I love instrumental music, especially soundtracks.
I often run and write to them. I like the way they carry me away, emotionally. They just work their way into my head and do things to me. Lately, I've had a few stuck in my head. You're about to get them in your head, too.
First, there's Johan Johansson. I am not quite sure how or when I found his album and in the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees, and particularly this song, Theme, but I'm sure glad I did.
Johansson's work utterly destroys me. Often when I listen to it I just cry. There's something haunting, melancholy, beautiful and devastating about it.
The other day, on a whim I started watching Star Trek: The Animated Series on Netflix. It's surprisingly good. The very best part of it is the soundtrack. It's spectacular! I stumbled across a YouTube video with lots of the music from the show in it. I particularly like the bit that starts around 7:40 and goes to 8:30. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is about this music, but it is stirring! I feel like I'm in an action movie about my own life listening to it.
Lastly there's this oddball soundtrack that's a disco concept album of The War of the Worlds. Yes, I know, it sounds like a ridiculous idea. (And strictly speaking, it's not instrumental music, at least not all of it.) But it's amazing. A musician named Jeff Wayne recorded it back in 1978. There's one song in particular that really, really pumps me up when I hear it, Thunder Child.
When I feel the creative urge hit, I'll put stuff like this on, and it fans a tiny spark of inspiration into a roaring flame. I love this stuff.