Andrew
The first visual memory I have is that of the white upright piano in Singapore, Hell and the Dark Forces lived at the bottom, Heaven and the Angels at the top, they would play battles through my fingers and I was hooked.
As a psychology graduate I studied how sound affects human performance.
As a musician I compose instrumental music that stimulates your brain but doesn't mess with your language centers, leaving you free to write creatively without distraction.
As a curator I research how music can improve your life and create flow - I can tell you what music to listen to when studying for a test and why listening to sad music can make you feel better.
As a creator / contributor at musicto I believe that music can make the world better.
What I'm doing nowPlaylists
Home Alone, Too – The Staves
12 December 2018
“How I hate this time of year
It’s dark and it’s cold
And I feel I’m getting older…”
Resonating with anyone out there?
Venus – HOUNDTRACK, Too Much
12 December 2018
I’m laughing ‘cos I’m going back through the tracks over the last few weeks and the energy level has been rising slowly but surely – I guess a reflection of just how much external input I need to keep going. Oh – not that it’s that dramatic – it’s just that as we slide into the end of the year I find that I’m pretty knackered and need more energetic music to keep me in the zone…
Whole – Dear Tenement
5 December 2018
I’m Not Whole.
Ain’t that the truth – particularly for people listening to this list. Grief just takes a chunk out of you and it’s fifty / fifty whether it gets replaced – and even if it is – it’s with something completely different…
Two Moons Under – George FitzGerald
5 December 2018
I do – I sometimes feel like a song stealer – I sit here every week and listen to the tracks sent in by all the musicto curators – I’m exposed to all genres and types of music and – if there’s a track that I think works for one of my lists – I steal it – that’s right – I steal it – I steal it for you…
Alarm Bells – Iridesce
27 November 2018
So the Anthem theme continues and this week we’re off to Camden, North London to reflect on the bittersweet nature of life. The track’s been on my listening list since early October and yet last week it reached out and grabbed me and I started paying attention…
Snow – Miskeyz
26 November 2018
Sometimes you just need an energy boost – something to sit under your flagging mind and raise you up to a base level of competency – at least – that’s what you’re hoping for! ;-)…
Fake It – Morgan St. Jean
21 November 2018
I don’t know what it is at the moment but I’m in total “Anthem” mode – you know – the kinda tracks that you lose yourself in and sing along to at the top of your voice without giving a damn who hears you. There’s something incredibly cathartic to this behavior and it’s exactly why we are building the list…
Friday Morning – Khruangbin
20 November 2018
I have the best job in the world! 😉 Not only do I get to curate two amazing lists – this essay writing list and Music to Grieve to, but if you didn’t know – I get to listen to every track published on musicto.com each week. Yes – it’s a tough gig – listening to sometimes over 30 hand selected tracks and reading their accompanying write ups…
Papillon. Oiseau – Brique a Braq
13 November 2018
This is the third track from multi-instrumentalist Derek Mount’s Brique a Braq project that has made it onto a Music to Playlist. The first two tracks: Raplapla and Le 4 Novembre were both featured on the Music to Love Piano list and if you dig this piece, I highly recommend you check them out…
Souvenir – the Depth and the Whisper
13 November 2018
While this playlist covers all kinds of behavior that can lead to grief, without doubt the most predominant theme addressed is that of loss: loss of a relationship, loss of a loved one, loss of anything that has a deep emotional connection to a person. And while everybody’s experience of loss is different, there are some fundamental desires that people dealing with loss seem to share:…
Joshua Tree in the Headphones – Deb Talan
7 November 2018
It’s a blessing to be able to look back at the bad times – particularly the really bad times – tragically there are too many who didn’t make it through to create memories…
Caledonia – Dougie MacLean
31 October 2018
Yes I’m Scottish and I can romanticize Scotland – (along with a crazy amount of Outlander fans!) – but this track’s about more than that – to me it’s about the idea of home and the strange relationship we often have with it…