It’s our back to school issue, classes are starting back up and although we’d rather not think about it, actual schoolwork and studying is back on the horizon.
Study soundtracks are a pretty personal alchemical recipe for people, and obviously a lot depends on your specific brain chemistry, so I’ve tried to go for a range of tempo and activity levels with these songs.
The first stretch of this playlist is higher energy and more hyperactive. I personally need some stimulation and background chatter to really focus, so I prefer to post up in a busy area and turn on some techno. This strategy is represented here by a few skittering beauties from Canada’s finest producers, such as Edmonton’s Khotin with “iash.xv” off his Archive 13-15 compilation, or Montreal-based Jacques Greene’s spectral breakbeat track “Do It Without You.”
One’s personal emotional vibe when studying also takes some consideration. Some tracks here are melancholic and cold, like Ouri and Zach Frampton’s haunting “figure profane,” or warm and comforting like The Golden Age of Wrestling’s “outlaw run.” I also wanted to highlight a new age hippy-tinged side of ambient and electronic music with some good vibes courtesy of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Joseph Shabason and Yu Su.
The final stretch is where things really space out and branch into some darker vibes. If hypnotizing noise and drone gets you focused, start with local duo Ardor’s track “Spring Declares Itself ” and go from there. If you like them, catch them and Texas wizard Claire Rousay at this year’s send + receive festival.
So start up this playlist and get to cracking those books fellow Bisons. Pull up to your favourite spot on campus and study easy knowing that you have the coolest study music in the world going through your headphones.
iash.xv — Khotin, Archive 13-15
Do It Without You — Jacques Greene, Dawn Chorus
figure profane — Ouri, Zach Frampton, bt002 : self hypnosis tape
Closed Space — CFCF, Liquid Colours
Ahora — Daphni, Jiaolong
Touch-Me-Not — Yu Su, Yellow River Blue
Old Melody — Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Keyboard Fantasies
Escape from North York — Joseph Shabason, The Fellowship
outlaw run — The Golden Age of Wrestling, Crossface Chicken Wing
Dimension Intrusion — F.U.S.E., Dimension Intrusion (25th Anniversary Edition)
Spring Declares Itself — Ardor, Spring Declares Itself
discrete (the market) — Claire Rousay, a softer focus
Hatred of Music II — Tim Hecker, Ravedeath, 1972
Diamond Cove (And Its Children Were Watching) — Kyle Bobby Dunn, Bring Me The Head of Kyle Bobby Dunn
Headache — Grouper, Paradise Valley
To listen to this playlist, head over to our Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Tut57GFeXdpRi2blGch6W?si=b38b1ba582134d04&nd=1
