After the stomping beats of last week’s music post on old house music, I thought it would be apt to slow things down a bit and share with you my ultimate chill out songs. Apart from hyping me up, music’s number one function in my life is to help me unwind in all different kinds of ways. It helps me dance my ass off when I feel like it, but it also helps me get into a perfect mood for sleeping. ZZZzzz music as I ‘d like to call it. I have a playlist filled with songs that help me relax and I listen to it early in the morning to help myself to wake up and shake off the last bouts of sleep, or late at night, right before bed time, when I need some nice and relaxing music to shake off the turmoil of the day. As i have been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days, my ZZZzzz music has definitely kept me going. Here are my go to ZZZzzz songs.
1.) The XX – Crystalized
This song was my go to ZZZzzz song for nearly 2 years. 2 years of listening to this song almost every night before I went to bed and I am still not tired of it.
2.) Angus & Julia Stone – Draw Your Swords
I just play this song on repeat and forget about the world. It’s that good. I love how it swells up into this crescendo. To me the meaning of this song is that you should try to fight for those things you find most important in life.
3.) Múm – Ladies of the Century
Quiet tinkering piano music. This song simply reminds me of a lullaby that I used to have near my bed when I was a kid. You know those machine thingies, with a wire you could pull and some tinkering music would come out? That’s what this reminds me off…
4.) Memoryhouse – Caregiver
The voice of the girl in this band is just soooo soothing. Add the shoegaze-y dreamlike quality of the music and it’s the ultimate I-am-awake-but-not-quite-song.
5.) Gem Club – Acid and Everything
Another soothing voice, but this time male. Again some slow piano music and it’s a bit depressing. But I like depressing songs. It makes me see that life isn’t all that bad afterall.
6.) Nathan Edwin – January 2
Again soothing music, but this time in combination with some gentle guitar strums and a lone mouth organ. Starts melancholic and dark but ends with a spark of hope.
7.) Royksopp – Sparks
This post wouldn’t be complete with at least some form of electronic music. Royksopp is a great example of how electronic beats can still be very useful for creating a calm and relaxed atmosphere.
8.) Mental Generation – Cafe Del Mar
This post would not be complete with some full blown chill out music. Cafe Del Mar is known for its lounge music and this song by Mental Generation is one of the best. It was part of one of the soundtracks of my Body Balance classes so definitely check out those soundtracks when you’re looking for relaxation/ meditation music.
9.) Stupid Loser – Blood Song
Naturally instrumental music is also part of my ZZZzzz list. This song is insanely quiet, but therefore all the more relaxing. It’s so soft you can barely hear it.
10.) X-ray Dog – The Power of One (Choir)
And from the very quiet I will now take you into the very bombastic. This song was originally used as trailer music. These songs have a certain epicness about them that just gets into your system. I like it better than full blown movie pieces, as these type of trailer songs are a lot shorter, yet somehow achieve the same effect.
I also wrote a post last autumn on the types of music I find soothing in general with a few examples. There are also some posts, here and here with other songs not mentioned in this post.
What songs do you listen to to unwind?