Since giving birth to house in the 80s Chicago has pumped out a steady stream of high-caliber dance DJs. But they haven’t always gotten to stretch out creatively–most crowds are unreceptive to experimentation, and club owners demand a packed dance floor at all times, which often means aiming for the lowest common denominator. Joe Bryl knows this as well as anyone. He’s been a DJ for 20 years, struggling for the past 10 or so to play the music he loves at places like the China Club, Vinyl, and the Funky Buddha Lounge.
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The result is Sonotheque, a slick little lounge at 1444 W. Chicago (former home of Casey’s Liquors) that’s built for listening, not dancing. Designed by Suhail, who’s also put his cutting-edge stamp on Mod, Tizi Melloul, and MTV’s Real World house, it incorporates sound-absorbing materials as design elements–acoustic tiles, cut into narrow strips, are arranged in funky patterns behind the bar, and cushionlike panels line the walls. The main section of the long room is furnished in cool gray and paneled with dark wood. “Normally when people create nightclubs they start with the design and halfway through they think, ‘Oh, where should we put the DJ?’ or ‘Where should we put the speakers?’” says Madia. “When we approached the designers, Joe and Anthony [Nicholson, the club’s assistant musical director] had already mapped all of that out.”
Despite its educational mission, the owners insist there will be nothing elitist or exclusive about Sonotheque. “Everyone is welcome here,” says Madia. “We didn’t want this to be an expensive night out. We want to invite the skate rat or one of the kids that goes to the Empty Bottle as well as our clientele that we’d like to invite after they’ve had dinner.” Although the club offers an extensive selection of wines and liquors, it’s also got PBR for two bucks a bottle. There’s no dress code and, except for special performances, no cover charge. “There’s no guy playing God out front with a velvet rope. You just walk in,” says Madia. The owners expect Sonotheque to draw Chicago’s trendy club-and-restaurant clique in its first six months. But, says Madia, “after those six months, after the shakeout and another cool place opens up, that’s when our real customer comes in.”
