Sonotheque

Sonotheque is closed. Sorry, you should have gotten here a tad sooner.
Here are a few of my favorite memories:
* This is the place where I solidified my love of Jack and Cokes. Hans is an awesome bartender. All the times I’ve been absolutely caned in Chicago (outside of that one New Year at my cousin’s) have been here at the hands of Hans.
* I spun here for a friends’ event and had a go at the controls to the soundsystem. I’ve frequented Sonotheque a few times prior so I was already a fan of the space. It was a dream come true to be manning the machine that drove the place. It was absolutely blissful. I specifically remember dropping Phantasy, Shodan & UK Apache’s «Gimme Da Gal» and having people look up from what they were doing. I was grinning like a maniac.
* I saw DJ Flight spin here during her heyday when she had a weekly show on 1Xtra. Her mixing w/​CDs broke my heart but I forgave her immediately when she dropped a monster track on us. The crowd and I were screaming at the top of our lungs for a massive rewind. She let the track play out a bit more and then rewound the track to an appreciative applause. Right at that moment, I caught a conversation between two girls who didn’t seem to understand what was going on — «Why are people getting so excited about that? What’s so hard about doing that?!»
* One Halloween, we decided to host the very first and last «Bodies in Cabs» night. My body was put in a cab that night. Case closed. PS — a guy was dressed up as Elmo and had girls grinding on him all night. I envied him but then I realized he was dying inside that sweaty costume.
* I finally got around to checking out Uprising on a Sunday night and wondered why I never attended more often. That soundsystem was made for dancehall.
Outside of the awesome drinks and the brutal soundsystem, I really liked the overall aesthetic of the place. It was part European club, part downtempo lounge and part neighborhood bar. The place really felt comfortable all around. Throw in a friendly bar staff, killer DJs and patrons who were always up for a party and there were all the necessary ingredients for an epic night out. I’ve never had a bad time here.
At the last night of operation, they played house all night and played «The Wiz» and «School Daze» on the screens. They ran out of Jack Daniels around midnight (NooOOooOooOOoOOOoOOoOOooOOO!!!) which reminded me the place was on its last hours. The DJs CRANKED UP the soundsystem for the last few tracks and thanked everyone as we trickled outside. It was sad to see the lights come up for the very last time.
After it was all said and done, I caught a cab home driven by a female cab driver. It’s not everyday I see a woman cab driver let alone a very cute one so that made me feel better about myself in light of Sonotheque’s closing. When she pulled up, she was cranking out some serious dancehall and turned the music down when I got in. I told her that I was a big fan of dancehall so she turned it back up. We rode home w/​the music blasting out into the open night.
Windows down, soundsystem up. That’s how all nights should end.
Sonotheque is dead. Long live Sonotheque.

It’s a long rectangular room with the bar running the length of it. It’s much smaller than I expected so if it got really crowded, it can get annoying. I could feel the vibration of the bass but still was able to carry out conversations with friends.
As Williamsburg Brooklyn police would call it, this place was filled with «marshmallows» — soft and white hipsters. I got there early so the place was filled with mostly dudes. The vibe I got was Indie emo scenester punk music hippie Starbucks coffee Myspace bohemian American Apparel Urban Outfitters nerd rock urban scene geek Ipod liberal Indie rock Mac elitist. I didn’t stay long because I had somewhere else to go but overall it was okay.

I’ve been here many times by now, and it took a while to feel comfortable in the club. It’s a totally weird setup; on a busy night it can feel like you and your friends have to stand single file trying not to get bumped by passers-​by, or dance half on/​half off the ledge in front of the DJ booth…
Other than that, it’s become one of my favorite clubs in the city… drinks are not outrageously priced, and there’s always some sort of special.
The staff has always been very friendly, from the door staff to the bartenders. They’re very understanding toward drunken shenanigans. (Last night I had someone with me who tried to get «2 for $ 20» on the cover. I was horrified but the door guy just brushed it off while reminding him the money was for the artists).
Sonotheque consistently brings in quality acts, running the gamut of genres and styles of music. If you want to go dancing to something besides the usual watered-​down house music or ignorant radio hip-​hop, you could almost just stop by on any weekend night.
And it looks and sounds awesome; all in all a great place to go to listen to good music, meet new people outside smoking, and stumble around trying to figure out where the bathroom is!

I have heard of Sonotheque millions of times over the years as famous DJs enjoy playing their DJ set here after the big concert. Looking at the pictures online, it always emanated a swankness that I could detect even without ever stepping foot in it.
On my first trip to Sonotheque, I was walking from Chicago and Milwaukee westbound while carrying a heavy bag and kept on walking west until I saw some clouded out window and some people smoking outside. There were no signs, no people peering out the window and no bouncer. There was a kind of New York Lower East Side vibe to the joint.
Inside I found ambient lights, a long bar and beautiful people of all kinds dancing to salsa and having a tremendous time. I came to see a friend’s rumba group, but before the rumba began out came a mens fashion show out of the blue! There were giant umbrellas and lights and DJs seconding as models walking down the «catwalk».
After this, the crowd spread out again and my friends came up to play. The crowd moved near the front of the lounge and started getting shoulder to shoulder packed with the expert dancers rumbaing it up in the front while onlookers cheered and clapped.
All in all a great experience for my first trip to Sonotheque and it was everything that I thought it would be except be pretentious. Great times, great place for dancing!

The hype that I heard surrounding Sonotheque was big, so I was super excited to find myself stuck in this neighborhood with nothing better to do.
Approaching the door guy, as I normally do, I introduced myself using my business card and told him that the owner had offered to let me stop by sometime to check the place out. (Which he did.) This man just looked at me with tilted suspicion. I personally don’t think I look like a scammer, but clearly this man had his doubts. Finally he reluctantly decided to let me in and make my friend pay. Fine!
We proceed inside where right off the bat I was a little disappointed by the layout. It’s a long, open club. There is no real discernible dancefloor (except for anywhere). This is perturbing for me since I like to melt into the middle of a dancefloor. One more negative… it was WAY too bright in there. They have all of these screens and monitors that brighten the whole space beyond what is necessary or comfortable.
My friend and I had arrived very early for a club, but we danced and danced (like usual). The DJ was ok, but he was clearly not the headliner. Again, we arrived early. It’s a funny thing though. After that bouncer saw that we were cool chicks who like to rip up the dancefloor and get the party started, boy was he nice! All of a sudden we were the superstars for the night. Whatever, dude.
One gentleman who was quite lovely though was the bartender. I wish I knew his name, but I suspect that it shouldn’t be a problem to find him again. I have always heard about the amazing line-​up at Sonotheque and plan to try it out again someday. Late night.

Bar boîte et resto, un endroit très complet avec des DJ reconnu dans le monde entier pour du son électro.
Salle comble tous les soirs avec de la très bonne musique et une agreable ambiance

Went here to hear a Crystal Castles dj set this past weekend. The wait was pretty long. I should have bought tickets ahead of time, or gotten there earlier.
The doorman was very polite. The Coat Check girl was lovely. The bartenders were fine. The music – electro – was GREAT for dancing (although I wished Crystal Castles had played more of their own stuff). The next day, my legs and feet were pretty tired from dancing the night away. Fun time!
But this place has a couple of things wrong with it as well. For one, it was REALLY hot in there. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer. Second, and this may be related to the first, does no one get cell phone service in here? Is this place so insulated that not even a cell phone signal can penetrate it? And is this the reason it’s also so hot and stuffy in there?
A friend of mine almost died here once. Ok, so she didn’t really almost die, but she WAS trapped in the bathroom, sick, and without a cellphone signal. Sure it was kinda her own fault she got sick, but it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t contact her friends to come help her out of the bathroom.
Anyway, I didn’t get sick. I was fine, but they need to do something about the air. I’m all for having a sweaty good time on the dance floor, but I can’t imagine coming here to dance anymore unless they fix the ventilation, or turn on the AC when the temps get as high as they were that night.
Oh, and the people here were pretty cute, so being the GORGEOUS, AMAZING, SEXY hottie that I am, I fit RIGHT in. ;-)

I’ve been here twice, both times to see local DJs Flosstradamus throw down. The first time was my birthday. I was so drunk I remember only falling a few times but not much else from the experience.
The second time was for a friend’s birthday. A large group of us all payed the cover to enter. After a few hours of drinking and dancing and the headliners still hadn’t shown up so we started to ask around. Finally we are told the main DJs are playing at some festival in … another state! WTF?
There were still signs posted everywhere: «Flosstradamus: TONIGHT»
It was quite a let down
False advertising,
But otherwise ok, i guess.

Came here last night and I drank, danced and sweated my ass off!
$ 10 cover for entry. Not that big of a space, but still can have a good time without getting irritated. The bar was very long and filled with assclowns/​jabronis standing in the way trying to prevent me from purchasing a drink, but I did not let that stop me. The girl behind the bar was great in taking care of me, as she made some vodka cranberry drinks that made me crave a burrito later. We even shared a joke about the assclowns guarding the bar. There is a $ 20 minimum if you need to use credit/​debit for drinks. There were screens around the club for your viewing pleasure, showing various hip hop interviews and other good stuff
Glad that there is a great club in the neighborhood that I can shake my ass off at. One of the terrible things that happened was when my ankle was almost taken out by some wild ass dancing chick that didn’t give a damn where her heels were landing. Good stuff and 4 stars from the AW!

As others have said — the sound system and the music are unparalleled — and I love the theme nights, where everything from the music selections to the drink specials are on theme. However, I have two main sources of beef with this otherwise awesome place:
1) If you’re a club the size of a shoebox centered around a dj and you’re going to charge a cover… fine…but you better be fully staffed with bartenders who work fast. Pretty much every time I’ve been to SonoT there has been 1, maybe 2, frantic and overworked people behind the bar. One of the girls in my group said the female tender had a sour attitude — and why wouldn’t she? The poor girl was being run into the ground.
2) Not enough marketing! I realize you want to stay hip and retain some underground street cred, but there are some really great things going on at SonoT that no one knows about, and it’s a shame. Tonight, for instance, their website says it’s «Free Da Funk» with what looks like an amazing selection of tunes — and no cover!
I guess beef #2.5 is that the funk party should start taking place on a Friday so I won’t have to call into work in order to shake what my mama gave me. I guess there’s always reggae/​dub Sundays!

I had driven by many times, but it wasn’t until a friend’s birthday that I had a chance to see what the fuss was all about. I could never tell what type of place it would be based on the ultra-​minimal lack of signage front.
After scoring some street parking in the neighborhood, saving myself from having to valet for $ 7, I paid the $ 10 cover to pop inside ($ 5 if I had gotten there before 11 pm).
The layout was pretty long and narrow, generally dim lighting supplemented by the glow of the flat screen televisions and strategically placed neon lights. There is no true dance floor, so you’ll find most people dancing around the seating and walking areas. Due to the space, the DJ is set up right in the middle of the action.
Mixed drinks were $ 7 but fear not! My drink wasn’t watered down, and the well vodka was Grey Goose.
I think this place is a great choice if you live close to the area, and would rather not have to deal with hassle of going downtown or to other busier areas.
If you’re one of those people that likes standing in long lines, paying high prices in cover, drinking watered down drinks with low quality well liquor, just to be around people you don’t really want to talk to or dance with anyway… well, you probably wouldn’t like this place.
For the most part, I assume you’d drive or take a taxi here. The Chicago bus doesn’t run that late, and although you could take the Blue Line, I assume you wouldn’t, or rather you didn’t.

I love that they created a place built for sound. If you don’t feel like reading the rest, that’s the main thing about Sonotheque I want to applaud.
So many people I know dislike this place, and their complaints generally revolve around it being «too swanky». This irritates the shit out of me. You know, yeah, I have probably spent a hundred thousand dollars across my lifetime in dive bars too. I get it: you’re only Truly cool if you like sitting on duck tape and listening to music from a jukebox blaring across two tinny speakers for a whole bar to suffer in cool misery together. Well, I’ve been that cool, many times over, and you know, every now and then it’s nice to sit on a comfortable chair, with a clean surface for your drink, your drink that isn’t a PBR. (though they do serve PBR there if you really want to play the broke-​ass too-​cool-​for-​good-​beer hipster part).
Sonotheque is Nice. The bartenders are always eye-​candy (oh really? that doesn’t matter to you? uh-​huh), the dj booth gives respect to the dj so that he/​she will throw down some bangin beats you can dance to — yes, dancing! –the lost art! They keep a healthy variety of music so that it’s not the same shit every night, they have special events constantly, they screen films, last night I saw a great band play after missing the poetry reading. They have good wine, which for me is huge, because I’d rather drink wine but never can at bars because it’s usually shit. The way the place is laid out makes it easy to meet people and everyone there is always friendly.
The bathroom is tits.
In general it’s fucking lame to get dressed up to go drink. Yeah, I’m gonna put heels on to go get fucked up and talk shit and stumble around like a dumbass. No. But going to dance, that’s another story. Going to sip good wine in a swank lounge with pro DJs is another thing all together. Going to Sonotheque is like an excuse to put on some red lipstick and say fuck it I’m alive!
I won’t apologize for liking Sonotheque. I have about as much interest in hanging out with bike messengers as I do cockroaches, so they can all scuttle around Gold Star and cuddle with their «coolness» (and equally priced beers) while I’m having a grand old time dancing my ass off with the beautiful people.

Oh the agony. This place was such a waste of my energy and money. I got there and it didn’t even look like it was open except for the marker-​scribbled sign on the outside. Because I was meeting my friends there to see one of their sisters play, I grudgingly paid the $ 10. And walked into what can best be described as a prefab IKEA club with hipsters right out of Columbia or UIC that think their Faux-​hawks and skinny jeans make them cool. The only redeeming quality was that the bartender could tell that I was out of my element and comp’d me a couple of stiff drinks. THANKS BOOZE ANGEL!
I don’t know who told these people that playing some Techlounge music in the lobby of a dentist office was enough to be a good time… but I they should be tazered!
If you want rock and roll and actually enjoy life, don’t go here. Not enough oversized sunglasses could make this place tolerable.

Love this place !
I was a frequent guest about three years ago and sort of lost track. It was great to go back after all this time to discover they have improved something that was already great.
This is a place where you would find something to listen to regardless of your age, race and taste in music.
From the moment you walk in you are transported to a very unique experience in décor, sound and libations. There is no other lounge that I feel could match the experience. They have found a way to make minimalist exciting, by making the sound arousing and playful.
There are two events that I regularly attend
A.R.O.M.A
«A Rhythmic Organic Musical Affair»
2^nd Thursdays, Music of Dj Shannon Harris with great live music and live painting by Chicago artist and more.
Braziliance
1^st Thursday,
Music of DJ Joe Bryl. A lively night of new Brazilian beats and more…
Check out their calender full of great music, and hope to see you there.

I moved to Chicago in 2003, and not long after found Sonotheque on a Thursday night. At the time the party was Endless Flight with Anthony Nicholson. Music was amazing, Nu-​jazz, funk, soul, deep house, etc. I started coming back for other parties, a theme started to develop, the music at Sono is the best in Chicago, bar none, IMO, if you are into any of the following: deep house, electronic, funk, reggae, DnB, Jazz, rare groove, disco. Why so many random styles? Because the owner, Joe Bryl, is a music fanatic, and he books nothing but the best. Sono was named best nightclub in the US by Urb magazine. If you don’t know the zine, it caters to Hip Hop and Electronica, but it really says something that a Chicago small-​ish lounge was named the best.
I highly recommend Sono on most nights, you are bound to hear quality music of one kind or another, the crowd is most often very diverse, both racially and scene wise.
All of this, and I haven’t even mentioned the design of the place, the drinks, or otherwise. Sono has a state of the art sound system, one of only 3 – 4 in the world, so it is an audio-​geeks dream. Never too loud to have a convo (unless the DJ doesn’t know what they are doing) but loud enough to lose yourself in the music and dance.
The design is very modern, almost futuristic, sleek. Just check the site, the photos do it justice.
Best place to go out in Chicago to me.

Seriously, this girl’s gotta dance. I have danced all over the world in my handful of decades on this planet, and I plan to dance as long as I can walk and chew gum at the same time.
The problem in Chicago is that very few clubs actually promote DANCING. Drinking and douchebagging, sure, but DANCING? Establishments that really and truly cater to the dancer are few and far between ’round these parts.
Alas, this is where I turn to Sonotheque for solace, and I am rarely let down. From the icy riffs of darkwave to the juicy whoomps of funk, resident DJs to high profile one-​offs, Sonotheque’s programming is consistenly created with the dancer in mind.
Sure, the limited space for dancers is a bit precarious, and in a club that small any bad behavior is magnified tenfold. The steps from the dance area to the bar area also can make for a sudden wrestling match with gravity, and gravity pretty much always wins.
But the sweet sound system and kickass curation bring me back on a fairly consistent basis, and I have happily told many a fellow dancer to check out Sonotheque for a sweaty night of real boogie and unabashed groove. Thanks, Sonotheque!

I hate to write a bad review for Sono since I’ve always wanted to stop by cause I dig the website, musical talent, etc. But the biz has to only allow those that are educated in their business and service answer the public. I called this afternoon to get some detail on cover, drink packages, bottle service, etc. But, the guy that answered the phone this afternoon sounded so moronic and his responses were all B.S.
Here’s a bit of our dialogue:
(JJ) Do you have bottle service?
” Umm, no. Ugh, you know the city passed a law that says we can’t. like sell bottles anymore. We can only sell them in the form of a drink”
(JJ) Oh really,
«yeah. I think they just passed that law this year.»
(JJ) Strange, Relax Lounge up the street can offer me bottle service on Saturday night.
«Oh. yeah? Hmm, well, you know. what it is, its that., our bottle service is only for our talent, like acts and stuff. You know, because they are here, special, so like, we have bottle service for their table.»
(JJ) What?!
(How stupid does this sound) Who the hell hired this guy and why is he answering the phone. What a stupid conversation. At the end he goes on to say, well he’s not a 100 percent sure what packages or pricing they might have and he hasn’t a clue who I could talk to about it. But, I should look at the website for more info. The website says to call or email.
«Oh.»
Despite stupid, I plan on stopping by to figure it out myself. Update in the works…
***Edit* Called back the following day and talked to a different person this time. He had more info. He says Sonotheque has reasonable pricing on drinks, many cocktails (well brands) go for $ 5. They also want to stay away from the possibility of people becoming too intoxicated, so they avoid offering bottle service and open bar packages.**

Sonotheque is a funny sorta place. Its design is very silly — steps on the dance floor — just asking to cause broken ankles. Plus that makes it a not very wheelchair accessible space, since most of the room is inaccessible.
All the times I’ve been there the music has been consistently good, very danceable, and the fact that the venue is small means that there is almost always a fun party vibe after about 11. I like the crowd too — not all wankers, you actually get the feeling that the people dancing are *real* people, who want to dance, not just turning up to fondle some ass, or check themselves out in the bathroom.
My only problem is that the full wall mirrors in the front and in the bathrooms have confounded me completely and I have almost walked into them twice (and in one of these incidents I was sober).

I’m soooooooo not a club guy anymore, but when I need to get my DANCE ON I go to Sonotheque. It looks trendy but the people that go and the staff are never pretentious or snobby. Different types of music through out the week with great DJ’s. A video board that is always entertaining and a medium size dance floor. The drinks are reasonable for Wicker Park and it’s always nice to know a somebody that can get you on the list (I am too old to pay cover charges).
Stupid story–
Last time I was there this guy came up and bought me a shot after drinking it he says «whoa your not my brother» and then proceeded to tell me that I look exactly like his brother… after 15 min of this he finally says «come meet my brother» I figured he bought me a shot and he is not hitting on me so why not. We get over to his brother and I look him up and down… THE GUY LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ME, he is like twice my size in height and weight. I joke around with them some and go back to my group, giving them a thumbs up when they pass by later in the night. I swear I am a crazy person magnet. People come up to me all of the time.

I’ve said this many times. I am not a club person.
But I had such a good time here last night. The DJ was fantastic… I have no idea who it was, but there were a bunch of people there to see him. This is a completely non-​flashy place where people come to dance their butts off.
Drinks were strong. Very strong. By the end of the night, I had made friends with half the bar. Always a sign of a good night!

Sonotheque simplified? Sleek, sexy and modern. And they’ve nailed integrating the ultimate sensory experience.
Sight: The cool, retro films and other visuals they play on the screens. Sometimes, they border on the, uh, sensual side. But, they keep it classy in black-​and-​white. And those visuals, coupled with a few drinks and the sexy vibe on the dance floor, are definitely an aphrodisiac worth exploring.
Sound: Pure, crisp, never thumping. Check out the «floating» speakers on the walls… the sound «experience» has been architecturally designed so that form meets function.
Taste: Mmm, cocktails. These bartenders aren’t amateurs– they’re mixologists. Never a dull or weak drink. And the bar is stocked with both the «Champagne Of Beers» and, well, champagne.
Touch: Sonotheque’s cozy dimensions create lots of opportunity for gratuitous touchy-​feely moments. If you’re not feeling it, gracefully leave the dance floor. And by gracefully, I mean: watch the awkward step.
Smell: Whether you’re glammed up, dressed down or just plain you, everyone can get along here. Great music unites. And it smells damn good.
Sonotheque can be a bit unpredictable, but one thing’s for sure: it’s always a sexy good time.

I guess today is a day to revisit places of my dark, mysterious college past & if that’s the case, Sonotheque must be involved. My bff found out about Sonotheque because it was a place with weekly dance parties. It was generally a $ 5.00 cover to see awesome local dj’s all night loooong.
It’s a strange, long, narrow bar yet everyone seems to find room to dance & spill their drinks on each other. The drinks are pricey, so I always made sure to have a firm grip on my miller light. I met some of my favorite dj’s (Flosstradamus) at this venue & genuinely always had a fantastic time. I had too many dance-off’s to count, too many nights where I ended up in the dj booth, and too many drinks to remember everytime I went. Unfortunately word got out about this lovely gem & my favie dj’s & I found myself waiting in a line for an hour in the middle of winter. No bueno.
I haven’t been back in quite some time, but writing this review just reminded how fun this bar really is. If you’re up for dancing, drinking, and looking fly head on down to Sonotheque & flaunt yo’ shit.