Unkompress is a vinyl-first listening bar dedicated to high-fidelity sound and intentional listening culture.
Part of a global listening-bar movement inspired by Japanese listening rooms, re-interpreted for Berlin.
A listening bar isn’t a club, café, or background-music bar. It’s a space designed for focused listening — where sound quality, record selection, and atmosphere come before volume, spectacle, or distraction.
More than just a bar or cafe, we’re an intimate social space & platform for music, culture, and gathering. We’ve taken a melting pot of ideas from our favorite things from various cultures and plugged them into a bar concept. Unkompress is a place to enjoy eclectic music with lovely analog audio and natural wine, craft liquor, beer, and coffee.
Unkompress is about exploring and enjoying many kinds of music, celebrating community, while enjoying evolving curiosities. With an open plan space, we’ve taken down the barrier between barkeeper and patron and made a space to host our guests. This environment is more inclusive and just simply encourages people to come together. A conscious lifestyle, in the company of like-minded people, where mind, body, & soul is at the center. To promote connectivity and collectivity under our music umbrella.
Founded and curated by Kevin Rodriguez (Founder & Curator).
Fichtestrasse 23
10967 Berlin
W–Th: 17:00–23:00
F: 17:00–01:00
Sa: 14:00–01:00
Su: 14:00–22:00
We’re starting our journey in sound by upgrading the entire signal path. From the stylus and lead wires of our modified turntables to the speaker wires into our Klipsch horn speakers (an ode to David Mancuso and The Loft parties in NYC). The sound is fed through our custom 300B Single Ended Tube amplifier from Japan and the lovely class-A, rotary mixer by our partner Resor.
We welcome you to our listening space where we create memories via records, interviews, music sessions, and live podcast recordings in a communal* celebration kind of way. We’re kicking off with a carefully curated music menu for our in-house collection. From Jazz to modern electronic music and the lineage and tangents in-between from various eras. We mostly play entire albums in vinyl record format, usually both sides in it’s entirety, or sometimes just 1 side.
Ambient. Balearic. Cosmic. Deep Space. Disco. Downtempo. Dub. Electronica. Funk. Fusion. Jazz Funk. Latin. Leftfield. New Wave. Spiritual. Soul. Synth. Trip Hop. World.
* And if you’re a record shop or label, let’s host a takeover or a launch of your next release together. Or if you’re a producer, feel free to listen to your test pressing or masters on our sound system… Just shoot us an email.
Our goal is to promote a healthier and more wellness focused lifestyle and to broaden taste buds. Our range includes artisan drinks from zero percent to full percent and imported drinks. We’re collaborating with some awesome people in Berlin (a wine sommelier, a sake sommelier, and a mezcal author & dj) and giving extra attention and support to some of our favorite Berlin-based producers, to bring you a menu that’s small, mighty, and specifically selected for our venue.
Whether you relax with a filtered coffee, CBD drink, or Kombucha, we want to make sure you’re getting something good for you. And if you decide to go for a natural wine, mezcal, sake, craft beer, or other zero percent beverage, know that each item is made with love and care from a small producer.
The curated kiosk is where you’ll discover cultures we want to support and share. Our takeaway items are constantly changing to keep things fresh for your home or next gathering. All items represented are sustainable, high-quality, and fantastic. We see our publication selection as a way of reflecting the times through different lenses. We’re a stockist for a number of Berlin-based and international magazines. Topics you’ll find range from Art and Music to LGBTQIA+ and other cultural themes.
Whether you decide to take something on the go or read some food for thought, we hope you keep discovering something interesting! Here’s a list of some current favorites below…
Launching a new product, zine, or new issue? Shoot us an email and let’s celebrate it and host something together!
