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Alexa, Open Warp Core

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Okay so I’m a bit of a sci fi nerd, so this impressed me on more than one level.

And also I realise that not everyone approves of, or wants to listen to, anything about Alexa.

But regardless, there’s a new feature where you simply say “Alex, Open Warp Core” and it will play ambient warp core sounds.

For me, this is fantastic as I’m constantly looking for ambient sounds to either meditate to or work to. It’s truly just white sound. The kind that would put babies to sleep. Which makes me a giant man baby who can’t chill unless I hear white noise. But I don’t care. It’s so chill!

There’s also a YouTube version if you don’t want to get an Amazon-sponsored listening device in your room.

Go here or here for the 24 hour version.

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Headphones On, Chill Out

Right now I’m suffering from man flu brought on by being a bit stressed about looking for work, so this weekend I went into full ‘self care mode’ and found some great tunes, care of the Tune In app.

The All Lounge Experience
The All Lounge Experience (T.A.L.E.)

The All Lounge Experience is a super chilled listen with various mixes available, thanks to different guest DJs. It’s perfect (in turns out) for plugging into as you read a good book under a blanket on a Sunday. I was listening to Episode 58 with guest DJ Spike Deep.

Oh, and while I’m at it, if you are a sci fi nerd like me, you could do a lot worse than this book (at 99p on Kindle, an absolute bargain) which goes really well with aforementioned radio show:

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Wake Up to Spacey Downtempo

My sleep’s all over the place at the moment, thanks to the uncertainty of the current job market (the UK’s in a major recession thanks to Coronavirus and our political overlords) and well, anxiety.

I woke up at 5.30am this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and threw some shorts and a t-shirt on, to go running.

I’ve been listening to some new radio/podcast shows featuring downtempo music, that help to relax me and get me in the zone as I run. Unlike the ‘Future Astronauts’ podcast I mentioned in another post, these shows are more meditative. And at the risk of sounding like a wanker, I thought they were worth a mention.

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How sci-fi themed chill out podcasts make me feel

The first is SOMA FM’s Mission Control radio station.
If you like your space stuff (personally I’m a sci fi and space fan) then this is an interesting mix of ambient music and recordings from NASA mission archives. It’s quite fascinating to hear the astronauts reporting back to their control room, over some relaxing beats.
Have a listen : https://somafm.com/missioncontrol/

The second podcast Ultima Thule is another great ambient and chill out podcast that is less concerned with what is cool, and more concerned with deep, meditative sounds and weird, mystical monologues from various poets and randoms, mixed in over ambient and chill out music.
Check it out : Ultimate Thule Podcast.

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Chill the F*ck Out

In 2015, a study* was performed using 200 cataract operation patients where patients were given meditation music before their operation, and their ‘stress coping skills’ measured. The results showed the patients with the music had lower stress levels before surgery.

That’s just one of boatloads of studies that show how great music is to calm an anxious mind.

So, I thought I’d give you a little recommendation of some music I use to chill out.

Future Astronauts podcast is in my opinion, the absolute dogs bollocks of chill out stations.

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Forget all of that hotel chill-out playlist tripe that they play to sun-baked oldies around the pool (apologies if you are a sub-baked oldie). This podcast contains 100% decent tunes that even a pilled-up Ibiza DJ who is half dead on the beach at 10am after a particularly emotional 10 hour set would listen to.

And even better, they have created an album to raise funds for mental health charities in the UK and the US.

Click here to listen to some tracks.

*read study here .