Since 2024, Cue the Record, the NYC-based collective, non-profit, and community, has united people over a shared love of music through immersive experiences. Now, you can experience our signature high-fidelity listening sessions on-demand, through “Audio Archive,” the Cue the Record podcast. Mustafa Ali-Smith, co-founder and host of Cue the Record shares the journey of the organization and what's in store for the future. Experience music in a new way with us. Subscribe to Audio Archive by Cue the Record on all platforms.
Since 2024, Cue the Record, the NYC-based collective, non-profit, and community, has united people over a shared love of music through immersive experiences. Now, you can experience our signature high-fidelity listening sessions on-demand, through “Audio Archive,” the Cue the Record podcast.
In each episode, you’ll hear in-depth album analysis from our listening sessions: lyric breakdowns, cultural deep dives, sampling techniques, and audience discussion. Plus, the best moments from the album play through and more!
Experience music in a new way with us.
Subscribe to Audio Archive by Cue the Record on all platforms.
[MUSTAFA ALI SMITH]: Peace, everybody. My name is Mustafa Ali Smith, and I'm the co-founder and host of Cue the Record. It's a New York City-based collective, non-profit, and community that brings people together through a shared love of music and analog sound.
At Cue the Record, we believe that music is living history, and that every song has a story to tell. We're vinyl collectors, we're writers, we're music enthusiasts, and DJs ourselves. And so when we started Cue the Record in 2024, our mission was pretty simple.
We wanted to turn albums into immersive experiences, to gather people together and to hold space and show up and engage with the music. That's something I believe truly unites us all. Since then, we've refined our signature events, hi-fi listening sessions, our record store and open-source library, and extended play, which is our curated vinyl DJ set.
Our programming has also expanded to include things like film screenings, panel discussions, artist talks, and other community gatherings, all growing out of the same spirit of curiosity and connection. You know, we've always wanted these events to be multidimensional, in the sense that Cue the Record is a conversation forum, but it's also an education and discovery platform, as much as it is an invitation for you to move your body and to sing your heart out. And over the last two years, the responses from you all have been absolutely incredible.
[CTR ATTENDEES]: I've been coming since the first session of Cue the Record. I've been seeing it on social media for a few years, and I really, really wanted to go. And I'm actually from upstate New York, I'm from Hamilton, New York, and so I immediately hopped on, had to come down for the weekend and check y'all out.
I am such a big fan of Cue the Record, and I went to one listening session and I was hooked. I wanted to be outside. No, but also I wanted to be outside with like-minded people who just had a similar interest.
I crave, like, human interaction and I love music. It allows you to actually listen to it from a different angle. So I'm really excited to listen in community with folks on the good speakers.
It's just a great experience to, like, re-listen to something with new people with a different frame of mind, and also out loud and not just private. I love this album. Every single song is a hint to me.
It brings me to tears every time, and I'm probably going to cry again today. But, you know, at least there's like a hundred other people who are going to do the same. So, yeah.
In a world that moves at a frenetic pace, inside a city that never sleeps, one option is always Cue the Record.
[MUSTAFA ALI SMITH]: I look at the work of Cue the Record and we've really grown to new heights. I mean, we were recently featured in the New York Times and even earned the approval of Mariah Carey herself, which is incredible.
But also noting that none of that would have been possible without you. You know, I'll be the first to tell you that getting to connect with the music in this community has made the listening sessions what they are and feel like a sacred space. And so as we're starting to look toward what's next, we want to make this experience more accessible to a wider audience.
And that's why we're launching Audio Archive, a podcast by Cue the Record. So let's say you can't make it out to a session on a Sunday or you can't snag that ticket in time. Maybe you just want to relive a session track by track and hear that commentary again.
And if you're new to Cue the Record, maybe you just want to get a little taste of what we offer. And this podcast is our way of making that all possible. You can expect to hear the in-depth album analysis from our listening sessions, some of the lyric breakdowns, the explanations and the cultural context, the sampling techniques and the segments from our audience Q&A.
Plus, you'll get some fun moments from the album playthrough and more. This is the beginning of a new chapter for us here at Cue the Record, and we're really excited for you to see and hear all that we have in store. If you want to be the first to know about our upcoming sessions, you can always subscribe to our newsletter through the link in the description.
You can subscribe to Cue the Record wherever you get your podcasts from and follow us on Instagram at Cue the Record so you never miss an episode.