Most of the time, I can’t listen to anything when I’m doing any work that requires real concentration, such as reading or studying. Even when I’m doing more mundane things such as responding to an email, I have to turn off music with lyrics, or else I will be hugely distracted. However, there are some cases where instrumental music provides me with the perfect level of background noise, such as making a PowerPoint prettier (am I the only one who obsesses?) or finding citations for an academic paper. In those instances, these are the genres I turn to:
Downtempo/trip hop
The artist: Emancipator
The album: I have a very distinct memory of writing my undergraduate honors thesis to Soon It Will Be Cold Enough (2006) in the college music library, which was tucked away and quiet but also close to a cafeteria.
Song to start with: The titular song or “When I Go” (some lyrics)
The artist: Blue in Green
The album: The Break of Dawn (2011). This was actually a discovery on Pandora back when Pandora was a thing… so, early college?
Song to start with: “Voyage” or “Rainy Streets”
Electronic music (IDM) (all Pandora discoveries as well!)
The artist: The Glitch Mob
The album: Drink The Sea (2010)
Song to start with: “Fortune Days,” which is a great pump-up song.
The artist: Ronald Jenkees
The album: Disorganized Fun (2011)
Song to start with: The titular song or “Stay Crunchy”
Classical guitar
The artist: Baden Powell, Brazilian guitarist
The album: Three Originals: Tristeza on Guitar / Poema on Guitar / Apaixonado (2014) - Another college discovery. I’m seeing a trend.
Song to start with: “Canto de Ossanha” or “Dindi,” both of which remind me of my college music group and make my heart spill over.
The artist: Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist
I actually don’t have a go-to album or songs for him, but they’re all good.
Instrumental film soundtracks
The artist: Jóhann Jóhannsson
The album: A friend of mine really likes the Arrival soundtrack but it’s too weird and dissonant for me. My go to is The Theory of Everything (2014), which is very traditional and super pretty.
The artist: Yann Tiersen
The album: Amelie (2001). I cannot stress enough how much I adore it. Since the titles are in French and all are instrumental anyway, it’s hard to pick a stand-out song but I promise they’re all beautiful.
Next album: Goodbye Lenin (2003). FYI, we watched this movie in German class in high school and it’s solid. Daniel Brühl is always good.
Piano covers of pop music
The artist: Maxence Cyrin
The album: Novö Piano (2010). I loved this so much I bought the album ages ago on iTunes, I think? Idk how to even access those files any more.
Song to start with: “Where Is My Mind” or “D.A.N.C.E.”
The artist: Henry Smith
This is the first of the list that I discovered a) post-college (just this year, I think) and b) on Spotify rather than Pandora! Wow, folks. Again, I don’t have a go-to album or song but he’s got covers of Beyonce, Adele, Ed Sheeran, etc. You’ll find your thing.
Other instrumental music
The artist: Studying Music Group
The album: This is another odd Spotify discovery because I don’t know if this is an actual “group” or just a collection of songs put together by Spotify. Anyway, the generically named Study Music (2014) album was my background music when working on my Master’s thesis, I believe.
Song to start with: "Heaven on Earth," although I admit a lot of them sound similar.
The artist: Lavinia Meijer, harpist
The album: Voyage (2015). I love Debussy and Yann Tiersen so her performances of both on this album are just perfect for me.
Song to start with: “Clair de Lune” or any of the songs from Amelie.
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