WHITE ALBUM: Portland music venue leaves ‘anti-racism’ off the playlist

I went to my first “listening party” at a new venue in downtown Portland, Oregon, called Mono Space. I guess it’s a venue. I’m a little unsure what to call it. Here’s what it calls itself:

Mono Space is a high-fidelity listening gallery dedicated to the preservation of music culture and the presentation of music recordings as works of art. Located in a renovated warehouse in Portland’s historic Pearl District, this nonprofit venue creates a setting for attentive listening and cultural exchange.

It was all very civilized. And calm. And harmonious. Maybe as a reaction to the rest of Portland.

The location is basically one big room. Along one wall are oversized, high-fidelity audio speakers. Next to that is a table with state-of-the-art turntables, tube amplifiers, and similar gear.

It only plays vinyl records, not MP3s, which I’m assuming is the purist approach at this high level of sound quality.

As its website says:

Mono Space recognizes that music is a crucial connective tissue within the human experience. Individuals use it to align their bodies, hearts, and minds, and shape their personal well-being. Communities wield it as a sonic code to define who they are and what they believe, manifesting a shared history and purpose.

Blake Nelson

Audio bliss

So that’s the setup: giant speakers face the rest of the room, which looks vaguely like a yoga studio or meditation space.

The area directly in front of the speakers features comfy carpet slabs and various pillows and cushions where you can lie down. The next row has a dozen cushy bean-bag chairs.

You come in, take off your shoes, get comfortable, and relax. Then you close your eyes and listen to music in a meditative, deep state of perfect audio bliss.

The event I went to was an “album listen” of the latest release by Blood Orange, a critically acclaimed black jazz/pop/hip-hop artist. It cost $23.

Since Mono Space is a “nonprofit venue” dedicated to “cultural exchange,” I wondered if it might be populated by nose-ringed, leftist, activist types. But it was more sophisticated than that.

Everyone in attendance was stylishly dressed, neat, and well-groomed. It was mostly young people, scattered in age from early 20s to late 30s. The audience was somewhat multiracial (by Portland standards), as were the people working there.

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Jack Mason/Skyhorse Publishing

Needle drop

It was all very civilized. And calm. And harmonious. Maybe as a reaction to the rest of Portland, which remains full of homeless people, the mentally ill, drug addicts, arsonists, etc.

It didn’t take long to get through the jazz/hip-hop album. About an hour, I think.

When the lights came on, everybody seemed happy with their listening experience. People were eager to hang out and chat. It was a lively scene.

While people socialized, I checked out some of the museum-style art books and merchandise for sale near the entrance. These books mostly featured African-American and other multicultural artists.

I noticed pretty much everything about Mono Space was multicultural. That seemed to be the point. And as we all know, “multiculturalism” often stands in opposition to “whiteness.”

Beat happening

This can be a sensitive subject in Portland, which is frequently accused of being “too white” and therefore “racist.”

But are Portlanders actually racist? Our far-left city politicians keep telling us we are. According to them, we’re so racist they need to raise our taxes!

Fortunately, that wasn’t the vibe at Mono Space. On this night, it really was just about the music. Which was a relief. It was fun to be around young music fans and audio-geeks comparing notes in real life. Could this be a glimpse into the future? I hope so.