Contribute Friday: What Music Gets You In The Mood To Work?
I’ve been searching for some great new music to listen to while working. I found a cool site once (that I can’t seem to locate now) that listed what music the person did while doing a certain web task. There was even a category for “music while debugging IE6“.
I love listening to upbeat music, normally punk rock but sometimes some rap or pop, while coding. When writing, I prefer no music or classical music. Today I tried listening to Muse, and I think they’ll be added to my favorites while coding list. 
So what do you listen to while designing, coding or answering emails? Let me know your music preferences and the tasks you do while listening to it!
Photo by Balakov
About the author
Amber Weinberg specializes in clean and semantic XHTML, CSS and WordPress development. She has over 10 years of coding experience and is pretty cool to work with. Amber is available for freelance work, so why not hire her for your next project?
It’s strange, but music that I work to isn’t necessarily music that I like. My favorite music is classical and movie soundtracks (orchestral). It’s rare for me to love something non-orchestral. But I’ve found (recently actually) that I enjoy working to trance, techno, ambient, and electronica. I still haven’t figured out why!
try smoothbeats.com i always listen to it while coding..no comercials and more classic stuff
enjoy!
Karnivool is a good band, since you are in the Mood for Muse, also Mew is good too!
Cheers!
For all coding and thinking hard stuff…harpsichord. Usually the virtuose variety by Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, and Couperin.
For right brain, I usually like nothing, or a one hour loop of a real waterfall that acts as whitenoise.
White noise is great too! I’ve noticed that Magnatune has a harpsichord “channel” if you find yourself needing some variation.
Kraftwerk and Tubeway Army and Kattoo and SubtractiveLAD and Joy Division and Ikon and Electric Six and The Donnas and VNV Nation and ZZ Top and Local H and [:SITD:] and Massive Attack…
My “Working” playlist has about 150 artists on it and it’s a bit of all over the place. If I had to plug just one artist I’d go with Kattoo because he makes awesome music and you can buy directly from him.
Yea my iTunes library has a little of everything. I even have some Ukrainian Gypsy Punk, Russian, Korean and Spanish music
I don’t know if I can top “Ukrainian Gypsy Punk” but I’ve got some German cowboy cover music.
Anything by Sonic Youth or Pavement always does the trick
I’m always, always on the electro train while working, though I think Electro is a very British thing.
I’d suggest some Kitsune Mixtapes to anybody, with them putting out some incredibly talented Indie bands and then passing those tracks around the Electro circuit to produce some fantastic Remix albums. Little something for everybody.
Stand out tracks I tend to go back to would be, Bicycle by Memory Tapes, Something Golden by Le Corps Mince de Francoise and the entire Gildas & Masaya – New York album for something more upbeat.
I totally choose based on my mood, if i’m struggling with a glut of code I have to get something up-tempo on, but I do love sunny days with stimulating work with a nice chilled playlist.
Sorry if the above recommends are too wacky!
My advice, if you’re having the mother of all dumb days and you’re feeling totally deflated, the Cantina Music from Star Wars will put you in a brilliant mood!
Well, when concentrating on work, I love more instrumental type music. Lyrics seem to distract me when trying to sit down and design. The band I go to the most often is Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Their style is best described as rhythmic drumming I guess. It is fantastic stuff and I highly recommend it.
I use the following for work music:
Conan the Barbarian Sndtrk
Avatar score sndtrk
Coraline score sndtrk
etc.
Everything from classical to orchestral movie soundtracks to bagpipe music. I’ve also been know to listen to Audio books from time to time, and that is typically confined to books I’ve already read.
In fact, I am listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the moment.
.
My kind of post the music variety and cd collection is unreal.
I just listen to music while working with web design not any particular tasks. I find with coding that I am sound sensitive and since I am not in a quite location talking gets on my nerves so I put my headphone on anything will do to cure it I find.
Serious Though The Foxy Shazam Record coming out Sire/Ferret records is going to be a constant play here.
I know you listen to MCR so check out Foxy Shazam!
I agree punk music is music of choice. I do listen to metal, rap, pop so here is the list.
Bad Brains I Against I is always on!
Punk/Punk-Pop/Rock
1. Hot Cross
2. This Day Forward
3. Zolof The Rock and Roll Destroyer best pop/punk band my opinion (at the start Anthony Green also of Circa Survive who left the band and Rachel Duel Vocals a classic self titled debut)
4.Unsung Zero- Pop/Punk Band From Orlando
5.New Found Glory- Nothing Gold Can Stay just a classic record their new stuff is good but this was a very energetic cd.
6. Crime in Stereo
Rap
I listen to mostly indie hip hop. I can listen to LiL Jon I give him cred the guy is a Bad Brains fan! so he sampled them and metal band Slayer as well with of course Rick Rubin who produced Slayer Records.
1. DangerDoom- Collaboration of Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley Fame) and M.F Doom with Cartoon Network to create a Adult Swim Record with characters included released by Epitaph Records. Epitaph has about 4 hip hop artists signed to their label and Anti ( Sage, Blackalicous, Bus Driver…)
2. The Crest
3. Atmosphere
4. RJD2
5. P.O.S cool rapper, he likes punk music so he adds Kill Sadie samples etc. Featured on records are Bouncing Soul Lead Singer and others different.
6. Astronautalis listen to 5 years before the mast
As for metal I don’t listen to real heavy stuff mostly epic, beautiful vocals. If you don’t really listen to metal. I always say give these bands a chance.
1. Delian http://www.myspace.com/delainmusic
2. Nightwish
3. Epica
I have been listening to heavy records like Landmine Marathon just got my preorder.
Extra long comment, have fun and have a great weekend.
I mean Nightwish when Tarja was in the band…
You just became even more cool by saying you like Muse. You know they are coming to Nashville on Tuesday? I’ll be there for sure.
Anyways, try listening to Explosions in the Sky. There are no words for distracting, and it is some kick axe instrumentals. If you’ve ever seen Friday Night Lights, the movie, they play most of the soundtrack.
Explosions In The Sky!
Ya, they also did Cadillac commericals! Listen to Mono as well
By the way Temporary Residence Limited also releases/released Envy records (from Japan) they did a Split with Thursday. They just signed Coliseum. Great label!
meant “rereleases” not to repeat
Friday Night Lights also became a series on tv don’t know if it got canceled but the soundtrack carried over.
Yea I won’t be there :/ I don’t have any of their CDs
give Mono a try http://www.myspace.com/monojp
Usually Reggae or Rap but occasionally a Rhianna track somehow makes into into my playlist. I’ve also found the newest stick figure (stickfiguremusic.com) songs help keep me focused.
I forgot to mention the new Minus The Bear! its the coolest!
In my case I like celtic music (via iTunes radio) but some times I need something more acording to my mood, cool things like Oasis, The Subways, Angels and Airwaves and bands like these, but also real heavy stuff like Metallica, Apocalyptica (the most heavy cellos you can hear), Anthrax, will be too long to tell the music I like 3,379 songs on my iTunes from the Oompa Loompa Song to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, had something to every mood.
Amber will be interesting to know how everybody relax when can go away from work, don’t you think?
I tend to listen to some Muse or anything that has Slash in it, then again it all depends on the mood. Ska is good too, freefallfelix or Skankt
Metallica if you llike that sort of thing! ooooo Black Stone Cherry is great to work with on! 
you may like The Stone Saloon – I tend to listen to them alot, http://www.myspace.com/thestonesaloon, all good mates of mine which is awesome coz there a great band!
I’m a jazz and mellow music listener. My Pandora mix has a little techno in it, but it’s mostly Coltrane, MMR, Blue Man Group (ok, not exactly relaxed there), Keiko Abe, and a little classical. Something about lyrics when I’m coding just completely throws me.
I listen to a wide variety of stuff, but for serious, SERIOUS coding, there is nothing better than ‘Squarepusher’. Check out his website here: http://squarepusher.net/
He does electronic music, ranging widely from very low-key, to very upbeat. It’s extremely unique I think. Gets me pumped.
If you want a good demo of his stuff, his ‘Planetarium’ song is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5crdJgQcR3Q
Enjoy.
Nice! Anything at 175BPM and up definitely gets you motivated. Lately I’ve been on the random. Worth checking out different types of genres, lots of new sub genres forming http://thesixtyone.com
Just checked out thesixtyone.com and the idea is pretty cool!
Thanks for all the suggestions! I’m going to be spending awhile listening to all this! I miss the good ol days when people exchanged mix tapes
I like to listen: DnB, Dubstep, Dub, Reggae, Lounge, Minimal. And “silence” when i’m working on algorithms. By the way, I recommend this site:
http://listen.grooveshark.com
…just search for some artists, drop on the playlist 2 or more tracks, then press “radio” button and then go back to work.
Cheers from México
Sometimes I think music can be quite distracting when I’m working, especially if I’m in the mood to discover new things. But usually the stuff I listen to is the stuff I always listen to, and according to my last.fm profile that is:
I’m into rock, blues, hard rock, classic rock and southern rock, including:
T. Rex, Thin Lizzy, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, The Who, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Marillion, Joe Bonamassa, Ten Years After, Free, Fleetwood Mac, Syd Barrett, Ian Hunter, Marc Bolan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mott the Hoople, Drive-By Truckers, Van Halen, Dave Mason, Jet, The Kinks, Neil Young, .38 Special, Led Zeppelin, Ringo Starr, Deep Purple, Electric Light Orchestra, Foo Fighters, Craig Erickson Project, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Lou Reed, Ian Gillan, Gilby Clarke, Aerosmith, Chris Robinson, AC/DC, Coverdale/Page, John Mellencamp, UFO, Traffic, Buckcherry, Janis Joplin, ZZ Top, John Lennon, Wishbone Ash, Mark Knopfler, Blackfoot, Humble Pie, Black Stone Cherry.
Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/Ch13f
I listen to Pandora (http://www.pandora.com). I pick a station and rock out. My tastes vary but when I’m writing, reviewing projects it’s Cirque du Soleil tunes and or Kaskade.
What is on my playlist right now (a little late, but what the heck):
Dashboard Confessionals – Bitter Pill
Jason Mraz – If It Kills Me (We Sing CD)
Lou Barlow – Home
Depeche Mode – Home
DeVotchka – How It Ends
Otis Redding – Dreams
Coldplay – Viva la Vida
De/Vision – A ton of their stuff…
Just whistle while you work… :http://www.divshare.com/download/15806840-d7f
Joking!
But actually,there’s pretty good background muzak on http://groovera.com/
Bach is ALWAYS good – somehow his mathematical and logical harmonies division corresponds with what brain needs to tick & concentrate.
And very motivating: Ronny Jordan: “So What”, on the “Antidote” album …