Music and coffee naturally complement each other – a play list can make or break a cafe’s ambience, barista competitions feature carefully constructed soundtracks, and if you’re making coffee for yourself at home, what better way is there to complement aroma & taste than letting your other senses be part of the moment as you sit and sip? I’ll come back to touch and sight in a later post (that’s right, we’re going to start highlighting art & design in the future), but for now, an introduction to a new weekly feature here at FRSHGRND.
I love listening to music, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy hearing something new, or heard a nice track in a cafe and wondered what it was, so I thought I would take a moment every Sunday to highlight some music to brew to. I’d really like to make this collaborative – everyone has different tastes, and coffee culture isn’t limited to any particular genre, so I’d love to hear what you’re listening to!
Feel free to post in the comments here, post links & youtube videos on our Facebook page, or add #M2B2 to your music related tweets :)
First up, a band I came across randomly but became an instant favorite – Purity Ring, a duo that describe themselves as “future pop,” based in Canada. You can read more about them over at Pitchfork.
Purity Ring – Belispeak
Purity Ring – Ungirthed
Purity Ring – Lofticries
7 comments
Candus says:
Feb 7, 2012
For me, a mix of smooth jazz touched with soul and sprinkled with blues contributes to enjoying the good-pot-of-coffee experience. My shop’s soundtrack would include: Tom Scott, The Brecker Brothers, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Stan Clark, Dave Grusin… I’d play this from the time I opened in the morning till about 11:am… this music is great background music! It’s what I use to play in my gift shop back in the day. It doesn’t detract from their shopping experience. It fills space without being obnoxious.
Then, to pick things up for the Lunch Break Crowd without raising their blood pressure, I’d play early Stevie Wonder, Bruce Hornsby, Earth Wind and Fire, Bela Fleck, Marty Stuart for a little twang, Dweezil Zappa, some Santana, Styx, Sugarloaf then segue into some heavier sounds to wrap up the day.
But that’s just me!
Alex Bernson says:
Feb 9, 2012
A really great topic. You gonna accept guest posts for it? :-D
Aaron Frey says:
Feb 9, 2012
Absolutely, I want to post mostly other people’s recs via Twitter or comments to get a wider range of genres :)
greg says:
Feb 12, 2012
Not sure I see the relevance. Surgeons listen to music while they ply their trade in the O.R. Garbage men do the same on trucks. There’s nothing uniquely coffee-centric about any of this I guess.
Aaron Frey says:
Feb 12, 2012
I like listening to music while sipping my coffee, at home or at a cafe, and I’m sure many of those garbage men and surgeons do too. I also like hearing music I haven’t heard before, and the coffee break is a perfect short period of time to focus on that.
That said, there’s more to life than coffee, and most coffee geeks have interests that go far beyond the bean. Why not explore and enjoy them, too?
UNKILTED! says:
Feb 20, 2012
Just about any mix from “HEadphone Commute” over at Percussion Lab works for me as either mr French press, Mr Coffee (if im in lazy mode) or even sometimes (whisper) Miss Bodum teapot work their magic in the mornings. Music to brew to indeed, i like it!
Aaron Frey says:
Feb 20, 2012
No need to whisper ;) We love tea too, but don’t know half as much about it as we do about coffee.
Thanks for the link – hadn’t heard of that site before but I recognize some of the music, I think I’ve just lost all hope of productivity for the rest of the afternoon :)