El Club del Disco revives the ritual of listening to music beyond the ‘play’ button

Claro, te lo dejo corregido manteniendo el tono y la estructura originales:

Connect the headphones, open Spotify, press play on our favorite song, and get on with our day. Listening to music had never been easier. In a matter of seconds, we can access practically any song, album, or artist from our phone, without even needing an Internet connection. This ease of accessing music instantly seems to have turned the physical format into a relic for collectors and nostalgic listeners. However, despite the fact that streaming has become the dominant way of consuming music, interest in having music in our hands again has also grown. Musicians are also embracing this trend, for whom the sale of records and, above all, live performances allow for a more direct relationship with the public and with the revenue generated by their music, compared to a streaming model where earnings per stream are much harder to see.

Choosing a record, taking a moment to look at the cover, flipping through the booklet, and finally placing it on the player. It is a ritual that is increasingly gaining followers, with more spaces embracing the format in Barcelona, where in recent years, although still discreetly, spaces dedicated to vinyl or high-quality listening, known as Hi-Fi spaces, have been appearing. Next week, Barcelona will welcome the opening of a venue that takes this ritual to its fullest expression: El Club del Disco (62 Carrer de Casp).

Spanning 300 square metres in the Eixample, this venue brings together a record store, a Hi-Fi bar, and a concert hall: three different ways of relating to music that stem from the same idea — to recover the time and space we dedicate to this listening ritual.

Beyond its concept, unusual in Barcelona —there is no other space that brings together these three formats under one roof—, the opening of a small-format music venue already represents, in itself, an infrequent and, in a certain way, risky bet. In a city accustomed to large festivals and increasingly consolidated as a regular stop for international artists —one does not need to go back further than Bad Bunny, Robbie Williams or, as recently announced, Oasis—, small-format venues are not experiencing the same situation.

Economic difficulties, changes in use, problems in maintaining activity and, in some cases, closures are a constant for these spaces. However, the opening of El Club del Disco coincides with some signs that point in another direction, such as the reopening, this very week, of JazzSí, in the heart of the Raval, or the inauguration, a few months ago, of La Perla del Born. El Club del Disco also does so with a proposal that expands the concept of a concert hall: it opens from Tuesday to Sunday, from 12 pm to 11 pm, and offers a program that is not limited to the night or live music. 

There will be listening sessions, midday concerts, open rehearsals, and artist encounters. All this, while selling collector vinyls or serving small tapas at the bar. “We wanted to create a chair with three very clear legs to make it as stable as possible,” explains Jan-Erik Grothe, project manager. The intention is for the space to also function as a meeting point for the local music scene. Paula Comberti, director of the space, summarizes it thus: “The local scene needed a space like this. We want it to be a meeting point to make ourselves known and, above all, to create a community around music.”

The story behind El Club del Disco: from Buenos Aires to Barcelona

El Club del Disco, however, does not start from scratch. The project is the physical extension of an independent label born in Buenos Aires in 2005, initially linked to jazz and which over the years has expanded its catalog to tango, folklore, and other forms of contemporary music. For more than two decades, the label has worked with artists far from the major record circuits. In 2024, Grothe took over general management and the operation moved to Barcelona, from where he works with European and Latin American musicians.

It was then that they detected the need for a space that would bring together some of the activities that were already part of their work: discovering music, editing it, listening to it, and putting it in contact with the public. Jan-Erik Grothe, German, and his partner, Paula Comberti, Argentinian, decided to do it in the city where both have been living for more than two decades. “With the aim of giving back to the city what it has given us,” explains Comberti. 

“Discovering and supporting local talent is more than a desire, it's a necessity and one of the project's raisons d'être,” explains Grothe. The record label has already worked with numerous local artists, but the opening of the space seeks to strengthen that bond. In addition to the programming, this commitment to the local scene will also be reflected on the shelves of the record store. This store will not only serve as a showcase for its own catalog, but also as a selection of independent music, where labels such as ACT Music, Edition Records, Late Night Tales, Disk Union, RGS, Fresh Sound —which recently closed its store in Sarrià—, Discos Elgozo or Guerssen can also be found. 

Three legs, one same experience

The opening of this project has required an extensive renovation, started in May, to technically adapt the premises and make possible the coexistence of its three uses. The soundproofing of the different spaces allows the Hi-Fi bar to operate while, a few meters away, a concert takes place. The interior design, by Verónica Luco, follows the same logic: creating differentiated environments but connected by the same idea of how to experience music. Armchairs and listening areas coexist with shelves full of records, while the concert hall, marked by red and warm lighting, moves away from the usual aesthetic of a music venue. That same attention is transferred to the Hi-Fi bar, with capacity for 36 people and a menu designed by Massimiliano Musso, a Michelin-starred chef, which includes sandwiches, salads and small portions.

However, the jewel in the crown is the concert hall, with capacity for 74 seated people and 148 standing, although the usual format will be around one hundred. The program will combine artists from the label's catalog, local musicians and international guests, with The Endless Trio, formed by Alessandro Campobasso, Pablo Costas and Carlos Ródenas, as one of its resident projects. For its member Carlos Ródenas, having a space designed from the beginning for music is like “having written the letter to the Three Wise Men”: a room without unnecessary cables, with natural sound and acoustic conditions so that musicians can hear each other during the performance without connecting a single speaker. 

Beyond concerts, the program seeks to broaden the ways and times to approach music. There will be cycles and collaborations with institutions such as the Conservatori del Liceu and the Taller de Músics, as well as listening sessions, open rehearsals, and meetings with artists. The program will also move away from usual schedules – since they will only offer concerts until 11 p.m. – with proposals, for example, at noon. 

In fact, the program with which the venue lands in the city from September 22 to 26, coinciding with La Mercè, one of the city's busiest times, will already serve as a small sample of this variety. There will be five days of free activities (though with prior reservation) for all audiences, with an agenda that will combine concerts, listening sessions, and different proposals around music.

In the end, all the varied proposals respond to the same logic: that El Club del Disco be a living space where something is always happening around music. That one can listen to a record, discover an artist, eat, converse, or attend a concert, but that, in one way or another, the ritual of music is always present.