Songs To Get Through The Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks of the semester is the most dreaded time amongst college students. It is when many major projects and assignments are close to being due and still many more assignments are given out. Whether it is writing lengthy research papers, preparing for final tests and exams or simply fighting off fatigue, the end of a semester is when most college students hit maximum stress levels and simply put their heads down and plow through the last few weeks as best they can.

Music is many college students' best friend during these stressful times. When you are spending hours in front of your computer screen working on assignments, nothing makes time go by faster than opening up iTunes and listening to music. It helps make the homework process a lot more bearable and takes your mind off of how much work is still left to be finished. When choosing music to listen to while doing work, it is best to choose something unobtrusive in order to maintain your focus on the task at hand. Below is a list of songs and/or artists I listen to in order to get through large amounts of homework.

American Analog Set - American Analog Set was an Austin, Texas based indie band that created lush, acoustic driven soundscapes that seemed to wrap the listener in its organic sound. This is the perfect study music in my opinion and I have written numerous papers with their albums on repeat. You cannot really go wrong with any of their albums or songs, but here is one of my favorites:

Ryan Adams - Although I said to pick music that does not make you lose your focus (anything really energetic, loud, etc), it is important to have some music that is relatively upbeat to help bring you out of the doldrums of the end of the semester. My go-to Ryan Adams album for studying would have to be Gold. The perfect blend of quiet songs and upbeat rockers that make you sing along, Gold will help wake you up if you are fighting off late-night fatigue. Here is my all-time favorite song off this album

Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith's early material had all the feeling of home-recorded songs that seemed to be little more than a man and his guitar. His soft vocal delivery and hushed music is excellent for studying. A lot of his songs are depressing to a degree, but that will at least relate to the stress of knowing you are so close to the end of the school year, yet have so much work to do.

What are your favorite artists to listen to while studying? I know that when the semester is over, I will celebrate by listening to this.

Iconic Music Videos

For this post on Genre Buzzword, I want to take a look at music videos. I realize the title of my last post was a little misleading, as it was not about music videos, so I wanted to fix that by talking a little bit about music videos and ones that I think are pretty iconic.

I just want to start out by saying that I know music videos are still around. There have been some pretty impressive ones as of late (both the short and film versions of Kanye West's "Runaway" come to mind), but it seems like music videos have sort of lost the power they once held as a medium. For example, I personally don't think we will ever see a music video that had the sort of significance and impact that Michael Jackson's "Thriller" had. There was also a period of time from the 90's into the new millennium where some famous directors such as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams churned out some of the most memorable music videos. I remember when these directors but out a new music video, it was like an event. There would be big premieres for it on MTV and then you would see it all the time. Now that cable music channels have started cutting back on airing music videos except earlier in the morning, that sort of event phenomena seems to have gone away, or at least shifted over to the Internet.

I always loved music videos and when I used to catch them on MTV, VH1 or The Box, I would sometimes end up liking a song because it had a creative music video that caught my attention. I think that a good music video is one that enhances the song and makes it even more memorable for listeners, and occasionally the music video becomes even more popular than the song itself (The main reason I like the song "Sabotage" is the music video).

Here are some of my favorite music videos. Feel free to list your favorites in the replies!

Sabotage was directed by Spike Jonze and the video is the opening credits for a fictional 70's police drama show. This is probably my all time favorite music video due to the creative idea behind the video and the humor behind it. It's got everything car chases, foot chases and a few fights sprinkled in.

One of my favorite songs and I love this video by Michel Gondry. Great cinematography as most of the music video takes place in dream sequences and an interesting plot that has some Inception qualities to it.

Another Spike Jonze music video. The main reason why I love this video, and why I think many people love this video, is that it takes place entirely in the "Happy Days" universe. Awesome video that fits the feel of the song perfectly.

I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan, but I have to admit this is the best and most popular music video. It had a huge impact on music.