Week #22: Revision - 11 albums to ease the process

Punch Brothers - Antifogmatic / Punch
These are two gently seguing bluegrass LPs that will definitely not distract you. Compositions and arrangements such as those in 'Blind Leaving The Blind, movement 1' may also provide fruitful ground for comment in a music essay.


Smog - Knock Knock
This is more of a personal one. 'Held' is my favourite track from one of my favourite albums of all time. It's by Bill Callahan (Smog), who is also one of my favourite songwriters of all time. That riff has become so firmly ingrained in my brain that revision can go actually ahead at full steam.


Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
This newish album from Parisian bleep-maker Nicolas Jaar is so weird and otherworldly that it kind of distances itself from you. If you have a heck of a lot of revision to do, this will help.


Mono - Under The Pipal Tree
Post-rock behemoths Mono reside in Japan. They specialise in creating ridiculously lengthy jams brimming with reverb, ambience and colour. It also happens that they're rumoured to be playing the lucrative 'Sunday Midday' slot at Latitude Fest this year... so, this tune is giving me something very special to (hopefully) look forward to after exams.


Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell's fluttering harmonies and funky sax fit revision like an egg cup does an egg.


Sarabeth Tucek - Get Well Soon
Sarabeth Tucek's new LP resonates like a more downbeat Breeders effort. This is grunge at its most melancholic and work-friendly.


Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Marvin Gaye's super-soft vocals, omnipresent strings and damn meaty sax solos exude similarly laid back vibes to the Joni Mitchell album. 'Mercy, Mercy Me' is one of the shorter tracks from his seminal 'What's Going On' work.


Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts Of The Great Highway
Everyone knows Mark Kozelek is a genius. But not everyone has discovered that he's also adept at creating slowly unwinding paeans that provide the perfect backdrop for a little bit of memorising, Maths practice or note-making.


Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
Fuzzy music like this always makes for a neat little revision sesh.


Isolée - We Are Monster
Isolée's 2005 album 'We Are Monster' is my final suggestion. The German microhouse producer makes creates sublime songs like 'Schrapnell', which, as you can hear, is much more upbeat than the other songs I've picked.