Fluffy Piano Music

My cats get calm and cozy when solo piano music is playing. The baby boy also gets in a dreamy mood with piano sounds. The wife, although not especially fond about western classical music ("...it always sounds so sad..."), also enjoys when the baby is calm and when the cats are chill. Being chill, especially when everyone around me is also chill, implies also that I can be focused and productive; or just chill. Hence, our house, and also my office, are often found to be decorated with a recorded tapestry of airy chords and melodies emanating from a grand piano that was played by skilled hands. Below are some of my favorites fitting the bill of being chill perfectly.

V.A. - 1 PM Study Session (LoFi Girl, 2024)

The acclaimed Youtube stream "Lofi Girl" has become a staple for people around the globe who require some "beats to relax/study to". Their selection is somehow like "smooth jazz", but slow and with a cool hip hop vibe. It's the oil that lubes capitalist machinery, such that neither of them cogs dares to question the meaning of life. Likely, zoning out to their music also prevents suicidal thoughts in a student preparing for the final exam that decides whether "A cheeseburger and a coke!" or "Hello, how may I help you?" will be their catchphrase at McDonalds. Their stream is broadcasting since 2015, but they only started releasing music in 2020 and their first ever compilation album was titled "1 AM Study Session". (Note: Studying at night is cool, because sleep is only for lazy hippies.) This album embodied the premise of the stream, which I sometimes call "Schroedinger's Music" -- music that is there and not there at the same time. Once I forgot to disable auto-repeat on a single track, and it took me a few hours to realize that.

Lofi Girl these days is a brand, with a recognizable mascot and whatnot... Anyway, I kinda like what they are doing, because, their vibe makes chores fluffy for me. Here they delight the listeners with solo piano re-imaginations of their first outing. Valium for the ears. Lovely! Keep it on repeat while you put just another brick in the wall!

Favorite Track: Softy - "Snow and Sand"

Listen / Buy "1 PM Study Session" @ Bandcamp

Youtube Playlist for "1 PM Study Session"

Lofi Girl @ Wikipedia

Blank & Jones feat. Marcus Loeber - Silent Piano / Songs for Sleeping Vol. 1 & 2 (Soundcolors, 2016 & 2018)

Blank & Jones were known for their poppy Trance music anthems when I was a teenager in the late 90ies and early 2000s. I never really liked this stuff. In fact, I don't really remember any of their songs. Perhaps, I only remember them because "blank" in German is the colloquial word for being broke and in my peer-group it was a running gag to respond to someone saying "Ich bin blank." ("I am broke") with "Und ich bin Jones." ("And I am Jones.").

These days their niche appears to be chill out music. They celebrate this as residents of a beach bar on the East Frisian Islands right of the German cost in the north sea. On this series of two albums they collaborate with pianist Marcus Loeber to present slowed solo piano versions of songs from their past and present. Although Blank and Jones compositions are rather simple, Loeber manages to let their chords and melodies breathe, while adding dreamy sparkles here and there. Whether this is contemporary classical music or jazz I don't know, but for sure it is very elegant. Due to their Pop-Trance heritage some tunes are rather catchy (see my favs below) and after repeated listens I found myself humming along to the music.

Favorite Tracks: "Le Grand Bleu" from Vol. 1 and "Where You Belong" from Vol. 2

Unfortunately, both albums are not on Bandcamp, but major streaming platforms carry them.

Silent Piano Vol. 1 @ Discogs

Silent Piano Vol. 2 @ Discogs

Blank & Jones - Relax Jazzed 2 by Marcus Loeber (Soundcolors, 2014)

The Blank & Jones collaboration with Loeber started already earlier. The concept here is similar to the Silent Piano albums, but this is basically as a remix of a remix album. Relax Jazzed Vol. 1 from 2012 was filled with very smooth and relaxing jazz band covers of Blank and Jones songs. Relax Jazzed 2 re-jazzes the jazz just with piano jazz. This is the stuff that plays near midnight in the hotel bar at the 20th floor where you go on a secret date with a millionaires wife. There is some overlap in songs here with the other two albums, which means that they needed to milk the cow until the last drop.

Again, not on Bandcamp, but your soul will find, it if you seek. In 2024 they released a 10th year anniversary edition pressed on vinyl, and there are still copies available. Grab yours, if this is your thing. I link to the Discogs page below.

Relax Jazzed 2 @ Discogs

[26/05/22] E.C. Herenz