So i'm getting bogged down with work at the moment, and have a heck of a lot of essays to write. I can't write in complete silence 'coz i go a bit mad, however music with lyrics influences me subliminally (i honestly once wrote the word 'Mouthbreather' in a shakespeare essay coz i was listening to Jesus lizard at the time) So can someone recommend some decent instrumental, or at least not very vocal, music for me, bearing in mind that i have worn out the Mogwai and Slint albums that i usually write to.
Fanx n dat.
I like
Soon Over Babaluma, by Can. Some Tom Waits I find is alright, too.
I used to work to
Aphex Twin's '26 Mixes for Cash' thing a LOT. So much so, I haven't listened to it at all since uni.
try some
album leaf, their comfortingly organic loveliness really gets the creative juices going.
Give Mi Media Naranja by Labradford a go for similar reasons.
Oh, and good luck with the marks!
I did my Geography coursework
to Coldplay's Parachutes...
I'm using
Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the moment. Works like a treat!
^This
It's always coursework and Godspeed.
I just wrote an essay on man made disasters
While listening to GY!BE. It made sense at the time. Also on the speakers today-
Antony and the Johnsons
Sigur Ros
Blonde Redhead
Built to Spill
Do you have any
Nurse With Wound
Tangerine Dream
Arvo Part
Wagner
Einsturezende Neubauten
Faust
Erik Satie
Teletubbies
enviro blab mind fucker stuff
Ventures!
Tangerine Dream = good shout
Could try some Brian Eno for more of the same.
Also used to find that Neu! had a certain rhytmn to them that got me motivated.
80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster.
Just kidding.
Do a mixtape of all the instrumental stuff from Bowie/Eno/Berlin.
Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis
Do The Right Thing; Original Score by Bill Lee
and
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane are what I listen to.
and I feel your pain, dissertations are no fun.
Richie Hawtin
Minimal
trans am
the field
biosphere
aphex twin - selected ambient works
arvo part def a good shout
Brian
Eno OOOOOHHHHHHHOOOOOO
BRIAN ENO OOOOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOO
Jim O'Rourke
I'm Happy, I'm Singing, and a 1,2,3,4 - concentration assured!
Brian Eno
Lives like right next to me.
He sometimes helps me do my work.
...ahh i wish that were true.
Acid Mothers Temple
Savath & Savalas
Bitches' Brew
Terry Riley
Brightblack Morning Light
Acid Mothers Temple
I had one which I've misplaced, what's a goodie from him?
get mantra of love
one 30 minute space-psych jam, then ten minutes of pastoral drone-folk.
there's so many
it's difficult to say really. Maybe Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!!)
^ this provides value for money
but i tend to switch off during some of the 20 minute bleepy bloopy noise tracks.
that said, the other songs on there are fucking colossal.
the answer to this is
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
or
Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya (doesn't have that many words)
I
find Ten New Messages quite useful when doing essays, but its got alot of vocals.
Minimal or ambient
are your best bets. Some stuff off the top of my head thats amazing:
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer
William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops 1.1
a sunny day in glasgow
are really good for this.
Easy
Explosions in the Sky
This Will Destroy You
Fuck Buttons
Jesu
Pelican
My Bloody Valentine
Maybe even whack a bit of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in there if you're feeling fresh
Trembling Blue Stars
works for me.
These work:
Black Moth Super Rainbow
The Octopus Project
Zombie-Zombie
Explosions in the Sky
Brian Eno
Try
Duk Koo Kim by Sun Kil Moon on repeat for a few hours.
Or anything by Mirah (well maybe not anything but her voice'll send you into a trance), Jenny Lewis, The Pentangle or Jolie Holland.
I suffered a similar dilemma last summer and wrote a last.fm journal about it (thinking I was a unique gimp), it took more time to work out what was conducive than to fret about why Joan As Police Woman was distracting me so forcefully.
Hope that helps.
Ministry Psalm 69
gets a pace on and you will have steam coming off your keyboard as the words just stream out!
sorry...
I just realised the answer to this thread: Pram.
something ignorable
like silversun pickups or midnight movies
all my essays when i was at uni
were written in SILENCE.
Study music was usually the first A Silver Mt Zion album.
^
Not sure about the silence thing, but the first ASMZ album works a treat.
Also some Aphex Twin stuff, and a bit of Labradford.
explosions in the sky
my secret essay writing weapon is (ashamedly) The best of Crowded House, that's right, it just *works* for me.
Crowded House makes the best study music
No need to be ashamed wither, cos they're rad. That said this is coming from somebody that uses the word 'rad' quite often.
Ambient...
Is what you want.
Stars Of The Lid
Eno
Early Aphex
The Necks
Bowery Electric
Susumu Yokota
Sigur Ros
is my favourite but Beck works too
Nothing with too many meaningful lyrics!
Also soemtimes Holy Fuck and Stars of the Lid
I always used to write to slow, calming music
such as Mogwai, Explosions, Star of the Lid etc, but it ended up just slowing me down and making me more pensive than was necessary.
Venetian Snares, Aphex Twin etc basically work for me a lot better than I'd previously supposed they would.