Music to work by

@dave alerted me to Emancipator awhile back , I've found anything by this artist is great to work to:

I would love to hear other suggestions as well.


I like Brian Eno's "Ambient" series. It's more mellow but pleasant and easy to listen to. There are 4 in this series I believe.



yeah, nah. Something about Brian Eno's ambient sound-scalpels just makes me want to scream in hysterics. Literally feels like I'm being flayed alive, no matter what's being played. 

Same goes for a lot of the 'pretty, relaxing yoga music' and the 'cafe jazz' styles. Not sure if it's the instrumentation, or the recording style (frequencies etc) but every nerve end is stretched taut and my hair feels like an electrified cartoon cat's. 

Some of Jason Stephenson's 8 & 10-hour loops are really good for pain-free deep sleep if you're in chronic pain/migraine/insomniac. And some, although they're meant to work that way, just let you focus on work or study.  I use an 8-hr one for work when I'm not listening to gypsy songs. 


To kick up my housework:


joanne said:
yeah, nah. Something about Brian Eno's ambient sound-scalpels just makes me want to scream in hysterics. Literally feels like I'm being flayed alive, no matter what's being played. 
...

 That's an odd reaction to ambient music. Exactly what Eno have you heard?


The Airport album above, for one. Most of the ambient 'hits'. 


As much as I love orchestral music, violins and brass set me off too. Broadway musicals (especially the classics we all grew up with) drive me nuts when played right through, or if I have to watch them. Don't get me started on opera! Yet I can listen for hours to Indian drone and tabla music, lower mellow sounds with a more mixed beat. Pan pipes aren't so bad, flute and harp are fine. 

But I'm talking about the effects on me, not the about the rights of genres to be enjoyed by others. It's similar to other people wanting to kill their partners because they chew or yawn loudly cheese 


strangely, I do love bagpipes! Can listen to good pipes for hours: Scots, Irish, a little Bretagne. And the hang drum! Do you know the hang drum? A friend sent me a link to some YouTube clips, and I've got them on autoplay. (Hang Massive and Daniel Waples) 



joanne said:
strangely, I do love bagpipes! Can listen to good pipes for hours: Scots, Irish, a little Bretagne. And the hang drum! Do you know the hang drum? A friend sent me a link to some YouTube clips, and I've got them on autoplay. (Hang Massive and Daniel Waples) 

pipes.  now that's a sound that would make me crazy if I was working. grin


ml1 said:


joanne said:
strangely, I do love bagpipes! Can listen to good pipes for hours: Scots, Irish, a little Bretagne. And the hang drum! Do you know the hang drum? A friend sent me a link to some YouTube clips, and I've got them on autoplay. (Hang Massive and Daniel Waples) 
pipes.  now that's a sound that would make me crazy if I was working. grin

 Start with some good Irish folk, quietly, mixed with something else. You'll hardly notice the pipes are there, blended with the voices and bodhran. (Hope I've spelt the drum correctly, my Irish isn't great) 


joanne said:
strangely, I do love bagpipes! Can listen to good pipes for hours: Scots, Irish, a little Bretagne. And the hang drum! Do you know the hang drum? A friend sent me a link to some YouTube clips, and I've got them on autoplay. (Hang Massive and Daniel Waples) 




 I've seen these guy's videos and as much as like the sound, they are annoying AF to watch, whoever directs these keeps moving the camera around, so it's impossible to see how the tiny actions of their hands is making these sounds, and it all just looks out of sync. I'm fully aware that it's not live, but it just looks like they're hitting random spot on a couple of covered woks and not actually playing an instrument at all.

Anyhoo, rant over. Depending on what work I'm doing... If I'm doing housework it'll be some bouncy indie-pop or something I can sing along to. If I'm writing, it will be genre-appropriate soundtracks, sometimes mixed in with pure ambient atmospherics (I'm really partial to the background noise of Deckard's apartment from Blade Runner, mixed with other soundtrack albums.) If I'm trying to pound out some websites, I'll go a little more upbeat like the 24/7 lofi hiphop radio channel on Youtube (and other places)

Or if I'm hitting a deadline I'll bump the tempo up to some goa/psytrance like this

But otherwise, it'll be new age or electronica like Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Andreas Vollenweider, Tangerine Dream, Bonobo, Boards of Canada, Tycho, Dead Can Dance... That kind of stuff.


mmm, Dead Can Dance, one of my favorites.

ETA: and thanks for the mention of Boards of Canada. Never heard of them before, but a quick look on youtube says they're pretty good.


yes - I meant to say - work work music - house work music is different.

Here's a couple that came up as work music:

Hmm, not sure about this one - Concentration music for working fast:

Study music alpha waves:

I guess it depends on the type of work also, depending on if you have to think hard or not.  grin  I need both versions.


drummerboy said:
mmm, Dead Can Dance, one of my favorites.
ETA: and thanks for the mention of Boards of Canada. Never heard of them before, but a quick look on youtube says they're pretty good.

 And the same for Tycho and Bonobo.

ooh. I love finding new music!


Ridski: it'll be new age or electronica like Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Andreas Vollenweider, Tangerine Dream, Bonobo, Boards of Canada, Tycho, Dead Can Dance... That kind of stuff.


Yes! Love those!  

A friend just sent a link to Amy Turk’s harp transcription of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue. Really pretty. 


drummerboy said:


drummerboy said:
mmm, Dead Can Dance, one of my favorites.
ETA: and thanks for the mention of Boards of Canada. Never heard of them before, but a quick look on youtube says they're pretty good.
 And the same for Tycho and Bonobo.

ooh. I love finding new music!

 Excellent! Actually, if you dig Bonobo and Tycho, you might also like Hammock. All of these are kind of soundtracky, not usually dark, interesting but not challenging electronica that works really well for me as background music. Boards of Canada are amazing, but can get a little dark at times. The first album can only be described as "sounding like a 1970s childhood and all that entails". It bridges the gap between Tycho, etc., and the more out-there artists like Aphex Twin or Autechre.


jamie said:
yes - I meant to say - work work music - house work music is different.

 I figured.

Jazz piano, smooth yet stimulating, does the trick for me: Peterson, Monk, Tyner, early Hancock, Jessica Williams, Abdullah Ibrahim, et al. 


Just spent a pleasant couple of hours with Scott Bradlee 's Post Modern Juke Box (please forgive incorrect caps)  - every few months I rediscover them all over again. There's some new covers from the last few weeks, and new tour dates.


I saw them live here in Jersey. Great show.


I tried the three videos I posted at 3:15 - first was ok, next two drove me nuts.  grin  Emanicipator is still best for me at the moment.


drummerboy said:
I saw them live here in Jersey. Great show.

 They came out here early last year, I think it was - as you said, wonderful show. We were lucky to have a venue to do them justice. Everything’s been upgraded since and they’re better known now so it will be different next time.

Reading this morning about Oliver Mtukudzi’s death reminded me of my extended Afro-Jazz mixes. Haven’t played them for a couple of months, but there’s some lovely mixes of beat and harmony to hum and tap to while focusing and problem-solving. (I especially love some of the instrumentation from Mali, and the different languages help to not focus on the songs themselves)

If we’re talking piano, I’ll sometimes play George Winston’s albums all in a row.


joanne said:

If we’re talking piano, I’ll sometimes play George Winston’s albums all in a row.

 Just happened to use part of a Christmas gift card on "Autumn," which my college roommate played a lot while we studied. Winston was on my mind with the et al.


I started with Decembercheese

I love The Seasons of...   And there’s all the other great stuff he wrote!



In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.