What is the drink equivalent of noise music?

For those who haven’t been following along, we’ve been selling drinks at Eventide, the weekly free music series put on by CFUV, our local community radio station. Each week, we try to pick drinks from our inventory that seem to match the lineup, either aesthetically, conceptually, or by some subjective interpretation of intent or vibe.

Tonight’s lineup of music is curated by Near Dark (who we have to shout out for their emphasis on putting on all ages shows.) Tonight’s bill features Ecology: HomeStones, Bury the Palace, Pseudo 73, Poors, and Void Puppet. 

Full disclosure, I’m coming into this with basically zero experience with noise music, and after a listen of all of the acts’ recordings, I think any or all of these words could apply, "immersive, surreal, abstract, experimental, resonant, meditative, durational, disorienting, abrasive, textural, loud” (none meant pejoratively)

How then, as drink vendors, should we choose drinks to match? Do people who like experimental music also like experimental drinks? Do we have enough drinks that defy categorization and expectation to do justice to the projects we will be seeing this evening? 

To be honest, we really want SOFTER to be an exploration of the limits of drinks and drinkmaking - but most drinks are made to delight or entertain, not to challenge and confound. 

& yet — 

we feel that there are certain companies - nay, people - who are trying to do things in their own way, in spite of “market forces”. 

So, we’ve done our best. Unlike previous weeks, we are not matching these to specific acts - perhaps the answers will become clear after the music begins.

Even self-described tea lovers don’t know what to do with this type of tea. It can be bitter, sweet, minerally, vegetal; it rewards multiple steeps, takes a long time to be understood (i.e., you can’t just drink one cup - you have to keep drinking it, keep drinking it, keep drinking it - as you’re drinking it, the tea changes your perception if it, even as you’re drinking it - it’s a physical taste experience, but it’s also mental, and durational. Are we calling it? Raw pu’er is the “noise” of the drink world.

While I think KWE's “boreal tonic water” might be the more obvious choice - bitter, bracing, earthy - I also think it would be an oversimplification to suggest that “noise music” is inherently challenging and difficult. Could it not also be refreshing, invigorating, or even pleasaurable?

So, we’ve chosen a refreshing and yet earthy option that just showed up in the mail at Softer HQ yesterday - Seabuckthorn and Labrador Tea from an indigenous owned company in Quebec. (Caffeine free) Labrador tea is a plant that grows in acidic conditions i.e. cold bogs and desolate spruce forests. Huge mood.

SIAS’s branding is cute and sweet, but things that are cute and sweet can also be intriguing, clever, and unconventional. These drinks are made with real ingredients (i.e. real infusions, extracts, and juices) made on site by the brand, in their facility in Delta, BC.

People tend to love or hate floral drinks - this one we feel is beautifully balanced and unique. Rather than start with a “flavour”, they almost start with an idea - I think the idea is “purple”.

The main flavours come from ume and lavender. Ume (japanese plum) is sweet, tart, and a bit funky - lavender is oily, intense, and aromatic; SIAS use pear juice and other floral elements to bridge these ideas. Strangely refreshing. And also, purple.

Say it Aint Soda says, "Prepare to be transported somewhere new. Somewhere at once familiar and exotic. A memory from childhood. Fruits and flowers. An open field. The word 'soda' doesn’t do it justice. What would you call it?"

Come see what else we might have in the cooler tonight - we always aim to delight and surprise, but first and foremost, we encourage everyone to take drinks seriously, to support independent and local makers, to enjoy themselves, and to approach life in general with an open mind and spirit of curiosity. 

See you tonight at 6. the show is FREE and open to the public.