I've seen quite a few people post stories about going through a hard time, getting frustrated with life, getting mad at the general state of society, being depressed or lonely, and various other stressors that life has thrown at them.
I want to share with you guys some of the music that saved my life when I went through some of the worst portions of my mental illness. When voices were attacking with relentless fervor with stress from school, work, etc piling up, sitting back and listening to these would put my brain into a state that allowed me to rise above it and vanquish my inner demons.
When looking for or listening to healing music you need to take a few things into account. First, you need to stop listening to songs and instead listen to albums. By that, I'm not necessarily saying you need to listen to the whole CD that your favorite song was on, but rather true albums that do not have any seams between songs and you can't actually determine precisely where track two or five began. Some albums have very minimal seams between tracks and allow for the same results, sometimes it's just a quiet end and a quiet begin of the next track, or sometimes the songs are just so similar in style and the artist was developing with the whole album in mind so that it doesn't make a difference. This seamless or near seamless album structure is one of the things that will help mend your mind. Sit back, don't make any decisions, and just let the music pour over you for an hour, then move on to the next album you wish to listen to. So many people are listening to radio, playlists, internet radio, etc, which are good tools for locating music and music genres but should not be the way that you enjoy music as it can damage your focus.
When listening to a playlist created by you or someone else or even a music CD that is song based instead of seamless, you sit there in anticipation of what the next song is going to be or trying to force enjoyment of the current song because it's your favorite. You are anticipating the end of the current track, and not truly enjoying the song that you are currently listening to. As a result, many people end up listening to songs they enjoy on loop so they can enjoy the song. This also isn't really very healthy as there is no proper "end" to what you are listening to, and you have to decide when to end it by yourself. It also does have a proper "end" that interrupts your self-healing process.
Think of it like sleep. Would your body rather have 16 good quality 30 minute naps in a row where it wakes up and gets interrupted, or a full 8-hour continous sleep? Your mind is very similar when listening to music. It would much rather listen to a 1 hour continous quality album than get interrupted and readjust to a new song every 5 minutes.
Other ways to reduce the amount of distraction is to either listen to music that has no lyrics, minimal lyrics, or is in a language you do not know. This reduces the amount of friction in your brain as it's trying to decipher meaning from the lyrics, or trying to keep up with what the people are saying subconsciously.
Listening to albums like this can repair some of the ills that society pushes on us. We get pushed headlines and summaries of what's happening the world, we get bite sized information shares in the form of tweets or facebook posts, we get micromanaged at work into various metrics, we are constantly texting instead of sharing quality time with our friends, we play video games that are based on being killed repeatedly and starting over, etc. Think of music like a #goodlongread. In fact, go browse #goodlongread while listening to healing music or grab a book. Relax for the first half hour or so and focus on the music, then move on to do things that require your focus and are more passive activities and are not stressful or task oriented with the music in the background. You can also meditate if you are into that sort of thing.
Now that my ranting is over, let's get to the actual music.
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Williamson - A Few Things to Hear Before We All Blow Up [Spotify] [Magnatune] [YouTube]
Eitan Reiter - Places I Miss That I Haven't Been To [YouTube]
Robert Miles - Organik [Spotify] [YouTube]
BT - Monster Soundtrack [YouTube]
Shulman - In Search of a Meaningful Moment [YouTube]
Amon Tobin - ISAM [Spotify] [YouTube]
Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life [Spotify] [YouTube]
m-seven - Activate [Spotify]
Solar Fields - Blue Moon Station [Spotify] [YouTube]
Xerxes - The Mirror Formula [Spotify] [YouTube]
Asura - Lost Eden [YouTube]
Ott - Skylon [Spotify] [YouTube]
Broadway Project - Compassion [Spotify] [YouTube]
Sophie and Ives - Untie Me [Spotify]
Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place [Spotify] [YouTube]
Shpongle - Museum of Consciousness [Spotify] [YouTube]
Little People - Mickey Mouse Operation [Spotify] [YouTube]
Bliss - Afterlife [Spotify] [YouTube]
Chaos Control - Instrumental Alchemy [Spotify] [YouTube]
Patrick O'Hearn - So Flows the Current [Spotify] [YouTube]
William Orbit - Hello Waveforms [YouTube]
Carbon Based Lifeforms - Hydroponic Garden [Spotify] [YouTube]
This Will Destroy You - S/T [Spotify] [YouTube]
Sigur Ros - () [Spotify] [YouTube]
Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune [Spotify] [YouTube]
Bluetech - The Divine Invasion [Spotify] [YouTube]
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination [Spotify] [YouTube]
Spatialize - In the Midst of Myriads [Spotify] [YouTube]
Hibernation - Some Things Never Change [Spotify] [YouTube]
Jon Hopkins - Opalescent [Spotify] [YouTube]
Jami Sieber - Hidden Sky [Magnatune] [Spotify] [YouTube]
Kaya Project - Walking Through [Spotify] [YouTube]
Kuba - How the Future Sounded [YouTube]
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Have albums or music that has helped you get through a hard time? Share it in the comments, it doesn't necessarily have to be the same style as all of this, I know I tend to listen to ambient psychedelic electronica mostly. I tried to filter out some of the lyrically oriented music that I like as well for "healing" since it went against the ideas I presented at the top (Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, Zero 7, and Thievery Corporation immediately come to mind here). Also of note, almost all orchestral or classical music fits this description as well, with the exception of composers that did marches or such like John Philip Sousa.
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- Let us remember
Life's such a beautiful mistake
It's precious and fragile
Sometimes more than we can take
It's stronger than fire
Greater than all things men create
And I don't know what you want from me
But I don't want to be perfect anymore
-Brian Transeau (BT)
Love Spirals Downward - Ardor Lycia - Estrella Rhea's Obsession - Between the Earth and Sky Sophya - The Age of Sophya Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth Black Lung - Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars cEvin Key - Music For Cats. Can't find a stream for the whole album, but here's Wind on Small Paws
Here's a full half hour of Southern healing. Everything is better after this.
Great post. Thank you. My mom is very Catholic and I am not so she loves to tell this story. When I was about five or so she heard the stereo cranked up and came to see what was going on. Walked into the living room and there I was in a Jesus Christ pose lying on the floor in front of the speakers with some music blasting. I am not sure but I think it was either Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or Vivaldi's Four Seasons. She turned it down and asked "What are you doing?", to which I replied "Listening to God." And I absolutely still feel that way. Music can dig right down into your subconscious, make the world go away and make everything right. It may seem trite and/or silly but Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon" also changed my life... literally. And so that is still one of my comfort albums. I used to sit in the dark in my attic, smoking doobies and listening to music. When I was nearing the end of high school I did not have a plan about what to do. The vast majority of my friends were not heading off to university unless they had athletic scholarships and I did not. I guess my parent's always assumed that I would and both my older siblings went to Uni but I had never really thought ahead about that. But the lyrics to "Time" made me get up off my ass: Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun p.s. Zero 7 and Thievery Corporation are amazing. I have no idea how I remember this but the first time I ever made risotto my friend put on Lebanese Blonde.
KB's "music for straights" trick What's that you say? You're throwing a party and you're pretty sure your houseguests aren't going to want a mix of Skinny Puppy, Sepultura and Aaron Copeland? Well here's your trick, friend: 1) search for "lebanese blonde" 2) Click "start genius mix" 3) That's it! Without even thinking about it, your tony houseguests can sit back drinking cosmos and hearing nothing but those Kruder & Dorfmeister, DJ Cam, Thievery Corporation and St. Germain records that you mostly only listen to when your friends come over! ___________________________________ Sorry. I mean, obviously I own all that and I enjoy all that and I listen to all that but Thievery Corporation is the only band I can consistently play for the models and lawyers and have them go "what is this? I really like it!" ;-)
That is one of the reasons why the Garden State soundtrack was so popular. To the vast majority of people everything on that was palatable. lol I remember when I bought St. Germain's Boulevard there was a teenage Asian hipster girl ahead of me buying it and a 55 or so year old jazz fan looking black guy behind me with it and a 30 year old white guy in a suit in the middle. I just left a comment on another post about the Stompin' Tom song "Big Joe Muffaraw": "The first time I ever saw this Stompin Tom a few guys I worked in a warehouse with who were in a thrash metal band convinced me to go. Country was not my thing but there were punks, preps, old and old [I meant young] and everyone in between there and it was awesome. Saw him a bunch of more times."
The Garden Dtate soundtrack was essentially a Shins album. It's an amazing album, it was an amazing album well before Zach Braff screamed into the abyss. It annoyed me that all of a sudden everyone I knew was telling me about this new band. -I know, I know, I'm being the "I liked it before it wAs cool" guy.
There are a couple that have really worked well for me: Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place Tord Gustavsen - The Ground
Another reason I generally prefer music without lyrics is that lyrics rarely capture the exact feelings, moods and perspectives. Especially as those things all change over time - sometimes a very short time. For me abstract beats concrete in most realms of art and expression. I used to scoff at people who ask fortune tellers for their opinions or seek out some kind of divine or supernatural answers for problems in their lives. I had a small epiphany though when I realised that fortune telling can be used as a tool to understand your own deeper feelings rather than be taken at face value. In a similar way I love abstract music because without someone else's narrative pointing me in a specific direction, I only have my own feelings and internal understanding to guide and explore. It can be used as a tool to understand yourself more clearly. Some people find that difficult, scary or uncomfortable, but I like it. I haven't suffered from the same level of mental distress you've mentioned but we all have our dark hours. It's extremely interesting to me that music helps you rise above those issues because for me it's pretty much the opposite. I dive deeper and deeper mentally - sometimes that uncovers horrors and pain - but it's usually incredibly cathartic for me. Other ways to reduce the amount of distraction is to either listen to music that has no lyrics, minimal lyrics, or is in a language you do not know.
I generally can view symptoms as external to myself by diving deep down. I guess for me it's about finding a place of inner peace away from voices or other external forces where I can just... be.It's extremely interesting to me that music helps you rise above those issues because for me it's pretty much the opposite. I dive deeper and deeper mentally - sometimes that uncovers horrors and pain - but it's usually incredibly cathartic for me.
I've also been meditating for many years and the main benefit (I can actually feel) is just that escape from the external distractions. It's such a massive relief to get away from the oppressive assault on your senses and your attention in particular. It's a weird contradiction that music helps me do the same too, since it's engaging your sense of hearing, but I think sound is particularly subtle; more than anything else.
Nice! Which ones? I tried to only suggest one album per artist that I wanted to share. A good portion of what I wanted to add I didn't put up because I can't find them anywhere, not even to purchase. Such as Albert B's "Looking for a New World", he took down over 4 albums he made in the past and I can't find them anywhere. That one in particular is one of my favorite albums and I'm glad I personally still have a copy.
Robert Miles - Organik [Spotify] [YouTube] BT - Monster Soundtrack [YouTube] Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life [Spotify] [YouTube] m-seven - Activate [Spotify] Solar Fields - Blue Moon Station [Spotify] [YouTube] Asura - Lost Eden [YouTube] Sophie and Ives - Untie Me [Spotify] Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place [Spotify] [YouTube] Shpongle - Museum of Consciousness [Spotify] [YouTube] Patrick O'Hearn - So Flows the Current [Spotify] [YouTube] William Orbit - Hello Waveforms [YouTube] Carbon Based Lifeforms - Hydroponic Garden [Spotify] [YouTube] Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune [Spotify] [YouTube] Bluetech - The Divine Invasion [Spotify] [YouTube] Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination [Spotify] [YouTube] I may have to check out some of your other choices.
Bluetech and Entheogenic (who you mentioned) are a part of the Aleph Zero record label: https://aleph-zero.info So are Eitan Reiter, Shulman, Xerxes, Hibernation. You might want to start there.
I own a lot of Bluetech and Entheogenic. I think I own all the Solar Fields, Asura and Carbon Based Lifeforms.
I never realized how much stuff Steve Roach put out until both his and Projekt's bandcamps started uploading his back catalog and a good portion of my RSS feed was Steve Roach every time I refreshed it for months. Dude is prolific.
I believe he's still a couple dozen albums behind Muslimgauze, despite the fact that Bryn Jones has been dead for pushing 20 years. That said, I once wrote an entire script, listening to nothing but Steve Roach, without a repeat. I can do the same with FSOL, but I have to rely on the radio shows.
FSOL is definitely something you can put on and leave on for days on shuffle. I also like putting on Luke Vibert for that. I don't even have all of his albums, but I do have 42 of them... Much stranger music for sure, but not really "healing". Worth mentioning anyway.
Your links did not work, if that is what you meant to do. :( :)
Oh God I am an idiot. I went through your titles and by the time I read this I forgot there were links included. Ugh. haha Another Cabernet please waiter.