Saturday, March 21, 2009

It is Saturday... (or best music for a Sunday doing work)

It is Saturday, but it feels like a Sunday. Sunday's are my least favourite day, so you can imagine I'm not super pleased (although, I guess it's what you get when you haven't had class since Wednesday night). I guess I've had my fun for the weekend, actually, I've had my fun for the rest of the semester I think. It's time to get serious, time to get work done, time to finish on a strong note. In order to do this, however, I am going to need to finish: 3 essays, 3 projects, 1 quiz, presentation, and 2 take home tests. This makes me a little nervous because there are 18 days until I am done school (yeah, for the YEAR).

I know I can get it done, I've been doing some work today, I think I've been pretty productive so far. This is partly due to the fact that I find it hard to do work with nothing else going on, but I also don't like to multi-task like CRAZY when I have this much work. I've found my best method is working, but also having some music on. Here are my 10 best artists for when you need just a little.
1. The Album Leaf- Signed to Subpop, they've got the ambient, orchestral thing nailed down. The music is beautiful, and it makes great background music.
2. Explosions in the Sky- Similar to Album Leaf (ambient, usually no lyrics), Explosions is a little more epic. Their songs are typically long, and have a bit more of an edge to them, quite a bit darker. They were also heavily influenced by Mogwai (always a good thing).
3. American Analog Set- They've got 6 albums out, and sometimes I like consistency in music when I'm working, that way you don't get distracted by changes (makes sense to me...). Though they have lyrics, their music is really mellow indie-rock, mixed with lo-fi, so it's perfect.
4. Bon Iver- Bon Iver is mellow, acoustic, and soulful. It's beautiful but can be pretty heavy. Nevertheless, it works when you want to (ahahahah.)
5. Do Make Say Think- DMST is awesome for when you need a little more upbeat music to work to that still isn't distracting. It's experimental, post-rock, infused with jazz and usually there are no lyrics. For a job well done (I need to stop).
6. Feist- Feist is great no matter what you need, mellow, upbeat, jazz, acoustic, she's done it all. I like it because of this diversity and her voice is beautiful.
7. Once Soundtrack- Once is a fantastic movie based around music (if you haven't seen it, you're missing out). It's stirringly beautiful and maybe that's why I like it when I work.
8. Iron and Wine- Sam Beam makes the most wonderful folk music today. It's acoustic, simple, and lovely.
9. Simon and Garfunkel- One word. Classic. That's really all you need to know.
10. Young Galaxy- They're fairly new, and only have one album (maybe 2009 will bring more?) but it's pretty awesome, even though it's more assertive than any other artist listed here, I still find them easy to listen to whilst writing. Maybe it's the dream-pop element, puts me in kind of a good mood.

Anyhow... that's the list. Good luck with the rest of the term everyone.
What is your favourite music to do work to?

3 comments:

  1. lately i've been throwing down some wavves/women/times new viking for some late night noisy work sessions. Its a good motivator and it puts me in the "get it done and get it done" kind of mood.

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  2. First off, way to boast about your super long weekend! I envy it so much.
    Second, You introduced me to Feist a while ago and I'm obsessed, seriously.

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  3. Super long weekends are the best, and so is Feist.

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