Whether you are studying for an exam, working through piles of research or just looking for a calm spot to read a book, music can make all the difference.
The right record at the right time can take your creativity levels from good to spectacular. You can’t just listen to anything, though – in fact, different sounds bring about different results.
Whatever you’re studying for (school, university, art college or night school), you need a soundtrack that works. And that’s what we’ve tried to make with this latest mix.
So put the kettle on, find a comfy chair and lose yourself in some inspirational study music.
Track breakdown
Philip Glass – Glassworks
It’s meditative and hypnotic, almost dream-like, and also really uplifting – something I need in times of hard study. MG
Lusine ICL – Language Barrier
Largely beatless album of gently-pulsing electronica which comprises washes of synth, some treated, looped guitar and twinkly bits while managing to sound simultaneously melancholy and euphoric. A warm bath of a record that grows with every listen. JC
Faures – Continental Drift
Imagine being being cast adrift in space, like the scene at the start of Gravity. Except instead of panicking, like Sandra Bullock does, you are deeply relaxed and witnessing something cool like the birth of a star, from a safe distance. That’s what this album sounds like. Nothing much happens, but then space is like that, I guess. JC
Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever
A regular pick in most study lists, but for very good reason. Listening to Explosions… is like transcendence for the ears. RK
Richard Skelton – Landings
A good remedy for overworked brains!
MG
Mountains – Centralia
Mountains‘ third album combines live instrumentation with vast walls of drone-like electronic noise. When I am trying to plan a lesson in a staff room full of chattering teachers this is the album I listen to. The record has a certain post-rock sensibility, demonstrated during the 20-minute long Propeller, which slowly builds to a crescendo of noise, before climbing back down again. Awe-inspiring stuff. JC
Susumu Yokota – Sakura
Japanese producer Yokota‘s early 90s ambient masterpiece combines loops of live instrumentation with vocal chants and lush synth work. Sakura is minimal, hypnotic and calming, and seems so much more than the sum of its parts. This is your best bet if you really need to concentrate. JC
A Winged Victory for The Sullen – ATMOS
Written to accompany a dance performance. I guess you would call this modern classical music. ATMOS is pretty serious stuff, but it’s also beautifully realised and profoundly moving in parts. JC
The Cinematic Orchestra and London Metropolitan Orchestra – The Crimson Wing OST
The only Disney soundtrack you need in your life. The Cinematic scores a nature documentary about pink flamingos, and the result is a rich, emotional, tour de force. JC
Jon Hopkins – Asleep Versions
Hopkins here produces stripped back, lush, ambient versions of four tracks lifted from 2013’s Immunity. JC
Global Communication – 76.14
One of my favourite albums of all time and, in my my mind, the best electronic ambient record ever made. Also doubles up as a perfect ‘sleep’ album if you want to take a nap on a train/plane/bus. JC
Portico Quartet – Isla
These Bristol musicians create a mesmerising mix of jazz and ambient sounds on this, their debut album. The group get bonus points for featuring criminally underused instrument, the ‘hang’. Some of the tracks include pretty crazy improv solos, so perhaps better suited to accompany creative work – abstract painters would love it.
Poppy Ackroyd – Escapement
London-born musician and composer Poppy Ackroyd coaxes beautiful noises from her piano in an unusual way; plucking or scraping the dampers and strings inside, or even taping the frame. She then records violin and multi-tracks the individual sounds together on her laptop. The result is delicate, ethereal, complex, and surprisingly accessible.
Kemptation 