Playlist: Music To Study To

For those of us who appreciate silence like a slap upside the head, finding the right music for the occasion (any occasion) can become a bit of a palaver. When you’ve got about five million deadlines rushing you head on and absolutely cannot afford distraction, choosing your music is a bit of a delicate operation. When you’re studying (or writing essays, or engaging in huge, epic battles with Stata about which bards will surely sing for years to come), awareness of the Real World is to be avoided at all costs. Awareness of the Real World brings only pain, misery, and sweet sweet procrastination.

Remember kids: when you’re writing an essay, you cease to exist on this mortal plane. Make sure you know where your towel is.

The key for studying music is atmosphere. It’s got to be interesting enough to create a whole world around you, but not so interesting that it barges into that world, sets up camp, and starts pounding on the back of your eyeballs with wooden spoons.

You start to understand how this might become a risky enterprise, yes? Yes. Good. Before we embark on this journey to Productivity, a few Top Tips:

1. Don’t Panic.
2. Turn your phone off. No, seriously, off. All the way. Not just on vibrate, not just on silent. Off. There you go. Now hide it under your duvet. Your phone is an illusion from another time (and as we all know, time is an illusion anyway.) Now quit out of your twitter client, turn gmail desk notifications off, in fact close that inbox tab entirely. Notifications are your worst enemy. Notifications are Productivity’s worst nightmare. Notifications are made of grisly shadows and have gnashing, biting teeth that rip Productivity to tiny little shreds. You don’t need to be notified of anything anyway, remember, because you no longer exist in this dimension.
3. Install some self control (yes, literally). For those of you still on Windows, 1) I’m so sorry, and 2) go google up a substitute. I like to dose myself with 12 hours of self control at a time. (Other options include the StayFocusd extension for Chrome, or Idderall for Firefox, which delightfully hands over the responsibility for your productivity to a friend, but they don’t include the option to nuke your access to things like the Twitter client, and so are not failproof.)
4. Huge headphones help immensely to create a nice sense of suspended corporeality.
5. There is Never, Ever enough tea. Invest in a big thermos, put a kettle on your desk.

Now, young padawan, ready are you. In no particular order, I present to you: Music To Study To. (PS. I don’t usually use playlists, so I’ll be reccing whole albums or artists, and then I’m gonna make The Most Eclectic Playlist Of All Time out of the songs I use as examples. You’ve been warned.)

Ratatat — LP3, Classics, Ratatat

I do not have a grasp on the correct musical vocabulary to be able to tell you what, exactly, it is that Ratatat do. I mostly don’t understand it myself. It’s entirely instrumental, electronic music that’s a little bit rock-y in turns, a little bit r’n’b in turns, and a little bit trippy at all times. Wikipedia tells me it’s ‘neopsychedelia’ from Brooklyn, and I’ve gotta say, that makes a lot of sense. What I like about Ratatat’s albums is that you can switch your iTunes on to shuffle and repeat and not have to think about it anymore. I like a good beat when I’m bashing words out, sort of like marching in time, and Ratatat have good beats in spades. Seriously, shovels full of the stuff. It’s got grit and humour, but it’s just the right kind of noise that you can enjoy while not really having to listen to it too hard. Ratatat have been my go to ‘write your essay and write it now’ band for years, now, and I’m still not bored.

James Rhodes — Bullets and Lullabies

http://open.spotify.com/track/3p3ctN0WOJLolwx808dJOl
It’s no secret that classical music makes you smarter. No, seriously. That’s a fact, and not at all spurious rumour. (N.B. I don’t actually know if its a fact or not. I could look it up — but then so could you.) But seriously, the thing about classical music is that generally speaking, it doesn’t have words. It’s complex, so even with just one instrument, there’s enough going on to keep that bit of your brain that is never fully focused on your work busy. James Rhodes makes classical piano a little bit rock and roll, as well, so you don’t pretend you feel like a mega square while rocking out to Rachmaninov. It’s alright, we’ve all been there. This is my favourite track on the album, there’s so much going on, and the rhythm is great to type to.

Broken Social Scene — You Forgot It In People

An oldie but a goldie. If you haven’t sat around and cried your eyes out to Lover’s Spit, then we probably aren’t friends. (Mostly because you’re probably very young indeed.) Look, sometimes BSS do things, and I really don’t get it. But this album is fab. Just weird enough to be interesting, but not too interesting that you have to stop what you’re doing and pay attention. Which is exactly what you want from an album you’re trying to study to. And if you have to stop to cry a tear during Lover’s Spit — you’ve just got a bit of essay in your eye. Pair with weather for ultimate effect. Subdued enough yet? Awesome. Write that essay, and don’t you dare smile about it. You live on the page now. The page is your world. Try not to let the rain from your face get into your keyboard.

The National — all of it. ALL OF IT.

I feel like I shouldn’t really have to explain this one. You’re on wordpress, you’ve found my blog — I’m going to take it as read that you’ve heard The National. The National are pros at not really doing very much and still wrapping you up entirely in their voluptuous melancholia. Go on, indulge yourself in their misery, you know you want to. (Caution: adding rainymood to The National increases its effectiveness to levels that may be dangerous to some. Consult your physician before use, and stock up on tissues. You will need them. Not recommended for use after 1 am if your deadline is imminent as there is some small danger that you will be lulled to sleep. For similar effects, see also: Sigur Ros.)

Parov Stellar — The Princess

You’re in Paris. The year is simultaneously 1926, 1934 and 1942, although 2020 seems to be leaking in around the edges, and there is significantly less death and destruction going on. A man in a zoot suit is lindyhopping in the streets, because screw synchronicity. There’s an enormous dirigible balloon floating above the city — and people are up there chasing sidecars with absinthe (the kind with the fairies in). You sit in front of an old typewriter, but its keys never stick and it never runs out of ink. (Be Tee Dubs: there’s an app for that. And also, hardware. Because your hipster level, it is not complete. It is never complete. Not even when you have a USB typewriter for your MacBook.) Your bros Ernest and F. Scott are chilling at the table next to you. They judge you for your meagre word count. Judge, I say, judge. James Joyce cannot even look at you, because the size (or lack thereof) of your document causes him physical pain. If you cannot kill a man by dropping your manuscript on his head, you are not done yet.

(The year 2020, once it tears through the fabric of space and time, brings Caravan Palace along with it to add to your electroswing experience.)

She Wants Revenge (all the things)

I’ve never met a She Wants Revenge song I’m not obsessed with. They’re also particularly good for when you’re on a plane at 6 am, slowly caffeinating but still needing a degree of restfulness before you can deal with the screaming child four rows back. There’s a certain delicious dystopia encapsulated in every single one of their songs. The vocals are nearly monotonous, but it doesn’t matter, because I can’t get enough of his voice. Electro beats abound, but it’s not as manic as Ratatat; this is a bit bleak, a bit subdued … a whole lot more goth, basically. If you haven’t ever heard their cover of Kidnap the Sandy Claws, you have not lived. Listen to it. Listen to it right now. It’s fantastic. It’s perfect. It is creepy as fuck. Jack the Pumpkin King could not have done it better himself.

The Kills — Midnight Boom, Keep On Your Mean Side

Continuing in the vein of things where there’s not much melody to speak of and quite a lot of monotone vocals, here come The Kills. It’s gritty rock n roll pared right down to the bone; there’s not much happening but riffs, some fantastically interesting beats, and a female vocalist that doesn’t grate on my ears (which is, I am ashamed to admit, rare). I don’t think it’s the most interesting thing to ever happen to rock n roll, but that’s not really the point. I like to pair them with Coffitivity for added atmosphere. (Actually, I pair everything with Coffitivity. Coffitivity is the best thing that has ever happened to the internet and I can’t believe it took us this long to get it. It’s like going to the coffee shop without ever having to get out of your pajamas — just add coffee. +4.)

Band of Skulls — Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

I don’t have much to say about Band of Skulls that’s wildly different than what I just said about The Kills, to be honest. Though, they are a bit more old school bluesy, American style rock’n’roll in places, mostly I find them perfect for tuning out. I have been known to get a bit of a bop on in the library to Sweet Sour, though, which is on their album by the same name, and is a brilliantly sexy song. Seriously, brilliant. Wanky bass = perfection. Phwoar, etc.

Mumford and Sons

I have no excuse, to be honest, or rational explanation for how suddenly the Mumford fever hit me. It’s a bit embarrassing but … the twangy banjos. I can’t get enough! My best excuse to date is that the banjos twang at exactly the right rhythm and speed for me to type along. Type type type, twang twang twang. Can’t stop, won’t stop, my ‘twangtwangmuthafuckaaaaa’ playlist is a thing of beauty that you only wish you could get your filthy paws on. Excellent for keeping you going inspite of all odds. Never underestimate the power of twangy banjos.
Bonus: This mashup by DJ Mike A which will literally blow your tiny little mind.
(Honourable mentions go to Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine for nearly taking the Oblig. Folk Band place. Ultimately, though, needs more banjo.)

The Black Keys — thickfreakness

Fair warning: I honestly don’t understand the hype that surrounds The Black Keys. Which is not to say that I don’t like them, I do, but fair’s fair: they’re only doing now what’s been done for years and years before them. It’s bluesy, it’s dirty, it’s dripping in stale cigarette smoke and flat PBR. The Black Keys sound like how drinking cheap bourbon from the bottle while driving a shambles of a car across the American plains with nothing in the tank but a hope and a prayer feels. What I like best about it for studying is that because it’s all so repetitive (any song is just as good as the next — with the exception of Have Love Will Travel which has to be up there in my list of favourite songs) that you literally do not even notice time passing as they play. Which is good, because time is an illusion in essay world. Even lunch time. This is one study band that I wouldn’t pair with rain, but I think they work so perfectly with coffitivity that I sometimes forget the two aren’t intrinsically linked.

And finally, last but very definitely not least:

John Corabi — Unplugged

John Corabi was once the lead singer of Mötley Crüe. Clearly, he isn’t anymore. While nothing can compare to the hilariously transporting experience of seeing him play live (to all of 20 people in the tiny venue over the best pub in Camden aka The Black Heart), I love this album. It very unfortunately doesn’t include any tracks of him just talking (and I would buy an album like that, seriously, the man could read me the phone book if he wanted and I’d be calmed into near catatonia) but is nevertheless full of soul and heart. You will have to actually buy it from iTunes instead of listening to it on Spotify, because obviously it would be awful if the whole thing happened to be on YouTube. It’s probably the best 8 quid I’ve spent on music in ages, though, so get on it. Also if he comes back to the UK for a tour, you’re more likely to be able to spend time in the presence of his utterly glorious hair. So Go! Give him money! Get!

And now, the piece de resistance:

The Most Eclectic Playlist of All Time

Like I said above, this is in no way meant to be a playlist that will get you through. There’s just no way this is enough music for that, and it’s pretty frenetic, which is exactly what you don’t want. Remember: you’ve got to create a new world, where the only two things that exist are you and the essay. Good studying music doesn’t have to be your favourite music. In fact, often it isn’t. And in music as in life, accessorising is key: the internet will happily rain on you, build you a crackling fire, or transport you to a calming sea. It will even play you an infinite smooth jazz loop from Ace Attorney, which is a thing you did not know you needed until right now. If you really can’t focus with music going on in the background, experiment with coloured noise (pink, brown, white), which when paired with great big headphones can successfully drown out even the loudest Real World. (I live next to a parcel force depot. Trust me on this one.)

Now I’ve given you loads of resources (ironically while procrastinating in the most epic way from finishing a particularly boring essay); go forth and find your Productivity. And don’t forget your towel!

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Featured photo credit to Taro Yamamoto on flickr.