curated music programming
and special events
This week’s HFLS finds us back in 2015 once again, clearly an incredible year for music, as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Kamasi Washington’s appropriately titled debut as a bandleader, The Epic.
No Room For Squares is a weekly showcase of classic jazz albums from the decade between 1955 - 1965, one of the most exciting eras in recorded music. No Room For Squares will feature iconic artists like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk on iconic labels like Blue Note, Impulse! and Prestige. Plus, we’ll have whisky specials each week, so you can sip on a delicious dram while taking in some of our favorite bebop, hard-bop and post-bop albums from the collection.
This week’s Selector Series is another collab with SMARTBOMB featuring Bay Area underground staple RITCHRD.
Navigating through various music scenes and eras over the years with ever-evolving sounds & production styles, RITCHRD cut their teeth early by playing live beat sets during the first years of SMARTBOMB events. A natural progression and expansion of sensibilities would find RITCHRD embracing the craft of DJing, soon becoming one of the most exciting and sought after DJs in the bay, moving dancefloors and raves with electric & kinetic sets while tastefully traversing a diverse palette of genre & style. Now growing into the role as a label head, organizer/promoter, and community catalyst, RITCHRD is the founder of NO BIAS, an independent record label and nightlife series started in the Bay Area in 2020, and an integral part of the beloved LOWER GRAND RADIO community radio station in Oakland.
Atmospheres is our weekly excursion into the outer reaches of sound with resident selectors GAHR and LUCAS curating a mix of electronic, ambient and experimental records. Every Thursday at 9p.
Super hyped for very special season closer of Selector Series Season Ten!! And we have a very special one in store for y’all. We are hyped to welcome renowned Bay Area multi-hyphenate artist Lyrics Born to the hi-fi to close out this incredible season of music.
Starting in the late ‘90s as a vital part of the intensely influential Bay Area hip hop collective Quannum Projects that spawned DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lifesavas and Latyrx, of which he was half with Lateef the Truthspeaker, Lyrics Born established himself firmly among the upper echelon of indie Hip Hop artists. Over the years, he broke countless “first” barriers , including being the the first Asian-American solo rapper to perform at both Lollapalooza and Coachella.
In 2022, Rolling Stone listed his debut album Later That Day as one of the "200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time." He also holds a place in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time" with his biggest hit to date "Callin' Out."
Join us 8p on Wednesday April 16 to hear what LB unearths from crates for our listening enjoyments. Early arrival definitely recommended. As always, Selector Series is free and open to all, but we do expect to reach capacity for this one.
Every Thursday, Bar Shiru resident selectors GAHR and LUCAS take us on a journey to the outer reaches of sound, curating an eclectic mix of electronic, ambient, experimental and psychedelic records.
We are excited to partner once again with Impulse! Records to bring you a First Listen of the brand new album by venerable tenor saxophonist David Murray Birdly Serenade.
“I don’t necessarily have to play standards anymore,” reflects Murray. “I’m trying to make my own standards. That’s part of the reason I write songs — to create my own world of music. This project helped me to do that, in a big way.”
At 8pm on Thursday April 24th, we’ll be spinning this album before its official release.
No Room For Squares is a weekly showcase of classic jazz albums from the decade between 1955 - 1965, one of the most exciting eras in recorded music. No Room For Squares will feature iconic artists like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk on iconic labels like Blue Note, Impulse! and Prestige. Plus, we’ll have whisky specials each week, so you can sip on a delicious dram while taking in some of our favorite bebop, hard-bop and post-bop albums from the collection.
We’re taking it back to 2015 for this week’s Monday night HFLS, spinning four albums that ended up on all the critics’ year end lists of best albums.
And for good reason, Multi-Love by Unkown Mortal Orchestra, Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes, I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty and Eleania by Floating Points are all bursting with creative ideas and rich with innovative sounds and arrangements.
We love these opportunities to showcase albums we love that don’t necessarily fit in to our regular jazz-and-soul-heavy programming. So join us Monday at 8p to hear these gems on the hi-fi.
No Room For Squares is a weekly showcase of classic jazz albums from the decade between 1955 - 1965, one of the most exciting eras in recorded music. No Room For Squares will feature iconic artists like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk on iconic labels like Blue Note, Impulse! and Prestige. Plus, we’ll have whisky specials each week, so you can sip on a delicious dram while taking in some of our favorite bebop, hard-bop and post-bop albums from the collection.
Another week, another birthday celebration for an icon. For this week’s HFLS, we honor the one-and-only Herbie Hancock with a night of records that span his eclectic, trailblazing career.
Early arrival always recommended, low speaking voices always required.
Join us on Sunday April 13th for another Silent Sunday deep listening session. This one will feature André 3000s ambient album New Blue Sun in its entirety. One half of Outkast, one of the most influential hip hop duos of all-time, A3K’s “flute record” shocked the internet and the music industry when it dropped in November of 2023, completely devoid of beats and bars. Instead, we get 90 minutes of evolving atmospheric textures and ambient bliss. Since it’s release, it has been one of the most requested albums for Silent Sunday. We are excited to finally give it it’s proper due.
Silent Sunday is by reservation only. Tap here for all the details and to secure your spot.
Atmospheres is our weekly excursion into the outer reaches of sound with resident selectors GAHR and LUCAS curating a mix of electronic, ambient and experimental records. Every Thursday at 9p.
Join us for Selector Series this week as we welcome Oakland-based artist, singer and multi-instrumentalist Tauwoo.
Through his creative practice he explores the vulnerability and fragility of the human spirit as a way of connecting the deeply personal with the universal, and the grief of the natural world.
8p Wednesday April 9.
No Room For Squares is a weekly showcase of classic jazz albums from the decade between 1955 - 1965, one of the most exciting eras in recorded music. No Room For Squares will feature iconic artists like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk on iconic labels like Blue Note, Impulse! and Prestige. Plus, we’ll have whisky specials each week, so you can sip on a delicious dram while taking in some of our favorite bebop, hard-bop and post-bop albums from the collection.
For this week’s Monday night High Fidelity Listening Session we celebrate the music (and April 2 birthday) of the late, great Mr. Marvin Gaye.
Early arrival always recommended, low speaking voices always required.
Join us for Selector Series this week as we welcome Oakland-based artist, singer and songwriter Angel Adedokun.
Angel is known for her ethereal vocals and raw, confessional songwriting. Blending Rock, Jazz, Salsa, Cumbia, Pop, Soul, and Funk, and more, her unique and sultry sound along with her unique storytelling captivates audiences. Angel's mission is to tell the truth and bring people together through music. In addition to music, Angel is an accomplished actor, dancer, choreographer, and educator with credits like Nollywood Dreams, Hairspray, and Jesus Christ Superstar for performance and Heathers, Hedwig and The Angry Inch, and Caroline or Change for choreography. She also leads vocal and acting classes for Tomorrow Youth Repertory, co-founded Oakland’s Yeah, Art!, and served as education director for two years. Instagram: @angeladedokun.
For this week’s HFLS, we’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly.
9p, 3.17.25. Low speaking voices required.
We are pleases to welcome DJ NFS and Matt from Cone Shape Top to the hi-fi for this week's Selector Series. NFS & Matt are DJs, artists, musicians, curators, and culture workers known for showcasing their broad tastes through Cone Shape Top, a shop and project space they run out of their home in Oakland. Matt has been spinning eclectic sets for over 20 years, from ambient to house and every zone in between. Never beholden to genre, they relish finding relationships between varied and often disparate sounds to create shifting and unexpected moods. They currently share sounds through The Blurred Crusade, a monthly show on SutroFM. NFS (Not For Sale) is an Oakland raised and based DJ that weaves together sonic worlds that invoke esoteric and mystic atmospheres often extracting on more offbeat offerings that range from ambient, leftfield club, post punk, noise and avant pop; often with a penchant for juxtaposing contrasting tempos and rhythms. Together they also run the recurring party EGG! at Stork Club and monthly show Cone Zone on Lower Grand Radio.
This week’s HFLS features four of our of favorite contemporary soul artists of the 21st century. We’ll be spinning “A Seat At The Table” by Solange, “The Visitor” by Kadhja Bonet, “A Rose In The Dark” by Cleo Sol and “Frank” by the late, great Amy Winehouse.
Our program begins at 8p. Early arrival always recommended and low speaking voices always required.
Join us as Oakland’s own Niema Jordan curates records as part of Selector Series Season 10. Niema is a creative multi-hyphenate, working across journalism and filmmaking to tell impactful stories.
Our weekly excursion into the outer reaches of sound, with a selection of electronic, experimental, psychedelic and ambient records curated by resident selectors DJ Patrick and GAHR.
Selector Series Season 10 rides again on Wednesday 02.19 with Bay Area native and vinyl connoisseur DJ FLOW at the controls sharing some of his favorite records from his vast collection of vinyl.
For our next Silent Sunday, on Sunday February 16, we are excited to feature two albums by the incomparable, the late, great producer J DILLA. Dilla Day is officially on February 7, but we're keeping the love going by featuring one of our favorite producers in this no-talking, deep listening session.
We'll be featuring his incredible posthumous album "Donuts" alongside "Champion Sound" his collab album with kindred spirit Madlib, together here as Jaylib.
As always, Silent Sunday is by reservation only. You can get all the details and secure your spot by tapping here. Once the needle drops, the talking stops.
Our weekly excursion into the outer reaches of sound, with a selection of electronic, experimental, psychedelic and ambient records curated by resident selectors DJ Patrick and GAHR.
This week’s HFLS is another edition of Labels We Love, featuring the short-lived, but impactful Oakland-based record label Black Jazz Records.
8p. Low speaking voices required.
On Thursday, we celebrate six incredible years of Bar Shiru with a big ol’ party. You and all your friends are invited! Drink specials, fun prizes and, of course, beautiful tunes on vinyl spun by our Resident Selectors. Come early, stay late, we’re breaking all of our own rules and raging til late ;)
It seemed fitting to launch SEASON 10 (!) of Selector Series during our anniversary week and, given that we’ve collaborated with SMARTBOMB since Season 4, it seemed fitting to have W.A.L.A. kick it off.
W.A.L.A, (also known as Asonic Garcia) is an artist, producer, experimental musician and curator based in Oakland, CA. Finding a passion for music in the bay area independent hip-hop scene of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, Garcia would find himself immersed in the studies of underground art & music movements and their cultural impacts, while throwing and performing DIY shows in his hometown of Vallejo, CA.
We are kicking off our anniversary week (!) with a HFLS featuring some of our most-played albums of the past six years. 6p onwards for an excellent selection of albums, including Journey In Satchidananda, The Low End Theory and Channel Orange.
For this week’s HFLS we are partnering with Living Jazz to feature a night of The Queen of Soul, celebrating one of the most iconic artists to ever walk the earth. This listening session happens on Monday 01.13.25, just a few days before the In The Name of Love concert event happening on Saturday 01.18 at the beautiful Paramount Theater in Oakland. This will be a powerful celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision and legacy through the iconic music of Aretha Franklin.
But first, join us on Monday for a celebration of Aretha’s recorded works and join the Living Jazz crew for an evening of music and community. Please note the earlier 6p start time for this HFLS.
On Sunday January 12, we'll be kicking off the this new season of Silent Sunday with two groove-laden gems: Talking Heads' 1980 masterwork, the Eno-produced "Remain In Light" and Fela Kuti’s 1975 album “Expensive Shit”.
Tap here for all the details and to make your reservation today.
We kick off 2025 in style with a soulful first HFLS of the year. D’Angelo’s Voodoo turns 25 this month and Black Messiah just turned 10, so it’s the perfect time to give these two masterpieces a spin on the hi-fi. 8p.
Join us for the third annual New Year’s Eve’ning at Bar Shiru. Our evening soiree is from 6p - 9p and includes a prix fixe cocktail menu, fun prizes and all-vinyl DJ sets by GAHR, Pamchop and Lucas. Plus you’ll be outta here just in time to either avoid the mayhem altogether, or get to your midnight destination. Tap here for all the details and make your reservations now!
CLOSED Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 12.23 - 12.25.
Open as usual Thursday - Saturday 12.26 - 12.28 & Monday 12.30.
Ticketed NYE’ning event on 12.31
CLOSED on 1.1
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
