For four sessions across the weekend, the lights go out and the room becomes completely dark. There is nowhere else to look and nothing else to do. The only thing left is to listen.
Together with Pitchblack Playback , Koda and the Rotterdam-built FFF Sound System , Haarlem Vinyl Festival brings four very different listening experiences to Teylers Museum: the new album by De Staat , Solange's A Seat at the Table , a centenary selection tracing some of John Coltrane's most important years, and A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory .
The format is deliberately simple. Music is played from beginning to end in complete darkness, without conversation, screens or visual distraction. Pitchblack Playback was built around the idea that taking sight away changes the way we hear. When there is nothing competing for your attention, the production starts to open up differently.
It also brings back something that has become surprisingly easy to lose: listening to a record without doing anything else at the same time.
Listening inside Teylers
There could hardly be a more distinctive place for it.
Opened in 1784, Teylers Museum is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. Its rooms are usually associated with drawings, scientific instruments, fossils and centuries of collected knowledge. For one weekend, part of that environment becomes a place for another kind of close attention.
The music will be heard through the FFF Sound System , a four-way horn-loaded high-fidelity system created by Rotterdam-based Form Follows Frequency. Designed for detailed, critical listening, the system is tuned to the space so that the quieter details matter just as much as the obvious ones.
And each of the four sessions offers a very different reason to listen closely.
Access is also included in the Haarlem Vinyl Festival Weekend Pass and Vinyl Culture Student Ticket, with limited capacity at each session (first come, first serve).
De Staat, DE STAAT (album release)
After a two-year hiatus, De Staat returns with DE STAAT, an urgent and uncompromising new album about power, manipulation, misinformation and the blurred line between reality and fiction. Industrial grooves, heavy riffs, experimental electronics and pop instincts collide on a record that feels pointed at the world right now. For this album-release session, you'll hear it in full and in the dark, its music and its ideas unfolding without distraction.
Solange, A Seat at the Table (10th anniversary)
Solange 's A Seat at the Table is an intimate, powerful and deeply resonant album that moves between soul, R&B, funk and spoken word. Its warm production, layered vocals and intricate arrangements reveal more with every listen. Ten years on, hear this modern classic from beginning to end and catch its textures, silences and details in a completely new way. In the dark, every one of them comes forward.
John Coltrane, Highlights from 1957 to 1964 (centenary)
This centenary session traces a remarkable stretch in the career of one of the most influential and adventurous musicians in jazz. From his groundbreaking work with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk to the increasingly exploratory sound of his own quartet, these years capture Coltrane's evolution as a saxophonist, composer and bandleader, his playing growing more searching and expansive across hard bop, modal jazz and freer improvisation. Heard in the dark and through the FFF Sound System, the nuances of his playing and the interplay between the musicians take center stage.
A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory (35th anniversary)
A landmark of hip-hop, The Low End Theory brought together warm basslines, razor-sharp lyricism, jazz influences, inventive production and the effortless flow of A Tribe Called Quest . Released in 1991, it helped redefine what hip-hop could sound like and still stands as a lesson in groove, rhythm and restraint. Thirty-five years later, hear the whole album the way it was meant to be heard, uninterrupted and with your full attention.
Good to know
Every ticket comes with a recycled-cotton Pitchblack Playback eye mask for extra darkness, plus access to the museum. These are deep listening sessions rather than concerts, so the artists won't be there; each album is played in full in a darkened room. Please arrive by the start time, as no latecomers are allowed. And by entering Teylers Museum you agree to the museum's rules, so treat the building, its collection and the people around you with care.
De Staat, DE STAAT: Album Release Deep Listening Session
Date & Time: Saturday 3 October, 10:00-11:00
Venue: Teylers Museum
Tickets are available here .
Solange, A Seat at the Table: 10th Anniversary Deep Listening Session
Date & Time: Saturday 3 October, 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM
Venue: Teylers Museum
Tickets are available here .
John Coltrane Centenary: Highlights from 1957-1964
Date & Time: Sunday 4 October, 10:00-11:45
Venue: Teylers Museum
Tickets are available here.
A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory: 35th Anniversary Deep Listening Session
Date & Time: Sunday 4 October, 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Venue: Teylers Museum
Tickets are available here .
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