What is the deepest and most intellectually stimulating song you have ever heard?

[Forensic1999]

I personally enjoy a few. Some of Missio. Some Alt-J. What are your thoughts?

 

[Cognisant]

Seriously though, O Fortuna is a song about the most universal aspect of the human condition the tyranny of aging and mortality.

 

[Rebis]

This is a hard question to answer, people don't listen to a song for intellectual stimulation.... that depth will be found in an audiobook or podcast.

If you want a song with intelligent flow however, look no further than immortal technique:



These songs are very stimulating if you pay attention to the lyrics.

 

[Rebis]

Alternatively...

 

[Cognisant]

 

[Marbles]

I really like Alt-J. I was actually listening to them as I checked this thread out on my phone earlier today.

Music is extraordinarily mentally stimulating. No activity lights up more areas of the brain. Which track is most stimulating to you is probably primarily dictated by what you like, and secondarily by the complexity of the music.

Fast jazz is too mentally stimulating for me. If I try to keep track of the different threads and patterns in the music, I get very tired. I prefer slower pieces. Arnold Schoenberg is one of the artists that give me the strongest sense of profundity. Something like Verklarte Nacht, which I've posted in the "what you're listening to" thread before.

Spoiler: Schoenberg

Jessica Curry's music also gives me that feeling of being transported to a more fundamental level of reality.

Spoiler: Jessica Curry

Bach and Handel are almost so obvious I feel silly to mention them, but I'd also feel silly not to.

Spoiler: Handel's Opus 7 in D minor

German music is in general profound:

On another note (huhuh), I actually like corporate music. Makes me feel relaxed, safe :P Then again, I have been told I have no soul. I also like airplane food, so i guess bland's the name of my game.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

First choice. Introspective more than intellectual really.

Another introspective one. There are two versions but I prefer the acoustic one.

Last one.

lol, I'm noticing a trend here. Existential dread/Hope?

 

[Marbles]

Right where it belongs was the soundtrack of my secondary school years. Still love the song. That Toh Kay track, I've never heard. It's not on Spotify Keep the existential dread coming!

 

[Rebis]

Music is extraordinarily mentally stimulating. No activity lights up more areas of the brain. Which track is most stimulating to you is probably primarily dictated by what you like, and secondarily by the complexity of the music.

I wasn't saying music isn't mentally stimulating, I meant it wasn't intellectually stimulating in most cases. People listen for the rhythm, beats, instruments, lyrics and the vocals. No one is going to listen to a song on repeat about Einstein's theory of special relativity (prove me wrong) haha

 

[Marbles]

:P

My comment wasn't directed at you, though. I actually didn't see it till now. If I have offended, think but this, and all is mended. I have but slumbered here, I did not see your post appear.

 

[Rebis]

I expected you would find one, it was bait! Did you just google search or did you know about this prior? I wasn't bothered to search myself

 

[Marbles]

I love Johnny Flynn, lol. Was just lucky. Also considered this:

In all seriousness, though, I think music can be very intellectually stimulating. Often not philosophically stimulating, but there are many exceptions, like Bob Dylan (a nobel prize in literature laureate), Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkel (I love A poem on the Underground Wall, for instance)

 

[moody]

Um, this is what comes to mind. Particularly the end. I recommend listening to that, if nothing else. It's out there. A lot of sound. It feels so surreal every time I listen to it.

 

[Tenacity]

I personally enjoy a few. Some of Missio. Some Alt-J. What are your thoughts?

Taro is chill.


For music with the purpose of intellectual stimulation, classical tends to be far better if you want to let your thoughts speak for themselves. Words can be distracting.

Also, binaural beats therapy.

But I let music alter or reflect my mood. Naturally, the lyrics end up being thought-provoking compared to mainstream music. Mostly alt-rock which is chilled out. Gives me something to look forward to.


Lyrics of Atlas Genius - Trojans (their most mainstream song)
"
Take it off, take it in
Take off all the thoughts of what we've been
Take a look, hesitate
Take a picture you could never recreate
Write a song, make a note
For the lump that sits inside your throat
Change the locks, change the scene
Change it all but can't change what we've been
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
It's OK if it's gone
The thoughts that you had that it was the one
And oh what is left?
For all those times is that what you get?
Oh regardless
The walls get painted anyway
Oh you're guarding
The gates, but it all got away
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
Take it off, take it in
Take off all the thoughts of what we've been
Take a look, hesitate
Take a picture you could never recreate
Write a song, make a note
For the lump that sits inside your throat
Change the locks, change the scene
Change it all but can't change what we've been
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Oh, oh your Trojan's in my head
Your Trojan's in my head
Take it off, take it in
All the thoughts of what we've been
Take off all the thoughts of what we've been"

 

[Forensic1999]

Interesting. Was exited to know some of you also enjoy Alt-J.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

Lol breezeblocks and Trojans remind me of middle school. Fond memories and yikes combined.

 

[Tenacity]

Lol breezeblocks and Trojans remind me of middle school. Fond memories and yikes combined.

Atlas genius is dope bruh. Timeless.

 

[Forensic1999]

What about Pink Floyd? It has such intense depictions of nostalgia and human suffering within its chords.

 

[Tenacity]

What about Pink Floyd? It has such intense depictions of nostalgia and human suffering within its chords.

Comfortably numb is essentially my heartbeat

 

[Forensic1999]

I could drown in "high hopes" the depth is beyond me.

 

[Tenacity]

I could drown in "high hopes" the depth is beyond me.

For real. It’s art. Longer song length, deeper meanings

You might like Shesmovedon & Arrived Somewhere but Not Here by Porcupine Tree

 

[Forensic1999]

Oooh, I do like those recommendations.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

Talk about timeless, I just listened to O Fortuna from the 13th century and felt like it's lyrics were directly talking to me.

 

[Marbles]

Breezeblocks was the first alt-j song I heard, through this cover :


I like Porcupine Tree. Back in high school I had a friend who was obsessed with them. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure he was xNTP. Never heard Arriving somewhere but not here. The guitar sings like a sax. Great tune.

Haven't gotten around to Pink Floyd. I will, though. Which genres do you guys prefer?

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

this is perfection imo:

 

[Tenacity]

1. The rise of the day

2. Confrontation of the day

3. Proactivity

4. Brain energy FTW
(This last one I believe is the general xNTx sentiment lmao)

 

[Tenacity]

More mindgasm music please

 

[moody]

More mindgasm music please

It's a lot...but LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE THING.

 

[Forensic1999]

 

[Forensic1999]

 

[Forensic1999]

Most chill song I've heard. With just the right amount of nostalgia.

 

[Tenacity]

More mindgasm music please

It's a lot...but LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE THING.

Woah. The amount of variance in style was totally unexpected. It was like an abstract story. So much happening at once - Must have taken an insane amount of coordination, practice, and memorization.

I don't listen to instrumental music as much lately, but here's the type of stuff I like, once in a blue moon. Note: Doesn't fit "intellectually stimulating".

Mood (skip Ready Yet one if you don't like sadgirl stuff)

 

[Tenacity]

I dig both

Most chill song I've heard. With just the right amount of nostalgia.

V relaxing

 

[Tenacity]

 

[daddychaos]

I would post the entire discography of meshuggah, but one song that hits me hard ever since I heard it and read the lyrics is 'The Dillinger Escape Plan - Prancer'

 

[Rebis]

Another addition to the bottomless pit:


The song's about anarchists getting wrongly persecuted for murder by the US judicial system under a wave of anti-italian prejudice. There were numerous appeals all vehemently denied by the trial judge proclaiming their innocence. The case went on for 7 years, within that time frame Vanzetti had learned english to a degree of mastery, writing books, poems and all the sorts. These guys were just your average fisherman and shoe cobbler. The song goes on to repeat an excerpt from an interview:

"If it had not been for these things, I might have lived out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life we could have hoped to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man's understanding of man as we now do by accident. Our words—our lives—our pains—nothing! The taking of our lives—lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddler—all! That last moment belongs to us—that agony is our triumph. If it had not been for these things, I might have lived out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life we could have hoped to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man's understanding of man as we now do by accident. Our words—our lives—our pains—nothing! The taking of our lives—lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddler—all! That last moment belongs to us—that agony is our triumph. "

In persecuting these anarchists for questionable, downright lack of conclusie evidence?

You fulfilled their ideology which deposes the function of a governing state, as Lord Acton said "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". In persecuting these innocent guys, attracting media attention for 7 years made people question the role a government and judicial system plays in the lives of civilians. While they were in agony in their death sentence, it was triumph because a century later these guys are still remembered. They won.

 

[peoplesuck]

ghost k stop has a good bit of meaning.

Spoiler: :D

/SPOILER]

 

[Rebis]

Spoiler: :D

/SPOILER]

That JBP video is fantastic.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

 

[Forensic1999]

Song isn't really deep but supposed to be highly relaxing.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

This is at the top of my playlist rn

 

[Polaris]

I don't know if I have ever found music to be intellectually stimulating, but it depends on what is meant by that. I find more intellectual stimulation in conversation, reading or writing. But I usually don't have much going on at all in my head when I listen to music. It's more about how the music is able to remove me from my thoughts, and draw me entirely into the listening experience. The more captivating the music, the less that goes on in my head - and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

I guess I meditate on music which could then potentially put me in a creative state of mind. Maybe that's what is meant by OP. Is that intellectual? I don't know, I guess it depends on the output. In my case, I feel like it's more a matter of intuition and what might emerge from the depths of my subconscious. But I cannot think constructively and listen to music at the same time because both require me to engage different cognitive processes. Multi-tasking has never been something that comes easily to me - it's either one or the other.

So I've had to think for a while about the OP because there is so much music, and I find it hard to pick something specific. However, Alice Coltrane comes pretty close in terms what would inspire creativity for me:



Additionally, I find the music of Laurie Spiegel to be incredibly captivating in terms of patterns and layering. The computer generated album "Unseen Worlds" was composed and coded entirely by Laurie Spiegel and is some of the most beautiful and haunting music I have ever heard:



Philip Glass was commissioned by the Michelson-Morley Centennial Celebration at Case Western Reserve University in 1987 to write a symphony to commemorate the Michelson-Morley experiment on the speed of light. It's impossible however, to find a decent quality performance anywhere on the web, but I highly recommend finding a recording somewhere.

The fuzzy recording below is the only version I can find - but it's doesn't really do the piece justice, I much prefer the now unavailable version by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, which had a lot more energy and momentum to it - reminiscent of the trajectory of light particles. Anyway:

 

[Forensic1999]

 

[Marbles]

Additionally, I find the music of Laurie Spiegel to be incredibly captivating in terms of patterns and layering. The computer generated album "Unseen Worlds" was composed and coded entirely by Laurie Spiegel and is some of the most beautiful and haunting music I have ever heard:

I really like that.

@Forensic1999
I was actually listening to that moments ago, on my way from the store.

 

[Forensic1999]

I don't know if I have ever found music to be intellectually stimulating, but it depends on what is meant by that. I find more intellectual stimulation in conversation, reading or writing. But I usually don't have much going on at all in my head when I listen to music. It's more about how the music is able to remove me from my thoughts, and draw me entirely into the listening experience. The more captivating the music, the less that goes on in my head - and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

I guess I meditate on music which could then potentially put me in a creative state of mind. Maybe that's what is meant by OP. Is that intellectual? I don't know, I guess it depends on the output. In my case, I feel like it's more a matter of intuition and what might emerge from the depths of my subconscious. But I cannot think constructively and listen to music at the same time because both require me to engage different cognitive processes. Multi-tasking has never been something that comes easily to me - it's either one or the other.

So I've had to think for a while about the OP because there is so much music, and I find it hard to pick something specific. However, Alice Coltrane comes pretty close in terms what would inspire creativity for me:



Additionally, I find the music of Laurie Spiegel to be incredibly captivating in terms of patterns and layering. The computer generated album "Unseen Worlds" was composed and coded entirely by Laurie Spiegel and is some of the most beautiful and haunting music I have ever heard:



Philip Glass was commissioned by the Michelson-Morley Centennial Celebration at Case Western Reserve University in 1987 to write a symphony to commemorate the Michelson-Morley experiment on the speed of light. It's impossible however, to find a decent quality performance anywhere on the web, but I highly recommend finding a recording somewhere.

The fuzzy recording below is the only version I can find - but it's doesn't really do the piece justice, I much prefer the now unavailable version by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, which had a lot more energy and momentum to it - reminiscent of the trajectory of light particles. Anyway:

That Laurie Spiegel track was so immersive and hypnotic.

 

[Kormak]

Mindblowing stuff imo.. best part is no dumb lyrics to distract from the music. Majestic, uplifting, sets my brain on fire.