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
Swear – Moby
4 July 2017
It’s the insistent high hat that makes this perfect for the playlist. I’m all for pure instrumental percussion free tracks – what is often referred to as “New Age” but – there has to be a sense of movement in the track – it has to give energy rather than take it.
Sagres – The Tallest Man On Earth
4 July 2017
Like last week’s track, it’s the lyric that got me:
“It’s just all this fucking doubt…“
Yeah, yeah it is, isn’t it.
Weightless – Neil Cowley Trio
27 June 2017
We don’t allow more than two tracks from any one artist on these playlists but I’m thinking of making an exception for the Neil Cowley Trio ‘cos well, they’re just bloody great! I remember falling in love with this track last week and it sounds even better on the 6th or 7th listen – and the video’s pretty rad too.
God in Chicago – Craig Finn
27 June 2017
At the end of the day, songs are stories – messages wrapped in sound that are designed to make you feel. In some songs the story is simple, the lyric sparse and straightforward – often accompanied by an elaborate musical wrapper that gives the words weight – but in other songs – in a song like this – it’s the other way around. I like songs like this…
Miraflores – Feathered Sun
27 June 2017
So I’m breaking my own rules on this track but hey – sometimes you just gotta try something a little different – this track has words – not a lot – but definitely a sense of lyric, and yet…
Las Claves – Dr. Fuego
21 June 2017
Alright, we know – it’s summer and you’re all out on break earning dough in shitty jobs or heading south to the good weather – (or maybe even running north – it was 108 here in LA today!)
The City and the Stars – Reimagined – Neil Cowley Trio
21 June 2017
I always had a vision for this playlist where the music would take you out from the terror of turbulence and drop you into the cool ethereal place that exists above the clouds – this is the kind of music they play up there!
Things We Hang on To – Daniel Scarsella
20 June 2017
“The things we hold on to
Can cloud your point of view”
Ain’t that the truth!
Hard as Stone – Duncan Reed
12 June 2017
Hard As Stone was written about a realization that it didn’t matter where you were in life as long as you were comfortable with the people around you. The story behind the song was about getting lost in the mountains when mist came down but not really caring as I’d become content with who I was with.
Raplapla – Brique a Braq
8 June 2017
The whole idea of this playlist was to find piano tracks that enveloped you in ethereal melodies and wrapped you up warm in cloud like comfort – Raplapla is a stunning example of what we were looking for.
Piano Sonata No.12 In F – W.A.Mozart – Maria João Pires
26 April 2017
The Piano Sonatas of Mozart (as played by Maria J Pires) are an obvious choice to cool down, concentrate and get in a flow.
Overwhelmed – Erik Fastén
25 April 2017
My cousin died last night – I’m kinda shocked – he was 52 – it doesn’t feel real. And yet here I am, adding tracks to the Music to Grieve to playlist and feeling – well – not better – but – I’ve no fucking idea what I would do if music didn’t exist.