Oh Hell, I Don't Know What Day it Is
So apparently I've missed a couple of my regularly scheduled posting thingies - let's see if we can catch up.
Tuesday Tunes - Week 52 (from Oct 6th)
What is the best music to chill out to?
This is hard as I don't have a real standard for this. I will say that it doesn't need to be instrumental, or acoustic, or even quiet. Let's just say I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I hear it...
What artist do you think of when you see the word "calm"?
Oddly, the first artist to come to mind is Cowboy Junkies because I just love their catatonia inspired version of Sweet Jane. If I think about it longer, not sure that is the best description of them but for the sake of brevity, let's go with that.
How does music help you to become calm or more relaxed?
Oh - this is a doozy of a question, and if I sat down and really tried to answer it it would probably require quite a bit more space than I would devote here. I guess the way I can explain this best is to do a comparison.
For some, music is background. It is white noise while their brain focuses on something else. They don't interact with it.
For me, music is always the focus, even when I'm doing something else. There is music playing now (Gov't Mule - New World Blues) and even though I am writing, I am still listening and and processing what I am hearing. If I really stop to examine my behavior, I am tapping the side of the keyboard in between typing bursts. Music is grounding for me. Perhaps it occupies the portion of my brain that would otherwise wander, keeping it on track.
What's really great is when I can fully commit to the listening experience - that is when it is most relaxing. Sitting at a live show, or listening to a favorite with headphones and just absorbing it completely. Distractions to a minimum and hearing every note, it's the ultimate escape really.
Top 5 On Friday - Week 194 (from Oct 9th)
Top 5 songs to soothe the savage beast
This is actually a good one to go together with the above as I get to give some specific examples.
"Dreams" - The Allman Brothers Band
See my
Dreamy post from a couple of weeks back for an amazing video of this.
"Sweet Jane" - The Cowboy Junkies
I joke about this being catatonic, but it is really only partially a joke...
"Eyes of a Stranger" - Queensryche
Actually, this whole album gets a ton of play from me when I'm working, maybe something about displaced energy but it really does an outstanding job of getting me focused on tasks when I am otherwise distracted
"Aja" - Steely Dan
Quite possibly the world's most perfect song. Love the rise and fall, the ebbs and tides, etc..
"The Köln Concert" - Keith Jarrett
This brilliant and entirely spontaneous recording is really just astonishing. He is lost in it, we get to come along for the ride.
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Don't Go - There is more after the jump!!
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