With some of us in school, about to be so, recently graduated, or nostalgic for that stressed-out shut-in feeling, this thread could help keep our respective grinds interactive. If you're here on a break, it could help you set up a new playlist. If you're procrastinating (*baleful glower*) it could remind you to stay on track and that you aren't alone in the papery swamps. This thread is as much for inspiration as moral support.

Post a video or two, if you can. Put a comment or two with each, but remember to get your work done. Keep at it, fellows! One eye on the prize ahead, one pointed inward.


Tony turned me on to this, and I agree: good studying music.

Lustre - Moonlit Meadow, Wonder
Unthreatening, atmospheric, and foggy. It does a good amount to cancel the noise both in one's head and the outside world, and maintains a patient pace that can feel comfortingly timeless.


Another winner from the recommending wizard, Inspector_Satan:

Velnias - Reverend Flames of Antiquity, RuneEater
Blackened/, death/, funeral/ doesn't matter. Doom and studying go great for me. I enjoy the immersion in general for studying. Velnias could be a little vigorous for some, but from where I'm sitting, it pushes all the dross aside and lends an associated element of additional interest to whatever I'm working on. I know I'm going to be at it for a while, and I'm once again comfortable with that knowledge.


This is one of my lasting favorites to study to:

Skepticism - Sign of the Storm, Stormcrowfleet
I come back to this album a lot. This is the only one of Skepticism's I find appropriate, however. A heavy mix of atmosphere and focus. Great for both reading and writing, studying and thinking, looking up from the page to think or take some notes isn't a jarring experience. Makes it really easy to just keep going.

I'm glad you like that Lustre album, check out the earlier ones since it's basically the same thing! Good thread, remember to follow the simple instructions in the OP, guys.

I'm actually writing a paper right now (about a famous cemetery in Montréal) and black metal really fits the theme. I like the atmospheric aggression the style has. I heard the new Isvind for the first time just now and it's a good compromise between fast paced riffy Immortalesque Norwegian stuff and a more contemplative style of black metal. That's my favorite song on the album. While Intet Lever is better, Isvind is still a pretty damn good and underrated band.


NP: I Shalt Become - Poison. It still fits for the same reasons, it's not a metal style that will make it impossible to think while reading or writing.

Not studying, but silent job-hunting in the library to.......

Legendary Pink Dots - The Golden Age

Perhaps this will be helpful.

I wrote an article earlier to the tune of Sunrise. Some of the better Europower of the last few years.

as a general rule, my study music should be kinda drawn out, dirgey, not too full on - essentially, background music. i don't want anything that demands too much attention while i'm studying. burzum works fantastically for this, as does summoning, newer moonsorrow, a fair bit of post-rock, etc. oh, and opeth.

but lately i have to admit i've been listening to this one album by a guy called MC FITTI and i can't get the shit out of my head, no matter how hard i try (it's not metal at all, btw.) this has become the soundtrack to the last 2 weeks of my life *sigh*

i'm definitely going to give this a crack next - listened to a minute or so, exactly what i want for this purpose!

Karl Sanders works pretty well. Or maybe Senmuth.

My favorite studying music is usually Classical. Drone is ok at times too, but a lot of the time I need the sense of energy and traditional beauty that classical can provide in abundance. I study math and computer science though, and I'd probably listen to something else if I was studying something less abstract in nature like sociology or history.

Philip Glass is probably my favorite for this kind of activity. He doesn't do anything complicated, but it's just beautiful in a geometric sounding way that is very conducive to mathematics and pretty much any kind of logic.


Baroque stuff like Bach is also amazing. I love listening to Bach or something equally energetic when I feel like I'm on the edge of a great (well... relatively speaking) idea and need a little push.

I'm interested in knowing what you guys study because I think that has an effect on what works for you.

The night before every major exam I studied while listening to Judas Priest's Nostradamus. No real idea why, just seemed to be in the mood for it.

I'm not currently studying per se, but I'm writing my final assignment before being fully "trained" as a shop employee.
Mostly I simply can't listen if I have to concentrate on the stuff I'm working on. I always end up focusing more on the music than the homework/assignment. If I know the music too well I follow it in my head, and if I don't know it already I focus on listening to it to find out if I like it or not. I tried listening to really unmelodic stuff like ambient or drone, but it doesn't really help. I need total silence or a very very very low volume to study.

Mournful Congregation - "Mother Water, The Sea Wept", The Monad of Creation

Really coming to like this band, the more I listen. All of their albums are growers. Next is the Book of Kings. Going to stick with the weeping traipse for now.

edit: Book of Kings was too much. like .. way.

Wow! First time listening to Lustre, and... yeah, I guess "wow" says it all.

I usually put on Theatre of Tragedy's Aégis when studying. They are electronic/gothic oriented, with steady beats and calm vocals and melodies. On a side note: I always go for a run before sitting down. It always helps me thinking clearly about things. Maybe the increased blood flow makes the brain more alert, but I have no idea whether that's the case. Just a tip

Writing a bit to The Meads of Asphodel.



Dark, heavy and inspiring.

Headed into new-to-me doom today while I check out bands in upcoming shows I have to decide between. Bell Witch and Lycus up first.


Not the most "inspired" (and I'm not particularly into the band name), but makes solid background music.
I'll keep this around, and an eye on them. It definitely does the work and hopefully upcoming albums will be more expansive.
edit: Downright challenging to stay concentrated in parts, but has fodder for a mellow metal mix tape.

Gloam, however, I liked much better. Not sure how it's going to go for studying, but I definitely want to listen to more from them.

Not studying as it is, but I'll start working tomorrow at the institute, and I'm currently preparing the classroom activities to the tune of Rose Kemp's Golden Shroud:



Quite heavy doom with crazy vocals, but I find it to be rather soothing.

^ can't say I feel the same way.

Both Lycus and Bell Witch, as you might imagine, didn't last long. Good albums, but .. not just now.

Studying hypertension and the different drugs to treat it.
Currently listening to Alda - Tahoma.

http://eternalwarfare.bandcamp.com/album/tahoma

Just finished a few non-euclidean proofs. Shoegaze and dreampop went very well with it. Now I have to do my abstract algebra homework. This requires massive headbangable grooves.

NP: Dying Fetus - Absolute Defiance

The majority of my studying for the last week or two has been done to Sigh's work up to and including Hail Horror Hail. Something about the band's music lends itself very well to leafing through academic articles pertaining to psychology.

Plowed through a sociology paper over the past two days while being forced to listen to a scattered of Motorhead, Rammstein (from my co-worker's laptop) and then a three hour American opera called Vanessa .. which isn't very good. At least I'm done with the paper.

I finished a didactic paper while listening to Solstafir, great atmospheric music, contemplative enough for studies!

Neurosis - No River To Take Me Home

I'm finishing an assignment and this is so damned perfect, I tell you! The whole album (The Eye of Every Storm) is beautiful!

Ahab's The Divinity of Oceans while I was reading. It's probably better for writing, but there was a cat on me so there was no chance of getting up to change it. You know how it is. Took some getting used to, but in the end I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad I didn't "jump ship" .. haha!

On the next road trip I take (or uninterrupted train trip) I'll be listening to a great deal of this kind of thing. Not my favorite of theirs, but that worked in its favor for this purpose.

Rotten Sound is getting me through my studying today. Got a big exam tomorrow night in my behavioral research class. Adrenaline pumping, pissed off music like this is good for giving me the energy and focus I need to get through it.

Running is good for the brain. The exercise releases endorphins so you have more energy and improves your mood.

I was working on math today, and was listening to Depths of Depravity and Necrophagist. Surprisingly, they actually helped me concentrate much better!

Wow funny, I am typing up an essay right now, and for some reason when I ever I am typing/writing essay, I like to like listen to Opeth, I generally listen to the entire Damnation album as it's soothing and helps me think, after the album is over I switch to one of their heavier albums to finish it up and give me a boost after all the mellowness. But Opeth in general is my Essay band. However Weirdly Bathory is my go to band for math homework. But I think that is because I discovered them while doing Mirco homework. Haha.

Guys, if you get a chance, please embed a vid selection from your post. Makes it easier for us who tab flip to just throw it on and see what you're talking about if unfamiliar. Thanks.

Ok, here is some of the stuff I was listening to.

Depths of Depravity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsm1MRsLa2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn9dgVVjj1w

Necrophagist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9RJXWxth5g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBGixxuu2E

Transilvanian Hunger works pretty well as background music. Also, Trencadis by Nattramn (ex-Silencer):

Metal has a tendency to distract my attention and take my mental energy away from studying. I prefer music that's less upfront, a little less 'human,' and more upbeat to propel me along on intellectual excursions.

When I get knee deep in papers I usually throw Autechre's entire discography on shuffle and get jamming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKVbdS2hB3A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU_A5p04VXc

The contrasts between atmospheric, repetitive beats (early career) and schizo glitch (later) always gets my mental cogs turning.

*edited, cuz failed me*

Halo Manash, a project I first heard several years ago, but never knew was a side project or would ever be on MA.


Dark Ambient is really the way to go for me when it comes to studying, but if I put up more dark ambient, it will only be from side projects and with profiles on MA.

edit: ach forget that. Just found the electronic/shoegaze/drone rec thread and there's way too much good stuff there to not put up here. If it's in a rec thread here, it must qualify!

I hardly ever had any true, go-to "study music" back in school, but I do remember two nights in particular when I had to pull all-nighters studying for exams I had the next morning (I've always been a bit of a night owl, but I still pulled WAY too many all-nighters in college, ugh). One night, I essentially listened to nothing but "N.W.O." for 8 hours straight; start the music vid playing on Youtube, study for the next 5 & 1/2 minutes, then bring up the Youtube tab again for a sec and hit the replay button when the song/vid ends/starts fading out, wash, rinse repeat for 8 fuckin' hours non-stop. The driving tempo and hypnotic repetition of the song just gradually soaked its way deeper and deeper and deeper into my skull over the course of the night, getting me into a sort of trance that helped me stay focused a LOT better than I would've without it, while still allowing me to gradually unveil new, buried layers of sounds and nuances in the song that I had never noticed before, and also never would have noticed otherwise; not bad, eh?

Yesterday I was reading, so this never would have worked, but tonight I'm just collecting notes for a paper listening to Labyrinth! Fun as shit. I can't ever spend much time away from the power/speed metal thread anyway. Works great for this kind of thing. Keeps me alert, keeps the tedious page-flipping and quotation searching fun and helps me keep up a good pace, since this part of the process is fucking dull and can take forever. Music makes school work so much more fun!

More of the same note harvesting, but this time to DEATH METAL!!!!!!

Thanks to Ilwhyan and CrushedRevelation for making today's work beyond bearable .. BRUTALIZING THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOMEWORK!!