That Song Sounds Delicious!

One Ring Zero: Members Joshua Camp, Ian Riggs, Ben Holmes, Michael Hearst and Timothy Quigley

So if a musician composes music for ice cream trucks, isn't it kind of the logical progression that his next project would be to get together a bunch of famous chefs and put their recipes to music?

Of course it is.

Michael Hearst and his band, One Ring Zero, got together with a bunch of chefs including David Chang, Mario Batali, and Isa Chandra Moskowitz and what they created is the masterpiece that is known as The Recipe Project.

Having often collaborated with authors and worked with dancers Hearst has always been interested in "taking any set of words, even ones that aren't remotely poetic in the slightest, and trying to set them to music." Recipes, therefore, are prime fodder. It also helped that Hearst's brother-in-law was starting to become famous in his own right with Iron Chef and various Food Network shows, so the band decided to start their recipe compositions with him.

Just to make things even more complicated  -er- fun, The band  asked the chefs what style of music they liked and then tried to write the recipe-inspired songs in that style. This meant singing a recipe for Brains and Eggs in a hip-hop style (which I think it lends itself to, don't you?).

You can watch a video of One Ring Zero's musical rendition of a recipe for Peanut Butter Brunettes here.

Music Makes Wine Taste Better

Markus Bachmann, a French horn player from Austria, has created a fermentation system that infuses the music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Vivaldi and rare orchestra and jazz recordings into wine.

So, I've heard of coconut-infused vodka, and cherry-infused rum, but music-infused wine has got to be the most awesome beverage on the face of the planet.

Managing director of Sonor Wines, Bachman literally puts a speaker into the wine tank that plays music during the fermentation process.The yeast doesn't wear earphones, so the key is in the frequencies and volume. And, according to him, "the yeast starts doing totally different things to wine." Makes sense I guess. Music has been proven to affect plants, and yeast is a bacteria... which is kind of, sort of close to a plant... right?

Anyway, Bachman explains that the speakers he uses have the magnet, but no membrane, so the water directly receives the vibrations. The sound waves help to mix up the yeast, ensuring that they get the sugar they need to respire. Bachman says, "it's the pulse of the rhythm that mixes it. The mixing keeps the yeast much more alive. There is 30 percent more living yeast in the fermentation than in wines without music." The yeast work less and respire more, and the result is a higher alcohol content and richer aroma in the finished product. What does this mean for the wine's taste? It's drier, because more of the sugar is used up. It also tastes much more mature for this reason, meaning that you could make a year old wine taste like a three year old wine.

Now, I have to ask, does the wine have a different personality depending on the music you choose. Say a Led-Zepplin Chardonnay versus a Tchaikovsky Merlot?