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Thread: Music and the psyche

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    Music and the psyche

    Some people like certain music becasue of the way it makes them feel physically, others for how it makes them feel mentally, and others for how it enhances the desired emotion of the moment.

    BUT I wonder is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices?

    For me it isn't.

    My favourite band is Cardiacs. But when I want to be at ease with myself, to think and analyse my life, i.e I suppose be myself, then it is always Jethro Tull, Kate Bush, Dire Straits, Squeeze. I think it is a combination of their very apt and well observed lyrics and their connection to 70s and 80s British society and culture that means that those bands put me in that contemplative frame of mind, whether I want it or not.
    Last edited by PeterG; 02-10-2016 at 08:55 PM.

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    Member at least 100 dead's Avatar
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    Repetitive music always induces the old contemplative: Steve Reich, The Fall, early Simple Minds, Neu!, Can…music that stays in one groove, engulfs you in sheets of sound and can both relax and invigorate.
    "Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."

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    Member davis's Avatar
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    Most people I know just want music to dance to.

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    Quote Originally Posted by at least 100 dead View Post
    Repetitive music always induces the old contemplative: Steve Reich, The Fall, early Simple Minds, Neu!, Can…music that stays in one groove, engulfs you in sheets of sound and can both relax and invigorate.
    Absolutely... Here are 2 by the buzzcocks that have been with me for a long time. Repetitive ecstasy!! Hypnotic... Action packed... Deceptively simpls.

    Still alive and well...

  5. #5
    Those are two droning and repetitive songs that do wonders for me, but my favorite for listening and for the state of mind i am most comfortable in, has been king crimson, doors, most procol harum songs, jethro tull, radiohead, coldplay even. Some music just fits our psyche so well and some does not fit at all.... Queen for example irritates the shit out of me.
    Still alive and well...

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Different music for different moods.

    Sometimes it's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and sometimes it's Shostakovich's 3rd. In general though I have a hard time enduring repetitive primitive low-talent stuff -- though I love Krautrock. YMMV

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Whatever goes best with bucking my loins back and forth wildly, for about 10 minutes, and then gets quiet enough so I can fall asleep instantly.

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    Member Rick Robson's Avatar
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    Funny, since when Dire Straits was a new band to me (and went through a binge for a couple of years back then), curiously most of their music still takes me into a bright sunny day at the beach with beautiful and happy people all around hahah
    Perhaps due to their music feel pretty energetic to me. Some tracks by The Smiths still do it to me too.
    "Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nijinsky Hind View Post
    Some music just fits our psyche so well and some does not fit at all....
    That is EXACTLY what I'm getting at. In fact I nearly called the thread, "which band is your id?" i.e. the artist that fits your mind best whenever you hear it, regardless of current mood, and immediately changes your mood whenever you hear it, to a mood of ease and reflection, and fits your psyche/soul like a glove. AND my question to all was, is that artist that fits your psyche so well also your favourte artist or not?
    Last edited by PeterG; 02-10-2016 at 08:55 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Different music for different moods.

    Sometimes it's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and sometimes it's Shostakovich's 3rd. In general though I have a hard time enduring repetitive primitive low-talent stuff -- though I love Krautrock. YMMV
    BUT is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices? I'm asking about ONE mood here.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    BUT is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices? I'm asking about ONE mood here.
    Seriously, it is to me. Pink Floyd's music like WYWH, and also the live stuff from 1970/71.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Seriously, it is to me. Pink Floyd's music like WYWH, and also the live stuff from 1970/71.
    I feel ya. And if PF were my fav band I'd probably go along with that. The only problem I have with Floyd is that I've never connected with their lyrics, not enough social observation or realism in them to make me feel at home.

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    I tend to shy away from realistic and literal lyrics... More into suggestive, make of it what you will type lyrics. Take KCs LIZARD for example... Hollow vote, burn a bridge burn a boat, lizard by the throat... Stuff like that... Imagination running wild.
    Still alive and well...

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    BUT is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices? I'm asking about ONE mood here.
    I don't have one mood; ergo I don't have one favorite band.

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    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Some people like certain music becasue of the way it makes them feel physically, others for how it makes them feel mentally, and others for how it enhances the desired emotion of the moment.

    BUT I wonder is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices?

    Beats the crap out of me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post

    Beats the crap out of me.
    Never heard of them, what's their best album?

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    depending on my mood, it's the right blend of music and lyrics that satisfy me.
    it's rare to find a band whose music and lyrics go hand in hand.
    usually they struggle to match that success of one with the other.
    Renaissance was successful in their prime.
    Rush did it in the late 80's but with a price, their fans didn't buy into the techno melodies.

  18. #18
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    I usually don't listen to music when I want to be at ease. When I listen to music I just wanna bang my head on my stearing wheel, or play air guitar.

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    Member jake's Avatar
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    I always tried studying to slow-moving music while at school. One of my faves was "An Index of Metals" from Evening Star by Fripp and Eno - but the problem was I didn't find it useful as background music and spent my time switching between my work and analyzing the music. Over the years I have found that the best way for me to block out the outside world and study or sleep is to have quite loud abrasive white noise type sounds/music. For me Merzbow's music is perfect for drifting off to sleep although i don't have much time for it when actively listening to music. It is almost as if this type of music erases all mental distractions and allows me to truly relax.
    Now if only I could convince the wife......

  20. #20
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    I feel ya. And if PF were my fav band I'd probably go along with that. The only problem I have with Floyd is that I've never connected with their lyrics, not enough social observation or realism in them to make me feel at home.
    I go more for the music than the lyrics. Waters or Gilmour could sing football scores and it wouldn't make that much difference to me.

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    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    BUT I wonder is your favourite band also the band that puts you at ease, in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyse your life and choices?
    Definitely not. When I want to be in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyze my life and choices, I turn the music off.

    Not that certain music/lyrics don't still inform my thoughts when I'm in a contemplative meed, and some of that music is among my favorites. CttE, for example, which is about the quest for spiritual ascendance, is one I might think about. But I don't want to be distracted by music when I'm thinking such thoughts.

    Bill

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    Member Rick Robson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    Definitely not. When I want to be in a contemplative mood in which to think and analyze my life and choices, I turn the music off.

    Not that certain music/lyrics don't still inform my thoughts when I'm in a contemplative meed, and some of that music is among my favorites. CttE, for example, which is about the quest for spiritual ascendance, is one I might think about. But I don't want to be distracted by music when I'm thinking such thoughts.

    Bill
    +1, same on here. Btw, there is an album that certainly would steer one's thoughts:
    The Two Sides Of Leonard Nimoy (1986)

    fthe_two_si011c1ac53d2803247ad8fc.jpg
    "Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven

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