MELBOURNE'S VINYL LISTENING BARS by Tyson Beckett

“The track’s about to end, I have to swap the records!” she laughs.

It’s all part of the job. Also known as DJ JNETT, Pitruzzello is the music director at Music Room.

Opened in 2022 as part of the four-level HER hospitality precinct on Lonsdale St, the space is widely acknowledged as one of the venues that kickstarted Melbourne’s modern listening-bar movement.

Pitruzzello’s fretting over adequate shelf space proved unnecessary, but her way of thinking displays one of the main appeals of listening bars: the music isn’t a decorative afterthought; it’s in the architecture of the room.

Today’s listening bars have their origins in post-war Japan, an era when high-quality audio equipment and imported vinyl records were rare and expensive.

Traditionally, Japan’s kissa cafes are jazz-focused spaces that prioritise specialist sound systems and a reverent mood to keep conversations to a minimum, encouraging a serious, studious focus on the music.

In contrast, Melbourne’s modern versions are communal, food-and-drink-oriented and socially relaxed. Despite the descriptive name, listening bars are about much more than just music or drinking.

As the concept spread internationally, the purist tradition fused with contemporary cocktail-bar culture. Modern iterations intersect with nightlife, hospitality, design, collector culture, urban identity, and changing ideas about how people socialise.

Melbourne isn’t recreating Japanese kissa culture. It’s absorbing the philosophy of intentional listening into the city’s signature cafe, bar, and live music culture – a landscape already characterised by an appreciation for artisanship, independent businesses, and cultural discovery.

For more than a decade, Chris Gill of Northside Records has been producing Diggin’ Melbourne, a record store and vinyl stockist map catering for locals and visitors alike.

Gill doesn’t consider the shift from performance to playback a threat to the live music scene, but rather a reflection of a new generation equally interested in music appreciation and after-dark shenanigans, suggesting vinyl-focused spaces might offer the antidote to loud nightclubs, algorithmically derived digital playlists, and endless notifications.

Programming draws on the city’s diverse musical landscape and caters to the broad tastes of local audiences. This responsiveness helps listening bars become not only places to hear music but also places that strengthen ties to the broader music ecosystem.

It’s a city with one of the highest concentrations of record stores per capita in the world, but Gill reminds us, “Melbourne only has two record pressers in the city at the moment”.

The intimacy that defines the local music scene has also imbued these spaces with a close-knit culture.

Back at Her Music Room, Pitruzzello, wearing merch from listening/wine bar Waxflower, stands to point out the plump custom-made leather couch that runs the length of the room. Its perfectly worn-in texture, she explains, is aided by years of treading by enthusiastic guests.

“Not bad for somewhere that’s only the size of a double garage,” she quips of the venue, which is open from 4pm until late every day.

The room is soundproof and lined with walnut panelling specially perforated to resemble the inside of a speaker cabinet. Providing the beats is a bespoke DJ booth equipped with Technics SL-1200 turntables, a custom rotary mixer, and a high-end KV2 sound system.

It seats around 30 guests, with additional standing room, creating an intimate atmosphere rather than a bustling nightclub, though they frequently clear the tables when the rhythm takes the room.

LB’s positions itself as a social record bar. Vinyl is central to the experience, but so are cocktails, conversation, and later in the evening, dancing.

The music programme at the hybrid nightclub and record bar is entirely vinyl-based, spotlighting local DJs and ‘selectors’ playing records that were sourced from Melbourne’s independent record stores rather than relying on digital playlists.

Design is a major part of the venue’s identity. The venue has a thoroughly retro 1970s aesthetic with a restored horseshoe-shaped bar, amphitheatre-style seating around the DJ booth, walls lined with vinyl records, warm orange and red lighting, and an oversized mirror ball hanging in pride of place.

Common Cuts is one of Melbourne’s newest entries into the listening-bar scene, but it takes a different approach. Primarily a steak frites restaurant, they’ve built vinyl culture into their identity as a way to elevate their offering. A DJ booth sits prominently in front of a wall of vinyl records, with selectors playing records from Thursday through Sunday.

The just-opened Bar Sala in Abbotsford describes itself as both a dining room and a music room, saying, “We think those two things belong together”.

That’s also the philosophy at Waxflower, where you can sit with a drink, order a few plates, and spend the evening immersed in records. The Brunswick venue was designed around a bespoke sound system intended to deliver a warm, spacious sound without overwhelming conversation.

“We’re a soundbar and audiophile listening space that adds an element rarely considered important in local establishments,” the team says. “We’re not the first to build a bar with a great sound system, and we’ve taken inspiration from spaces we love in Tokyo and London.”

The in-house vinyl collection spans genres but leans towards disco, funk and soul. The strength of Waxflower’s music programme has seen them grow to curate events elsewhere, including an evening as part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Friday Nights series.

While Waxflower leans into wine-bar culture, Sabi Sounds in Hawthorn translates the philosophy in a different direction, pairing attentive vinyl listening with specialty coffee and the daily rituals of Melbourne’s cafe culture.

The writer was hosted courtesy of Visit Victoria.