
Ask HN: Music while coding - qixxiq
I often find it challenging to get into <i>the zone</i> without background music (although don't notice if it fades out later)<p>I'm always looking to find new music and interested to know what fellow hackers are listening to?
======
almost
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=716219>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=167076>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=132026>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=769769>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=668138>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1209378>

~~~
d0m
It's still interesting to read comments, find new artist and even get the
opinion of new HN-ers.

Also, it's kind of contradictory since while this question is on the front
page, lots of people upvote this tired-of-this-question-because-it-has-been-
asked-already-10-times comment.

~~~
almost
I just assumed that if people are interested in reading this thread they'll
also be interested in the large amount of previous posts asking the exact same
thing.

Or maybe people just like telling others what music they like and aren't
particularly interested in reading the same, I don't no.

~~~
Gonsalu
*know.

------
moxiemk1
I'm a big fan of ambient electronic music; it fades into the backgrounds well
while still being interesting.

To that end, the "Neotokyo" soundtrack by Ed Harrison
<http://www.neotokyohq.com/music.html> is amazing. Whenever I put that on (all
2 hours of it) I get things done.

~~~
jai
Another excellent game soundtrack is the Machinarium OST

[http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/09/29/machinarium-
soundtrac...](http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/09/29/machinarium-soundtrack-
preview/)

------
liljimmytables
It depends on the language. Things like assembler demand Nine Inch Nails,
Atari Teenage Riot, and other really fast things. This is possibly due to the
fact that I have the attention span of a whippet, and I need to be kept up to
speed. C++ lends itself to distorted acid noise in the manner of mu-Ziq, LFO,
Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Possibly because this music is good at dispelling
C++ induced rage. Java is pleasant to write with a bit of big band like Nina
Simone or Fred Astaire (this is probably more to do with the fact that I was
into that sort of stuff when I first learned Java than because there might be
any relation between Java and big band). Other languages on request :)

On a similar note, does anyone else have a favourite drink for late-night
hacking? Again, Java is quite red-winey. Assembler is vodka and mixer.
Electronics work demands a good ale.

Hello HN. _delurk_

~~~
nhnifong
What would you listen to while writing lisp?

~~~
mikek85
any porno backing will work

.. plaaaayaaaaa

------
b3b0p
Usually silence, but when I do listen to music and try to work it's one of the
following:

1\. Final Fantasy, Video Game soundtrack, OCRemix, or similar (current
favorites: Kindgom Hearts, Capcom Music Generation Family Computer
Soundtracks, both Jet Set Radio soundtracks)

2\. Pandora, my Quick Mix, which is basically a radio station for every band I
enjoy old and new (examples: Tom Petty, Spoon, Modest Mouse, The Killers, The
Beatles, Tokyo Police Club, TV on the Radio, and many more). I'm tempting to
purchase the annual subscription.

I found this recent discussion on Reddit as a good resource for music
suggestions as well (many mentioned that I had forgotten about):

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/co6iz/anyone_else...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/co6iz/anyone_else_think_pearl_jam_and_smashing_pumpkins/)

~~~
technomancy
Or if you want to step up the pace there's always the Black Mages: hard rock
renditions of FF battle tunes.

------
elblanco
Go to pandora.com

Make a station, use "Abakus" as the seed.

Upvote/downvote the next few dozen songs. (If a song has any words/lyrics in
it at all, it gets an immediate downvote no matter if I like it).

There you go.

I've found that Abakus is just the right mix of continuously pumping music
that keeps my brain flowing, without being too intense (like a lot of trance
or goa can get). It ends up flowing into the background pretty smoothly and
keeps me going. Before I know it, hours have passed. As a seed in Pandora I've
found tons of other artists and music that flows in the same way.

------
drx
* Bach, Mozart, Beethoven (get a complete works so it doesn't bore you after a while. There are many gems which are not known by the general public, like the famous BWV 565, etc.)

* Chiptunes (I recommend maktone and dubmood)

* Daft Punk, Ratatat

* Anything I know by heart -- I won't be distracted by the lyrics. This also works if you don't understand the lyrics

~~~
tkahn6
Wow that's exactly what I listen to. It's a good combination isn't it,
electronica and classical?

~~~
drx
Indeed. Can you list yours that I haven't listed already? One can never have
enough.

Edit: also, yeah. I thought my combo was pretty rare.

~~~
ErrantX
I mix heavy metal and classical. Which usually raises eyebrows.

~~~
albertzeyer
Same here (sometimes). Or even some mixed genre bands. You know Apocalyptica?
There are also some similar bands (don't remember names right now, check out
via Lastfm or so).

------
daeken
Generally, I'll pick an artist and listen to their entire discography. The
main perks of this are that you don't have to fuss with it once you find what
you're in the mood for, you'll generally get at least a good 2 hours of play
out of it, and you'll _usually_ avoid musical whiplash, if the album is put
together well.

According to last.fm (username is the same as here, for those who want to
befriend me), my big artists these days are: The Decemberists, Iron & Wine,
Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, Machinae Supremacy, and Andrew Bird.

I also strongly recommend the 80-minute Demovibes mixes, if you dig demotunes:
<http://www.demovibes.org/dv_info.htm>

~~~
kree10
There's a very small and (for now?) inactive HN group on last.fm:

<http://www.last.fm/group/Hacker+News+(Ycombinator)>

------
truebosko
Try some post-rock:

\- Tortoise

\- Godspeed You! Black Emperor

\- Thee Silver Mt. Zion

\- This Will Destroy You

\- Do Make Say Think

\- Explosions in the Sky

.. To name a few

Very melodic, quiet, soothing, but also explosive at times.

~~~
MikeHamer
I'll second this.

I will also add the following (much smaller) artists to the list:

\- Balmorhea

\- Tunturia

I've been listening to both of them a lot lately - more so than I have the
heavy-weights (as listed above)

~~~
gchucky
Thanks for those recs; I hadn't heard of either of them.

You should give The American Dollar a listen; they're a really great postrock
band from Queens. And Mercury Program, too, but they're in the heavyweights
category, more or less.

------
pquerna
I use Digitally Imported: <http://di.fm/>

I hop around different radios, but probably too much EuroDance for most
people's tastes, but it gets me into the zone

------
jonursenbach
Lots and lots of post-rock and indie rock.

    
    
      Explosions in the Sky
      Do Make Say Think
      Pelican
      Godspeed You Black Emperor
      Saxon Shore
      Mogwai
      Broken Social Scene
      Radiohead
    

<http://www.last.fm/user/jonursenbach>

------
adelgado
Mostly music that doesn't have (much) lyrics. Specifically, some Infected
Mushroom, Skazi, general psytrance radios on the web. Also some Moby, Fatboy
Slim... But the best is definitely psytrance. Good psy music makes conducts
your thoughts. You alsa have to know what to chose.

~~~
bphogan
Gosh yes. Infected Mushroom - increasing my productivity since 2003. Their
music is interesting enough that I still haven't tired of it yet.

------
jgg
Bach is almost exclusively my favorite classical composer. If you want some of
his music, check out classiccat.net. It makes great programming music, but
some of it is worth listening to when you're not distracted. (-:

I also enjoy Aphex Twin (all of the similar bands, like Boards of Canada and
Autechre, not as much). I actually wrote one my of first web applications
listening to "Selected Ambient Works 85-92". Ratatat is good. Finally, for
some reason, I enjoy listening to the Conet Project (
<http://www.archive.org/details/ird059> ) while coding.

In general though, I prefer to be in a spot where I don't have to use music to
compensate for obnoxious background noise.

~~~
3pt14159
Definitely Ratatat, especially the leaked album which is more repetitive and
less in your face than songs like wildcat.

------
evilthinker
I choose the music style according to what I feel like in a given day, but
here are some favorites:

Dark Ambient: Lustmord, Gustaf Hildebrand, Robert Rich

"IDM": Aphex Twin(anything choosen from what I have) and Autechre

Metal: Burzum(filosofem), Xasthur, and mostly atmospheric BM

Industrial: Suicide Commando, VNV Nation, SPK

(Fin)NRG: Alek Szahala and Nomic

Classical: Bach, Handel, Liszt and Chopin

Demoscene music: Bitfellas radio

I will generally create a mix of from the above styles in a playlist and
listen to it, when it begins to bother me (after some hours) I'll just change
music style.

Also sometimes I just get some game CD and listen to the tracks, usually I
choose Total Annihilation.

~~~
phoenixsol
<http://www.last.fm/user/phoenixsol>

------
qixxiq
I enjoy trance a lot, mainly Pendulum at the moment. Their latest album is
amazing. The Prodigy is up there too.

The Killers / Linkin Park / Muse in a different mood.

Mighty Mighty Bosstones / Boo! for a third mood

I've got a 100 Greatest Guitar Solo's album which also serves me well.

~~~
alexdias
I wouldn't consider Pendulum as trance, though. They started as Drum and Bass,
but seem to have gone a bit further away from the genre, into something more
mainstream (which has worked out very well for them, their newest album is
indeed amazing).

As for trance, I'd recommend listening to something from a few years ago. A
friend of mine (registered here actually), advised me to listen to Tiesto's In
Concert 2003. On his words, it's one of those sets that once you start
listening, you just can't stop.

PS: Also, Tiesto's In Search Of Sunrise 6 has a beginning that I just love:
the sound of sea slowly transitioning to trance. You can listen to it on
youtube, on a video with the first two tracks from ISOS6.

~~~
flatline
Tiesto's stuff is good, Deadmau5 is also good if you want something a little
more upbeat.

------
brianto2010
Hardstyle: <http://listen.di.fm/public3/hardstyle.pls>

Eurodance: <http://listen.di.fm/public3/eurodance.pls>

Eurobeat: <http://go2id.net:8000/listen.pls>

JPop: <http://kawaii-radio.net/listen.m3u>

~~~
wwortiz
di.fm has jpop now too <http://www.sky.fm/jpop/>

I usually just listen to chillout or minimal

------
motters
I am the same, and the effect of music on the productivity of workers has been
known for a long time. However, music which is primarily focused on lyrics or
just listening to speech (eg. audio books) can be quite disruptive, and in
most cases I find that this reduces my productivity. I think this is because
when I'm writing software I'm probably also using the same language areas of
the brain which are triggered when listening to speech.

Also, it's well established that speech and singing are handled by different
brain areas, so do not necessarily conflict.

------
paraschopra
<http://listen.grooveshark.com/>

------
dhimes
I've found that nothing helps me into the zone faster than white(or pink or
brown)-noise type audio: waves at the seashore, rain falling in a forest--
that type of sound. It's intriguing to me how a little randomness can gel my
mind.

I certainly recommend trying it before going with the Provigil
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1524757>)

~~~
jtheory
White noise or water in the background can work for me, but I've never been
able to do anything complicated/thought-intensive with music playing -- it
just saps some of my attention more than it seems to for many people.

Possibly related: Jonah Lehrer responded to the Provigil article; below is a
comment posted by Joe Shelby on Lehrer's response post
([http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/05/the_hidden_cost_of_sm...](http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/05/the_hidden_cost_of_smart_drugs.php)):

\---

Not "drug" related, but a similar study I once read about (I think it was
cited in Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister's Peopleware) was about geeks and
their listening to music while working. They were given a simple programming
task, one easily done in "300 lines" using what we call brute force
programming (follow the specified requirements to the letter).

The test was originally designed to see if listening to music while working
affected accuracy, with the idea that musical distractions might lead to more
bugs in code.

The programmers were allowed to work exactly as they would have worked in real
life (this was back before easy internet connections made "cheating" more
possible)), so some had headphones full of their favorite music, others worked
in silence.

What they found was that both groups (those with music, those without)
completed the task with equal accuracy - music didn't affect that precision.

However, they also discovered that some programmers found a secret in the
proposed algorithm they were implementing. With a little cleverness, you could
implement the algorithm in only 50 lines instead of the full 300, and be done
in half the time. Of those that discovered the shorter implementation, most
were from the programming in silence group.

------
hugh3
When I really need to concentrate, I go for my "Pretentious Shite Radio"
station on Pandora, which I seeded with John Cage and Steve Reich.

------
sirwitti
that´s funny. for me it´s just the other way round: if there´s music while i´m
coding i can´t concentrate very well and always listen to the music instead of
coding. :) but it´s possible that this is because i´m a musician too. i always
wonder why i can´t blend it out while coding. (i can blend it out while
driving a car e.g.) has anybody else similar experiences?

~~~
gruseom
Yes. If music is on, I want to listen to the music. It's distracting if I'm
trying to think about something else.

An interesting exception is in cafés, where I'm fine to hack away as long as
the music isn't too loud.

One other point about music while programming is that it leads programmers to
put headphones on, which I sometimes find detracts from collaboration.

~~~
philwelch
I find that collaboration sometimes detracts from flow. I'm the type of
programmer who will put headphones on without even listening to music if I
need to get something done.

------
robryan
I'm usually get a new album or discover a new band, play them a whole heap
then slowly burn out on them and move on. Have a heap of music but usually a
couple of albums/ artists are being played a lot.

At the moment listening to the new soilwork album a fair bit, something I've
been mixing it up with recently is the music from X-Ray Dog, all epic
orchestra style music from films.

------
pizzaman
same with me, everything with lyrics distracts me.

I listen to soma.fm "drone zone", mellow film scores such as revolutionary
road, american beauty, monster. Or tycho "past is prologue" is also played a
lot...

a discussion on stackoverflow:
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14987/audio-while-
program...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14987/audio-while-programming)

~~~
chronomex
Some time ago I got out of the habit of collecting music. These days I listen
to one of three or four internet radio stations, depending on mood. (I have a
shellscript `listen` which is basically mplayer and a case statement.)

My current favorites: loads of ETN.fm and evolved.fm, a good deal of
bassdrive.com, with a bit of UnitedBreaks.fm for variety.

------
jonny_noog
I'm often preferring silence these days, but when I do feel like tunes, I like
stuff that's doesn't tear my attention away from what I'm doing.

The Aphex Twin:

    
    
      Analogue Bubble Bath
      Analogue Bubble Bath 2
      Analogue Bubble Bath 3
      Analogue Bubble Bath 3.1
      Analogue Bubble Bath 4
      Analogue Bubble Bath 5
      Selected Ambient Works
    

Also, Trace Nico and Speedy J.

~~~
kaens
Try some Boards of Canada

~~~
flatline
For something old school, FSOL Lifeforms

------
werrett
There are a handful of 'nostalgic' / rocky DJ mixes I really dig for coding
background music. Their length and variety is definitely an advantage of a
single artist or album. Some of my favourites I've found from the interwebs:

Tanquery Tom's _Clean Up your Room_ mix -
[http://www.modularpeople.com/modcast/55-tanqueray-tom-
clean-...](http://www.modularpeople.com/modcast/55-tanqueray-tom-clean-up-
your-room/3309.html)

Resident Advisor set from Johnno Burgess -
<http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=131>

RA set from Greg Wilson - <http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-
episode.aspx?id=119>

RA set from Discobloodbath - <http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-
episode.aspx?id=139>

------
jarin
Pretty much anything I know by heart and can sing along to works for me. I
just shuffle my "Top Rated" playlist all day and try to add at least a few new
songs to it every so often.

It's a pretty big mix, with everything from Zero 7 to MF Doom to David Bowie
to Gravity Kills to Johnny Cash, Oasis, Dr. Octagon, Lemon Jelly, Hole, and a
ton more.

------
mark_h
I'm a big fan of Zoe Keating for coding music, and as a bonus she recently
switched to bandcamp so there's quite a lot of it streaming:
<http://music.zoekeating.com/>

Quite a lot of layers to concentrate on, but for some reason it also just
works to get me in the zone.

~~~
daeken
+1 for Zoe Keating. I first heard of her about 4 years ago, when she opened
for California Guitar Trio in a tiny litttle church in San Diego. One of the
best performances I've heard. If you get the chance to see her live,
absolutely don't pass it up.

------
mullr
* Perfume / GAME

* YMCK / FAMILY GENESIS

* Parliament / Mothership Connection

* Anything I know inside and out and can sing along with without thinking

------
ncarroll
I highly recommend: <http://www.radioparadise.com>

Listener supported radio with an eclectic mix of music, Pink Floyd to
Beethovan, Portishead to Cab Calloway, and plenty of indie music I'd otherwise
never have heard. DJ Bill Goldsmith mixes his playlists so they almost never
interrupt my train of thought. When the music does, my concentration was
usually dragging anyway and then I take a 3 min break to check the playlist
page and set a rating so I don't forget to pickup the cd next time I'm on a
spree.

Bill and his wife Rebecca have a nice community going and it's pretty obvious
they're passionate about what they are doing.

------
siglesias
I prefer music that you can "catch a ride on" because they have a lot of
forward harmonic motion: Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven come to mind. For
Bach go no further than Glenn Gould's performances.

Other than that it's occasionally nice to put on some 60's and 70's rock, the
grungy kind of stuff (from Pink Floyd to Led Zeppelin to Metallica) that the
forefathers of programming languages and personal computing listened to while
they worked. There's got to be a relationship (either aesthetically or
culturally) between the workflow that they created for us and the music they
used to keep them going.

------
kunley
Classics: Beethoven, Mozart

Ambient and slow electronics but transparent ones which don't seem too
psychedelic or w/ hard feelings, as they easy distract and 'sell' you their
emotional setting when you really need to focus instead. So I'd exclude things
like Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, while including artists like Biosphere,
Carbon Life Forms, early Orb.

If you're into harder tones I really appreciate stuff like ACDC and Iron
Maiden while working - they're quite energetic but not overwhelming like
harder metal.

Silence is also very good, esp. if you can hear sound of the trees, waves or
whatever nature is outside.

------
endual
It's freaking me out, but my tastes have totally changed over the years. It
used to be The Dead Kennedy's and 70's punk, but lately it's minimalist modern
classical, like Robert Rich or David Darling...

~~~
elblanco
Reich is somebody who I've been introduced to in the last couple weeks. I
haven't tried him yet, but I find his work absolutely mind blowing...and
exhausting to listen to. It's like a really great hike up a mountain, watching
the scenery slowly change the entire way, then absolute exhaustion at the end
of the climb.

~~~
spudlyo
Steve Reich is another Reich worth listening to. My work/concentration
playlist has _Music for 18 Muscians_ , _Violin Phase_ , and _Octet_. All great
minimalist pieces that are interesting enough to keep your mind engaged, but
not too distracting.

~~~
elblanco
I was not aware there were two Reich's in minimalist music? Who's the other?

------
coderholic
di.fm Chillout and soma.fm Groove Salad via PyRadio, my very own command line
internet radio player: <http://www.coderholic.com/pyradio/>

------
aufreak3
I prefer silence for zoning in ... the quieter the better, not even humming
air conditioners if possible.

If I do feel I need some help to zone in, hip hop works best for me (Eminem's
8 mile album is my fav). I can't listen to classical music and concentrate on
something else. Impossible. .. and songs with good lyrics are equally
distracting .. but since English isn't my first language, I can only cursorily
follow hip hop lyrics and so I quickly fall into listening to the words as
sounds without meaning .. and the beat goes on.

------
Sinikway
I created a website where I can create/listen to my music playlist and at the
same time to my friends' music playlist: <http://jamafriend.com>

------
126
Massive Attack Portishead

~~~
mrtron
Massive Attack discography is my current working music.

~~~
leftnode
Absolutely, Collected is a great collection of their best work, and Mezzanine
is great as well.

Surprisingly, another piece of music that's great to listen to is the
soundtrack from the movie Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner. It's great for
coding.

This guy did the soundtrack: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramin_Djawadi>

------
rabidsnail
Boredoms (especially Super Roots 9)

Fuck Buttons (especially Tarot Sport)

Hella

Giraffes? Giraffes!

Lightning Bolt

I used to listen to digitally imported but now I find most of the stuff they
play (even on the psytracne/goa station) annoyingly repetitive.

------
ronaldj
Russian Circles

Pelican

Explosions in the Sky

Thrice

MGMT

------
freshfey
Quantic is really cool for the trip/hip hop loving people looking for no
lyrics songs.

RJD2 is one of my favorite as well but I end up singing along the songs most
of the times :)

------
Pistos2
I've come to conclude that I am alone in the world in this respect: I
deliberately do not listen to music when coding (or studying) because I find
it way too distracting. I end up listening to the music; enjoying it;
analysing it. I would liken it to putting my favourite television show up on a
jumbotron while playing tennis. It either is going to distract me terribly,
or, if not, it is borderline pointless to have it playing.

------
AlexMuir
Soma.fm: groove salad and Secret Agent. I'm in a good routine when they're on.
Just like supermarkets with buying music, they tell my brain it's coding time.

~~~
jsulak
I like that: "they tell my brain it's coding time." It's more important to me
I think to have the _same_ music than specific music.

I use ephiphany radio (<http://www.epiphanyradio.org/>) and Joey Fehrenbach
radio on Pandora. They are what tells my brain it's coding time.

~~~
AlexMuir
I'm trying Epiphany now, thanks.

------
dunham
I don't usually listen to music when I code, but when I really need to
concentrate or am distracted by background conversations, I usually go for
Einstein on the Beach by Phillip Glass.

Back in college, I'd often listen to classical music while working on math.
But I occasionally found it distracting (especially Bach, I'd concentrate on
the sequence of notes rather than the problem at hand).

~~~
dlib
Glassworks by Phillip Glass gets me to be productive, it is repetitive and
some people can't stand it but it works for me. For math the only thing that
works for me is silence.

For casual browsing I use Spotify and just look around a bit for something I
like, the artist radio has found me quite a couple of gems.

------
ThomPete
Telefon Telaviv is probably some of the best working music I have ever had.
Also Sigür Ros is creating beautiful unobtrusive soundscapes.

~~~
capedape
Good choices. Sometimes I like stuff like Gas, Deep Chord or Basic Channel
(dubby techno) others Post Rock that's been mentioned, but usually like very
calm loopy atmospheric stuff like Harold Budd, William Basinski, Tim Hecker,
Ryan Teague, the pop ambient series.

I can't listen to anything with words.

------
apsurd
I like streaming; set it and forget it.

<http://trancearoundtheworld.com>

<http://mugasha.com>

<http://pandora.com>

<http://grooveshark.com>

sorry thesixtyone... we used to spend a lot of time together, till the UI
change ... =(

~~~
jarin
Thankfully there is still <http://old.thesixtyone.com> :)

~~~
apsurd
=D

Thanks!! You just made the end (technically start) of my day! That and having
a ASK HN submission that got wonderfully great feedback.

I am thankful for HackerNews. I bet we'd all get along reasonably well offline
which is a very very unbelievable thing to say relating to anything involving
the internet.

Thanks a lot, have a good day!

~~~
wwortiz
You'll find it is still not really the same, they took quite a bit out of the
UI and old.thesixtyone.com sadly isn't quite right.

But it is better than the new UI

------
pdxgene
+1 for Boards of Canada -- I prefer "Music has the Right to Children" over
"Geogaddi" when coding -- the latter is a little too angular and abrasive at
points.

"Combustication" by Medeski, Martin & Wood is another great one for sustained
productivity. For me, anything that grooves is helpful. Stuff with lyrics
tends to be too distracting.

~~~
angusgr
Have you tried any of the more recent BoC albums? The 'Beautiful Place out in
the Country' EP is unabrasive, and I find 'Campfire Headphase' less angular
than Geogaddi as well.

~~~
pdxgene
Yeah, "beautiful place" is on heavy rotation for me as well.

------
micaelwidell
I like <http://rainymood.com> Not music though, just the sound of rain.

------
mcantor
Can't believe no one has mentioned The Album Leaf.

Also, Uyama Hiroto, Nujabes, The Dead Texan, Oceanlab, Antoine Dufour, BT,
Dosh, Juno Reactor, Lusine and Lusine ICL, Pacific UV, RJD2, Shugo Tokumaru,
The Cinematic Orchestra and The Six Parts Seven. Most of it has no lyrics,
most of it is rhythmic and soothing to some degree.

~~~
jamesbritt
Album Leaf rule. Now I have to check out the others in your list.

~~~
mcantor
Let me know what you think!

------
Spoutingshite
I listen to various stuff, but at least once a month I listen to Tubular Bells
from Mike Oldfield...a pure classic!

~~~
elblanco
And an absolutely stunning musical work. The number of great themes in that
music is amazing. It's a shame, I've never felt that his later work ever
really explored and expanded on those themes well.

------
silverj
Sarah Brightman's "Symphony" album.

Swallow The Sun "New Moon", "Hope" or "The Morning Never Came".

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova "The Swell Season".

Deftones "White Pony".

The music has to be (at least for me) the slower kind. For some reason, fast-
paced or brutal-sounding music tends to distract me from doing the work (and
I'll just enjoy the music instead).

------
EvanK
The Flashbulb. Good ambient music, doesn't get in the way when you're really
focusing on your thoughts...

~~~
angusgr
I like The Flashbulb as well, but it depends on which album as to what mix of
ambient/breakcore/weirdness you get. :)

------
d0m
For GROOVESHARK or THESIXTYONE users, it would be nice if you share your
username. Mine is d0m on ts1.

------
nbrochu
<http://www.streamingsoundtracks.com/>

Movie and Video Game OSTs radio station with a HUGE rotation. Usually get in
the zone quite fast when listening to it, but I could see it being a bit
distracting for other people. YMMV.

------
saurabh
How I get into "the zone" is by repeatedly listening to my new favourite
Bollywood song of the week.

------
magma
I prefer to listen to the same track over and over again. Sometimes I do this
with a new song, and listen to the same thing for the entire day.

I find this less distracting that listening to a radio station or a long
playlist.

I generally pick the song in the morning depending on my mood.

~~~
rahim
I do this a lot too and it annoys the hell out of everyone around me.

YouTube Repeater (<http://www.youtuberepeater.com>) is super useful if you're
like me and listen to most of your stuff online.

Also, to answer the main question: Enter Shikari.

------
rwhitman
I have a playlist of 90's electronica (underworld, prodigy, aphex twin,
orbital, future sound of london, the orb, daft punk, etc) called "AMPED" that
I made for if I'm losing focus. If I ever fade out, I put that on and it gets
me in the zone.

------
ryanjmo
If you never have try some 8-BIT music while coding. It really gets you in the
zone.

~~~
kenjackson
Where's a good collection of 8-bit music? I like the music the 8bit renditions
of popular music that Engadget stars their podcast with, but don't know a good
archive for them.

~~~
ryanjmo
YouTube is currently the best place to find it, just put together or find a
playlist. I was spoiled with this, because we built a website for creating
YouTube Playlists and we made a bunch of really good ones for Video Game
Music. That site is mostly broken now though...

But I will still provide you with my favorite collection of 8-bit (well 16 bit
technically) music: <http://flotate.com/?p=12352-Phantasy-Star-2-Soundtrack>

~~~
apgwoz
I used to listen to Mega Man walkthroughs on youtube. Love the music they
created for that series.

------
obsaysditto
<http://xerxes-music.com/>

~~~
Revisor
Thank you for the great tip.

------
slindstr
We Are Hunted (www.wearehunted.com) is a pretty neat web app for finding new
music

Here's what I'm listening to <http://wearehunted.com/by/stevelindstrom/>

------
ivanzhao
<http://www.eastvillageradio.com/>

HN equivalence of subculture musics radio, very diverse. My favorite is the
sunday afternoon program "Minimal Wave Electronics"

------
yatsyk
Buddha Bar and Cafe del Mar discography. Music with other languages vocal.

------
ohwaitnvm
I focus on whatever I'm currently doing really well to Tool and Daft Punk, so
mostly them. The music definitely fades into the background, and could
probably just as well not be playing, though.

------
bjonathan
I use <http://playlistnow.fm> (if you ask for an invite you should receive it
pretty quickly)

The site suggest you playlist depending what you are doing !

------
keyle
FG dj radios - 4 radios. great house / deep house at any hour.

------
corewarrior
Recent studies suggest that music may be a detriment to coding, but I still
use it anyway. Playing around with the soundtrack from Inception. Its
interesting....

------
zephjc
Either di.fm's eurodance or vocal trance offerings, Streaming death and black
metal, or gaga face radio, which is all lady gaga music

Stop looking at me like that >_>

------
chrischen
<http://like.fm/chris> is what I listen too. Auto play is coming soon.

And yea background music keeps me focused.

------
babo
I prefer silence when my environment is not distracting but in a busy office
AC/DC our similar music through headphone helps to concentrate.

------
ochekurishvili
Music gives a great motivation for coding, I'd say it is a must...

But you must know a balance and time when to turn it off.

Try Japanese traditional music for relaxation.

------
sev
\- Underworld

\- MGMT

\- VAST

\- Pink Floyd

\- Ratatat

\- Daft Punk

\- Thievery Corporation

\- Manu Chao

\- Chopin

\- Beethoven

\- Mozart

just to name a few

~~~
thehigherlife
second Ratatat 'LP4' and 'Classics' are pretty good.

------
jaredhansen
Try Dan Deacon - especially Bromst. Discovered this a few months ago; now
probably my all-time favorite for coding music.

------
vishaldpatel
I switch between alternative and new metal, electronic (house / trance), and
hip-hop / rnb. Pandora.com is awesome.

------
fatbot
It depends on my mood at the time, but i will always listen to Beck, Tool,
Color haze & Red hot chili peppers

------
rayder
Animals as Leaders.

<http://www.myspace.com/animalsasleaders>

------
oreilly
Classical if I'm doing a long task, Creed / Alter Bridge or similar for a lot
of little programming tasks.

------
jolan
KLF - Chill Out:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chill_Out>

------
jackfoxy
Gets me in the zone: John Coltrane, Chic Corea, Miles Davis, Grateful Dead,
Allman Brothers

------
Eternal_Cowboy
I am a huge folk punk/anti-punk fan. Some I suggest are,,,

-(early) Against Me!

-Andrew Jackson Jihad

-Wingut Dishwashers Union

-This Bike is a Pipe Bomb

-Defiance, Ohio

------
LaGrange
<http://www.bluemars.org/>

------
pauldelany
boards of canada

------
eranki
Motown always does it for me

------
nnash
<http://friskyradio.com>

------
treblig
Steve Reich is rhythmic, repetitive, and very cool. Highly recommended.

------
st0p
pretty much everything, hiphop, drum'n'bass, breakz, pop, rock... In the
office i'm always listening to music while coding, makes it easier to filter
out background noise.

------
spasm
qixxiq: Take a listen to <http://radio.hbr1.com:19800/trance.ogg> :)

------
kaens
Mogwai, Boards of Canada, Autechre, etc.

------
Andi
Porcupine Tree

~~~
DCoder
+1. I find that their psychedelics (Lynton Samuel Dawson, Voyage 34, Staircase
Infinities, No Reason To Live No Reason To Die, Moonloop) mix quite well with
Pink Floyd's (A Saucerful of Secrets, Atom Heart Mother, Set the controls...).
Most of the later works are too vocal and distracting.

------
thecircusb0y
Last.fm "Pendulum Radio"

------
sthrs
can't concentrate when music is on.

------
ewams
Isis

~~~
indrek
[http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=j.m.k.e&aq=f](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=j.m.k.e&aq=f)
punk ftw

------
print
robert schumann

------
gubatron
Drum and bass FTW.

Some free sources of D&B are BassDrive.com (live djs), Pandora and Last.fm.
After you know what you like there's plenty available (used & cheap) on
Amazon.com

Also a lot of techno, Vivaldi and Bach

------
hotmind
Boards of Canada. I suggest starting with the Trans Canada Highway EP. The
track is called "Left Side Drive".

------
goldenthunder
metal > amon amarth > dimmu borgir

hah, naw - my favorite is music without lyrics. Seems to make me more
productive.

~~~
dannytatom
Hah, I like Amon Amarth. :(

I usually go between post rock, noise, grindcore, techgrind, chillout and
lounge.

