I see what you're saying about the synth, but what really makes me anxious is how the bass drum fades in and out.
It's at a steady ~60 beats/minute, but at about 1 minute 30 seconds, it starts to get quiet, at points becoming inaudible, and the song goes from "this has a definite rhythm" feel to a "this doesn't have a definite rhythm" (or "I'm not sure") feeling. Then it keeps going away and coming back again.
If it's generated on one's machine, maybe that person should hold copyright?
Maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense, but neither would it make sense for the programmer of the music generation software to hold copyright over a song they never heard of and which might have been generated using data from the PC owner's machine.
I’ve seen Sigur Ros live twice. The first time was great, but the venue wasn’t very good. The second time was at the Fox Theater in Atlanta a few years ago. To say it was a powerful experience is a huge understatement. Those guys somehow channel something much larger than themselves. There are really no words to describe it.
Well I’m sorry it’s apparently not working for other folks, but I felt substantially calmer after listening to the song. My wife on the other hand didn’t like it at all. Thanks to whomever posted it.
A song that is designed to relax people? Isn't that like, half of all music? It probably works for most people, but it's not exactly a novel claim to say that music can calm people.
I was in this situation for more than a decade up until a few years ago. Was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I used to have panic attacks after discovering my heart wasn't beating at the resting rate according to Wikipedia, or when my skin felt a little dry and I thought I was having a heart failure. But once I started taking antidepressants, it almost completely went away (in addition to other techniques to take my mind off of myself when needed).
I couldn't dig it - but I like the article and idea. Other readers: what are some of your favorite chill background tracks? I'm on Hippie Sabotage lately.
I wouldn't call this background music. In fact, I'd say it works best when you give it your full attention with eyes closed. Nevertheless, 'Music for 18 Musicians' is a go-to when I need to simmer down.
Steve Reich and that particular piece are awesome. I'm not quite sure how "relaxing" his music is for me, but it can definitely induce trance-like states, and in general it's just good music.
'R Plus Seven' got major play from me when it came out! :)
I think the 'trance-like state' is what I find relaxing. It's basically meditation. I've been listening to the ECM recording since I posted that, and I'm realizing that's not my preferred recording. I really like the recording done by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xzyzgqEk5U&list=PLkqUzfbYHJ...
I have a coding / focus Spotify playlist of tracks that keep me focused and in the zone without being distracting. Contains a lot of ambient, deep instrumental house and ambient dub techno: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/28W4UPjme9kuIxMKjdlSMx?si=...
Well, that's a pretty standard ambient-ish soundscape bordering on ‘chill-out’, though thankfully not as cheesy as a whole lot of them.
For me, dub music (not dubstep) was the most astoundingly un-aggressive music. Back in the past, I ran Bill Laswell's compilations two times a day: on the morning subway to doze for twenty minutes, and when falling asleep at night. Not really a surprising quality, since the genre is essentially produced as ganja in musical form. Note that you won't hear half of the music if your speakers don't handle deep bass.
(Ever since the name-stealing dubstep occupied the web while having nothing to do with dub, I have to exclude it every time when searching for the latter.)
Even though the genre evolved decently into the 90s–2000s, with British and French bands like Alpha & Omega, Twilight Circus, High Tone, and Laswell & Jah Wobble's productions—I still find myself returning to simpler tunes when looking to drop out of the daily race.
IMO Sun Araw later grokked quite well that dub can be more trippy than ‘psychedelic’ genres. And Hype Williams are excellent bearers of this torch, though not in the sub-bass range.
Ah, and in regard to ‘classical’ music, I'm a big fan of Swingle Singers' renditions of Mozart, from ‘A Cappella Amadeus’. They're magical for me somehow: I was able to have their songs on both alarm clock and ringtone, for years, without coming to hate them. This is while being cold to both ‘classical music’ and acappella in general.
Agreed, the music from the original british dubstep scene had a lot more in common with dub music than what became popular dubstep. It was mostly heavy bass ran through a low pass filter with the frequency cutoff set up to an oscillator giving it that wobbly wubbing sound.
Dub music itself was actually more popular with the british audience than jamaican audience. Producers like Mad Professor and Scientist and even King Tubby made their dub records specifically to release in England.
Stallones later switched to guitar noodling and more spacey compositions, which aren't so groovy—though also interesting sometimes.
He also made an album ‘Icon Give Thank’ with M. Geddes Gengras and The Congos, which is pretty much Sun Araw plus actual dub: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HWvqL-pbH2U
Btw, funny thing: despite dub being basically packaged tune-out, reggae MCs constantly went on about their ‘war’ against the plight of the black man and the Babylon and about how they're more macho than everyone else in the business. So much so that ragga jungle artist names and compilations were full of military terminology, and the MCing fit right in with breakcore as ‘raggacore’.
Yes, these scratch my itch when im in the right mood. I also find Boards of Canada quite relaxing even though it is a dark nostalgic type with beats. I think repetition in general has different trance inducing effects on ones mood
It can be anxiety reducing if you’re actively listening to it and enjoying it. If it’s in the background and your trying to do something else it will probably cause anxiety.
Surprised his Rubber Johnny video hasn't been mentioned yet. That's my nomination for ultimate anxiety inducing Aphex Twin work. It even includes an anxiety attack in the beginning.
I note that "Canzonetta Sull'aria" is Number 9 on the list. Much more my cup of tea, especially when both it becomes a duet. The opera it comes from, The Marriage of Figaro, is one of my all time favourites. To me the secret sauce is that, even though the Opera is a "Opera Buffa" (comic opera), and indeed has all the element of sitcom: mistaken identities, life altering discoveries, disguises, people hiding under chairs, broken flower-pots, and yet some of the aria's, such as Sull'aria, are poignant and heartbreaking. Consider, for example, "Dove sono i bei momenti" (Where are all those beautiful moments), where the countess yearns for the time when she and the count fell in love. If you want to see what I mean, listen to Rene Fleming (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7Fr8Z-rFQ) - the aria starts at about 1:57. Stunning.
I'm surprised nobody mentions Brian Eno. He was a pioneer in ambient music and contributed to a lot of other genres. Look him up if you never heard of him.
Yes. His first "Ambient" release, "Music for Airports", back in 1978 was designed to induce a calming effect. It is very effective as I can testify since I've been using it for decades now to sleep.
The fact that it doesn't appear on the list by the researches cited in this article suggests a grave oversight.
Music for Airports was also the first in a series by Eno designed to take advantage of his "ambient speaker technigue" wherein you take a third speaker, in addition to the stereo pair, place it behind the listener, and connect it's two terminals to the two + (positive) terminals each channel on your amplifier.
Call it poor man's quadraphonic. It basically sends side information (or any signal not present on the other channel such as an instrument panned all the way to one side) to this third speaker.
I first heard "Deep Blue Day" on the soundtrack for "Trainspotting", and was immediately a fan. I subsequently heard "Force Marker" on the "Heat" soundtrack and was amazed to discover it was by the same musician. "Music For Airports" is a classic.
Some years ago I had developed an anxiety disorder.
That's why I think this article makes no sense.
I got anxious of the most stupid things. This was also triggered by some music. It doesn't matter if the music is calming. What matters is what is happening in your head.
It seems to be the trend to meditate or to listen to soothing music when you are anxious. But please: if you are really having issues with anxiety: go see the doctor.
I really have to agree with you. Anxiety is more than being anxious for a reason. Sometimes I will be sitting down perfectly content and all of a sudden my heartbeat will start racing for no reason and I start to panic and everything spirals out of control.
Try "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook". It has some techniques for helping. I know that what helped me was just understanding that this is a physiological and psychological phenomena, a positive feedback loop.
I get that music can be calming but also agree, I've had the issue before and I've heard it called 'relaxation anxiety' or something. Like a baby trying to fight their sleep, when things feel too calm it can be unnerving and the body wants to fight it.
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 162 ms ] threadIt's at a steady ~60 beats/minute, but at about 1 minute 30 seconds, it starts to get quiet, at points becoming inaudible, and the song goes from "this has a definite rhythm" feel to a "this doesn't have a definite rhythm" (or "I'm not sure") feeling. Then it keeps going away and coming back again.
https://youtu.be/j3X7vhvqi_E
Sibling's Pink Floyd works. Or here's one from my stack--the louder I play it, the more peaceful I feel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwPnvYiCVfA
I like fast music without lyrics. Lyrics are distracting when I'm coding.
Also article is 3 years old.
All the music is generated on your pc, not streamed
Maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense, but neither would it make sense for the programmer of the music generation software to hold copyright over a song they never heard of and which might have been generated using data from the PC owner's machine.
I'm also curious how copyright works here.
So any sort of "this slows your heart" type of beat will actually increase my anxiety. I can't even listen to this track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILpCKQlDmhc
I also like this rendition of Piano Counterpoint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM4t2Kvpv0Y
If you like Steve Reich, I'd also recommend Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven (and all his other albums pretty much).
I think the 'trance-like state' is what I find relaxing. It's basically meditation. I've been listening to the ECM recording since I posted that, and I'm realizing that's not my preferred recording. I really like the recording done by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xzyzgqEk5U&list=PLkqUzfbYHJ...
Also, this version by Rough Fields, which uses non-standard instrumentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DULIr7kskM8&list=PL21HssoFMq...
More recently, Haircuts for Men: https://youtu.be/XZUiPCGjej8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RFunvF0mDw
For me, dub music (not dubstep) was the most astoundingly un-aggressive music. Back in the past, I ran Bill Laswell's compilations two times a day: on the morning subway to doze for twenty minutes, and when falling asleep at night. Not really a surprising quality, since the genre is essentially produced as ganja in musical form. Note that you won't hear half of the music if your speakers don't handle deep bass.
https://billlaswell.bandcamp.com/album/trojan-dub-massive-vo...
(Ever since the name-stealing dubstep occupied the web while having nothing to do with dub, I have to exclude it every time when searching for the latter.)
Even though the genre evolved decently into the 90s–2000s, with British and French bands like Alpha & Omega, Twilight Circus, High Tone, and Laswell & Jah Wobble's productions—I still find myself returning to simpler tunes when looking to drop out of the daily race.
IMO Sun Araw later grokked quite well that dub can be more trippy than ‘psychedelic’ genres. And Hype Williams are excellent bearers of this torch, though not in the sub-bass range.
https://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/track/horse-steppin-3
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YMwsmam5X4Q, https://youtube.com/watch?v=rHCYKkU8jto
Ah, and in regard to ‘classical’ music, I'm a big fan of Swingle Singers' renditions of Mozart, from ‘A Cappella Amadeus’. They're magical for me somehow: I was able to have their songs on both alarm clock and ringtone, for years, without coming to hate them. This is while being cold to both ‘classical music’ and acappella in general.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dLWdHh39p0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e06TWt4jvg
Dub music itself was actually more popular with the british audience than jamaican audience. Producers like Mad Professor and Scientist and even King Tubby made their dub records specifically to release in England.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERy-99vXxnM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUzcKlgy_a4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p3Rx0t0jiw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alGgaKPaswI
The other quite famous track of his is https://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/track/deep-cover-2 also from the HM soundtrack
E.g. ‘Canopy’ here https://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/album/boat-trip
All of ‘Heavy Deeds’: https://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-deeds
and ‘On Patrol’, which is full of this deep sound: https://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/album/on-patrol
‘Off Duty’ and ‘Sun Ark’ too.
Stallones later switched to guitar noodling and more spacey compositions, which aren't so groovy—though also interesting sometimes.
He also made an album ‘Icon Give Thank’ with M. Geddes Gengras and The Congos, which is pretty much Sun Araw plus actual dub: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HWvqL-pbH2U
Consider this example, which I'm even somewhat uncomfortable sharing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEJ6JVBUBmk
Agreed! I feel myself relaxing every time i hear the opening notes of this track - Harry Mudie and King Tubby's 'Full Dose Of Dub':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcpoD5gmvhY
Stone In Focus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q86g1aop6a8
Rhubarb - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AWIqXzvX-U
Tha - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGC90fmf8gw
Avril 14th - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6dGAZTj8xA
Can't wait for the next BoC release though!
(still remember zapping through the channels on our kitchen TV stumbling on it - about 20 years ago - it's so weird, you just don't forget that)
Link: https://youtu.be/l6_0UIknW-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFeUBOJgaLU
https://medium.com/@metalex9/generating-more-of-my-favorite-...
As for the overall opera Le Nozze di Figaro, there’s a good scene in Amadeus where Salieri praises it [3].
[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnlsLBMzLQo
[2]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTfiboMetpY
The fact that it doesn't appear on the list by the researches cited in this article suggests a grave oversight.
Music for Airports was also the first in a series by Eno designed to take advantage of his "ambient speaker technigue" wherein you take a third speaker, in addition to the stereo pair, place it behind the listener, and connect it's two terminals to the two + (positive) terminals each channel on your amplifier.
Call it poor man's quadraphonic. It basically sends side information (or any signal not present on the other channel such as an instrument panned all the way to one side) to this third speaker.
It sounds great.
Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaSi7Gut7xM shop link: https://boomkat.com/artists/stars-of-the-lid
Thomas Köner - Daikan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICcK6Li5OfM shop link: https://boomkat.com/products/daikan
(disclosure: no affiliation with boomkat or the artists, i just love the music & think it is worth supporting)
That's why I think this article makes no sense.
I got anxious of the most stupid things. This was also triggered by some music. It doesn't matter if the music is calming. What matters is what is happening in your head.
It seems to be the trend to meditate or to listen to soothing music when you are anxious. But please: if you are really having issues with anxiety: go see the doctor.