Hear Me Out Vol. 1: A night of algorithm-free, human-first music recommendations.

This past Thursday, November 6th, we hosted the inaugural meeting of Hear Me Out, an in-person music discovery club that de-centers algorithms, and re-centers real human recommendations. Almost forty of us crowded into the Vowels showroom, eager to share music with each other. We heard everything from Ethiopian jazz and alternative R&B, to psychedelic rock and psy-trance, and everyone left with at least one new artist they were excited about.

The idea was born a few months ago, when I was gifted a record player for my birthday, and as such began to shop for records. While browsing in a record store one day, I overheard a song I really liked and did what anyone would do. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, retreated into the back of the store, and took my phone out to Shazam it. Nothing popped up. Confused, I walked to a different part of the store to stand directly below a speaker, and fired up Shazam again. Still nothing. That was new.

I made my way to the counter, and asked the person working what song it was. They turned around for a second, and when they swiveled back around they were clutching a record jacket. The album was called DBA: Success by one Kenneth Jenkins. I took a photo of it, thanked them, and left the store.

At home, I searched far and wide for the album in the typical places; Spotify, Apple Music and TIDAL all came up empty. I finally found it on YouTube, where someone—a channel called Tito’s Red Hot Rips—had recorded the album directly from the record player, and uploaded it. The song I had heard in the store was called “Brighter Day.” As I listened through, thoroughly enjoying each song more than the next, it occurred to me that I should buy this album. Taking another look at the picture I’d taken, and seeing that my birthday was printed on the “For Sale” tag, made it seem ever more meant to be.

But when I returned to the store, the person working—their name was Nai—had some bad news.

“Ahhh. That thing? I actually liked a lot too, and took it back home to listen to it. But when I bring it back, I’ll set it aside for you to buy.”

Seemed simple enough. Not.

For the next month or so, I returned to the store at least once a week, leaving empty-handed every time. Nai either wasn’t there, or had forgotten to bring it back. It just made me want the thing even more, and each rejection sent me down the road to learn more about this record, and about this sort of music.

By the time I finally bought the record a few weeks later, I’d fallen utterly in love with jazz-funk. I’d gone down a rabbit hole and found a bunch of other artists who made similar music, like James Mason, Charles Earland and Johnny Hammond. I had become particularly obsessed with the Mizell Brothers, a production duo that was responsible for many of the genres standouts, including a handful of Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey records. One of my favorite pickups was Byrd’s Places and Spaces, which is now actually one of my favorite albums of all time.

I’d have never fallen in love with an entire sub-genre if I only depended on the algos, and hadn’t had to deal with the friction that only interacting with another human being could produce. This entire experience reminded me of the power of a good detour, and I wanted to create a music discovery experience that would facilitate them. Here are some of the roads that our members led us down. Scroll to the bottom for links to the full playlist, and watch out for the next meeting.

“Feel Love” by Róis

Recommended by: Van

Genre: Electronic

Best for those who like: “Jockstrap, Miss Grit, Saya Grey”

“The Party” by Portraits of Tracy

Recommended by: Zahra

Genre: Alt-Pop

Best for those who like: “Shay Lia, Cults”

“Chick Magnet” by MahZe

Recommended by: Skylar

Genre: Hip-Hop

Best for those who like: “JPEGMAFIA or anyone who raps
over rock music”

“Strange Attractor” by Ivy Lab

Recommended by: Ragel

Genre: house? garage? dnb? electronic

Best for those who like: “Daft Punk”

“Volver Amar” by JUZU

Recommended by: Juan (aka JUZU)

Genre: Latin Pop

Best for those who like: “Cuco, Los Retros”

I want to thank everyone who came through, and give a special thanks to Estiee and the team at Vowels for believing in the vision, and allowing us to use their beautiful space. A special thanks goes out to our hero Leona who, in the face of a potentially devastating technical difficulty, volunteered to manually queue up each track for the entire night. All photos by the wonderful Sophie Ming.

If you weren’t able to make it, stay tuned for our next meeting! In the meantime, here are some links to the playlist.

Apple Music | YouTube | Spotify

I’m Ebrima, and this has been Edited for Brevity.