Musical Monday 4: Study Sess Survival

Second week in a row: Musical Monday published on a  Monday... wooo! go me! epic happiness ensues (forget the fact there's only a little over 90 minutes left in today, STILL COUNTS!)

In honor of the beginning of bar prep tomorrow (OMGEEE, so terrifying) I have compiled some of my favorite music to study to for your and my reference.  I know I will likely need to return to this post multiple times this summer to remind myself where I can find good music

Study Sess Survival 

Olafur Arnalds - Ljosio

Bon Iver - Holocene

Sooo hypnotizing, right? This got me through 3L finals.  If you go to the Bon Iver YouTube Page you can watch a playlist of some of the music videos as well as all of the videos which were included in the DELUXE release of the self-titled Sophomore album which won Best Alternative Music Album and the Man Behind Bon Iver Justin Vernon the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Sigur Ros+BBC/Nat. Geo's Planet Earth 

Some brilliant person out there decided to combine the visuals of Nat Geo/BBC's Planet Earth with the symphonically epic music of Sigur Ros, the result is: Spec.tac.u.lar. the challenge is not to get drawn into the the breathtaking beauty of the video.  I have to listen to this with the window minimized if I'm actually trying to get work done.  On a break however, these are a saving reminder of how life is bigger than me, it's bigger than whatever work I'm doing, and all I can hope to do is contribute something small and good to it.

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine

Just great music, post-modern deconstructed rock.  The melodic guitars evoke the feelings of holding hands with someone you care about.  I'm surprised I haven't used more of this blog to wax on about my love fore Explosions in the Sky so here's another video to make up for their absence thus far:

Explosions in the Sky - The Only Moment We Were Alone

There is a music video for this which plays in my head every time i hear this song. It's a colorless, frozen moment in time which flashes to the past and future during the crashing drums at the epic height of the song's climax before slowly freezing again.  This is my true escape-from-reality-song, and I have a feeling I'll need it in the weeks to come....

Study Music (and videos)

So since it's finals week, I am prone to think about all the other wonderful things I can do with my time besides study.  I've really grown to like the idea of promoting music on my blog, since that's what i spend the majority of my time doing when perusing the internet.

What's ironic here is that in my procrastination I'm going to highlight the music I most enjoy when studying!

So here are some of my favorites to listen to while writing/studying/reading/absorbing knowledge.  Hopefully you can put these on in the background and enjoy some great, mellow, transportative (OK, well I know it's not a word and there's an actual word out there that means the same thing but it's finals week and my brain is fried so give me a break!). Sometimes it's hard not to watch the videos as well...

Sigur Ros "Glosoli"

There are a lot of great videos combining the beautiful music of Sigur Ros with breathtaking footage from Planet Earth, I have to keep the window minimized when watching this one

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Soundtrack "At Wit's End".   Gotta love the sweeping dramatic songs Hans Zimmer composes

Explosions in the Sky "The Only Moment We Were Alone" Epic Post-Modern Rock

Bon Iver "Towers"  Off the self-titled sophomore album, in my opinion the song ends way too soon.  The video is also hypnotic

And a pick-me up song for when you realize you've dozed off cause it's 2:30am and you're nowhere near finished writing/studying:

m83 "Midnight City" the driving back beat is more effective than coffee when it comes to keeping my eyes open late-night.

And an appropriate song for the season that ALWAYS gets me through December Finals Week:

Vince Guaraldi Trio "Christmastime is Here (Instrumental)" Oh Charlie Brown!

Finally, a treat for those who have made it this far:

This is what I did as a study break on Friday... 

 I really need a creative outlet and felt inspired to sing. There may be more coming...