Command & Conquer

Change mood?

Well, one thing that makes me feel focused, intelligent and/or melancholic is ambient in various forms.

When I am in bad mood, I often change it into dreamy, good-hearted melancholy with post-rock, shoegaze and blackgaze/blackwave.

Unless I am completely broke and depressed and wish to remain in that state, then I stick to a few specific artists and albums, most notably including, among other things, Ulver, Rome, Current 93 or a few Clint Mansell's soundtracks, which make me spirall into sadness. Somehow I enjoy it.

However, much depends on your altitude towards the music, since the same songs/albums/artists can be uplifting, depressing, making you feel focused or dreamy, depending on what do you feel and think about, it's very subjective.. I remember once, when I was in high school, feeling depressed because of one girl (yeah, I was young and stupid..), I kept on listening Rome over and over, and was amazed by the political and intelectual theme of their music. It took me one week of constant listening to notice that, both in the lyrics and in the music, the said political focus is only the context of one's individual personal tragedy, and while they did record songs and albums about, among other things, the Spanish Civil War, it was not the focus then; It was just the context for study of one's feeling of loss after leaving his homeland due to political reasons and joining a foreign war fought by unknown, alien people, in the name of ideologies that yet have to be proven right or wrong. It seemed like an intelectual theme, but after digging into it and understanding it better, it turned out to be very personal and tragic music.

So even when it comes to lyrics, the meaning can change depending on what you feel and focus on. I think that, with the right mood and intent, you can make any form of music uplift you or keep you digging deeper into sadness, and find anything anywhere.

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Edit: But, after thinking for a while, one thing that *almost* always makes me feel better is good post-rock.

So I'll just leave this one here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWGDSI5NHjU