Anti-noise: A playlist for PhD research

Noise carries its own meaning in different disciplines. It can be psychological, physical, technical, cultural. It accounts for different phenomena within semantics than in communication studies and serves a different purpose again within corners of education research. It variously concerns disruption, distraction and bias.

Right now, noise refers to the sound of machines attacking asphalt within close proximity of PhD Suite (Room 1.10) in the School of Education. The building of subject knowledge is locked in battle with the sound of tarmac being deconstructed. I find myself typing in stop-start rhythm to the sound of steel on concrete, which is fine for some scholarly tasks but not for others. Better than no typing at all. In response, I’ve created a playlist for occasions where composition and contemplation doesn’t lend itself to an industrial soundtrack: anti-noise to aid my concentration. ​

Anti-noise by Elektronicheslernenmuzik on Mixcloud

​1. Felt Mountain by Goldfrapp
2. Unforgotten Town by Belbury Poly
3. The Ipcress File by John Barry
4. The Bonny Barmaids of Dundee by Arab Strap
5. Un Bacio by Ali N.Askin
6. Awake by Troublemakers
7. Playground Love (Vibraphone Version) by Air
8. Riders on The Storm by Yonderboi
9. A Tree, a Rock and a Cloud by Aim
10. Adios by Les Baxter

​The playlist is intentionally lyric free, even if there are occasional fragments of dialogue and voice: the reading list in front of me is complex and lengthy enough without the need for additional words to contend with. I realise on playback that, without it being my intention, there’s a clear machine-like quality to some of the tracks here, most notably Arab Strap’s The Bonny Barmaids of Dundee.

Once the building work is complete our office will face onto a courtyard where students and staff will be able to congregate, relax and discuss the matters of the day. This will create its own soundtrack, which may or may not be conducive to the writing and reading that lies in store. When the sound of conversation and laughter penetrates PhD Suite (Room 1.10), I wonder whether I might long for the predictable ambient pattern of excavators attacking paving slabs. Noise carries its own meaning in different disciplines, but it’s also contingent on the activities being attempted within the space and time that it shares.

James Lamb is a PhD student within the School of Education (Room 1.10) at the University of Edinburgh.

This post also appears on the website of the Elektroniches Lernen Muzik.

See also:
Old School
​Maps, music and augmented reality
Surf guitar or The unrehearsed imagination of school