Offtopic: study music

As in music that you listen to while studying for days on end, not the study of music.
I can't listen to anything with words (even in another language), but voices are ok, as long as I'm unfamiliar with the piece, that way I can't sing along. I prefer mixed instrumental or orchestral as opposed to a single instrument, otherwise I focus too much on the one instrument.
I need to listen to things that I'm not used to hearing, otherwise I just focus on the music. It needs to be somewhat unpredictable without being a cacophony. I'm getting too familiar with my usual rotation. Need some new stuff.
Stuff that works: the brandenburg, handel's water music, eric satie's gymnopedies and gnossiennes and others, some of schubert's string quartets... can't remember the others.
Doesn't work: vivaldi's 4 seasons (well, winter is ok, but the other 3 don't work)
Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK0yv9ME-h8
Recommend almost anything by moondog, but this album is just amazing
Mahler's 5th and 3rd is also amazing, Shostakovich 2nd 5th and 7th aswell. hope that helps

Thanks! This moondog guy is a character

contributing.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomasGrut

Sigur Ros have been my study companions this past week. You say voices are ok but not words in another language? That doesn't entirely make sense to me, unless you mean voices as in just saying things but they don't mean anything. Anyway, Sigur Ros seems to fit nearly all your caveats. They do sing in some of their albums, but it's either in Icelandic or for some songs they literally just use made up words and gibberish, it still sounds amazing either way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf1h2PMPCAo

METAL is my genre of choice!

Always has been, always will be. \m/

Vreedzame wrote:Sigur Ros have been my study companions this past week. You say voices are ok but not words in another language? That doesn't entirely make sense to me, unless you mean voices as in just saying things but they don't mean anything. Anyway, Sigur Ros seems to fit nearly all your caveats. They do sing in some of their albums, but it's either in Icelandic or for some songs they literally just use made up words and gibberish, it still sounds amazing either way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf1h2PMPCAo

Thanks! What I mean by the words thing is that if there's english (or french) words, I listen to them, cause I speak english&french. If i already know the lyrics, i sing them in my head (and therefore cannot focus on whatever I'm supposed to be learning). With spanish, which I understand a lot of, but which I can't speak very well, I focus on the words too much because I see it as a spanish lesson or a challenge in understanding the phrases . Japanese doesn't work either cause I'm in the process of learning it, so I focus in on the words too much and get all excited when I understand a chunk. Same with latin and italian and german. The nordic languages aren't so bad and icelandic might be ok cause it's completely unrecognizable to me. I just have a natural instinct to try and figure out what people are saying when they're speaking or singing, so it's too distracting.
Voices that are just singing notes are not as distracting, cause I know there's nothing to figure out.

-- Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:41 am --

Oh and thanks MrFeathers, that is absolutely perfect.

Obumbrata wrote:Thanks! What I mean by the words thing is that if there's english (or french) words, I listen to them, cause I speak english&french. If i already know the lyrics, i sing them in my head (and therefore cannot focus on whatever I'm supposed to be learning). With spanish, which I understand a lot of, but which I can't speak very well, I focus on the words too much because I see it as a spanish lesson or a challenge in understanding the phrases . Japanese doesn't work either cause I'm in the process of learning it, so I focus in on the words too much and get all excited when I understand a chunk. Same with latin and italian and german. The nordic languages aren't so bad and icelandic might be ok cause it's completely unrecognizable to me. I just have a natural instinct to try and figure out what people are saying when they're speaking or singing, so it's too distracting.
Voices that are just singing notes are not as distracting, cause I know there's nothing to figure out.

Ah, makes sense. I always seem to blank out and let the lyrics wash over me personally. I have to pay attention to what they are actually singing about if I want to understand the lyrics. Often that presents a problem in itself if the topic they are discussing makes me think because I'll get distracted again so I have to rewind and listen again.

Bo Hansson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wr2tuUrEbI#t=9m

Björn Olsson:
http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%C3%B6rn+Ols ... ab/Track+3

Eric Malmberg:
http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Malmberg/_/%C3%96verjaget
(wait at least until 2:50 before you give up on it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io62tcaDVo4