NYC venues and their powerful sound systems: or why everyone you know has hearing loss
This weekend I trekked to north Brooklyn (yes, I have to distinguish it) for a show at The Sampler. Supply Chain.radio put the event together as part of a fund raiser for Yume Soul, who is going through some (non-Covid related) medical complications at the moment. Supply Chain.radio focuses on producers and beatmakers, those who purvey in the boom bap style of instrumental hip hop. Some of you may even call it Lo-fi hiphop. I don’t, but some of you may.
As a budding beatmaker myself, and a supporter of local scenes, I decided to check it all out. Plus, I wanted to support Yume in any way that I could. I heard his music on IG during the pandemic and instantly became a fan.
The Sampler is a pretty small…venue? Really it’s a bar with a HELLUVA sound system and very tasty drinks. There was food on the menu but I came for the tunes.
The first producer I heard when we got there was Subphylum. His stuff was cool but honestly…either 37 is way over the hill or that joint was turned up a lot too loud. I’m talking literally painful to the ears. Don’t get me wrong. Subphylum was dope. His beats had a new sound with that oh so comforting boom bap feeling, howevuh, I couldn’t stay inside too long. My ears and head were in too much pain. And of course I did not have earplugs. My wife even asked the bartender for earplugs to no avail. Aren’t we cool?
I have a feeling more than a few people made comments about the volume because for the next few performers, the level was much more bearable. My wife and I really enjoyed Brown Jewel’s set. She brought her DJ equipment and did her thing. Her music is a nice mix of laid back, vibey-ness, with the knock we all love.
After Brown Jewel’s set I made sure to cop a t-shirt to support Yume Soul. I had the opportunity to chop it up with Subphylum and thank him for a great show. Next door to The Sampler is a spot that makes amazing Venezuelan street food. Needless to say, I had my mind on that deliciousness all night. After a short wait for tostones, and some carne asada, and it was time for home. That is until Jeni spotted an Artichoke pizza. Don’t gang up on her too quick. She only likes the Sicilian. So we go into Artichoke and stumble onto a jam session with a DJ, violin player, bass, and emcees. I have no idea what was going on but the vibe was beautiful. We only stayed as long as it took for Jeni’s pizza to be ready.
Overall it was a great night. I could’ve done without the Uber driver who was taking turns like he was going for the checkered flag, but all in all we made it home safely, the ringing in our ears eventually stopped, and a great night was had.
