Consequently, the ten tracks below offer points of departure whilst simultaneously asking: do you remember what it feels like to be assaulted by music rather than gently caressed? We were all young once. We probably all attended kick-ass rock 'n'’ roll shows at one time or another. Some of us still do. When and why did the music we hear at audio shows become so buttoned up?

For more John Darko, visit his website DigitalAudioReview.net