As we reach exam season and procrastination is plaguing you, here are some artists to get you motivated and focused.
Vulfpeck/Vulf:
Groovy and motivating, Vulfpeck’s album ‘Mr Finish Line’ is a great driving album and evening walk soundtrack and has recently found its way into my studying lineup. It will give you beats that keep you stimulated with funkiness and repetition that doesn’t require you to rewind the tracks to catch up on any complex metaphors, and a healthy amount of dance breaks.
Vampirska:
For noise rock and grainy brain scratching Vampirska (Glemt are also a good choice) gives you a wide range of quieter and more melodic noise rock as well as screeching walls of guitar sounds that will fill up your brains capacity to focus on anything other than it and your work. It’s an experimental choice, but if you like it you can focus for hours on these tracks of noise.
Girl Talk – All Day:
Girl Talk – All Day is an hour-long 2014 Youtube video mash up album of practically every popular song to that date. I cannot personally vouch for its efficacy in studying, but the people around me listen to this one album only when studying, as if listening to something else is heresy. It is incredibly clean, optimistically nostalgic, endlessly entertaining, and will push you for more. (Not available on Spotify).
King Krule
If you’re a fan of Lo-fi (or wish popular Lo-fi was good), this is the ultimate choice for you. Their 2020 album ManAlive! will guide you off into a realm where you can beat the demons of disserta`tions and fall into focus.
And for the study break:
CAKE
For some ironic and plain-old-fun 90s rock listen to CAKE. My favourite album of theirs is Prolonging the Magic. It’s full of cruising melodic hooks, love-songs, I-hate-you songs, and wow-I’m-so-cool songs; there’s something in there for everyone.
Don’t worry if these don’t work. This time is hard for everyone and we all cope in different ways. If you’re struggling to study, it means you need a break (and not one where you are thinking that you should be working). Put on your favourite album, or a guilty pleasure one, and take a break, you deserve it!