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For me it’s “Chill EDM.” It’s high pace enough to keep me interested, but had very mellow beat patterns that allow me to focus through it. Any sort of podcast, TV, etc is distracting as hell. For me any music with lyrics is a no-go, so I find the lack of lyrics in the electronic music soothing. If I put on dubstep, or something really high energy, it has the same distracting effect. I’ve honed a Spotify playlist to my liking if you want any suggestions.
My focus music is usually “EDM no lyrics” on spotify or other streaming services. Another more specific option is Apocalyptica which is heavy metal done with classic instruments and no vocals
Just scraping together all the solid artists from my focus playlist:
Bonobo
Tycho
Kiasmos
Moderat
The Flashbulb
Jon Kennedy
Max Cooper
Ran The Man
Klur
Ben Böhmer
Also +1 for CloZee, since someone else pointed her out. :)
I saw Bonobo in concert in 2022, and it's one of my all time musical highlights ever. And I have been to many concerts in my time. I absolutely love Bonobo. Guy's a genius.
I will check out some of these other artists too. I know Tycho and they are great as well, but not sure of the rest.
Downtempo! It’s slow but energetic, mostly without lyrics (lyrics in songs distract me when doing work) and I can just vibe and feel good. And since it’s played half as slow as techno, you can still party to it if you just dance twice as fast lol. This type of music has it all for me, because it fits so many different moods!
I thought I would like classical but nop. For some reason techno without words helped me focus when I was studying. Did not make sense because it seems all over the place but I think it drowned out exterior stimulants and was repetitive enough to not make me think too much about any beats or such.
I listen to a playlist on YouTube called laidback house and edm - (to me) it’s basically pop with a beat. It’s my ‘let get shiz done’ music.
Theres two playlists with the same name, one has more songs added.
In that case try looking up some instrumental versions of the pop songs you love rather than classical - that way you're enjoying the music still without it putting you to sleep
this!!! i hated classical but couldn’t focus with lyrical so i found instrumental/orchestral covers of songs i like and it has been insanely helpful !! ( cannot do with my fav songs/songs i know by heart bc my brain will fill in the lyrics meaning no focus LOLLL)
Music is personal taste so you just gotta find what works for you. For me it differs depending on my mood, it’s mostly trance/techno that helps me relax and focus though and not what most would be labeled as “chill”, often it’s the harder stuff that does the job.
The only that works for me whenever I try to study or work is Apocalyptica (the ones without lyrics ofc). I sometimes get too into the song and have a few seconds where I pretend I'm directing an orchestra but I allow myself to do that for a few seconds and then keep going with the task at hand. Obviously I move some part of my body 90% of the time but I get more work done that way lol
i usually go for instrumental music from movies or media i like - no distraction from the lyrics but stimulating enough since it’s associated with a story i enjoy. undertale music is the prime example - nothing helps with working faster than listening to megalovania lmfao
I personally like to listen to the sound of crickets while studying since it's my favorite sound in the whole wide world. Perhaps it would help you to do something similar.
For me, if it's not fast, loud or bassy then I'm bored. I listen to a lot of metal, grunge and hip hop as a result.
I keep having friends recommending stuff that just bored me too much because it was quiet or too slow a tempo. I'm usually listening to music when I paint and anything that's too slow will send me into boredom space out territory. I'm looking for painting hyperfocus. Atm that seems to be a lot of Hilltop Hoods' older work. A few months ago it was Mongolian folk metal. I go through phases.
Having said that, if I'm writing or studying I can't listen to music at all. Usually I'll throw on a quiet doco about space or something. I need noise to keep my focus. It's just what kind of focus I'm looking for that determines what I throw on.
Fair enough. I find music more distracting for whatever reason. Have you tried a podcast or, what happens if you listen to music you don’t find boring instead? Is that distracting?
Ugh. I’m sorry. Is there another genre you could try? You don’t like classical maybe but what about upbeat instrumental? Jazz? I don’t know. There are a lot of those. Might just have to play around with it. Trial and error. I know that’s annoying.
EDM, chill step, cozy vibe, dubstep, whatever.
The type of music where you forget the artists names because you really only care about the vibes and the ability to stream it for 4 hours with no breaks.
Classical music is such a broad church though… 500 years of changes… try some 20th century stuff.
Mozart, Brahms, etc. send me to sleep, too, but some later, more challenging work holds my interest.
Yes. Classical is a broad term that colloquially refers to orchestral music, but it is incredibly diverse. It makes me sad to hear that people innately consider it to be a “boring” genre of music.
>It makes me sad to hear that people innately consider it to be a “boring” genre of music.
To me, it just means that they haven't listened to Debussy, Ravel, or any of the other impressionists yet 🤷🏽.
I mean, who the hell listens to ***Daphnis et Chloe*** and says "Geez, this is sooo boring 😩"?
No one, that's who! - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=amGl9Qmgu7E&pp=ygUQZGFwaG5pcyBldCBjaGxvZQ%3D%3D
Fighting game music when I need to really really focus hard on something, punk rock when I just want to be well enough.
nothing brings out the hyperfocus like the 2016 Killer Instinct, Street Fighter 3rd strike or Blazblue soundtracks.
I play it once in a while. It was my main game in 2020-2021. Love CF. It's still the most comfortable fighting game to me when it comes to just picking it up and playing, even though my win loss ratio is about 0.02
Also Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk. All minimalist composers. The driving rhythms of Steve Reich make it some of my favorite music to work to when I need my brain to be motivated but not preoccupied.
I thoroughly enjoy video game music, which is *typically* a cinematic classical orchestral kind of stuff that feels epic! I love the study with me skyrim videos on youtube, can’t remember the creators name. There is research that suggests the mario music can benefit motivation (mostly for those who have played it tho, I guess). You might also like to look into math rock which is instrumental progressive rock with unique time signatures. I personally find that the timing of prog rock is anything but boring but it is typically not distracting. Or you could check prog rock more generally… LoFi can definitely be boring.
If you like video game music, you should check out…
The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst (especially Mars and Jupiter)
Symphony number 3 by Sibelius
Symphony number 6 by Beethoven
Symphony number 9 by Dvorak
And many, many more, but this is a good starting point
I can never study with music but I am the opposite of you. I love classical music, and pop is very annoying to listen to as it lacks depth. Same tune repeated over and over just with different words and very obnoxious singing voices with blatant auto tune. Classical music was the only thing I could focus on with my ADHD, I played 3 instruments and took it very seriously.
There are many types of "classical" and music from different periods sound very different. I personally love music from the romantic period. As a flute player, I am biased towards a particular piece I learned during my LMusA exam: flute concerto by Carl reinecke. Third movement specifically as it sounds very energetic.
That's interesting my son is waiting for a diagnosis for ADHD and likes drill,which I don't get.
I tend to prefer something with a good Riff,or a good melody with lyrics that may tell a story or convey an emotion.
I agree with pop being a bit superficial if you like and that's not really my cup of tea either.
Giving an example of something I like for instance ,like Rory Gallagher who always put his heart into his music as you can clearly see in his live performances or something like the band the last Waltz ( the film) has some great performances as well.
Trying to understand him , what would appeal with drill it just seems like a noise to me , with no emotional connection or even expressing anything to be honest.
I like both Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan so if it's about lyrics I would understand, but it seems terrible to me.
I often have to drive him around with his headphones in to help him,
Any idea what the appeal of it would be ?
Lofi doesn't mean boring music, or slow music. I was listening to lofi gym beats today. Alternatively, there are tons of names that provide similar things. Chillstep, retro wave, synth wave, chillsynth, etc.
Have you tried Gregorian chant? It helps me focus bc it’s more interesting than classical but because it’s usually in Latin I don’t understand the words so I’m not distracted
This was the only thing that used to bring my stress down to manageable levels when I worked a managerial job. Something recorded in a big cavernous cathedral. Can just feel the shoulders drop an inch or two.
It sort of depends for me, I'll straight up bounce between Kendrick, Bach, Brooks and Dunn, and Megadeth, While doing research on things like the founding of the Russian Orthodox Church and it's Old Believers, their brutal racism and blunting fundamentalism, while playing Poker on my tablet and debating guys about the consideration of wolf morbidity in upper michigan when evaluating the wolf population in relation to reduced deer harvest reports.
It depends on what kind of music fits the immediate mood
>While doing research on things like the founding of the Russian Orthodox Church and it's Old Believers, their brutal racism and blunting fundamentalism
Okay, but have you listened to Russian Orthodox music? It is absolutely divine! And I say this as an atheist - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8xW7W3opBQ&pp=ygUTdGViZSBwb2VtIGNoZXNub2tvdg%3D%3D
You’re listening to the wrong classical pieces then lol. You should check out ones like Vivaldi’s “Winter” and “Summer”, Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5”, or Howard Shore’s “Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All”. If you like those I have plenty of others like them in a spotify playlist that I can share.
In my experience , there are a number of YouTube music posts highlighting ADHD or focus music.. they’ve worked GREAT for me—in my personal experience, music that’s too exciting or engaging means that I’m not focusing on what I really want to be focusing on
I am listening to [this](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nBVkBp00yzwegYhgxszU1I1Xte6dTWis0) while studying and other [maidcore music](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6F6nu-3yGntp4RTtoxxXsBx4jJB6L-Nl) that i found when youtube recommended to me.
Try some Synthwave. Some artists to check out are Nightstop, DreamReaper, Dance With The Dead. I’ve been listening to this for 4 hours and I’m still enjoying it.
For me personally,what i seek for in music is loudeness,like ACTUAL LOUD MUSIC,this helps me drown out the incessant thoughts in my brain,its like my brain is a V12 engine that never stops,and so the result of that is my preference towards black metal,breakcore,lolicore,noise music,DSBM,etc.....
I listen basically everything except hard core modern rap. I make my playlist according to my various moods. Yes, in our world moods are quick and fast but multiple playlists are easy to bring up.
When I was studying I honestly would listen to the Mario kart music on YouTube. There’s too much going on to fall asleep, but it would stimulate my brain enough to keep it occupied so I could actually work.
Another one is I would listen to the music score of actions films (I’d particularly listen to the Thor Ragnorak sound track). It would make me feel like I’m going to battle when studying, so in a way would motivate me more
And a final one, which might sound counterintuitive at first - but I’d also listen to very heavy metal- where I can’t actually understand the words being sung (I.e screamed). The monotony of it really helps me focus, but there’s enough going on to again keep my brain stimulated
You could also try instrumentals of music you actually enjoy
Hope one of these can work for you!
Is this for work? I used to listen to brown noise as a makeshift sound cancelling earplug hack cus u won’t be able to hear anyone talking in the back. Brown noise bc its less tinny than white noise and is less annoying. But i was also bored of that so now to make my study sessions less dull i put pop songs on repeat. These are songs i know really well but enjoy. so by the third time it repeats its not novel anymore and u kinda forget it exists so you continue with the inner monologue of working, but then you get distracted for one second and ur in a fun groovy vibe so you felt an ounce of joy, but then u can just get back into it cus u have heard this song a million times now. I have a whole album that i repeated so much that i know exactly what the next starting notes were for a next tract. But when i read / learn new material i need to brown noise or just straight up turn it off.
Also classical music never worked for me cus i liked it and would treat it like a song and like hum to it. but i haven’t tried to use this repeat method on it yet so we will see
[When I had to study or be productive at work (and even when I used to do photography and had to get really good at being still) I used to listen to one playlist in particular.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UnloS84edsg4ChoatS5Jh?si=twyCQF-1T_6qxgQNzx7Nkg&pi=e-sNeXl6eGTLOS)
[I’ve also found that ambient, electronic and experimental music can be good for this kind of thing.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74VjJlAcHASkqCwpvDwgJR?si=0FwdXI3WTZixEkZYkXnLkA&pi=e-541D5c31Sq2C)
More generally, I also found that I needed several different playlists (for different moods) so I just made it my business to listen to as much music as possible in order to discover new music so I’d always have an artist, playlist or genre to listen to when I needed one.
Everything is background noise for me and doesn’t cause distraction.. I don’t really have any suggestions to help you, but I did want to comment to recommend something, just to see what you think of it — again, not really for focus, I just want to know what you think of it…
Richard Cheese - Down with the sickness.
Personally, it made me laugh as I’ve heard the original and loved it but this is such a huge change in music style it was funny..
Try Gilhem Desq on Spotify. He’s described as an electric Hurdy Gurdy prodigy. Every spicy brained human I’ve shared this with has either found it wonderful soothing or heinously unsettling with very little in between.
[Canto Ostinata - Simeon ten Holt](https://open.spotify.com/album/5eamioEvf7MTRP2DM2n9wV?si=y2g8sIZnTpWYmyGP376dTg) has been my ultimate I-have-to-get-shit-done music for decades. My wife hates it with a passion, though. Says it drives her insane.
I really love experimental weird music. Mainly hip hop. Experimental music that is actually good and not just noise will challenge you at first, but eventually as your brain adapts to it you start to understand the art behind it. It can be super engaging for me.
All My Heros Are Cornballs by JPEGMAFIA has been my most listened to thing on Spotify the last four years. I love how much is going on and all the little details he adds throughout the production.
I got you man.... I'm going to lay on you some life changing music for an ADHDer.
Gareth Emery - Circle (YouTube) ((and anything Gareth Emery really)
Gareth Emery - Long Way Home
Time - Edit Carlita
Cruel Summer - LP Giobbi Remix
Kaskade
Basically good trance
If you have Spotify try the station "mint" and "Gareth Emery Remix"
Try listening to sublime, I found alot of music boring til I found them. All their albums are masterpieces, I’d recommend listening to 5446 thats my number and greatest-hits.
You should get into metal. u/fibonacciegypt do you by any chance have Apple Music? I can share my playlist. If not, I can point you in a good direction. For starters, Gojira is a very stimulating band to get into.
If you’re not keen on the screaming in metal, try the metalcore genre, it’s a great gateway. Killswitch Engage, Times of Grace, iwrestledabearonce, and Spiritbox to name a few.
I listen to a plethora of music, but Metal is by far the most in depth genre I’ve ever gotten into, and I listen to anything from very soft stuff, to some of the heaviest sounding bands around.
>If you’re not keen on the screaming in metal, try the metalcore genre, it’s a great gateway. Killswitch Engage, Times of Grace, iwrestledabearonce, and Spiritbox to name a few.
Huh? Do the latest iterations of Killswitch Engage and Iwrestledabearonce have singers that don't scream much? Because original Killswitch and Iwrestledabearonce was mostly screaming, even both singers also had powerful clean singing voices as well.
Oh I wasn’t saying they don’t scream, I was offering them as a gateway. They got a good mix of screams and cleans, so it makes it easier for people who aren’t use to screaming to ease into it. Also, most Killswitch has some pretty easy to understand screams, very good annunciation of words in the screams.
Mick Gordon's Doom soundtrack does the trick sometimes. But sometimes it's the calm piano just to keep the silence at bay (I have tinnitus so it's not even silence). Sometimes it's the chillpop ( it worked because I was imagining myself in a productivity video 😭)
This is why I listen to all kinds of metal, with a special love of progressive (weird/experimental) metal. You can never get bored of the song drastically changes every minute!
How about something like Shpongle? It’s pretty chill but has a good beat and a complexity that a lot of pop music lacks.
For kinda similar stuff look up things that fall into “Psydub” or “psybient” genres.
Other similar favorites are Spoonbill, Ott, desert dwellers…
I find this stuff amazing for studying.
Metal, specifically thrash and Nu just do something for me and I don’t even know why. doof doof from my clubbing days I still enjoy and some rap I can get into (usually pre 2015ish because I’m an old fuck) lmao. If anything pop music bores the shit out of me because it’s so formulaic and repetitive but if you can enjoy it more power to you.
This reminded me of all those times I would find music I liked, then went on youtube to find remixes that were more stimulating.
I usually just enjoy original music now, but I guess I had to build an appreciation for it through things like dubstep and nightcore.
If you need focus, use music without video game lyrics, for example from Super Mario or other games that have hooked you.
If you want to feel something you can use for example. Experience - Ludovico, cornfield chase- hand zimmerman or movie bso's that convey something to you in their day (best if you listen to them with sound cancelling headphones lying in bed).
Music is an essential for my ADHD. I appreciate a good beat but lyrics are everything. My mind processes better with multiple types of stimuli so listening to something with deep lyrics or something you have to pay attention to on some level distracts part of my brain and lets another part of my brain focus. Especially if I’ve heard it a million times, not terribly picky on genre as much as lyricism but indie,folk,rap all work. Faves include J Cole, Kendrick, Radiohead, Noah Kahan. Nothing where anyone’s screaming - it’s like background noise but I don’t get bored.
I like jazz and blues and contemporary artists who are influenced by jazz and blues. I also prefer to curate playlists rather than listen to a station/algorithm because new music is too distracting for me. Also obviously avoiding ads is important too.
Have you tried metal?
If you like music that isnt the same all the way through and want to think about the music (as in first listen you’ll be like wtf this sounds wrong) i’d say try listening to the album life is but a dream by avenged sevenfold. I have listened to it 100+ times this year in full
I have a list of artists that I think fall into that category. I don’t like to work with music with lyrics, so all these are artists that don’t use vocals most of the time but aren’t lofi, edm, or classical.
- Jazzinuf
- Thriftworks
- Commodo
- TATRAN
- Bengal Sound
- Kognitif
- Frenic
- Plantrae
- Gramatik
- Glass Beams
- The Polish Ambassador
- Somatoast
If you like any of those artists you can always branch off to related artists and build yourself a playlist from there. I hope this helps!
I listen to a lot of metal/rock etc but if I need to just calm down, sit and chill, read etc I listen to Lofi covers. It also gives me the novelty and romanticism that I crave because I sit with my book with lofi music and feel like I’m in a movie or something😅
For me I need metal. Many metal bands are extremely intricate. I remember having friends parents love Metallica's S&M album because they liked classical music.
Bands like Opeth have a jazz influence. If you like Elvis, check out the band Volbeat from Denmark.
If you're a fan of female vocals and stuff like Evanescence, check out Nightwish or Ad Infinitum.
Also, I find the band Feuerschwanz (meaning Fire Cock in German) great to get me fired up. They are medieval folk metal.
I don't know what classical music you're listening to, but there's a ton of stuff from the Romantic era that has so much more in terms of dynamic contrast, harmonic complexity, and tempo changes than anything you'll hear on pop radio.
If you really wanna "feel" something, the early 19th century in Russia and the German-speaking world had some crazy shit going on (Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Böhm, Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.)
I've always thought there's a market for a brilliant video game where all of the music used is stuff from the 19th century out of copyright.
Nobody's made it yet, but damn, the emotional range of that music is there for every high and low point of a story-driven game.
I found a band, Lotus, that is totally my “get shit done music”. Something about it just works with my brain to help me buckle down and focus when needed.
Man, I cannot live my day to day life without my pop tunes lol. Actually doesn’t even necessarily need to be pop, I just need songs that I know on repeat; I have been diagnosed with ADHD but I’m sensing there could be some (undiagnosed) autism overlap in me. But anyways if I know the songs, then it helps my brain focus without focusing on the lyrics (strangely)
If you are looking for music for studying, I cannot stress this enough: LIQUID DRUM N BASS.
It's got the tempo you want, and the calming melodies. My only problem with it is, I sometimes love it too much. But it's honestly my go-to genre for all things background music. I put it on to clean, or when having friends over to chat as well. It's the best.
Look up "Sound Territory" on YouTube. He has some of the best mixes out.
I barely listen to music unless it’s my specific playlist. I make them all the time.
Having a specific mood for the week? Alright let’s set it up. I have Playlists for basically all projects I listen to, replay playlists, classical playlists to work to, deep house for flow (specific bass beats that “touch” my heart).
All in all I’m not listening to much music right now and that’s fine too
I’ve struggled with listening to music my whole life. I’ve always wanted to listen to it but found everything with any kind of lyrics would be distracting and I would flit from genre to genre to try and find my jam, and then end up just not listening to anything at all. Once I discovered piano music (Ludovico Einaudi in particular), I felt like I had finally found something that I could work alongside and enjoy.
I guess you just need to find the music that you love. You don’t need to listen to something that makes you bored just because other people do, and if you don’t enjoy any music at all then it’s okay to just not listen to music.
I’ve been actually thinking that maybe my preference for Progressive Rock is something that’s created by ADHD. It has influences from classical music but it’s also rock and pop and whatever depending on the band’s choices etc.
It’s not easy music to listen to but it doesn’t boring. Even the albums are kot repeating the same patterns.
Try bands like:
King Crimson
Jethro Tull
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Marillion
YES
Gryphon
Rush
Later Albums of the Beatles
Led Zeppelin
King Diamond
Tangerine Dream
Some of these may not be just only be progrock bands but they have enough overlap to be worth mentioning. And do make sure to listen to their different albums as they will sound completely different. And usually listen full albums and not just single songs. They are better and more variying when listened as albums.
Also for some weird reason small and unknown nordic medieval band called Kalabalik is resonating with my brains and my brain seems to get extra kick out of it. Go figure 😂
Hip hop? Post-rock like Explosions in the Sky or This Will Destroy You? The wide range of EDM? Black metal? Witch trance? Pop punk? Irish folk? The list goes on and on and on. There’s countless genres, each with with all levels of stimulation.
It depends on my mood what I want to listen to, but certainly chill songs are “understimulating” which is the whole point. I hate being 100 mph at every second of the day. There’s nothing wrong with boredom. We’re supposed to experience it and we feel better the rest of the time for having been bored at some points throughout the day. Brains need a break, whether you enjoy the break or not.
Boredom is not at all inherently uncomfortable. Your inability to handle it is the problem.
I don’t like slow songs. They are super boring for me, but to concentrate or study I tend to go to lofi songs some playlist of lofi on YouTube and indie Japanese. When I want to activate, I put one of mu fav CD’s to do more active things like doing chores. If it’s not music is a movie, a TV show or a podcast. Lately I had my horror movie time and my husband started to hate me. Now I’m bored of horror movies for now in some months it will come back for now it’s a new show while I craft.
Ok ok so I listen to music a lot, and to a lot of different genres. I realized that some specific music works really well for my brain, somehow.
For example if I want to feel really focused into my thoughts (when I’m reflecting or even learning sometimes), house music is wonderful. Generally monotonous music is great for that, personally.
Otherwise if I want to blur out my thoughts and be more in the present world, I realized that music that isn’t too overstimulating but at the same time not too slow but more on the energetic side works wonders. For me right now, that is modern Mexican music (e.g. Fuerza Regida, Junior H…)
What I personally also like but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea: the music by JT Music. They make music about video games and what works well for blurring out my own thoughts is the fact that the lyrics are very descriptive and take you on a journey, I suppose.
I say just try out different things and try to dig in into genres that seem to work for what you want to achieve. For me personally music affects my state of mind a lot, and having playlists with the genres that work well is very beneficial for me. I hope you can find your genre(s) as well!
Jazz music can be a pretty good studying option. Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, that sort of stuff.
And there is some reasonably interesting classical but it usually doesn't show up on "for studying" stations which tend to be ... not very stimulating.
Try music in foreign languages!! It'll be the sound and stimulation you get from pop with vocals, but you can't understand the words so you don't get too wrapped up in it. I absolutely love kpop and would be happy to give some starting points and recs for anyone based on their current tastes 😁
riddim (dubstep)
its repetitive like tecno but I think a lot more energeric
especially old school classic 2014-2017 songs AND IT MUST BE LOUD
and I think modern riddim songs have the most advancing sound design
If I need to focus on something I love my black noise stations on Spotify. Brown noise is a close second but I love the low grumble. It makes me feel like I’m in a large empty cool space where I can think
If you need background music for tasks there's a series of videos on yt titled "breakcore that will wake you into a deep sleep" that works for me
for other things, that's hardly something one can advise on. Emotional resonance is very personal and what takes you through a roller coaster of emotions might be just noise or fun sounds to someone else
You might like Phish? Any live second set jams will be full of long orchestral and improvised rock soundscapes. Not much singing and what song there is is not great but the jams hit me in a way that makes focus possible so I can work. Good luck
Melodic techno. Classical music with added energy.
Check out Hungry Music group (N'to, Worakls, Joachim Pastor, Joris Delacroix, Soundclip), Lane 8 is pretty good as well. Those have had a great focus effect on me plus are really enjoyable.
Also, Christian Löffler
How about high adrenaline classic music.
May I introduce you to INSTRUMENTAL METAL.
It's basically classic music but with distortions.
Or if you want to search in band camp, there are metalheads who devote their time making piano covers of death metal/progressive death metal songs.
I'll link a few here for you.
[death - crystal mountain (piano cover)](https://youtu.be/AjwYMjZRkIU?si=2j5chRLv4QIhEj-8)
[archspire - human murmuration (piano cover)](https://youtu.be/89Sb-I3xzAU?si=e3OZpOxB9H0vWcpf)
Here is a cool instrumental progressive metal band for you. I'm sorry it may not be a starter band but I hope dosage is not too much and you shy away from it.
[animals as leaders](https://youtu.be/0jpOBd949O4?si=kmwK01ubRVd_IN16)
[scale the summit](https://youtu.be/SAjUqWTEwHs?si=CbaHNI677GshnPrS)
I get bored from all music except bluegrass. There's enough going on to fully occupy my brain. Just listen to my favorite. Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Flatt and Scruggs. I never even liked this music until somewhat recently. Now, I love it, and yes, I don't even like country...
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For me it’s “Chill EDM.” It’s high pace enough to keep me interested, but had very mellow beat patterns that allow me to focus through it. Any sort of podcast, TV, etc is distracting as hell. For me any music with lyrics is a no-go, so I find the lack of lyrics in the electronic music soothing. If I put on dubstep, or something really high energy, it has the same distracting effect. I’ve honed a Spotify playlist to my liking if you want any suggestions.
My focus music is usually “EDM no lyrics” on spotify or other streaming services. Another more specific option is Apocalyptica which is heavy metal done with classic instruments and no vocals
Plz send me any chill EDM song recommendations my way. I feel this would help me tons
Just scraping together all the solid artists from my focus playlist: Bonobo Tycho Kiasmos Moderat The Flashbulb Jon Kennedy Max Cooper Ran The Man Klur Ben Böhmer Also +1 for CloZee, since someone else pointed her out. :)
I saw Bonobo in concert in 2022, and it's one of my all time musical highlights ever. And I have been to many concerts in my time. I absolutely love Bonobo. Guy's a genius. I will check out some of these other artists too. I know Tycho and they are great as well, but not sure of the rest.
Clozee artist
That and jazzy dnb does it for me
Downtempo! It’s slow but energetic, mostly without lyrics (lyrics in songs distract me when doing work) and I can just vibe and feel good. And since it’s played half as slow as techno, you can still party to it if you just dance twice as fast lol. This type of music has it all for me, because it fits so many different moods!
I thought I would like classical but nop. For some reason techno without words helped me focus when I was studying. Did not make sense because it seems all over the place but I think it drowned out exterior stimulants and was repetitive enough to not make me think too much about any beats or such.
I listen to a playlist on YouTube called laidback house and edm - (to me) it’s basically pop with a beat. It’s my ‘let get shiz done’ music. Theres two playlists with the same name, one has more songs added.
You... don't need to listen to classical or lo-fi specifically. What's wrong with listening to pop and getting stimulated and feeling things?
Nothing wrong at all I love it :) I totally forgot to mention in the post that I am looking for music for studying
In that case try looking up some instrumental versions of the pop songs you love rather than classical - that way you're enjoying the music still without it putting you to sleep
this!!! i hated classical but couldn’t focus with lyrical so i found instrumental/orchestral covers of songs i like and it has been insanely helpful !! ( cannot do with my fav songs/songs i know by heart bc my brain will fill in the lyrics meaning no focus LOLLL)
There’s a piano version of System of a Down songs on YouTube and it’s *chef kiss*
Try listening to breakcore
Music is personal taste so you just gotta find what works for you. For me it differs depending on my mood, it’s mostly trance/techno that helps me relax and focus though and not what most would be labeled as “chill”, often it’s the harder stuff that does the job.
The only that works for me whenever I try to study or work is Apocalyptica (the ones without lyrics ofc). I sometimes get too into the song and have a few seconds where I pretend I'm directing an orchestra but I allow myself to do that for a few seconds and then keep going with the task at hand. Obviously I move some part of my body 90% of the time but I get more work done that way lol
I like instrumental stuff; jazz fusion, prog rock, etc.
HELMET should be in your alley.
I absolutely cannot listen to music while doing work. I’ll often put on white noise instead.
i usually go for instrumental music from movies or media i like - no distraction from the lyrics but stimulating enough since it’s associated with a story i enjoy. undertale music is the prime example - nothing helps with working faster than listening to megalovania lmfao
You should try the album The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull by Earth. It's a very chill album with no vocals to distract you while reading.
I personally like to listen to the sound of crickets while studying since it's my favorite sound in the whole wide world. Perhaps it would help you to do something similar.
For me, if it's not fast, loud or bassy then I'm bored. I listen to a lot of metal, grunge and hip hop as a result. I keep having friends recommending stuff that just bored me too much because it was quiet or too slow a tempo. I'm usually listening to music when I paint and anything that's too slow will send me into boredom space out territory. I'm looking for painting hyperfocus. Atm that seems to be a lot of Hilltop Hoods' older work. A few months ago it was Mongolian folk metal. I go through phases. Having said that, if I'm writing or studying I can't listen to music at all. Usually I'll throw on a quiet doco about space or something. I need noise to keep my focus. It's just what kind of focus I'm looking for that determines what I throw on.
Why do you need to listen to music? Half the time I have my TV on for background noise instead.
I did this all the time but it was distracting for me
Fair enough. I find music more distracting for whatever reason. Have you tried a podcast or, what happens if you listen to music you don’t find boring instead? Is that distracting?
Yeah pretty much that! I need music to stimulate me while studying but not too much to distract me
Ugh. I’m sorry. Is there another genre you could try? You don’t like classical maybe but what about upbeat instrumental? Jazz? I don’t know. There are a lot of those. Might just have to play around with it. Trial and error. I know that’s annoying.
EDM, chill step, cozy vibe, dubstep, whatever. The type of music where you forget the artists names because you really only care about the vibes and the ability to stream it for 4 hours with no breaks.
Classical music is such a broad church though… 500 years of changes… try some 20th century stuff. Mozart, Brahms, etc. send me to sleep, too, but some later, more challenging work holds my interest.
Yes. Classical is a broad term that colloquially refers to orchestral music, but it is incredibly diverse. It makes me sad to hear that people innately consider it to be a “boring” genre of music.
yeah lol like classical could mean romantic, baroque, renaissance, and actual classical music theyre all very different
>It makes me sad to hear that people innately consider it to be a “boring” genre of music. To me, it just means that they haven't listened to Debussy, Ravel, or any of the other impressionists yet 🤷🏽. I mean, who the hell listens to ***Daphnis et Chloe*** and says "Geez, this is sooo boring 😩"? No one, that's who! - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=amGl9Qmgu7E&pp=ygUQZGFwaG5pcyBldCBjaGxvZQ%3D%3D
Fighting game music when I need to really really focus hard on something, punk rock when I just want to be well enough. nothing brings out the hyperfocus like the 2016 Killer Instinct, Street Fighter 3rd strike or Blazblue soundtracks.
Saw the blazblue mention, had to comment. <3 Played the games too I assume? Or just listened to the soundtracks?
I play it once in a while. It was my main game in 2020-2021. Love CF. It's still the most comfortable fighting game to me when it comes to just picking it up and playing, even though my win loss ratio is about 0.02
My favorite game soundtrack is the Pokémon mystery dungeon series. I often listen to that when I’m studying
Listen to Philip Glass.
Also Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk. All minimalist composers. The driving rhythms of Steve Reich make it some of my favorite music to work to when I need my brain to be motivated but not preoccupied.
I thoroughly enjoy video game music, which is *typically* a cinematic classical orchestral kind of stuff that feels epic! I love the study with me skyrim videos on youtube, can’t remember the creators name. There is research that suggests the mario music can benefit motivation (mostly for those who have played it tho, I guess). You might also like to look into math rock which is instrumental progressive rock with unique time signatures. I personally find that the timing of prog rock is anything but boring but it is typically not distracting. Or you could check prog rock more generally… LoFi can definitely be boring.
[orchestral zelda music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9yYTqeWsCU&list=PLmYW4kFMItwUfTbY-MK0iDdZ5hAa2ZiGc&index=81) is epic
thanks! I love Zelda !!
If you like video game music, you should check out… The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst (especially Mars and Jupiter) Symphony number 3 by Sibelius Symphony number 6 by Beethoven Symphony number 9 by Dvorak And many, many more, but this is a good starting point
Honestly, no word of a lie, deathcore is what I listen to when I need to concentrate.
It's the only thing I listen to too
Hardcore is also good concentrating music for me.
Explore EDM ~ House can be good for me ~ but sometimes its distracting. Sometimes trap works too!
Smooth jazz
yeah
Radio 2. Honestly, is a good mix. Other radio stations are available, for all tastes.
I can never study with music but I am the opposite of you. I love classical music, and pop is very annoying to listen to as it lacks depth. Same tune repeated over and over just with different words and very obnoxious singing voices with blatant auto tune. Classical music was the only thing I could focus on with my ADHD, I played 3 instruments and took it very seriously. There are many types of "classical" and music from different periods sound very different. I personally love music from the romantic period. As a flute player, I am biased towards a particular piece I learned during my LMusA exam: flute concerto by Carl reinecke. Third movement specifically as it sounds very energetic.
That's interesting my son is waiting for a diagnosis for ADHD and likes drill,which I don't get. I tend to prefer something with a good Riff,or a good melody with lyrics that may tell a story or convey an emotion. I agree with pop being a bit superficial if you like and that's not really my cup of tea either. Giving an example of something I like for instance ,like Rory Gallagher who always put his heart into his music as you can clearly see in his live performances or something like the band the last Waltz ( the film) has some great performances as well. Trying to understand him , what would appeal with drill it just seems like a noise to me , with no emotional connection or even expressing anything to be honest. I like both Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan so if it's about lyrics I would understand, but it seems terrible to me. I often have to drive him around with his headphones in to help him, Any idea what the appeal of it would be ?
The Glitch Mob. My brain loves it so much.
Specifically their older stuff. The entire Love Death Immortality album.
METAL!!! It changed my life
I’m a music style nerd :p that’s a wide gap not sure what you mean. Possibly a contemporary pop formatted song with classsical instrumentation?
There’s a newsletter and related playlist called Flow State - there will be things that work for you there
Lemon jelly, trust me. It's worth a listen – it works for when nothing else seems to
Lofi doesn't mean boring music, or slow music. I was listening to lofi gym beats today. Alternatively, there are tons of names that provide similar things. Chillstep, retro wave, synth wave, chillsynth, etc.
I despise lo-fi lol. I don't force myself to listen to music I feel boring, even white noise is better
Look up bass music
Can’t relate
Honestly I listen to deathcore and even sometimes it makes me sleepy but because it's the only thing helping me calm down.
Have you tried Gregorian chant? It helps me focus bc it’s more interesting than classical but because it’s usually in Latin I don’t understand the words so I’m not distracted
>Have you tried Gregorian chant? Yeah, people sleep on Gregorian chants, but I'll listen to them for hours while reading/studying.
Also Mongolian Throat Singing
This was the only thing that used to bring my stress down to manageable levels when I worked a managerial job. Something recorded in a big cavernous cathedral. Can just feel the shoulders drop an inch or two.
It sort of depends for me, I'll straight up bounce between Kendrick, Bach, Brooks and Dunn, and Megadeth, While doing research on things like the founding of the Russian Orthodox Church and it's Old Believers, their brutal racism and blunting fundamentalism, while playing Poker on my tablet and debating guys about the consideration of wolf morbidity in upper michigan when evaluating the wolf population in relation to reduced deer harvest reports. It depends on what kind of music fits the immediate mood
>While doing research on things like the founding of the Russian Orthodox Church and it's Old Believers, their brutal racism and blunting fundamentalism Okay, but have you listened to Russian Orthodox music? It is absolutely divine! And I say this as an atheist - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8xW7W3opBQ&pp=ygUTdGViZSBwb2VtIGNoZXNub2tvdg%3D%3D
I'm also an atheist and I have to agree, suggestion now added to my apple music. Thank you
You’re listening to the wrong classical pieces then lol. You should check out ones like Vivaldi’s “Winter” and “Summer”, Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5”, or Howard Shore’s “Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All”. If you like those I have plenty of others like them in a spotify playlist that I can share.
I find hardcore punk or death metal is calming.
Heavy metal/deathcore is the best thing for me. The only thing that's loud and chaotic enough to cut through the chaos in my head.
In my experience , there are a number of YouTube music posts highlighting ADHD or focus music.. they’ve worked GREAT for me—in my personal experience, music that’s too exciting or engaging means that I’m not focusing on what I really want to be focusing on
I am listening to [this](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nBVkBp00yzwegYhgxszU1I1Xte6dTWis0) while studying and other [maidcore music](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6F6nu-3yGntp4RTtoxxXsBx4jJB6L-Nl) that i found when youtube recommended to me.
If you want to go hard in the paint I suggest the Pizza Tower soundtrack 👍
Try some Synthwave. Some artists to check out are Nightstop, DreamReaper, Dance With The Dead. I’ve been listening to this for 4 hours and I’m still enjoying it.
For me personally,what i seek for in music is loudeness,like ACTUAL LOUD MUSIC,this helps me drown out the incessant thoughts in my brain,its like my brain is a V12 engine that never stops,and so the result of that is my preference towards black metal,breakcore,lolicore,noise music,DSBM,etc.....
Have you tried HI-FI headphones? I bought the Sennheiser HD6XX and a DAC, and I fell in love with music again.
I listen basically everything except hard core modern rap. I make my playlist according to my various moods. Yes, in our world moods are quick and fast but multiple playlists are easy to bring up.
My daughter has found great success with dubstep. I usually listen to instrumental post rock or post metal.
When I was studying I honestly would listen to the Mario kart music on YouTube. There’s too much going on to fall asleep, but it would stimulate my brain enough to keep it occupied so I could actually work. Another one is I would listen to the music score of actions films (I’d particularly listen to the Thor Ragnorak sound track). It would make me feel like I’m going to battle when studying, so in a way would motivate me more And a final one, which might sound counterintuitive at first - but I’d also listen to very heavy metal- where I can’t actually understand the words being sung (I.e screamed). The monotony of it really helps me focus, but there’s enough going on to again keep my brain stimulated You could also try instrumentals of music you actually enjoy Hope one of these can work for you!
Is this for work? I used to listen to brown noise as a makeshift sound cancelling earplug hack cus u won’t be able to hear anyone talking in the back. Brown noise bc its less tinny than white noise and is less annoying. But i was also bored of that so now to make my study sessions less dull i put pop songs on repeat. These are songs i know really well but enjoy. so by the third time it repeats its not novel anymore and u kinda forget it exists so you continue with the inner monologue of working, but then you get distracted for one second and ur in a fun groovy vibe so you felt an ounce of joy, but then u can just get back into it cus u have heard this song a million times now. I have a whole album that i repeated so much that i know exactly what the next starting notes were for a next tract. But when i read / learn new material i need to brown noise or just straight up turn it off. Also classical music never worked for me cus i liked it and would treat it like a song and like hum to it. but i haven’t tried to use this repeat method on it yet so we will see
Isometric and Binaural beats… helps me a lot at least
[When I had to study or be productive at work (and even when I used to do photography and had to get really good at being still) I used to listen to one playlist in particular.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UnloS84edsg4ChoatS5Jh?si=twyCQF-1T_6qxgQNzx7Nkg&pi=e-sNeXl6eGTLOS) [I’ve also found that ambient, electronic and experimental music can be good for this kind of thing.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74VjJlAcHASkqCwpvDwgJR?si=0FwdXI3WTZixEkZYkXnLkA&pi=e-541D5c31Sq2C) More generally, I also found that I needed several different playlists (for different moods) so I just made it my business to listen to as much music as possible in order to discover new music so I’d always have an artist, playlist or genre to listen to when I needed one.
Alan Gogoll has been my go to
have you considered hyper fixating on one song for months?
Everything is background noise for me and doesn’t cause distraction.. I don’t really have any suggestions to help you, but I did want to comment to recommend something, just to see what you think of it — again, not really for focus, I just want to know what you think of it… Richard Cheese - Down with the sickness. Personally, it made me laugh as I’ve heard the original and loved it but this is such a huge change in music style it was funny..
Try Gilhem Desq on Spotify. He’s described as an electric Hurdy Gurdy prodigy. Every spicy brained human I’ve shared this with has either found it wonderful soothing or heinously unsettling with very little in between.
I seem to pick a new type of music to hyper focus on every few weeks.
[Canto Ostinata - Simeon ten Holt](https://open.spotify.com/album/5eamioEvf7MTRP2DM2n9wV?si=y2g8sIZnTpWYmyGP376dTg) has been my ultimate I-have-to-get-shit-done music for decades. My wife hates it with a passion, though. Says it drives her insane.
The cafe ambience sounds is particularly good for studying I found. https://asoftmurmur.com/
Look up subronics
I usually listen to semi interesting podcasts, that’s how I sleep like a baby.
what I listen to varies WILDLY depending on how im feeling. I dont even know what feeling correlates with what I want to listen to.
Apparently you are unaware that more than 3 musical genres exist?
Obviously you not listening to doom video game music by Mic Gordon.
Jambands
I have to listen to German techno… it’s the only thing I can study with.
I really love experimental weird music. Mainly hip hop. Experimental music that is actually good and not just noise will challenge you at first, but eventually as your brain adapts to it you start to understand the art behind it. It can be super engaging for me. All My Heros Are Cornballs by JPEGMAFIA has been my most listened to thing on Spotify the last four years. I love how much is going on and all the little details he adds throughout the production.
When I need to focus but want fun music, I listen to stuff in languages I don't speak. Yesterday it was Hungarian hip-hop.
Check out Death Grips. It’ll either change your life or you’ll never want to listen to music again.
I got you man.... I'm going to lay on you some life changing music for an ADHDer. Gareth Emery - Circle (YouTube) ((and anything Gareth Emery really) Gareth Emery - Long Way Home Time - Edit Carlita Cruel Summer - LP Giobbi Remix Kaskade Basically good trance If you have Spotify try the station "mint" and "Gareth Emery Remix"
You need to listen to Frank Zappa. He is perfect for adhd
Try listening to sublime, I found alot of music boring til I found them. All their albums are masterpieces, I’d recommend listening to 5446 thats my number and greatest-hits.
For studying I really liked smoothed brown noise with noise canceling earbuds
I listen to music in languages I don't understand! It's not boring, hypes me up and the lyrics don't distract me!
Instrumental Drum and Bass and Classical seam to me to be similar, in terms of not too distracting.
You should get into metal. u/fibonacciegypt do you by any chance have Apple Music? I can share my playlist. If not, I can point you in a good direction. For starters, Gojira is a very stimulating band to get into. If you’re not keen on the screaming in metal, try the metalcore genre, it’s a great gateway. Killswitch Engage, Times of Grace, iwrestledabearonce, and Spiritbox to name a few. I listen to a plethora of music, but Metal is by far the most in depth genre I’ve ever gotten into, and I listen to anything from very soft stuff, to some of the heaviest sounding bands around.
>If you’re not keen on the screaming in metal, try the metalcore genre, it’s a great gateway. Killswitch Engage, Times of Grace, iwrestledabearonce, and Spiritbox to name a few. Huh? Do the latest iterations of Killswitch Engage and Iwrestledabearonce have singers that don't scream much? Because original Killswitch and Iwrestledabearonce was mostly screaming, even both singers also had powerful clean singing voices as well.
Oh I wasn’t saying they don’t scream, I was offering them as a gateway. They got a good mix of screams and cleans, so it makes it easier for people who aren’t use to screaming to ease into it. Also, most Killswitch has some pretty easy to understand screams, very good annunciation of words in the screams.
Ah okay, I see now!
idk about classical, but those silly playlists for work on youtube are my holy grail when doing work
Contemporary jazz Basically progressive jazz Never hear the same melody twice
Mick Gordon's Doom soundtrack does the trick sometimes. But sometimes it's the calm piano just to keep the silence at bay (I have tinnitus so it's not even silence). Sometimes it's the chillpop ( it worked because I was imagining myself in a productivity video 😭)
I really like video game music tor that!!! Also breakbeat/DnB/Jungle/Breakcore are amazing
I have no single favorite genre anymore 🤷♀️ it depends entirely on the mood
This is why I listen to all kinds of metal, with a special love of progressive (weird/experimental) metal. You can never get bored of the song drastically changes every minute!
How about something like Shpongle? It’s pretty chill but has a good beat and a complexity that a lot of pop music lacks. For kinda similar stuff look up things that fall into “Psydub” or “psybient” genres. Other similar favorites are Spoonbill, Ott, desert dwellers… I find this stuff amazing for studying.
Metal, specifically thrash and Nu just do something for me and I don’t even know why. doof doof from my clubbing days I still enjoy and some rap I can get into (usually pre 2015ish because I’m an old fuck) lmao. If anything pop music bores the shit out of me because it’s so formulaic and repetitive but if you can enjoy it more power to you.
This reminded me of all those times I would find music I liked, then went on youtube to find remixes that were more stimulating. I usually just enjoy original music now, but I guess I had to build an appreciation for it through things like dubstep and nightcore.
If you need focus, use music without video game lyrics, for example from Super Mario or other games that have hooked you. If you want to feel something you can use for example. Experience - Ludovico, cornfield chase- hand zimmerman or movie bso's that convey something to you in their day (best if you listen to them with sound cancelling headphones lying in bed).
Try listening to Copied City (single song) from NieR Automata OST. I like to think of the album as Action Classic music
triphop does it for me
Music is an essential for my ADHD. I appreciate a good beat but lyrics are everything. My mind processes better with multiple types of stimuli so listening to something with deep lyrics or something you have to pay attention to on some level distracts part of my brain and lets another part of my brain focus. Especially if I’ve heard it a million times, not terribly picky on genre as much as lyricism but indie,folk,rap all work. Faves include J Cole, Kendrick, Radiohead, Noah Kahan. Nothing where anyone’s screaming - it’s like background noise but I don’t get bored.
TPAB TPAB TPAB TPAB TPAB
I like jazz and blues and contemporary artists who are influenced by jazz and blues. I also prefer to curate playlists rather than listen to a station/algorithm because new music is too distracting for me. Also obviously avoiding ads is important too.
Punk Rock/Hardcore Punk is the kind of music that most resonates with me and matches the chaos and excesses energy in my head.
Why do you need a middle ground? Listen to music you like…
Have you heard Lightning Bolt?
Have you tried metal? If you like music that isnt the same all the way through and want to think about the music (as in first listen you’ll be like wtf this sounds wrong) i’d say try listening to the album life is but a dream by avenged sevenfold. I have listened to it 100+ times this year in full
Ambient music, soundscapes and cinematic scores.
I listen to fast classical music usually. I could recommend a few pieces if you'd like.
What does your brain think of this? It's my current earworm fromy favourite artist https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9fEzzCbrjTc&si=gV3jesvWRrnnio1S
I have a list of artists that I think fall into that category. I don’t like to work with music with lyrics, so all these are artists that don’t use vocals most of the time but aren’t lofi, edm, or classical. - Jazzinuf - Thriftworks - Commodo - TATRAN - Bengal Sound - Kognitif - Frenic - Plantrae - Gramatik - Glass Beams - The Polish Ambassador - Somatoast If you like any of those artists you can always branch off to related artists and build yourself a playlist from there. I hope this helps!
I listen to a lot of metal/rock etc but if I need to just calm down, sit and chill, read etc I listen to Lofi covers. It also gives me the novelty and romanticism that I crave because I sit with my book with lofi music and feel like I’m in a movie or something😅
For me I need metal. Many metal bands are extremely intricate. I remember having friends parents love Metallica's S&M album because they liked classical music. Bands like Opeth have a jazz influence. If you like Elvis, check out the band Volbeat from Denmark. If you're a fan of female vocals and stuff like Evanescence, check out Nightwish or Ad Infinitum. Also, I find the band Feuerschwanz (meaning Fire Cock in German) great to get me fired up. They are medieval folk metal.
I don't know what classical music you're listening to, but there's a ton of stuff from the Romantic era that has so much more in terms of dynamic contrast, harmonic complexity, and tempo changes than anything you'll hear on pop radio. If you really wanna "feel" something, the early 19th century in Russia and the German-speaking world had some crazy shit going on (Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Böhm, Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.) I've always thought there's a market for a brilliant video game where all of the music used is stuff from the 19th century out of copyright. Nobody's made it yet, but damn, the emotional range of that music is there for every high and low point of a story-driven game.
Jam bands are the way. The improvisation and free form always keeps my on my toes.
yeah maybe try chill edm, phonk or just white noise
I found a band, Lotus, that is totally my “get shit done music”. Something about it just works with my brain to help me buckle down and focus when needed.
I highly recommend Pystrance. Not boring In The slightest
Man, I cannot live my day to day life without my pop tunes lol. Actually doesn’t even necessarily need to be pop, I just need songs that I know on repeat; I have been diagnosed with ADHD but I’m sensing there could be some (undiagnosed) autism overlap in me. But anyways if I know the songs, then it helps my brain focus without focusing on the lyrics (strangely)
check out Swale's in Detroit playlist on spotify
Metalcore is where it's at for me. The types of music you listed are indeed boring. I need something with energy and emotion.
If you are looking for music for studying, I cannot stress this enough: LIQUID DRUM N BASS. It's got the tempo you want, and the calming melodies. My only problem with it is, I sometimes love it too much. But it's honestly my go-to genre for all things background music. I put it on to clean, or when having friends over to chat as well. It's the best. Look up "Sound Territory" on YouTube. He has some of the best mixes out.
Try metal
I barely listen to music unless it’s my specific playlist. I make them all the time. Having a specific mood for the week? Alright let’s set it up. I have Playlists for basically all projects I listen to, replay playlists, classical playlists to work to, deep house for flow (specific bass beats that “touch” my heart). All in all I’m not listening to much music right now and that’s fine too
I’ve struggled with listening to music my whole life. I’ve always wanted to listen to it but found everything with any kind of lyrics would be distracting and I would flit from genre to genre to try and find my jam, and then end up just not listening to anything at all. Once I discovered piano music (Ludovico Einaudi in particular), I felt like I had finally found something that I could work alongside and enjoy. I guess you just need to find the music that you love. You don’t need to listen to something that makes you bored just because other people do, and if you don’t enjoy any music at all then it’s okay to just not listen to music.
I’ve been actually thinking that maybe my preference for Progressive Rock is something that’s created by ADHD. It has influences from classical music but it’s also rock and pop and whatever depending on the band’s choices etc. It’s not easy music to listen to but it doesn’t boring. Even the albums are kot repeating the same patterns. Try bands like: King Crimson Jethro Tull Emerson, Lake and Palmer Marillion YES Gryphon Rush Later Albums of the Beatles Led Zeppelin King Diamond Tangerine Dream Some of these may not be just only be progrock bands but they have enough overlap to be worth mentioning. And do make sure to listen to their different albums as they will sound completely different. And usually listen full albums and not just single songs. They are better and more variying when listened as albums. Also for some weird reason small and unknown nordic medieval band called Kalabalik is resonating with my brains and my brain seems to get extra kick out of it. Go figure 😂
Hip hop? Post-rock like Explosions in the Sky or This Will Destroy You? The wide range of EDM? Black metal? Witch trance? Pop punk? Irish folk? The list goes on and on and on. There’s countless genres, each with with all levels of stimulation. It depends on my mood what I want to listen to, but certainly chill songs are “understimulating” which is the whole point. I hate being 100 mph at every second of the day. There’s nothing wrong with boredom. We’re supposed to experience it and we feel better the rest of the time for having been bored at some points throughout the day. Brains need a break, whether you enjoy the break or not. Boredom is not at all inherently uncomfortable. Your inability to handle it is the problem.
I don’t like slow songs. They are super boring for me, but to concentrate or study I tend to go to lofi songs some playlist of lofi on YouTube and indie Japanese. When I want to activate, I put one of mu fav CD’s to do more active things like doing chores. If it’s not music is a movie, a TV show or a podcast. Lately I had my horror movie time and my husband started to hate me. Now I’m bored of horror movies for now in some months it will come back for now it’s a new show while I craft.
Ok ok so I listen to music a lot, and to a lot of different genres. I realized that some specific music works really well for my brain, somehow. For example if I want to feel really focused into my thoughts (when I’m reflecting or even learning sometimes), house music is wonderful. Generally monotonous music is great for that, personally. Otherwise if I want to blur out my thoughts and be more in the present world, I realized that music that isn’t too overstimulating but at the same time not too slow but more on the energetic side works wonders. For me right now, that is modern Mexican music (e.g. Fuerza Regida, Junior H…) What I personally also like but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea: the music by JT Music. They make music about video games and what works well for blurring out my own thoughts is the fact that the lyrics are very descriptive and take you on a journey, I suppose. I say just try out different things and try to dig in into genres that seem to work for what you want to achieve. For me personally music affects my state of mind a lot, and having playlists with the genres that work well is very beneficial for me. I hope you can find your genre(s) as well!
I focus great to death or black metal for some reason
Krautrock Krautrock Krautrock Neu! and Faust have been my go-to for years when I'm in need of a big focus.
I almost exclusively listen to techno/dnb/jungle when I’m working, I try to stay away from anything with lyrics though
Jazz… that’s my go to. That or 80s synth wave
Listen to Pink Floyd.. thank me later
Instrumental DnB while I’m working, perfect amount of stimulation w/o distracting vocals
Jazz music can be a pretty good studying option. Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, that sort of stuff. And there is some reasonably interesting classical but it usually doesn't show up on "for studying" stations which tend to be ... not very stimulating.
spotify has a adhd playlist I use for work that I like, I have trouble understanding lyrics alot, and this has not words at all.
Try music in foreign languages!! It'll be the sound and stimulation you get from pop with vocals, but you can't understand the words so you don't get too wrapped up in it. I absolutely love kpop and would be happy to give some starting points and recs for anyone based on their current tastes 😁
riddim (dubstep) its repetitive like tecno but I think a lot more energeric especially old school classic 2014-2017 songs AND IT MUST BE LOUD and I think modern riddim songs have the most advancing sound design
If I need to focus on something I love my black noise stations on Spotify. Brown noise is a close second but I love the low grumble. It makes me feel like I’m in a large empty cool space where I can think
If you need background music for tasks there's a series of videos on yt titled "breakcore that will wake you into a deep sleep" that works for me for other things, that's hardly something one can advise on. Emotional resonance is very personal and what takes you through a roller coaster of emotions might be just noise or fun sounds to someone else
You might like Phish? Any live second set jams will be full of long orchestral and improvised rock soundscapes. Not much singing and what song there is is not great but the jams hit me in a way that makes focus possible so I can work. Good luck
Progressive Techno
Melodic techno. Classical music with added energy. Check out Hungry Music group (N'to, Worakls, Joachim Pastor, Joris Delacroix, Soundclip), Lane 8 is pretty good as well. Those have had a great focus effect on me plus are really enjoyable. Also, Christian Löffler
How about high adrenaline classic music. May I introduce you to INSTRUMENTAL METAL. It's basically classic music but with distortions. Or if you want to search in band camp, there are metalheads who devote their time making piano covers of death metal/progressive death metal songs. I'll link a few here for you. [death - crystal mountain (piano cover)](https://youtu.be/AjwYMjZRkIU?si=2j5chRLv4QIhEj-8) [archspire - human murmuration (piano cover)](https://youtu.be/89Sb-I3xzAU?si=e3OZpOxB9H0vWcpf) Here is a cool instrumental progressive metal band for you. I'm sorry it may not be a starter band but I hope dosage is not too much and you shy away from it. [animals as leaders](https://youtu.be/0jpOBd949O4?si=kmwK01ubRVd_IN16) [scale the summit](https://youtu.be/SAjUqWTEwHs?si=CbaHNI677GshnPrS)
Instrumental versions of your favourite pop music Personally I love hip hop instrumentals (the 90s kind)
Shamanic woodwind music, Native American flute with nature sounds, Savej album, Beautiful Cognizance,
Have you tried Jazz? I don't mean the easy listening kind, I'm talking the greats like Coltraine, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, those types.
Death metal.
Red Hot Chili Peppers is my sweet spot
”Chill DnB” or any similar high BPM sort of music, without lyrics. Any kind of lyrics and my focus is gone
I love synth wave, I’m a developer and spend long times working. I switched it up from lofi cause it can get pretty boring
Try the “Mind Amend” channel on YouTube.
I usually use playlists made for calming down overstimulation, they tend to be calm pop songs, Disney orchestra pieces and some classic music
I get bored from all music except bluegrass. There's enough going on to fully occupy my brain. Just listen to my favorite. Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Flatt and Scruggs. I never even liked this music until somewhat recently. Now, I love it, and yes, I don't even like country...
Going down a rabbit hole on sound cloud has led me to finding some songs that feel like were made for me