I’m generally someone that enjoys silence when I work, read, etc. This month has felt busier than normal, and I began searching for something to listen to so my brain didn’t feel like an empty room of misery and grinding concentration. Those pre-made “Lofi Beats to Study to” mixes somehow always distract me further, so I’ve developed a little arsenal of my own tried-and-true albums for when you’ve got to ~lock in and fix everything~:
Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead - Do Make Say Think
Satisfying, slow, melancholic. Similar to bands like Mogwai, instrumental (I can very rarely listen to anything with words if I’m trying to concentrate fully). I put this on one particularly busy workday morning recently and it immediately relaxed me.
This album got me through two years of grad school when I needed to knuckle down and write papers after a full day of work. Kind of groovy, a little surfy even, hypnotic and repetitive enough to let you slip into whatever you’re trying to accomplish.
Along the same post-punk/rock themes of the other two albums mentioned here, this is another winding and noodling assemblage of songs to comfortably work to. (On a personal note: a difficult and complicated person in my life turned me on to this band, so I’ve had to rewrite my relationship with this album—it is possible!—and listening to it with an impartial, blank, open mind has helped. Time and distance will also do that.)
The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest, Full Instrumental by Guy Valentino
While searching for an instrumental version of ATCQ’s “Electric Relaxation” (one of my faves off Midnight Marauders) I stumbled across YouTuber Guy Valentino (@TateVisconti) who seems to have posted just the stems from The Low End Theory without vocals, so that it’s fully instrumental. Kind of makes me feel like I’m in a hip coffee shop or upscale salon.
Metal Fingers Presents: Special Herbs Vols. 0-9 - MF Doom
Released under the name “Metal Fingers” instead of MF Doom, the album is mostly instrumental beats. Each track is named after either specific herbs or some sort of flora, which I just love. Perfect chill, quiet time music.
Bosses Hang (Pt. I, II & III) - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Working millennial indieheads, rejoice. If you aren’t hunched over Excel or Adobe and blasting this one, you gotta get into it. Enough said.
I’ll leave you on a creepy and unsettling note to round this all out: The first song ever to be “sung by a computer” is “Daisy Bell” (aka: “Daisy, Daisy”) in 1961 by the IBM 7094 computer. Achieved by Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ. This is also the song Hal sings as he’s being turned off in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yikes.
UNTIL NEXT TIME!
Dana