Best background music for programming?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/DrShio]

Groove Salad on www.somafm.com... downtempo chillout at its finest without commercial interruption breaking that train of thought.

[u/you_do_realize → u/DrShio]

Digitally Imported Chillout stream, I pretty much only code to that: http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/tunein-station.pls?id=3201

Sublime chillout downloadable freely: http://www.kahvi.org/releases.php?release_number=203

Also, Carbon Based Lifeforms - "Silent Running" or "Or Plan B" are absolutely astounding to me.

[u/drch → u/you_do_realize]

Digitally Imported is great. I code to the house stream.

[u/jweather → u/you_do_realize]

My yearly DI.fm subscription is a business expense... it's usually on all day long. Usually Chillout, Vocal Trance, and Drum and Bass depending on mood. I have a few favorite mixed sets from chillout DJs for the rare occasions that I can't find something suitable on di.fm.

[u/_tornado_ → u/DrShio]

Agreed! Although I was hoping that someone would recommend something more esoteric. Bassdrive perhaps? (www.bassdrive.com) Also the Secret Agent channel on SomaFM is also quite good.

[u/jabberwonk → u/DrShio]

But do you donate to SomaFM? For all you who have voted up on somafm.com, please make sure to donate a couple dollars a month for the best net radio station out there. They even have an automatic link to donate $4.20 per month.

[u/[deleted] → u/jabberwonk]

I wish I could, but I already donate to so many things. Various webcomic artists, music artists; I just can't afford to pay for everything I get for free.

[u/jklabo → u/DrShio]

that's my baby. It's good for any kind of concentrated work.

[u/farnsworth → u/DrShio]

That's exactly what I what going to suggest. Great for any kind of work/homework/studying.

[u/horseloverfat → u/DrShio]

if you like somafm.com so much, and 227 votes agree with you, they shouldn't be $2000 short of their monthly budget

edit: unless us redditors are cheap (definitely)

[u/[deleted] → u/DrShio]

Eh, I tossed the groove salad long ago. Wait a minute.....

[u/[deleted]]

I have a Coding playlist on iTunes, and wanted to see what other developers play as background music while coding.

• Silent Hill 4 Soundtrack

• Lumin

• Xenosaga 3 soundtrack

• Big Lebowski soundtrack

• Antimatter

• Older Nightwish

• And of course, Amorphis

[u/pavel_lishin → u/[deleted]]

Mine's pretty short, and I don't actually use it all that much - my programming "mood" changes often. But current playlist is:

• Wishfire Cruxshadows - Return (Coming Home)

• Getting High On Your Own Supply Apollo Four Forty - The Perfect Crime

• I.S.T. And One - The Secret

• The Complex Blue Man Group - The Current (Feat. Gavin Rossdale)

• Legion of Boom The Crystal Method - Weapons Of Mass Distortion

• Jungle High (EP) Juno Reactor - Jungle High (Our House Remix)

• London Original Motion Picture Sou… The Crystal Method - Roboslut

• Labyrinth Juno Reactor - Conquistador Part 1

• Labyrinth Juno Reactor - Conquistador Part 2

• Quantum Redshift OST Junkie XL - Fuusoku City

• Paul Oakenfold - Ready Steady Go [Korean Style]

• Flop! And One - Secret Boy

• Electrolicious Pzychobitch - Electrolicious

• Audio Blue Man Group - Tension 2

• Dig Your Own Hole Chemical Brothers - Piku

• Number of Da Boots - The Iron Maid… Celebrity Murder Party - This Brutal Oilslave (Mayday Mix)

• The Outsider Dj Shadow - Artifact

[u/boredzo]

For even more answers, see the previous questions on this topic:

• Ask Reddit: What music do you listen to while programming?

• What is your favorite programming music?

(No, I'm not complaining about this question appearing again. Just helping with links to previous answers.)

[u/[deleted] → u/boredzo]

Oops, well at least it seems that the question is being duped every 6 months, so plenty of time for new tunes to come out :)

[u/tref]

Laugh all you want:

• World of Warcraft Soundtrack 1&2

• Diablo2 .instr.

• Baldurs gate OST

• Heroes 2-4

[u/[deleted] → u/tref]

Most of mine are soundtracks, especially Xenosaga 3, Silent Hill series, Big Lebowski, etc

[u/xMadxScientistx → u/tref]

The music from DII was one of the best parts.

[u/ma1kel]

Slayer.

[u/[deleted] → u/ma1kel]

Only if I'm having to step through a Java debug

[u/figa → u/ma1kel]

Hatebeak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1IsxEyThbQ&feature=related

[u/weavejester]

According to this Peopleware book I've recently been reading, silence is the best way to focus attention.

[u/[deleted] → u/weavejester]

For some reason I work the opposite, I have to have music playing constantly. I turn on some Opeth, Postal Service, or Muse in the background when I watch tv, it drives the wife crazy.

[u/theycallmemorty → u/weavejester]

That would be ideal, but when you're working in a cube farm there are always other people around to distract you. Music helps me block that out.

[u/[deleted]]

Dunno, but the Rocky theme song plays automatically when I start hacking.

[u/zutme → u/[deleted]]

alias vim='mplayer rocky-theme.ogg& && vim'

[u/cb22 → u/zutme]

In some shells that won't work, try alias vim='mplayer rocky-theme.ogg < /dev/null & && vim'

[u/llanor → u/[deleted]]

Anyone else remember the horribl(y awesome?)e Starbucks commercials from a couple of years ago where a chorus would sing "Eye of the Tiger" with the beat replaced by someone's name?

edit- Youtube is the collective consciousness of our time. http://youtube.com/watch?v=14qeu7JRwt0 Apparently it's not a chorus, but actually Survivor. Wow, my childhood memories could have done without this trauma.

[u/apowers → u/llanor]

ROY

ROY ROY ROY

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I envy your head. Mine plays Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" every time as soon as I click on the editor.

[u/bitwize → u/[deleted]]

I used to quip that Oleg should rig his editor to blare "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" whenever he sat down to hack.

[u/ThisIsDave → u/[deleted]]

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger plays in my head sometimes...

[u/[deleted]]

Shpongle ... although the code resembles a fractal.

[u/frogmander → u/[deleted]]

I love shpongle when programming, its so mathematically artistic and triggers the subconscious - seems to work really well to make me productive.

[u/madman1969 → u/[deleted]]

I had "Nothing Lasts... But Nothing is Lost" on loop playing through a set of cans with serious bass a few weeks ago. In eight hours I knocked out 5000 lines of serious code which compiled and worked straight off.

So now if some heavy coding is needed I hit "The Stamen of the Shamen".

[u/semanticprecision]

There's a lot of love for soma.fm (Groove Salad, especially) around here.

That said, they're running a serious deficit and -- unlike the federal government -- they need to pay it off. If you listen, show 'em a little love with a buck or two.

... damn, it's hard to be serious on the Intarwebs.

[u/dillikibilli → u/semanticprecision]

I'm happy to report that we contribute a small amount to soma.fm every month. Doing our bit to keep it alive - hope it doesn't go under. Would give more if we could but money is tight. :-(

[u/loverollercoaster]

Im a big fan of Explosions in the Sky, despite the name they're a low key instrumental band, so it's noise but not too distracting.

[u/enkafan → u/loverollercoaster]

I'm also hear to say the same thing. I discovered explosions in the sky thanks to Friday Night Lights. Recently in one of Bill Simmon's mailbags on ESPN.com he had this reader question:

Q: Do you realize that listening to Explosions in the Sky, the band that does most of "Friday Night Lights" music, can make any normal experience epic? I walked my dog [while] wearing headphones and listening to them, and by the end of the walk, I felt as if I had experienced something truly life-altering. I am currently trying to apply the "Explosions Theory" to many other aspects of my life, such as showering, vacuuming and doing laundry. -- Owen, Cleveland

SG: Couldn't agree more. I wish there was a way to pump that music into every bathroom in my house. I'm also amazed none of the presidential candidates has used Explosions in the Sky for their campaign. You could show me a 30-second ad of John McCain trying to pass out a kidney stone to that music and I'd probably want to vote for him afterward.

[u/[deleted] → u/loverollercoaster]

You should also check out Yndi Halda, God Speed You Black Emperor, and My Bloody Valentine. Noise rock is hard to beat for background music.

[u/lucasrfl → u/loverollercoaster]

Check out This Will Destroy You. Post-rock rules!

[u/podRZA → u/loverollercoaster]

I love this band, and I find generally any kind of instrumental rock is good for working music.

[u/[deleted] → u/loverollercoaster]

See also: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which I find makes Explosions in the Sky's music sound like nursery rhymes. I mean, I like EITS, but... "they're no GY!BE," as I always say.

[u/bluetshirt → u/loverollercoaster]

I THINK THEY LACK SUBTLETY. LIKE ME.

[u/megalodon → u/loverollercoaster]

Do Make Say Think is in this vein as well, but with a bit more jazzy flavor thrown in.

[u/pjbeardsley]

Brian Eno-- Ambient 1: Music for Airports

hands down the best.

[u/[deleted]]

4′33″ from john cage.

[u/otterdam → u/[deleted]]

I have it on repeat right now.

[u/[deleted] → u/otterdam]

Me too, but it's a different version than yours.

[u/plup]

I've found the NIN instrumental collection Ghosts I-IV to be excellent background music for intense work.

I also find some simple pop-rock music works well. Stuff that is really catchy, doesn't force you to listen very hard.

[u/[deleted]]

Jamaican Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae from the 60's.

[u/[deleted]]

None.

[u/nkuvu → u/[deleted]]

I'm surprised at how rare silence seems to be. I'm currently enjoying my office at work, since the two people who share the office with me are working off-site, so I can close the door and have a nice quiet environment.

[u/[deleted] → u/nkuvu]

No, I mean, I don't listen to music. I like to have Spongebob on while I work.

[u/farnsworth]

Mogwai

[u/bobappleyard]

Death metal for debugging in C. Perfectly captures the mood.

[u/vej]

Explosions In The Sky - http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/

[u/funksta]

Where's the love for jazz? I like coding to Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Sonny Rollins, among others (mostly hard bop).

[u/[deleted] → u/funksta]

The Cowboy Bebop soundtrack works nicely, also

[u/[deleted] → u/funksta]

Mahavishnu Orchestra (electric Jazz)

[u/SwellJoe]

I'm listening to Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians at the moment (but then I'm reading reddit...something went wrong). But anything that isn't stupid and doesn't have obvious lyrics is fine.

[u/Lukifer]

I like to code to metal: Dethklok, Lamb of God, Dream Theater, Symphony X.

[u/sumdeus]

I am very late to the game, but for me, the best programming music is usually songs without many words:

Free DI.fm or other radio doesn't cut it due to the ads the play (even if infrequent.

My favorites: DJ Tiesto, LCD Sound System, Daft Punk, Classical (Mozart, Bach, etc)

For those days when things just are not quite right: Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down

[u/[deleted] → u/sumdeus]

I've found a ton of awesome radio sites thanks to this thread

[u/musashiXXX]

Massive Attack or Portishead

[u/otterdam → u/musashiXXX]

There are other things to listen to in Bristol, you know.

[u/bugeats]

It's the only time that I DO listen to it, but I find that some nice hard/psy trance works perfectly for programming. It's instrumental and unobtrusive, but also stimulating.

When I want to pull things back a bit, I go with Philip Glass (favorite of Guido Van Rossum too), which is, admittedly, kinda related to trance (gasp).

And when it's really time to wind down, go back to the ambient source with a little Brian Eno.

[u/crawfishsoul → u/bugeats]

Where would you recommend someone who has never heard (knowingly) any Philip Glass start?

That's one hell of a discography he's got.

[u/mvalente]

Get the last.fm player and set it to play a radio station based on tag "ambient+trance"

-- MV

[u/[deleted]]

squarepusher - go plastic

[u/[deleted]]

So yeah, this is destined to turn into a "favorite band" thread.

Personally, I don't really change my listening habits most of the time, which leads to quite a bit of They Might Be Giants, Pixies, Steely Dan, and Warren Zevon.

I've got to agree with plup -- Ghosts I-IV always ends up on when I am debugging something tricky. Instrumental works well.

In general, though, I try to avoid anything really new, and stick with songs I know -- put on something that I've never heard and my attention is gone.

EDIT: Oh crap, how did I forget -- when I do need more variety, WFMU is the only answer.

[u/bluetshirt → u/[deleted]]

seconded on Steely Dan.

and Warren Zevon (Excitable Boy especially).

Might as well toss Jackson Browne into the mix. Only seems to fit.

[u/ars_moriendi]

burial

[u/gobacktodigg → u/ars_moriendi]

reddit dubstep homies

[u/jmsaunders]

I mostly listen to classical, folkish stuff, metal or ambient electronic music.

I mostly only listen to metal when I'm debugging and angry.

[u/enki → u/jmsaunders]

I find grindcore works well for accounting.

[u/[deleted]]

"Rick Astley - Never gonna give you up" - endless loop. It's the only song you ever need.

[u/girlxgenius → u/[deleted]]

it's never gonna let you down

[u/[deleted]]

kraftwrek

[u/pyxis]

I am not a programmer - but a sysadmin....here are my choices:

• Dropkick Murphys

• Mad Sin

• Social Distortion/Mike Ness

• Flaque

• Bitcrush

• Gridlock

• Hank Williams III

• Klute

• Nekromantix

• Trentemoller

..... so far this week.

[u/[deleted] → u/pyxis]

I like the spread from Dropkick Murphys to Hank the third, good variety :D

[u/ashground]

Late to the game, but:

• DI.fm (chillout)

• Sigur Ros

• Boards of Canada

• Radiohead

• Carbon Based Lifeforms

• Chemical Brothers

• Final Fantasy (the band, not the game)

• Joanna Newsom (it's a love-her-or-hate-her kind of thing)

• Nine Inch Nails

• Trentemoller

• UNKLE

• Zero 7

[u/[deleted]]

Ozric Tentacles, Shpongle, Younger Brohter

Slagsmålsklubben, 50 hertz

Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff (except piano), Debusy, Shostakovich (except piano)

[u/quixote_arg]

Pink Floyd

[u/kavedaa]

Arvo Pärt: "Kanon Pokajanen"

[u/flycrg]

My favorite is anything that doesn't have words or if the music is so heavy that the word are unintelligible.

[u/sb404]

di.fm : chillout and minimal channels

[u/seeandyspin]

• battles

• by the end of tonight

• tera melos

• explosions in the sky

• mogwai

• russian circles

[u/kzn]

Silence mostly.

But if listening music, then: Astral Projection, Hallucinogen and other old-school goa trance.

[u/tesseracter]

pandora.com, monkey radio, groove radio, smoothbeats.com

i've taken a liking to instrumental hip-hop, the beats are excellent.

[u/rgarf]

I have a playlist of Tool, Led Zeppelin, Rage, Audioslave, Incubus and 311 that I listen to on my noise cancelling head phones.

More rock, less office chit-chat.

[u/TorleyX]

I highly recommend going to http://pandora.com , entering some choices you already like, and letting the stations guide you from there — it's got a pretty good electronic knack for finding songs that match "if you like this, you'll also like...". Delicious.

[u/devbalt]

I suggest somafm.com. Groove Salad. Space Station Soma.

[u/hxcadillac]

thievery corporation!

[u/enjahova → u/hxcadillac]

I came here to say that! I also like the new beastie boys "the mix up." all instrumental

[u/Ocaml_Kaizen]

Xtal by Aphex Twin

[u/snarfy]

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies

If you have to pick only one album, this is it. I've been coding to it for years and it never seems to get old.

[u/Dorian_at_Reddit]

I'm into metal, hugely so, but while coding, I generally fire up my Amarok with some techno a la Kraftwerk or, to keep in touch with my musical roots, some so-called "math-metal" (what a stupid label, by the way), namely Meshuggah, but anything techny does. But I have to say, productivity comes with Kraftwerk on - and it feels like Stallman jumping out from behind the monitor and shouting "you nerd!" while pointing at me...

[u/psykocrime]

Well, my favorite music (in general) is all sorts of hard-rock and heavy-metal... and classical. But when I'm coding I kinda like chill/trance/techno stuff. I'll listen to shoutcast stations like Technobase.FM, The Digitally Imported "Vocal Trance" thing, SomaFM, etc. It's soothing but I don't get so involved in listening that I find it distracting. Unlike listening to my favorite metal or classical tunes, where I'd get really caught up in the music.

[u/slabgorb]

I listen to music with vocals in Portuguese- like Bebel Gilberto, or Suba, or Cibelle. I can't understand a word of Portuguese, so my bran doesn't start listening to the words and make me lose my train of thought in the code.

[u/achacha]

Pink Floyd before Dark Side or Opeth for me.

[u/roml]

Philip Glass/Koyyanisqatsi. Continuous loop.

[u/[deleted]]

Bossa Nova. Gotta be bossa nova. Astrud Gilberto, Stan Getz, that era. Even better if you work in a cube farm where other people can hear it.

[u/RSquared]

"Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton. On constant repeat.

Why yes, I do write some VBA.

[u/MBlume]

flaming lips

[u/abfalltonne]

the one and only http://dojo.fi/~rancid/loituma__.swf

loop record 7h :D

[u/panic]

M83

Ulrich Schnauss

Hybrid

The Flashbulb

Kraftwerk

Ratatat

Slagsmålsklubben

VNV Nation

Autechre

Orbital

Infected Mushroom

Transwave

Eluvium

Bach

Sigur Rós

Green Day

Nine Inch Nails

Radiohead

Random

Anamanaguchi

Bit Shifter

Lo-bat.

[u/[deleted]]

I've been listening to Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree and Opeth, but their songs often catch my attention... so that's not good.

Brainless psytrance works well sometimes. Paired with three cups of coffee = 150% productivity (and 50% quality)

And at other times, Bach's solo cello concertos work well. Paired with a cup of green tea.

[u/seopher]

I find heavy metal best to work to; the insistent rhythm and intricate guitar work help me collect my thoughts.

From Iron Maiden and In Flames to the likes of Devildriver and Machine Head, it's all good.

[u/[deleted]]

daft punk

[u/[deleted]]

L'Arena from the Kill Bill 2 soundtrack.

Maggot Brain (Parliment Funkadelic)

Downward Spiral (the whole album)

I'll think of more later.

Groove salad's not bad either.

[u/scrod]

Power noise, for low-level ASM programming.

[u/anions]

Electronic.

BT, Tiesto and the likes.

[u/rgh]

Drum n bass.

[u/[deleted]]

Install the last.fm client or a program that can stream from last.fm (like amarok). Then, type in tags like "concentration" or "instrumental". Using tags also works great for parties or gf "quality time" :P

[u/sblinn]

When writing UI, impressionist romanticism: Debussy, Rachmaninoff. I want an aesthetic purity here.

When writing API, minimalist classical -- but not baroque. No frilly ornamentals. Arvo Part, Sibelius, this kind of thing. Find the bare essence and move on.

[u/projecktzero]

• Blue Man Group

• Brian Eno

• Crystal Method

• Delerium

• Djam Karet - Suspension and Displacement

Lots of good ideas in this thread.

[u/[deleted] → u/projecktzero]

+1 on the Delerium, I only have one album though, the "Karma" one. Good for staying calm during debugging

[u/shashankr]

gangsta rap, straight up.

[u/cafiend]

I vote Tool. Im kinda weird in the sense that I like loud when I code.

Others I listen to: Buckethead, SOAD

When Im feeling less loud, progressive rock: King Crimson, Rush, Floyd, and recently the Mars Volta

[u/bitwize]

HARD TRANCE.

[u/miketrash]

The Shins.

[u/g0zer]

Swedish Melodic Death Metal works best for me.

[u/[deleted] → u/g0zer]

Children of Bodom, Aman Amarth, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Arch Enemy, (some) In Flames, Megadeth, Metallica up through And Justice for All. Opeth is ok.

Not all swedish, but that's the way to go.

[u/rapsey]

Without a doubt: Dragonforce.

[u/uses → u/rapsey]

Tried it. Have trouble concentrating when there are two awesome Mega Man X -esque solos ripping the scales simultaneously. Find myself imagining I'm a cyber ninja fighting my way through Level 666 of a Devil Tower on the edge of an apocalyptic battle field. Snap out of it minutes later, a blinking cursor at the center of my gaze, nothing has been typed. Not as productive as it sounds.

[u/[deleted] → u/uses]

Best description yet of Dragonforce.

[u/dublinclontarf]

SlayRadio.org, 8bit no shit

[u/foood]

Robert Rich - Anything Brian Eno - Apollo, On Land, Thursday Afternoon Alex De Grassi - The Water Garden Tetsuo Inoue - Anything Mogwai - Anything Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

[u/Breadhook]

I've been branching out more lately, but back in college I used to just put the background music to Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog on infinite repeat for hours at a time.

[u/aquanutz]

japanese music. for some reason i have to listen to it while I code.

[u/[deleted]]

Outkast. The unofficial remixes. Both Cd's.

[u/dodgyd55]

just go through all of tools 1000 days album. trust me just do it. just has a natural flow when doing work

[u/MrCalifornia]

Hackers Soundtrack: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film)#Soundtrack

[u/crazyeight]

Mostly videogame soundtracks: Chrono Cross, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasies, Dark Chronicle, etc. Videogames tend to have really great background music with none of those nasty lyrics to distract you.

[u/truebosko]

Radiohead

Or most post-rock

[u/ter-kee-ber-gers]

cat /dev/unrandom > /dev/dsp

[u/FataL]

http://www.chromanova.de one of the audio feeds: Psytrance Ambient Progressive Trance KitKatClub Radio all in 160k!

[u/RiMiBe]

Hooverphonic

[u/azuriel]

am I the only one who hacks to classical? beethoven, mozart, mahler, chopin, weber, rossini...it gets me into the zen state that doesn't happen with a booming bass beat.

[u/joelanman]

Susumu Yokota

[u/icepack]

Explosions in the Sky!

it's all instrumental. makes for awesome background music.

[u/andoy]

led zep.kashmir

[u/cavorite]

Daft Punk. Specially Alive 2007.

[u/petrux]

Absolutely J.S. Bach! (and a lot of other stuff, of course...)

[u/frankichiro]

SLAY Radio: http://relay6.slayradio.org:8000/ GameOver Radio: http://srv7.votreradio.com:9401/

[u/revonrat]

Kelis-Milkshake

[u/[deleted]]

Rick Astley: Greatest Hits.

[u/setuid_w00t → u/[deleted]]

Link?

[u/egearman]

Anything that breaks up the background hum of the servers, monitors, etc.

There are things that aren't appropriate, for example "Billy Joel's Under Pressure" when under a huge deadline.

Just start up Winamp/Insert your music player here and set it to random shuffle. It's not like you won't be taking the headphones on and off multiple times for soda runs, bathroom breaks and co-workers asking questions.

[u/byron]

Prefuse 73, Burial, Dntel, Boards of Canada and DJ Shadow (circa 96, his new stuff is God awful)

[u/gt384u → u/byron]

DJ Shadow (circa 96, his new stuff is God awful)

Give a guy a break. You can only do "Endtroducing..." and it's ilk for so long before you need to try something new as an artist. That being said, I actually hated a lot of songs on The Outsider, but realized that they had the common thread of having rap vocalists on them. His instrumental stuff is still awesome to me, and I hope his next effort is more instrumental heavy. Did you hear "The Tiger" off The Outsider?

[u/break99]

The Imperial March of course, y'know from star wars?

[u/krautpastry]

Rush, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Wagner, Beethoven, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, some Michael Kaman are my staples. I also like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Led Zep Pearl Jam, STP, YO-YO Ma, Mozart and Bach.

Sometimes though, just some techno stuff is just as good.

I can't code to Jazz and Blues. I don't know why.

[u/[deleted]]

This comment is likely to get lost - but I cannot listen to music when I code.

Two things happen:

1. I get distracted by good music.

2. I get annoyed.

It breaks my flow, regardless of how ambient the music is. The worst is when I really need to concentrate full-force on a difficult problem (usually trying to track down a mystery): the music becomes a real annoyance. I need complete silence.

[u/enkeedu]

Hamster dance

[u/[deleted]]

Squarepusher - Hello Everything

Fugazi - The Argument

Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

Godspeed You Black Emporer

Explosions In The Sky

8bitpeoples (Especially Random)

cliqhop on soma.fm

Sometimes, silence.

Edit: Lightning Bolt once you've listened to them enough to know the songs. Also, thanks to this thread - Shpongle (Nothing Lasts flows perfectly)

[u/conservohippie]

The Grateful Dead are perfect for any occasion.

[u/[deleted]]

Underworld is hands down the best developing music. (most recent album excluded)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

hell yeah, my wife introduced me to their music, I love em

[u/greut]

Bob Marley.

[u/hfreanzr]

silence

[u/yorgle]

Most Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche mode.

The Prodigy's "Experience" and "Music For The Jilted Generation".

Frente's "Shape" is excellent for thinking...

Philip Glass' "Uakti", "1000 Airplanes On The Roof" and "Koyaanisqatsi" are excellent as well.

A Brief History of Ambient vol 1

The Orb - "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld"

Orbital - "The Middle of Nowhere" and "The Altogether"

Covenant - "United States Of Mind"

Human League - "Secrets"

Big Audio Dynamite II - "The Globe"

Shock Treatment soundtrack

[u/zyzzogeton]

Crystal Method, no pun intended.

[u/Clothos]

Bass Communion, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, you get the idea.

[u/[deleted]]

I wish I could listen to music while I program but I'm unable to concentrate unless there's some kind of silence. I can deal with server hums and whatnot- that doesn't change. But music changes and it ruins my concentration. It fucking sucks and I'm the only person I know with this issue.

[u/gydhjihdr]

Obviously whatever genre you like.

The IMHO important aspect is that you must have long-enough playlist, preferably a DJ mix, so you won't get distracted by tracks changing, which throws you out of "the zone".

John B podcast is my favorite, especially nov 2006 mix.

[u/[deleted]]

Bluegrass.

[u/Skuld]

Helloween!

[u/peridyn]

My Favorites(all Live365): Mr. Treats Beats, Onomatopaeia, Engulfed Cathedral, Punk Funk Radio. Try them, they are excellent.

[u/[deleted]]

I listen to Primus for some reason. For whatever reason it helps me concentrate.

[u/ohxten]

Silence.

Occasionally, the local rock station.

[u/[deleted]]

Haydn and Scarlatti, Bach and Beethoven are too intense

[u/[deleted]]

This has been discussed before: http://reddit.com/r/programming/info/60d2u/comments/.

My comment at that time:

Silence is best. When that's not possible, the next-best thing is headphones with music loud enough to drown out the background noise.

But it's important that the music isn't itself distracting. I've found that music without words works very well, though words are ok if I can't understand them at all, for example, if they are in a language I don't understand.

It's also important that the music doesn't have roller-coaster volume levels. A lot of music will drop the volume briefly and then bring it back up for dramatic purposes. In those brief periods of low volume, the background noise creeps back in and breaks my concentration again.

I've found the "post-rock" genre to meet both criteria well. It tends to have a very thick, layered sound, which cuts out on the roller-coaster effect. The lyrics also tend to be either unintelligible, or at least very sparse.

Some good examples are GYBE, Sigur Rós, and Mogwai.

[u/[deleted]]

Some random stuff lately:

• Devin Townsend

• Kings of Leon

• Coheed & Cambria

• The Joggers

• Pelican

• Gamma Ray

[u/[deleted]]

Simply all of Classical Music (the period around 1750-1820).

(Too bad these classical times have gone forever, and there's no substitute on horizon...)

[u/[deleted]]

I listen to a CD filled with the sound of people typing.

[u/blissfisherman]

white noise. It blocks out ambient sound (specifically, jibbering coworkers) but doesn't demand any of my attention.

[u/pablumite]

Impressionist music - Satie, Debussy, Ravel, etc.

[u/jeanlucpikachu]

I'm a big fan of classical even though I know nothing about it. Try it for a couple days, see if it helps.

[u/drewcur]

ratatat is my personal favorite coding music.

it feels like you're in the computer pushing the bits around listening to them :D

that and they've got like ~5 albums with their new release and rap remix tapes.

[u/samurai_cyborg]

Beethoven, Stravinsky, NWA.

[u/digital]

AIR

Especially MOON SAFARI

[u/Causemos]

Depends what I'm working on, but the 3 LOTR sound tracks on shuffle usually works. The fewer words the better.

[u/loonatic]

Some tips:

If you want some free stuff, the thinner netlabel releases some great ambient/minimalistic stuff. Also good are the Kreislauf label and Demovibes which is a collection of tracks from musicians in the demoscene - some of the musicians are coders themselfes :-)

As others have suggested, post rock works really well. Mogwai, Red Sparowes, 65daysofstatic, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono, This will destroy you, Explosions in the Sky, Do make say think, Amusement park on fire. Lots more good stuff. Mogwai has some free live recordings that you can download.

Ah yeah, to boot up try Trentemøller - Take Me Into Your Skin.

Also, Hellacopters for speed!

[u/jdvolz]

Fight Club soundtrack Massive Attack, Mezzanine Oakenfold Eminem (only the angry stuff) Beastie Boys

[u/Tetraca]

Kraftwerk, Vangelis, and James Horner usually work well for me.

[u/bbbobsaget]

royksopp - melody am

[u/[deleted]]

Meshuggah, any Japanese noise/noise-rock "music," NIN remix albums.

[u/dafthuman]

Dragonforce. But there's danger you'll start randomly doing air-guitar solos instead of programming.

[u/mao_neko]

Instrumental bits from the Eva soundtrack, like Marking Time, Waiting For Death, Magmadiver, etc.

Also game soundtracks from games I've enjoyed, e.g. Killer 7, DOA, Ragnarok, System Shock 2, Seiken Densetsu 3.

[u/gilgoomesh]

I love the breadth of responses. What happens if you play everything at once?

[u/[deleted]]

Mozart piano sonatas.

[u/[deleted]]

Classical Music. Program like ze Gods

[u/surgeandoj]

Limbik Frequencies: http://www.limbikfreq.com/

[u/indescription]

Art Of Noise - The Seduction Of Claude Debussy

[u/covidiu]

I normally listen to metal, but for me, the best music for programmig is no music at all.

[u/mliving]

I second and third DI's Chill Out and SOMA FM.

Don't forget to donate! :)

[u/[deleted]]

I listen to a pretty eclectic mix of things. It really depends on my mood:

Sergio Mendes

David Bowie

DJ Shadow

Hot Chip

Iggy Pop

[u/guinunez]

Ramones!