Kevin's Watch

We all handle it in different ways. What songs do you find theraputic when you have anxiety/stress?

The Paul Winter Consort and other such artists generally featured on the weekly radio transmission of Hearts of Space.

The link to the Paul Winter site will start streaming some music if you scroll to the bottom of the page when you first get to it...

Certain Ottmar Liebert CDs, George Winston's piano work--a number of Windham Hill artists like Jim Brickman, Liz Story, Spiro Gyra, Shadofax, Phillip Aberg. Kitaro and Sunrise are very relaxing too.

Menolly wrote:The Paul Winter Consort and other such artists generally featured on the weekly radio transmission of Hearts of Space.

The link to the Paul Winter site will start streaming some music if you scroll to the bottom of the page when you first get to it...

I quite liked the cello snippet from the hos website.

It depends on the nature of the anxiety/stress for me! Sometimes, if I know I'm being silly and shouldn't be feeling the way I do, I find loud heavy guitars (or at least, loud and intense music) to be the solution. Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, Ash's Jack named The Planets, maybe even Wagner's Ride of The Valkyries.

To wind down after more generalised stress like a crap day at work, anything poppy that I know inside out, normally does the trick. Beach Boys, things like that.

Mazzy Star, The Verve, Vertical Horizon, Ben Folds Five, The Pretenders, all anti- anxiety music, for me anyway.

Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

dANdeLION wrote:Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

Mr. Broken wrote:Mazzy Star, The Verve, Vertical Horizon, Ben Folds Five, The Pretenders, all anti- anxiety music, for me anyway.

I can add The Verve and Ben Folds Five to my list, definitely.

The usuals for me are: Portishead, Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine, Radiohead, Ray Lamontagne. Very laid back stuff.

Here's a sample.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_mwUEjuz3Q

Kaydene wrote:

dANdeLION wrote:Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

I can tell you're a girl who prefers honesty over humor.

Okay then.

Yes. Pink Floyd. Supertramp. Rush. Radiohead. Flower Kings. Neal Morse. Spock's Beard. Moody Blues.

dANdeLION wrote:

Kaydene wrote:

dANdeLION wrote:Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

I can tell you're a girl who prefers honesty over humor.

Okay then.

Yes. Pink Floyd. Supertramp. Rush. Radiohead. Flower Kings. Neal Morse. Spock's Beard. Moody Blues.

Mmm Moody Blues. And Pink Floyd as well. Kudos on your taste in music, dAN.

Any music that ends with a chocolate bar.

dANdeLION wrote:

Kaydene wrote:

dANdeLION wrote:Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

I can tell you're a girl who prefers honesty over humor.

Okay then.

Yes. Pink Floyd. Supertramp. Rush. Radiohead. Flower Kings. Neal Morse. Spock's Beard. Moody Blues.

I prefer humor over honesty....... which explains a lot.

I can agree with dAN's first four and the Moodies.
I still don't really know the 5th through 8th groups that dAN lists.

Although I think he's attempted to introduce some of them to me before...

dANdeLION wrote:Barry White music really removes my stress, especially when combined with a hooker.

The stress on your wallet could be severe, though. Guess it depends...

"Treefinger" from Radiohead's Kid A is a very relaxing track for me.
But I've never listened to it by itself. Really, all of Kid A soothes me deeply.

Almost anything by Vangelis will do the trick as well.
If I had to name something, it would be his Opera Sauvage CD. That gets me all pensive.

Steve Reich's Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ is a gently hypnotic piece that gets me warm and fuzzy.
His Variations for Winds, Strings & Keyboards is also calming in a baroque sort of way.

Beethoven's First Symphony is a work I often turn to for night time inspiration and relaxation.

My alternate route to beating stress is to purge it with, say, Metallica or Marilyn Manson.

The Police's "Synchronicity II" is a great, energizing song.

Kid A??? really mm? i would never have pegged you for a Radiohead guy! i'm impressed!

i didn't like Kid A much until i heard them do it live at Shoreline Ampitheater. maaaan was that an awesomesause concert!!!

oddly, tho i love music, i rarely think about listening to music to "soothe"
me if i'm in need of soothing. if i did tho, i'd probably put on the Pay It Forward soundtrack...or really anything by thomas newman. i like his stuff. i also remember loving the soundtrack from the movie The Mission, Ennio Morricone. oh oh! and i loved the soundtrack from The Piano too. that's Michael Nyman.

i did love Paul Winter Consort back in the day but haven't listened to it in years. Icarus was the one i loved.

also i've always liked the windham hill samplers. alex di grassi, george winston, all those windham hill guys.

lucimay wrote:Kid A??? really mm? i would never have pegged you for a Radiohead guy! i'm impressed!

i didn't like Kid A much until i heard them do it live at Shoreline Ampitheater. maaaan was that an awesomesause concert!!!

I would have loved to have been there.
Wasn't a Radiohead fan at all until I heard OK Computer. Fan-bloody-tastic.
But that did not prepare me at all for Kid A.
Totally different, totally sublime. Out of this world, yet speaks to my inner world.
It's scary how connected I feel to Kid A.

I guess it depends on what flavor of stress I am having.
For angry stress, I find either the Pogues, Dead Milkmen, Fear or Black Flag good for screaming out the grumpies.
For just general stress and anxiety, They Might Be Giants is frequently a good cure (except for a song or two that actually raises my stress level a bit - Climbing The Walls in particular).
For the more intense anxiety, Bob Marley is my prescription.

lucimay wrote:Kid A??? really mm? i would never have pegged you for a Radiohead guy! i'm impressed!

i didn't like Kid A much until i heard them do it live at Shoreline Ampitheater. maaaan was that an awesomesause concert!!!

oddly, tho i love music, i rarely think about listening to music to "soothe"
me if i'm in need of soothing. if i did tho, i'd probably put on the Pay It Forward soundtrack...or really anything by thomas newman. i like his stuff. i also remember loving the soundtrack from the movie The Mission, Ennio Morricone. oh oh! and i loved the soundtrack from The Piano too. that's Michael Nyman.

i did love Paul Winter Consort back in the day but haven't listened to it in years. Icarus was the one i loved.

also i've always liked the windham hill samplers. alex di grassi, george winston, all those windham hill guys.

Sigh. I haven't been to a Radiohead concert. I hear they're always amazing live.

I should add to my list "most things by Howard Shore," as that's always a way for me to unwind.

have seen Radiohead twice, once toward the end of the OK Computer tour. and yeah MM, that was the record that did it for me too. once i'd heard that, i went back to The Bends. and then i saw that Kid A show
at Shoreline. these guys are not to be missed live if you can help it.

also worth mentioning in regard to the topic of this thread,
the artist i listen to most often and for most any mood i may
be in is Chris Whitley

Iron Maiden. It's all purpose, if I'm stressed or anxious, it helps me to focus on what I need to do at the time. If I'm feeling a bit angry, it helps release that frustration (try mimicking Bruce's voice and have energy afterwards to be angry ) If I'm feeling a bit down, it helps me to get over myself and get back into the game.

However, if I just want to be relaxed, Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Rush, Moody Blues, tend to be a bit more effective in that respect.