Vinyl DJing finds its groove in Portland's analog-loving scene
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On a recent Friday evening, tucked behind the counter of Company wine bar sat two turntables, a mixer and a DJ shuffling through a crate and then carefully placing the needle on a record's groove.
- The crowd, in a dimly lit, packed room, responded to the symphonic soul sounds by softly bopping their heads and continuing their conversations as rain fell outside.
Why it matters: In a city known for celebrating the analog and the niche, vinyl DJing is thriving. With a growing number of pop-up events at bars, plant shops and art galleries, a new generation of music obsessives are being introduced to the art form.
State of play: Vinyl sales hit a 30-year high during the pandemic, and Portland was uniquely positioned to handle the resurgence. The city is home to dozens of record shops — and is anecdotally known to have the most per capita — with some, like Music Millennium, dating back to the 1960s.
- So it's only natural for those collectors to want to seek out live vinyl music in the wild, or try DJing for themselves.
- While a handful of restaurants and bars have vinyl listening nights, vinyl DJ collectives like Silicon Radio routinely take over nontraditional venues and host open deck events — where any novice can try out their setlist and get pointers from the community.
What they're saying: "Digital is pretty easy, but vinyl is not so easy; it's just pretty much your ear, and you need a lot of practice to achieve that," Mario Carrillo, founder of Silicon Radio, told Axios.
- DJing in Portland over the last eight years, Carrillo has seen the number of vinyl DJs grow significantly, especially among younger generations and women.
- "I feel like people get motivated when they see a female DJ at our events," he said. "They get encouraged to play outside their house."
Zoom in: The attraction to vinyl is not only about a shift away from digital over-saturation, but a form of self-expression and cultural discovery, Bryson Wallace, a DJ for KMHD, told Axios.
- Over the last five years, he's played more than 4,000 vinyl gigs in Portland, spinning a wide mix of music, from jazz and psychedelic cumbia to electro funk and disco.
- "It's just infectious," he said. "You never stop having that itch for something different."
The bottom line: Audiences seem to agree. Many of these vinyl-based events — whether they take place midday or at midnight — sell out fast or are standing-room only. Wallace attributes that to the physicality of the music.
- "The vibrations that come from those grooves can be felt through the body," he said. "I don't think anything else can touch the warmth and the beauty of hearing that needle hit the record."