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Unlike my freshman roommate, I never had the ability to study while listening to my favorite songs.  I just couldn’t handle the competition between written text and sung vocals.

But that all changed in grad school when I discovered the magic of instrumental playlists.  With instrumentals, I could appease my need for audio stimulation without those pesky, distracting vocals. I compiled lists of instrumentals by my favorite bands (Pixies, Yo La Tengo, American Analog Set), threw ‘em on my iPod, and enterred a beautiful zen-like state.

Above is a playlist of my 10 favorite instrumentals from the OurStage instrumental channels.  Here’s a track list:

1. Ian Mackintosh reminds me of Fatboy Slim meets The Verve on “Too Long To Remember“
2. Max Goldston plays a soothing, solo-acoustic guitar ballad, “Song for Louisa“
3. Zap Rosdower serves up a heaping plate of shoe-gazing dreaminess on “SS Triangle“
4. Josiah Wordsworth with an everchanging piano epic, “Witch Hunt“
5. The Informati channels Sigur Ros with “Confutatis Et Lacrymosa” (contains vocals, but I can’t understand them so I made an exception)
6. Sepia sounds like Mark Mothersbaugh with a simple, uplifting string arrangement on “Et Les Jours Passent“
7. Eroica brings spare, reverb laden guitars (ala Explosions In the Sky) on “[ ]“
8. Barneo makes easy listening music bearable with classical guitars on “Muravi“
9. Hip-hoppers Philadelphia Slick focus on jazz with “Culture Industry Instrumental“
10. Jimynjean paints a haunted, dreamy landscape with “Sleeping Earth“

If you find any others you’d like to add, write me a comment and let me know.  Enjoy!  (And start studying, you lazy bum.)