Looking for study music? Part 2
Considering of all the traffic that come to my blog, over two-thirds of it come from my study music post, I figured I might throw out a second one as I have some new ones, including a new one that came out last week. By way of introduction, I love to have music when I study, but I typically cannot handle my normal rotation of music. Lyrics and music that is too attention grabbing distracts me far too much and is actually detrimental whereas I feel when I have music conducive to studying, it not only renders my experience more enjoyable but enhances the quality of my session. As such, I have compiled quite the library of study music. People constantly ask me for it, yet I can hardly ever remember on the spot, so here is a compilation of it all. If you would like to check out part one, click here.
Daft Punk - Tron OST
For the most part, I try to recommend music that most people have not heard of, but I am going to throw this in based on the fact that I have listened to so much to it. It is a great one to listen to late at night when you are trying to stay awake. The music is engaging while still allowing one to concentrate. There's a few words here and there, but the rest is simply Daft Punk's "retro-futurism" (their words, not mine) and some strings here and there. I highly recommend it.
As far as other Daft Punk music as study music, I wouldn't go there. I cannot study with it for the life of me.
Balmorhea - All is Wild, All is Silent
Again, breaking another of my rules which is to not repeat artists, I still had to post this. Last time I highlighted both Constellations and River Arms from Balmorhea before I knew how magical this album is. All is Wild, All is Silent has some absolutely breath taking moments, especially towards the end of the album on "Night in the Draw" and "Truth" but really the whole album is pretty fantastic. This album doesn't steer far from Balmorhea's neo-classical formula with strings, banjos, and some other assorted instrument, but it doesn't need to.
Since writing my first post, I can now say without a doubt I can recommend anything from Balmorhea for studying purposes. There also exists All is Wild, All is Silent Remixes which you could check out. It has various sorts of remixes on these tracks and is certainly worth a look.
Ether Orchestra - All Your Brave Junkie Tomorrows
I bet you have never heard of this band. I would extremely impressed if you had. This band, Ether Orchestra, is a local band in Salt Lake City, UT. I saw them when they opened for Low in 2006. They were staples in the local scene for a while but I have not seen them around for a while. As far as I know, they broke up. Anyway, they play a sort of free, ethereal jazz music that is both soothing and haunting. This is a little gem in my collection that I have finally decide to share with people. As far as instrumentation, you will hear everything from trumpets and other brass to organs to drums.
As far as I know, this is their only CD. And if it isn't, good luck finding more. If you do, let me know.
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
As of writing, this album just recently came out. Previously I had never heard of Julianna Barwick, but after Pitchfork gave her Best New Music I decided I would test her out and see what it was like. It turned out to be great choice. This one is probably not for everyone, but I could see her earning a spot in my study rotation. The sounds has a lot of Julianna's voiced layered over itself to create interesting and beautiful textures. The sound is then filled up with drones, bells, and other assorted sounds. In the end, it a minimalistic experiment with beauty of the female voice. I quite enjoyed it.
Julianna has other works, but I am not familiar with them.
Ratatat - 9 Beats
This is another one for studying late. Ratatat is band/producer that typically works with the likes of Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G. and so forth, but this is a simple experiment Ratatat put out of a bunch of assorted beats. The result is some lyric-less beats that are, again, engaging but not distracting. This is my late-night programming album of choice. It's all electronic samples and sounds, just like you would expect on the back of a hip-hop song.
Ratatat's other music is vastly different and not good for studying.
Hope you guys like part 2 as much as you liked part 1. Enjoy! If you have any suggestions, post them below.