{"id":544314,"date":"2026-01-26T15:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/544314\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T15:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:14:16","slug":"your-favorite-restaurants-playlist-was-probably-made-by-this-chicago-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/544314\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Favorite Restaurant\u2019s Playlist Was Probably Made By This Chicago Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 When Au Cheval opened in the West Loop in early 2012, it didn\u2019t take long for the restaurant\u2019s burger to achieve celebrity status, topping best-of lists and launching burger-focused Small Cheval locations<\/a> all over Chicago.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the only Au Cheval feature that took on a life of its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The restaurant\u2019s eye-catching vintage reel-to-reel tape player and its carefully curated music were the early hallmarks of Uncanned Music<\/a>. The Chicago-based company specializes in creating bespoke music experiences and the sonic technology to go with it for restaurants, bars and hotels.<\/p>\n

Since launching in 2013, Uncanned\u2019s handiwork can be found, er, heard in places across the United States and beyond, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chicago businesses Uncanned has worked with include Bisous<\/a>, El Che Steakhouse & Bar and Soho House Chicago in the West Loop; Bridgeport\u2019s Marz Community Brewing Co.<\/a>; Pleasant House Pub in Pilsen; Mott St. in Wicker Park; and the Gold Coast\u2019s Sparrow, Uncanned\u2019s longest-running client.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSparrow is one of our longest-running clients and a bit of direction Peter Vestinos gave us early on prevails as our North Star \u2014 he wanted Sparrow to sound like a midcentury club in the Caribbean blending Afro-Latin sounds with the music they heard coming out of jazz clubs in the U.S. We\u2019ve been working to curate that reverse perspective for about 10 years now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Au Cheval, there was Gilt Bar, which opened in 2010 across the street from the Merchandise Mart in River North. That was the first hospitality business from Brendan Sodikoff, who has since gone on to open many popular spots under the Hogsalt Hospitality name, including Bavette\u2019s Bar & Boeuf, Armitage Alehouse and Ciccio Mio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Gilt Bar\u2019s basement cocktail lounge, food runner and musician Scott McNiece started experimenting with the restaurant\u2019s playlist, which led to a full-time role as music curator for Gilt Bar and later Hogsalt.<\/p>\n

Working alongside McNiece was Joe Darling, who shared his coworker\u2019s passion for music. The two would often play records while bartending together. It was around that time that McNiece created Uncanned Music and filed the necessary paperwork, although its official launch wouldn\u2019t come until a year later, McNiece said.<\/p>\n

McNiece and Darling worked together on the opening of Au Cheval, which included their first reel-to-reel player. Sodikoff\u2019s Maude\u2019s Liquor Bar followed on Randolph Street in the West Loop, with McNiece enlisting friend and fellow musician David Allen for his music knowledge and recording engineer expertise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe dining room at Gilt Bar, one of Uncanned Music\u2019s early clients. Credit: Facebook\/Gilt Bar<\/p>\n

\"AA vintage reel-to-reel tape player at Sportsman\u2019s Club, 948 N. Western Ave., is part of the sound design crafted by Chicago-based Uncanned Music. Credit: Instagram\/Uncanned Music<\/p>\n

McNiece, Darling and Allen became the nucleus of Uncanned Music. The company now also includes International Anthem<\/a>, a Chicago-born jazz record label company, and Megan Pattison, who helps lead curatorial projects and develops audio installation projects with Allen. Based in Los Angeles, Pattinson has a DJ background like the others and curates a monthly show on Dublab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of restaurateurs were looking for ways to enhance the experience and take hospitality a bit further,\u201d Darling said of Uncanned\u2019s early days. \u201cWe haven\u2019t marketed beyond taking some nice photos of spaces and publishing on Instagram. It\u2019s been a lot of word-of-mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to music curation, the company\u2019s enhancement work can include sound system design and acoustic treatment, the latter of which involves crafting ways to \u201csoften the space,\u201d such as with ceiling treatments and rugs, Darling said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps create a better experience interpersonally because you can turn the audio up and hear the quality of the audio well, but you\u2019re also able to speak without shouting,\u201d Darling said. \u201cThat helps to disarm people and make them feel comfortable and maybe just sink in a little bit deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were delighted to consult with Hubert Chan and his MONOS team for Postcard, their caf\u00e9 and retail shop in West Loop. The selections here range from ambient music in the morning to deep cuts and rare groove throughout the day and evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncanned\u2019s sound system work also includes refurbishing and installing reel-to-reel players at restaurants and bars around the world and close to home, like at Ukrainian Village\u2019s Sportsman\u2019s Club. The machine\u2019s quarter-inch tape holds an hour and a half of music on each side, Darling said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one way to be able to set it and forget it a bit for operators and also not have to have any sort of decision fatigue over what\u2019s going to play next when there are so many other priorities in a space like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Besides looking cool and allowing you \u201cto see the wheels in motion in front of you, creating something interactive in the space,\u201d reel-to-reel players offer a different sound, Darling said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe basically take contemporary music and download high-resolution digital files. Then we\u2019re able to mix it together almost like a DJ music suite, so the song playing and the upcoming song are somewhat blended together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago-basedChicago-based Uncanned Music designs sound systems and custom playlists for restaurants and bars, including Estereo in Logan Square. Credit: Instagram\/Uncanned Music<\/p>\n

How The Music Is Made<\/p>\n

When it comes to song curation, whether for a reel-to-reel system or custom digital playlists, Uncanned works closely with operators to get a clear sense of the sound they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From there, the company puts together a proposal that\u2019s handed off to curatorial partners, a mix of artists, DJs and music journalists across the country who work with Uncanned to craft the playlists. In Chicago, Tal Rosenberg, who has written for the Reader and Chicago Magazine among others, serves as Uncanned\u2019s music curator.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting mixes from these contributors and discovering new music has been really inspiring for me,\u201d Darling said. \u201cEspecially with streaming music and algorithmic kind of applications, you end up feeling like you don\u2019t get to discover as much as you would like.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love John Manion\u2019s cooking and his spaces. And John Manion loves Brazilian music! For Brasero, we cull primarily Brazilian recordings and there are so many directions to go in that country alone. This list kicks off with a Tim Maia belter and winds down with some more contemporary Brazilian electronic soul vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playlists are organized into different service periods \u2014 a quiet afternoon lunch, a busy dinner \u2014 which Darling compares to adjusting the temperature and lighting in a space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lists are typically refreshed once a month depending on the type of Uncanned service a client has, a practice that\u2019s just as much for a restaurant or bar\u2019s guests as it is for staff who are spending the most time with it, Darling said.<\/p>\n

Additionally, after a place opens, Uncanned sometimes spends the first week or so there recording tapes or DJing for more of a hands-on consultation, a process Darling finds highly rewarding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the most technologically convenient option as we\u2019re doing something that\u2019s more analog and more personal,\u201d Darling said.<\/p>\n

While many creatives fear the growth of AI, that\u2019s not the case for Uncanned.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, we don\u2019t feel threatened by it because we\u2019ve been touting the human touch for so many years now, and we think that\u2019s what people want to connect with,\u201d said Darling, who credits Chicago with creating the ecosystem for the company to launch and thrive. \u201cWe are trying to push in that direction of keeping people intentionally listening to their environment. It\u2019s fun for us to be able to passively DJ for all these spaces all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 When Au Cheval opened in the West Loop in early 2012, it didn\u2019t take long for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":544315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[648,3990,960,5386,1818,988],"class_list":{"0":"post-544314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-bars","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-restaurants"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115962056955775290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}